Dr. Ann

Did you know that one of the most powerful all-encompassing strategies available to guard and protect your health is to keep the level of inflammation in your body low? Indeed, cutting-edge science has shown that inflammation is a key driver of almost all forms of chronic disease. We have known about the direct relationship between inflammation […]

The data on vitamin D and health just keeps pourin’ in.  Here are some highlights: For teens living in the “sunny” south, low vitamin D levels were common, including 56 percent with insufficient levels and 30 percent with full-blown vitamin D deficiency. (Pediatrics, June 2010) In a study that followed 531 women over six years, […]

In an attempt to evaluate the scientific efficacy of various interventions to boost intelligence in young children, researchers recently identified three effective strategies. For this evaluation intelligence experts did a comprehensive review of the best published studies. They noted the following IQ boosters: Supplementing the diets of pregnant women and newborns with omega 3 supplements […]

Over 2,000 years ago, Hippocrates enthusiastically proclaimed, “What is good for the heart is good for the mind.” Now we know he was spot on with these sage words.  Studies over the past decade have consistently revealed that if you take good care of your heart and arteries, you get the added bonus of having […]

If you take fish oil supplements, check to be sure they’re in the natural “triglyceride” form vs. the “ethyl ester” form. Although it is always best to get your vital omega 3 fats from oily fish like wild salmon, fish oil supplements are a convenient alternative for those who cannot or do not eat oily fish. In a recent […]

The alarms linking calcium supplements with a greater risk of cardiovascular events just got significantly louder. Several recent studies have raised concerns that calcium supplements may elevate cardiovascular risk, and a large new study published in the journal Heart adds to this fear. For this evaluation investigators followed almost 24,000 middle age adults for an average of […]

In the largest study of its kind to date, researchers from UT South Western Medical Center and the Cooper Institute reported a clear link between low levels of vitamin D and depression. In this four-year evaluation involving almost 12,600 subjects, investigators found that higher vitamin D levels were associated with a significantly lower risk of […]

Over the past two decades, omega 3 fats have been rocketed to the scientific forefront as the darlings of the healthy fat world, and according to three new reports, we would be very wise to consume them in abundance. All three of these evaluations were specifically addressing omega 3 fats and brain/mental health. Here are […]

Worried about your memory?  I have some promising news from 2 new studies.  In the first, scientists gave a dietary supplement of DHA, the omega 3 fat that comprises much of the solid structure of the brain, to a group of healthy older adults who met the criteria for age-related cognitive decline.  A second group […]

As our scientific understanding of the fundamental importance of vitamin D for broad-spectrum health protection has dramatically risen over the past two decades, unfortunately our blood levels have gone in the opposite direction.  Researchers reported in the March issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine that 3 of every 4 Americans have insufficient blood levels […]