ARE THEY WORTH IT?
In general, I’m not a big fan of drugs or supplements that are supposed to DO something to you. In general, I think that supplements should basically assist the body in doing what it does naturally.
For example, due to pollution, substance abuse, soil depletion, and other problems, we may not get enough […]

EARLY MENOPAUSE
According to a study by Massachusetts General Hospital, smoking can lead to premature ovarian failure (early menopause). The authors of the study were able to trace the cause to the exposure of a class of chemicals present in tobacco smoke that accelerate the death of egg cells in the ovaries (Massachusetts General Hospital (2001, […]

HEART DISEASE
The American Heart Association lists smoking as one of the six major independent risk factors for coronary heart disease, the others being diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, and obesity.
DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE
Researchers who followed 1337 doctors who graduated from John Hopkins University between 1948 and 1964, found out that smokers, as well […]

SLOWER WOUND HEALING
A review of the existing studies on the relationship between smoking and wound healing done by the University Medical Center Utrecht show that, should smokers experience a bone fracture, they will need a significantly longer time to heal than non-smokers.
If surgery involving a network of blood vessels in which the blood vessels […]

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
Drinking coffee increases both diastolic and systolic blood pressure. These effects can sometimes last until the next day (Caffeine consumption and blood pressure: an epidemiological study. International Journal of Epidemiology. 17(1):90-7). Such a situation could be especially harmful for those who suffer from hypertension. High blood pressure is also a contributing factor in […]

WEIGHT EQUIPMENT
Speaking of strength exercises, unless you’re planning on doing only body weight exercises, you’ll need weights of some kind.
If you only have a little room, you can achieve adequate muscle fitness for anti-aging purposes with a decent set of dumbbells, such as the Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells set.
If you’re thinking of setting up a […]

New blood vessels have been grown in a mouse for the first time and researchers say, it could help patients who have had heart attacks. Scientists created a mixture of “progenitor” cells - which are taken from blood and bone marrow - in order to line the vessels.  Experts say this Harvard research could go […]

MEMORY PROBLEMS
Excessive cortisol secretion, which is caused by coffee drinking, is linked to neural degeneration and interference with memory formation (Extra-adrenal production of corticosteroids. Clinical Experiments in Pharmacological Physiology, 30(7):437-45).
HIGH CHOLESTEROL
Coffee drinking raises serum cholesterol levels, which of course are linked to heart disease (The Tromsø heart study. Does coffee raise serum cholesterol? New England […]

SUMMARY
If you are really serious about your health, getting your lifestyle under control is priority #1.
It’s usually easier for people to take supplements than to change their lifestyle, so by all means go ahead and start taking a good multivitamin and the appropriate supplements (see my post Anti-Aging Supplementation Options for more information), but don’t […]

WESTERN MEDICINE
Western medical solutions (otherwise known as allopathic medicine) should be viewed as a last resort. Why? For several reasons.
First of all, Western medical solutions are designed for acute conditions. That is, you’ve already abused your body to the point that it’s screaming for help (i.e. you’ve developed one of the lifestyle diseases such as […]