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Pomegranate juice consumption for 3 years by patients with carotid artery stenosis reduces common carotid intima-media thickness, blood pressure and LDL oxidation.\nAviram M, Rosenblat M, Gaitini D, Nitecki S, Hoffman A, Dornfeld L, Volkova N, Presser D, Attias J, Liker H, Hayek T.\nClin Nutr. 2004 Jun;23(3):423-33. Erratum in: Clin Nutr. 2008 Aug;27(4):671.\nPMID: 15158307

It turns out that statins inhibit not only the liver from making cholesterol but may also block the brain from making cholesterol. That's a serious consequence, according to Yeon-Kyun Shin, a biophysics professor in the department of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology at Iowa State, because cholesterol is vital for healthy and optimum brain function. "If you deprive cholesterol from the brain, then you directly affect the machinery that triggers the release of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters affect the data-processing and memory functions. In other words, how smart you are and how well you remember things," said Dr. Shin in a statement to the media.

I stumbled on one of the growing number of local media stories on the power of vitamin D. \nIn one story, a purported "expert" was talking about the benefits of "high-dose" vitamin D, meaning up to 1000, even 2000 units per day. \nI regard this as high-dose---for an infant. \nJudging by my experiences, now numbering well over 1000 patients over three years time, I'd regard this dose range not as "high dose," nor moderate dose, perhaps not even low dose. I'd regard it as barely adequate.

Pomegranate fruit extracts have been shown to block enzymes that contribute to cartilage degradation in osteoarthritis, a condition that currently has little perspective for treatment. The findings, although still at a preliminary stage not yet proven in humans, are likely to encourage further consumption of pomegranate juice in the UK, where sales have rocketed in the last year thanks to media coverage of its antioxidant content.

Dietary supplementation with fermented soybeans suppresses intimal thickening. Suzuki Y, Kondo K, Ichise H, Tsukamoto Y, Urano T, Umemura K. Nutrition. 2003 Mar;19(3):261-4. PMID: 12620531

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