One of the nutrition industry’s biggest sellers – vitamin C – may help nerve cells in the eye to function properly, says a new study that suggests the vitamin may also be important for brain function, too.
The “surprising discovery” by researchers Oregon Health & Science University indicates that vitamin C may be needed for correct functioning of retinal cells, which in turn may have implications for the central nervous system.
In order for retinal cells to function properly, “we found that cells need to be …

Yiqi Congming Tang has been widely used in the Orient and subjected to pharmacological research for its ability to improve brain functions (3), but it is rarely taught to Western students. Most overview texts on Chinese herb formulas bypass this one, because it does not fit the individual categories of therapy into which the formulas are classified, such as tonifying qi, clearing heat, or resolving the surface, but combines them in a single formulation. Also, …

A recent study from scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies suggests that a strawberry a day (or more accurately, 37 of them) could keep not just one doctor away, but an entire fleet of them, including the neurologist, the endocrinologist, and maybe even the oncologist.
Investigations conducted in the Salk Institute’s Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory (CNL) will appear in the June 27, 2011, issue of PLoS ONE. The report explains that fisetin, a naturally-occurring flavonoid found most abundantly in strawberries and to a lesser extent in other fruits and vegetables, lessens …

Zizyphus refers to the seed of Zizyphus jujuba, var. spinosa, often labeled simply as Zizyphus spinosa (see Figure 1). The Chinese name for the herb is suanzaoren [suan = sour; zao = date;ren = seed; hence, seed of the sour date], or just zaoren. This herb is related to the one commonly called jujube, which comes from the fruit of Zizyphus jujuba (see Figure 2); the Chinese name for jujube is dazao (da = large; a smaller, red variety is called hongzao; hong = red). Both zizyphus and jujube are said to have sedative properties, with zizyphus being the primary …