Category Archives: Integrative Medicine

by: Helmut Beierbeck

Fatty liver disease used to be associated with alcoholism, but it is no longer
restricted to heavy drinkers. Our calorie-rich but nutrient-poor diet has led
to an epidemic of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) that tracks our
rising obesity and diabetes rates (1). Autopsies and ultrasound studies have
shown that up to 75% of the obese and 70-85% of type 2 diabetics have fatty
livers. And the low-profile but essential nutrient choline appears to provide
the solution to the problem (1, 2).

What is NAFLD?

NAFLD develops in two stages (1). In the first stage fat accumulates in the
liver. This fat can come from several sources: free fatty acids released into
the blood by fat tissue, lipogenesis in the liver from carbohydrates
(especially fructose from HFCS or table sugar), and dietary fats carried to the
liver by chylomicron remnants. Fatty liver disease is a silent epidemic because
its first stage, fat accumulation, generally doesn't produce overt symptoms. Readmore…

by: Helmut Beierbeck

Fatty liver disease used to be associated with alcoholism, but it is no longer
restricted to heavy drinkers. Our calorie-rich but nutrient-poor diet has led
to an epidemic of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) that tracks our
rising obesity and diabetes rates (1). Autopsies and ultrasound studies have
shown that up to 75% of the obese and 70-85% of type 2 diabetics have fatty
livers. And the low-profile but essential nutrient choline appears to provide
the solution to the problem (1, 2).

What is NAFLD?

NAFLD develops in two stages (1). In the first stage fat accumulates in the
liver. This fat can come from several sources: free fatty acids released into
the blood by fat tissue, lipogenesis in the liver from carbohydrates
(especially fructose from HFCS or table sugar), and dietary fats carried to the
liver by chylomicron remnants. Fatty liver disease is a silent epidemic because
its first stage, fat accumulation, generally doesn't produce overt symptoms. Readmore…

(HealthDay News) --
Heart disease, diabetes and depression can be a lethal triple-play -- boosting
a patient's death risk by 20 percent to 30 percent, new research shows.

"We do not know what this increased risk is due to, but it could either be
that depression influences crucial aspects of self-care behaviors needed to
manage diabetes or that a more severe disease process is reflected in more
depressive symptoms," said lead researcher Anastasia Georgiades, a
research associate in the department of psychiatry and behavioral science at Duke
University in Durham, N.C.

Georgiades was expected to present the findings Friday at the American
Psychosomatic Society annual meeting in Budapest, Hungary.

In their study, the Duke team followed 933 heart patients for more than four
years. During that time, there were 135 deaths among patients with type 2
diabetes and/or depression, the researchers found.

Among patients with moderate-to-severe symptoms of depression who were also
diabetics, the researchers observed a significant 30 percent greater risk of
dying over the four-year period compared with patients with either depression
alone or diabetes alone. Read more…

(HealthDay News) --
Children with bipolar disorder and a similar condition called severe mood
dysregulation spend less time looking at the eyes when trying to identify
facial features, compared to children without the psychiatric disorders,
researchers say.

This new study finding may help explain why children with bipolar disorder and
severe mood dysregulation have difficulty determining other people's emotional
expressions, said the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health investigators.

The researchers tracked the eye movements of children with and without
psychiatric disorders as they viewed faces with different emotional
expressions, such as happy, sad, fearful and angry. In general, the children
spent more time looking at the eyes, the facial feature that conveys the most
information about emotion. Read more…

(HealthDay News) --
Heart disease, diabetes and depression can be a lethal triple-play -- boosting
a patient's death risk by 20 percent to 30 percent, new research shows.

"We do not know what this increased risk is due to, but it could either be
that depression influences crucial aspects of self-care behaviors needed to
manage diabetes or that a more severe disease process is reflected in more
depressive symptoms," said lead researcher Anastasia Georgiades, a
research associate in the department of psychiatry and behavioral science at Duke
University in Durham, N.C.

Georgiades was expected to present the findings Friday at the American
Psychosomatic Society annual meeting in Budapest, Hungary.

In their study, the Duke team followed 933 heart patients for more than four
years. During that time, there were 135 deaths among patients with type 2
diabetes and/or depression, the researchers found.

Among patients with moderate-to-severe symptoms of depression who were also
diabetics, the researchers observed a significant 30 percent greater risk of
dying over the four-year period compared with patients with either depression
alone or diabetes alone. Read more…

(HealthDay News) --
Children with bipolar disorder and a similar condition called severe mood
dysregulation spend less time looking at the eyes when trying to identify
facial features, compared to children without the psychiatric disorders,
researchers say.

This new study finding may help explain why children with bipolar disorder and
severe mood dysregulation have difficulty determining other people's emotional
expressions, said the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health investigators.

The researchers tracked the eye movements of children with and without
psychiatric disorders as they viewed faces with different emotional
expressions, such as happy, sad, fearful and angry. In general, the children
spent more time looking at the eyes, the facial feature that conveys the most
information about emotion. Read more…