An obesity endemic has fuelled the popularity of artificial sweeteners. These fake sugars are devoid of any calories and you can confidently consume all the sugary stuff without the fear of packing those extra pounds. This strategy is also believed to reduce blood sugar levels, which combined with weight control is an ideal approach to reduce the risk of metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes.

Heavy workloads, meeting tight deadlines, care giving, financial worries. Stress has invaded our daily lives in many forms. We can withstand occasional bouts of extreme stress, which can actually be a good thing by motivating us to take meaningful action.

But what happens when we are frequently or continually exposed to such environmental stressors? It takes a toll on our health. Stress plunges the body towards poor health and premature aging.

Scientists warn us that it is important to find ways to manage and reduce chronic stress in our lives or else risk the onset of many age-related diseases such as dementia, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, arthritis, depression and even cancer.

Magnesium is known as an ultimate relaxation mineral. Healthy levels of magnesium calm the nerves, promote good sleep and good mood, and bring anxiety and depression levels several notches down. In simple words, magnesium equips our nervous system to respond to stress better. Magnesium deficiency has been associated with a wide range of stressful conditions – jingled nerves, migraine, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, audio-genic stress, depression, anxiety and poor sleep.

Our body is an amazing machine. Even when we are sleeping, it is working hard, doing amazing stuff at the backend to keep us healthy and rejuvenated. We all know how an all-nighter can make us feel all grumpy, tired and stressed. It is because sleep has a direct impact on the functioning of our central nervous system, the information highway of our body – affecting our mood, internal balance, cognitive and decision making abilities. Sleep deficiency is often cited as one of the biggest reasons for road and aviation accidents. In fact, two of the most tragic nuclear disasters in the recent history such as the 1979 Three Mile Island and the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown have been linked to the lack of sleep.

This may very well be one of the most debatable topics in oncology. High dose vitamin C has been studied as a cancer treatment since 1970’s but not without its share of controversies. But a new study from the University of Iowa (UI) published in Redox Biology shed some light into why the efficacy of high dose vitamin C as cancer therapy has shown mixed results.

High levels of LDL cholesterol, triglycerides - or both - in the blood plasma are one of the leading risk factors related to cardiovascular diseases. Lifestyle modifications – involving weight loss and reduced intake of saturated fats – are a recommended strategy to overcome the perils associated with high LDL cholesterol levels and to improve the lipid profile.

If you have you ever tried to cut back on sugar, you may know how incredibly tough it is to wean yourself off from the sweet devil. In fact, eliminating sugar from the diet may leave some people with strong withdrawal symptoms such as intense cravings, headaches, edginess, feeling of depression and worse. Sounds like substance addiction? Well, science suggests that sugar is even more addictive than cocaine [1]. You heard it right. That gorgeous piece of chocolate cake or those delectable muffins seem to serve the same purpose as crack. So, what makes sugar so addictive? Why it does often makes you lose control? What exactly drives sugar cravings?

Researchers have long known that insulin resistance sets the stage for the development of Type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance is a condition where beta cells of the pancreas produce insulin but muscle, liver and fat cells are not able to efficiently use it to absorb glucose from the bloodstream. This leads to excessive build-up of glucose in the blood. As a result, the body gets signals to produce more insulin to take care of increased glucose levels until beta cells fails to keep up with this increased demand, finally leading to prediabetes and possibly Type 2 diabetes.

The WHO (World Health Organization) has declared Zika virus a public health emergency of international concern, mainly because of the virus’s suspected association with microcephaly, a neurological birth defect. And then you hear that the government of El Salvador is advising the women in the country against pregnancy until 2018, a strange recommendation indeed, but it only underscores the seriousness of the Zika outbreak and the underlying complications, no matter the debate on its origins.

The majority of us believe that taking Vitamin C will help us build a strong immune system. But if you smoke, you are likely to need more of this important vitamin to fight the harmful effects of smoking.