GREAT SCHOLAR BLOG

Credit: Shutterstock What does coffee have to do with cannabis? According to a new study, your morning joe causes a drop in the levels of certain substances that are linked to the body's system for responding to marijuana. The levels of these substances — metabolites found in what's known as the endocannabinoid system — decrease in people who drink between four and eight cups of coffee a day, according to the study, published today (March 15) in the Journal of Internal Medicine . Endocannabinoids are molecules that bind to cannabinoid receptors, which are found all over the nervous system, as well as in immu...

Despite continuing advancements in surgery, diagnostic techniques, and drugs, nearly 7 million people in the world die of heart disease each year. And that number keeps going up. Recently, Google’s Life Sciences division, together with the American Heart Association, announced that it’s dropping a funding bomb into the battle, with the intent of abolishing heart disease once and for all. And how big is the explosion? $ 50 Million. All of which will go to one team of scientists in the hopes that they can come up with a cure. This is meant to be a game-changing investment that will propel research rapidly and eliminate a leading killer. It’s wonderful that there is private sector support for continued innovation in heart care. And it’s likely that something positive will come from $ 50 million. But Google doesn’t need to spend the money. Why? Because we already know how to cure this disease. The data is consistent and voluminous: Heart disease can be prev...

Have you been told you need to cut back on sodium? This advice is frequently given by doctors, especially to those with high blood pressure – but it’s easier said than done. In reality, cutting back on sodium can be very hard to do. When people think about reducing sodium in their diets, they assume that means eliminating the salt shaker at the table – one of the most common things I hear from my patients is that they “never add salt to their food.” Unfortunately, that by no means ensures they are eating a low sodium diet. In fact, only 5% of dietary sodium is added during home cooking and only 6% is added at the table. More than 75% of the sodium Americans eat comes from restaurant, prepackaged, and processed foods. The remaining 12% of dietary sodium occurs naturally in foods. In other words, your food is loaded with sodium even before you pick up the salt shaker! The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that people consume under 2300 mg of sodium per ...

There seems to be a lot of chatter these days about coconut oil. Many of my patients ask me if it’s okay to use – in fact, it’s one of the most frequent diet-related questions I get asked. The answer? It’s a bit complicated. Practically speaking, coconut oil does hold up better for high-temperature cooking than olive oil – but how does it compare in terms of health benefits? Here’s the good news: Coconut oil gives “good” HDL cholesterol a significant boost –even more so than most other natural fats. But that’s about as far as the health benefits go. Coconut oil, unlike other vegetarian fats, is saturated. You can tell because it’s solid at room temperature. In fact, coconut oil is about 90% saturated fat, which is a higher percentage than butter (about 64% saturated fat), beef fat (40%), or even lard (also 40%). Why is this so disturbing? Because we know, from lots and lots of studies, that saturated fats tend to raise LDL (bad) cholesterol and elevate blood...

Eat Your Way to Lower Cholesterol By Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC If you have heart or vascular disease, diabetes, or very high LDL (bad cholesterol), your doctor has probably talked with you about the benefits of statin medications. But statins aren’t for everyone. If you experience unpleasant side effects with statins, if you’re not a candidate for this type of drug – or if you just don’t want to take medication, you should know that you can, literally, eat your way to lower cholesterol. Make Food Your Ally Beyond genetics, one of the biggest drivers of cholesterol is what we eat. But just as diet can negatively affect our cholesterol readings, we can also use it to our advantage. Although not everyone is a “food responder,” many people do see a significant drop in their cholesterol numbers after making changes in their diet. In fact, research suggests that a strategic cholesterol-lowering diet can achieve nearly the same LDL reductions as statin medications! Ingredien...

Plyometric moves rev your heart rate to the aerobic zone — burning major calories in a shorter time frame. Daily Burn So you want to get your sweat on, but getting to the gym seems as difficult as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Our answer: Make moves right where you are! You can snag a serious cardio workout right at home — sans machines, weights or even a lot of space. Thanks to plyometrics and fast-paced bodyweight exercises , you’ll rev your heart rate to that aerobic zone, squashing calories without the treadmill. The secret to boosting your burn even more: compound exercises that work multiple muscles at once. Not only do the five moves below from Daily Burn 365 test your brain power, they’ll keep your metabolism revving even after you’re done. Plus, they’ll keep the workout fun so time flies. Before you know it, you’ll have cruised through 10 to 20 minutes of work, without even thinking of another excuse to stay in your seat. Step one: Stand up. It’s go time! The Best Ca...

It’s easy to take for granted how much we use our back muscles every day. Whether it’s lifting bags of groceries up a flight up stairs or squatting down to pick up something off the floor, we use our backsides to carry out the most complex and simplest tasks. “The back is literally involved in every movement. Even if you aren’t doing a ‘back exercise,’ per se, the back is still anchoring and stabilizing to support all arm gestures, core exercises, balance work and leg moves,” says Cheri Paige Fogelman, a Daily Burn 365 trainer. And can you guess how many muscles are in the human back? Approximately 140 overlapping muscles. The major muscles are divided into three groups: extrinsic, intermediate and intrinsic — most of which we’re under-utilizing sitting at our desks all day . What’s worse: Stress and anxiety also tend to manifest as tension in our necks and back before spreading to other parts of the body. Talk about a bad chain reaction. If you’re looking to nix back pain...