Apples and Cinnamon...Delicious and So Healthy!

Apples..who doesn't love a crisp juicy apple in summer? Eating one before each meal is a popular approach for weight loss. They are loaded with antioxidants and lots of fiber, Just one apple with its skin contains 20 percent of the recommended daily fiber intake. Studies have linked eating apples to lower cholesterol, weight loss and a dramatically reduced risk of several kinds of cancer, heart disease, asthma, type 2 diabetes and stroke. Apples even boost levels of the memory hormone acetylcholine...

Sprinkle on some cinnamon... also loaded with antioxidants, because half a teaspoon a day of the fragrant spice lowers blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, and in healthy people too. Cinnamon brings down levels of total cholesterol, drops triglycerides and reduces LDL cholesterol. 



I get organic apples brought right to my door by MileHigh Organics. If you live along the front range of Colorado they'll bring you yummy food each week too!


Just go to this link.


Not one of my Colorado neighbors? Go to your farmers market, sign up for a CSA at Local Harvest.org or visit the supermarket to pick up your favorite apples..and let the health benefits begin!

SSRI Antidepressant Use Linked to Autism!

New research coming from Kaiser Permanente Northern California has linked the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a type of medication used to treat depression, and the occurrence of autism. The chances of having a child with autism spectrum disorder is double in women who took SSRI’s in the year before she gave birth. If the drugs were taken during the first trimester of pregnancy that risk quadrupled!

The study was published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry and the abstract can be viewed here.

Studies link common painkillers to increased death risk...

Bad news for people who have high blood pressure and use NSAID’s routinely for pain relief. The habit may be downright deadly!

In persons who were average age 65 who had high blood pressure and reported chronic use of NSAID’s the NSAID use was associated with a 47% increase in the occurrence of death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. This was due to a 990% increase in all cause mortality, a 126% increase in cardiovascular mortality and a 66% increase in heart attacks.

Reference: "Harmful Effects of NSAIDs among Patients with Hypertension and Coronary Artery Disease"

See the study abstract here

The use of pain meds has also been associated with irregular heart rhythm. increased risk of irregular heart rhythm, also known as atrial fibrillation can be caused by common painkillers that are also used to treat inflammation.

Both the new generation anti-inflammatory drugs known as selective COX-2 inhibitors as well as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID’s) were linked to the sometimes dangerous form of arrythmia. Atrial fibrillation is a condition associated with an augmented long term risk of stroke, heart failure and death.

Although these pain drugs have already been associated with an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, this is the first study to link them to increased risk of atrial fibrillation.

See this study here

If you depend on these drugs for frequent pain relief you might want to try more holistic approaches to pain management. Go to the word cloud on the right side of the page and click on "pain" to bring up an earlier article that talks about omega 3's and vitamin D for pain relief.