The human immune system is a complex and multi-layered array designed to limit tissue damage from harmful agents and cells. The Inflammatory process is a vital and necessary component of our immune defense system, and when those immune responses are temporary and local, the inflammatory process is beneficial.

For the past several decades, the primary blood marker associated with the risk for cardiovascular disease has been cholesterol. Initially it was total cholesterol, then later, LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol (deemed “bad” and “good”, respectively) became household terms.

It should come as no surprise that as the population gets increasingly older and life expectancy continues to increase, age-related diseases such as osteoporosis will impact more individuals.

Perhaps before any other disease was labeled as being the result of civilization, constipation and its presumed consequences were bill boarded as the quintessential disease of civilized, urbanized, and sedentary men… and women.

Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death among Americans and cases of this disease are growing at an alarming rate. Without exaggeration diabetes is becoming a modern, albeit silent, epidemic. Currently, over 10 million Americans are diagnosed with some form of diabetes, while another 5 million are considered to be diabetic without their knowledge.

The menstrual cycle is one of the most exquisite displays of biological rhythm. It is a fascinating combination of positive and negative feedback controls involving the hypothalamus, pituitary, thyroid, adrenals, ovaries and uterus. Unfortunately, for various reasons, the rhythm is often disrupted and difficulties arise.

Over 40 million women are currently post-menopausal in the United States. The fact that those numbers will increase to 60 million in the next 10 years and the attitudes about menopause are continuing to move from being viewed as a clinical syndrome to a natural transition have opened the way for more natural and comprehensive management of menopausal symptoms.

Few things have been as confusing to both patient and health care provider as the issue of fats and oils. Of all the essential nutrients required for optimal health, fatty acids have not only been forgotten they have been considered hazardous.

Given the types of lifestyles Americans live, the concept of stress has pervaded our social and biological view of being human. But while we are often told of stressful events (loss of family member, divorce, major life changes), what actually defines stress from a physiological perspective has been more difficult to grasp.

Arthritis refers to nearly 100 different rheumatic diseases of the areas in and around the joints. Conditions as different as fibromyalgia, scleroderma and gout have often been included with the classic arthritic conditions: osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Few people realize that they carry within their gastrointestinal tract nearly 10¹⁴ (that’s 100 trillion!) living bacteria, resulting in 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells in their bodies.

Our ability to see is made possible in part by the fact that our eyes allow light to pass through with relative ease. This makes the eye the most susceptible organ to oxidative damage caused by light, toxins (smoke), atmospheric oxygen, and abrasion. In the United States, age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness for persons over 60 years of age.

For many years, veins have been thought to function only as passageways for blood to flow back into the heart. This has given way in recent years to an understanding that the venous system performs many functions that are vital to the whole circulatory network; such as their capability of constricting and dilating, storing large volumes of blood for use in other areas of the circulation, and even to regulate cardiac output.

To say that the concerns about cholesterol are rampant would be quite an understatement. In fact, from much of the news and advertising, one would think that cholesterol is a poison rather than the essential component that it is.

Perhaps one of the most common, recurrent ailments suffered by Americans is allergies. The symptoms of allergic rhinitis (red, itchy eyes and nose, sneezing, sinus headache and congestion) can be both seasonal, in the case of “hay fever" or perennial. Regardless of the particular allergen, the discomfort is experienced by nearly 20% of Americans.

There are many conditions for which natural ingredients are therapeutic equivalents to the pharmaceutical alternative. Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) in particular, is a condition where natural medicine seems to be far superior to the synthetic drugs, but the answer is more complete than simply Saw Palmetto Extracts.