Author: Elizabeth

Do the estrogenic effects of tea tree oil get absorbed through the skin?

Concern has been raised about a “possible link between gynecomastia, topical lavender, and tea tree oil.” As I discuss in my video Does Tea Tree Oil Have Hormonal Side Effects?, gynecomastia is the abnormal development of breast tissue. (You can see a photo at 0:14 in my video.) You may recall that I’ve talked about lavender before, but what about tea tree oil?

It all started with a case series published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers described three young boys in whom breast growth “coincided with the topical application of products that contained lavender and tea tree oils.” How do we know the products were to blame? “Gynecomastia resolved in each patient shortly after the use of products containing these oils was discontinued. Furthermore, studies in human cell lines indicated that

If there were such a thing as a “superfood,” cruciferous vegetables like broccoli would certainly be wearing the cape. Along with kale, collards, cabbage, bok choy, cauliflower, and many others in that vegetable family, crucifers contain a relatively unique class of phytonutrients that can potentially help prevent DNA damage, metastatic cancer spread, and lymphoma; activate defenses against pathogens and pollutants; boost your liver detox enzymes; target breast cancer stem cells; and reduce the risk of prostate cancer progression. That’s why I include cruciferous veggies in my Daily Dozen healthiest-of-healthy-foods checklist. For more information and all of my videos on broccoli, check out the topic page.

 

Recipe: Mexican-Inspired Bowl

If you’ve found yourself with a sudden hankering for broccoli, try this recipe from Ángela, our Spanish Social Media and Program Coordinator. With broccoli, beans, whole grains, and a homemade salsa, her recipe will check off several of your Daily Dozen

Add some green to your Black Friday with 20 percent off all merchandise on DrGreger.org. The sale is site-wide, so it includes all clothing, video downloads, outreach materials, and more. If you’re heading into winter, cozy up with our sweatpants (back by popular demand!), hoodies, or a crewneck sweatshirt. Sale ends November 28. All proceeds go to keeping NutritionFacts.org running! 

 

Key Takeaways: Walnuts

The Global Burden of Disease Study calculated that not eating enough nuts and seeds was the third-leading dietary risk factor for death and disability in the world. That is why I recommend a daily serving of at least ¼ cup nuts or seeds or 2 tablespoons of nut or seed butter in my Daily Dozen checklist. So, which nut is healthiest? Walnuts really seem to take the lead due to their high antioxidant and omega-3 levels, and they beat out other nuts in vitro in suppressing cancer

What would happen if you stopped brushing your teeth but ate more healthfully?

 Experimentally, when study participants stop brushing their teeth, plaque starts to build up and, within a few days, their gums start to get inflamed. Though nothing may be visible just yet, if you take a biopsy at the gum line, you can see the inflammation beginning to spread. Within a few weeks, overt gingivitis becomes apparent with gums that can get red and swollen and bleed easily. If you don’t do anything about it, you can develop periodontal disease, where the inflammation creeps down into the supporting structures of the tooth—the bone and ligaments—setting you up for tooth loss.

How did we get along for millions of years without brushing our teeth? “Dental disease is almost universal” these days, but skulls from thousands of years before the invention of the toothbrush have perfect teeth. Admittedly, that was

Vitamin C, turmeric, beta-glucan fiber, and vitamin B12 are put to the test for recurring canker sores (aphthous ulcers).

Canker sores can be “a painful and often recurrent inflammatory process of the oral mucosa,” the lining of our mouths. Similar to other chronic inflammatory conditions, DNA damage due to oxidative stress caused by free radicals is thought to play a role.

Normally, free radical production is balanced with antioxidants, but if the concentration of free radicals gets too high and our antioxidant enzymes and the antioxidants we get in our diet “cannot compensate for these radicals, the balance changes in favor of the oxidants”—that is, in a pro-oxidant direction. This can lead to oxidative damage within our body. Does that mean that people who experience recurring canker sores—also known as recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS)—have fewer antioxidants, more oxidation, and more DNA damage? Yes, yes, and yes. As you can see