I’ve simplified my supplements this year and now only take vitamin D and fish oil. Both of these made the news again last week, and both stories reinforced my belief that they both are uniquely powerful supplements for almost anyone, at any age.

Click on the arrow below to listen to this week’s podcast, or click here. OK, let’s get the really bad news out of the way first: a major study this week which followed 39,000 women over 19 years showed that not only is there no major health benefit to taking a general multivitamin, but actually there …

Last year I wrote about how red yeast rice can be an effective natural supplement to lower cholesterol; this is only natural since the rice’s active ingredient is lovastatin, which is one of the official prescription medicines to lower cholesterol. But I just read a disturbing new review by my favorite vitamin-monitoring group, Consumerlab. This …

I’ve often complained, along with the rest of the world, that there is no magic pill yet designed to cure the world’s most common illness — the common cold. But now, there is some hope! There’s an excellent meta-analysis by the well-respected Cochrane Library which now says what some docs had been touting for years …

What natural supplements and medicines work to prevent or lessen diabetes? We know that the Western-prescribed medicines such as insulin injections and metformin pills are extremely effective, but wouldn’t it be great, and much healthier for us, if we could focus on more natural therapies? Fortunately, with diabetes, there are quite a few healthy approaches …

Last year I bragged about vitamin D and the evidence showing benefits in multiple arenas, especially for fighting colds and flu. I even started taking 2,000 IU a day of vitamin D3. But now…one wonderfully annoying thing about medicine is that one headline will say “medicine A is great for disease X”, but wait a …

So how was your 2010 here in Beijing? Do you feel more or less healthy? For me personally, it was a continuing slow improvement of my overall wellness, and I continue to be fortunate in having no major illnesses. I did make a few changes which I’d like to share with readers (and perhaps you …

Winter’s chill is upon us already, and the months ahead can feel very long — but you can fight off the winter blues with a few health tips. One major problem with Beijing’s winters is the dry air. Beijing’s extremely low humidity indoors and outdoors will dry out everyone’s skin and throats. Many of us …

How many of you are like myself and take fish oil or flax oil supplements? This is one of the world’s most popular supplements, as many have heard about the health benefits of the main ingredient, omega-3 fatty acid (DHA and EPA). But just how effective is omega-3, and for what diseases? Let’s look at …

(Click here for part one, with tips #1-5…) Tip #6: To Every Thing, There Is A Season. Beijing has a surprising variety of all four seasons, which I think is a great thing. Spring and fall, the best times of year here, are unfortunately short, but in general you can expect the same seasonal variations …

During our horribly long winter, I posted many articles on vitamin D and its growing evidence of multiple health effects. Here’s another well designed study (Vitamin D3 Supplements in Winter May Help Protect Against Influenza A) which had two groups of schoolkids and gave one group vitamin D3 and the other group nothing extra. The …

Milk thistle is a common plant that has long been regarded useful for protecting the liver; many take it to fight chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis.  A lot of people also take milk thistle simply to “de-toxify” and keep their liver healthy. But how well does it really work? As usual with herbal supplements, evidence-based data can …