A new review published in the May 2017 edition of Frontiers in Nutrition analyzed the evidence to date that flavanols (found in dark chocolate and cocoa, among other foods) may benefit human brain function. Flavanols are a form of flavonoids, plant-based substances that have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Here’s a sample of the findings: Short-term consumption may be helpful. … Continue reading Flavanols, Chocolate and Your Brain
Month: August 2017
A “Human Milk Sugar Fermentate”
A new concept in the microbiome space, fermented human milk sugars: Human milk sugars, which can be cultured through yeast fermentation–in a similar process to making biofuel or brewing beer–seemed like a good fit. In breastfed infants, the human milk sugars help build up bifidobacterium in the gut, one of a few bacteria that can … Continue reading A “Human Milk Sugar Fermentate”
“Self-Dosing with Bacteria”
From Harvard Medical School's Health Blog: ...interest in probiotic supplements is on the rise. Some digestive disease specialists are recommending them for disorders that frustrate conventional medicine, such as irritable bowel syndrome. Since the mid-1990s, clinical studies suggest that probiotic therapy can help treat several gastrointestinal ills, delay the development of allergies in children, and … Continue reading “Self-Dosing with Bacteria”
The Latest Big Trial in Probiotics
Excerpt: The team found that babies who took this concoction had a significantly lower risk of developing sepsis—a life-threatening condition where infections trigger body-wide inflammation, restricted blood flow, and organ failure. Sepsis is one of the biggest killers of newborn babies, ending around 600,000 lives every year when they’ve barely begun. Some proportion of these … Continue reading The Latest Big Trial in Probiotics
What is a probiotic?
Byte Sized Summary: A "microbial preparation". Read more for context. If there were an abstract for a clinical study that read like a movie teaser, it might read like the following: The gastrointestinal (GI) tract of a fetus in utero is sterile but it becomes colonized with environmental microorganisms shortly after birth. Since the gut … Continue reading What is a probiotic?
Little Byte Nutrition 