Archive for the ‘diet and nutrition’ Category

Sweet Deception: The Framing of Fluoride

And speaking of sugar and metabolic diseases……

https://blanphear.substack.com/p/sweet-deception-the-framing-of-fluoride

Sweet Deception: The Framing of Fluoride

How the Kellogg Foundation helped turn a dietary crisis into a chemical solution.

Bruce Lanphear
Nov 04, 2025

The House That Sugar Built

In 1930, Will Keith Kellogg, the breakfast-cereal magnate, endowed a new philanthropic institution with a simple mission: to promote the health and happiness of children. Like many industrialists of his time, he believed that the wealth created by modern business should serve the public good. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was born from that ideal, funded by stock in the company that still bears his name.

Nearly a century later, that relationship endures. The Foundation’s trust remains one of the largest shareholders in the Kellogg Company—now split into Kellanova (snacks) and WK Kellogg Co (cereals). The dividends from those shares sustain one of the world’s largest charitable foundations, supporting programs in early childhood, food security, and public health.

But the Foundation’s history reveals a deeper paradox—one that raises uncomfortable questions about how philanthropy, industry, and science can become entangled in shaping public health itself.

Sugar, Tooth Decay, and the Birth of Fluoridation

By the mid-20th century, Americans were consuming record amounts of refined sugar, much of it through breakfast cereals and convenience foods. Dental caries became one of the most common chronic diseases in children.

Rather than confronting the role of sugar, public-health officials and industry leaders rallied around a technological fix: fluoridation. Adding fluoride to drinking water, they claimed, would strengthen enamel and prevent cavities regardless of diet.

The idea was not born in dental science alone—it was also nurtured by industry influence. According to a 2025 analysis by Chris Neurath in Environmental Health, the sugar industry and its allies actively promoted fluoridation to deflect attention from the role of sugar in tooth decay. Among the most prominent actors in this alliance was the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, whose deep financial ties to the sugary cereal business gave it both motive and means to shape dental policy.

The Kellogg Connection

Neurath’s research reveals that in 1942, Emory Morris—a former dentist, Kellogg Company executive, and later president of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation—was appointed chair of the American Dental Association’s Committee on Dental Health Policy. Under his leadership, the ADA began to promote fluoride as a “magic bullet” against tooth decay while de-emphasizing the importance of reducing sugar consumption.

That same year, Morris’s committee even discussed the compulsory addition of fluoride to food.

Soon after, Harold Hillenbrand, editor of the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) and a fluoridation advocate, joined the Kellogg Foundation’s dental advisory committee, while Morris simultaneously chaired the ADA’s policy committee—a reciprocal relationship that aligned the Foundation and the ADA in promoting fluoridation.

According to University of Michigan dentist Philip Jay, who led the first human fluoridation trial in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Kellogg Foundation provided the initial funding for that study in 1945. A decade later, the Foundation gave the ADA a $250,000 grant—worth roughly $2.8 million today—and continued to fund fluoridation programs for decades, including in Latin America as late as 2005.  (See link for article)

_______________

**Comment**

The devastating role of sugar and fluoride on human health has been covered up for decades.

The Weston Price Foundation states:

“….fluoridation and the proclaimed benefit of fluoride as a way of preventing dental decay is perhaps the greatest “scientific” fraud ever perpetrated upon an unsuspecting public.”

It’s important to note that fluorides are cumulative toxins which means they accumulate in the body.

  • In 1998 EPA scientists declared a 4ppm safety level; however, this level was set fraudulently by outside forces in a decision that omitted 90% of the data showing the mutagenic properties of fluoride.
  • Since fluoride is now everywhere, it’s impossible to accurately measure total fluoride intake.

Regarding sugar, “That Sugar Film” documentary follows filmmaker Damon Gameau as went from consuming very little sugar to consuming the average amount of sugar eaten daily by Australians (160gm or 40 teaspoons).  He noted:

  • wild mood swings
  • weight gain of 7 lbs in 12 days
  • 2.75 inches to his waistline in 1 month
  • pre-type 2 diabetes
  • heart disease
  • 11 centimeters of visceral fat
  • nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

For more:

Category:

Activism, diet and nutrition

Are Mood Disorders Actually Metabolic Diseases Rooted in Insulin Resistance?

It appears that the can of worms is fully opening……

Truth-telling doctors have completely upended the cancer paradigm by stating it’s a metabolic disease.  Now, research is showing it’s also behind mood disorders like bipolar and depression as well.  This is good news for those who suffer with these often treatment resistant diseases because you can fully change your metabolism, which means you could finally be free from these plagues.

https://media.mercola.com/ImageServer/Public/2025/November/PDF/insulin-resistance-and-mental-health-pdf.pdf

Are Mood Disorders Actually Metabolic Diseases Rooted in Insulin Resistance?

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola 

November 03, 2025

insulin resistance and mental health

Story at-a-glance

  • Bipolar disorder and depression affect tens of millions globally, long treated as strictly brain-based illnesses, yet both consistently show high rates of insulin resistance and metabolic disturbances
  • A 2025 Nature Neuroscience study found that pancreatic insulin release and hippocampal activity are linked through a circadian feedback loop. This suggests bipolar mood shifts arise from disrupted metabolism, not brain chemistry alone
  • Earlier research in 2022 showed lithium stabilizes mood partly by restoring insulin signaling, while a clinical trial found metformin improved both insulin sensitivity and psychiatric symptoms in treatment-resistant bipolar depression patients
  • Insulin resistance is extremely widespread, with around 40% of Americans affected, driven by refined sugars, seed oils, stress, sleep loss, and environmental exposures that disrupt the body’s natural energy regulation
  • Supporting insulin sensitivity involves stepwise changes, replacing damaging fats and ultraprocessed foods, introducing gut-friendly carbs and fibers gradually, managing stress, improving sleep, and staying active to stabilize both metabolic and mental health  (See link for article)

Article Highlights:

The Importance of Testing

One of the most straightforward ways to gauge how well your body responds to insulin is through a test called HOMA-IR, short for Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance. It requires only two basic blood tests, both done first thing in the morning before you eat. One test measures fasting glucose and the other measures fasting insulin.

Once you have those two numbers, they are entered into a simple formula:

HOMA-IR = (Fasting Glucose in mg/dL × Fasting Insulin in μU/mL) ÷ 405

This score shows how hard your body is working to keep blood sugar in check — A higher number means your pancreas is pushing out more insulin to control your glucose levels, which signals that your cells are becoming resistant to insulin’s effect. Ideally, your HOMA-IR should be under 1.0. Even values around 1.0 deserve attention, because they show that your body may already be moving toward resistance. The lower the number, the better your insulin sensitivity.

The ability to track your progress over time makes HOMA-IR even more valuable. As you make adjustments in diet, movement, and lifestyle, you can retest and see whether your score is improving. That direct feedback provides motivation and clarity, showing you how your efforts translate into measurable improvements in insulin sensitivity and, by extension, in your long-term health.

Steps to Improve Insulin Sensitivity
  • Start with carbs that are easy on your gut — Glucose is often automatically viewed as harmful in the context of insulin resistance, yet your body relies on it as a primary fuel. If you cut carbs too low, your body compensates by raising cortisol, a stress hormone that breaks down muscle tissue to make glucose, which weakens your metabolic health over time.  Most adults require about 250 grams of healthy carbohydrates a day.
  • Introduce resistant starches and root vegetables once stable — When your system has stabilized, resistant starches and root vegetables can be introduced in small amounts. Cooked and cooled white potatoes or green bananas are two reliable starting points, then you can expand to foods like garlic, onions, and leeks, which nourish the bacteria that produce butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid that strengthens your gut lining and supports blood sugar regulation. This is often the stage where people notice steadier energy, fewer cravings, and more balanced glucose levels.
  • As your digestion becomes more resilient, you can slowly rotate in a wider variety of plant foods — Begin with root vegetables, then move toward leafy greens, beans, legumes, and eventually whole grains. The key is to add them gradually and not to eat the same new food every day at the start. Your gut bacteria need time to adjust to new fiber sources, and pacing yourself helps avoid the discomfort that can come with sudden changes.
  • Alongside what you add, it is equally important to cut out what damages your gut — Vegetable oils high in linoleic acid, ultraprocessed foods, and alcohol all erode the gut barrier and encourage the growth of bacteria that worsen inflammation and insulin resistance.  Replacing these with healthier fats such as grass fed butter, ghee, or tallow helps repair the intestinal lining and supports the balance of your microbiome. A healthier gut environment, in turn, makes your cells more responsive to insulin.

Category:

diet and nutrition, Psychological Aspects, research, Testing, Treatment

ACTION: Breaking the Chains on Foods That Heal

https://anh-usa.org/action-alert-breaking-the-chains-on-foods-that-heal/

Breaking the Chains on Foods That Heal

By The ANH TeamOn 
Breaking the Chains on Foods That Heal

ANH-USA has released a ground-breaking Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan exposing how outdated FDA rules are blocking access to medical foods—science-based nutrition therapies that could help millions of Americans prevent, manage, and even reverse chronic disease. Our Action Plan shows how we’re going to fix it. It’s time to educate Congress: sign our Action Alert now!

THE TOPLINE

  • America is facing a chronic disease crisis, yet FDA rules restrict access to medical foods—nutrition-based therapies designed to meet the special dietary needs of people with diagnosed health conditions.
  • By treating these foods like drugs, FDA policy has stifled innovation, discouraged research, and cut off patients from affordable, safe, and effective nutrition-based care.
  • ANH-USA’s roadmap lays out how to modernize medical food policy, broaden access, and bring the “food is medicine” vision to life.

A Healthcare System That’s Failing Us

Despite spending over 16% of our GDP on healthcare—more than any other country—the United States ranks a shocking 80th in healthy life expectancy, projected to fall even further by 2050. Today, 133 million Americans live with at least one chronic disease, and 42% have two or more.

How can a nation that spends so much on health be so sick? Because we’ve built a healthcare system that waits for people to get sick—and then treats them with drugs that are expensive, dangerous, and do not address the root cause of illness in the first place.

There’s a better way.

>>>Download ANH-USA Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan, Medical Foods: Unlocking Access and Value

The Untapped Power of Medical Foods

Medical foods (MFs) are specially formulated products that provide targeted nutrition for people whose dietary needs cannot be met by regular foods alone. They’re used in hospitals every day, often in the form of shakes, powders, or enteral (feeding tube) formulas for patients recovering from surgery, living with metabolic disorders, or managing chronic disease.

Medical foods can help underserved populations reduce age-related disease and chronic conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis, improving health while reducing healthcare costs. They’re safe, effective, and far less expensive than many branded drugs.

So why don’t more Americans have access to them?

The Problem: A System Rigged Against Nutrition

Medical foods are trapped inside an outdated legal framework. In 1988, Congress created the medical food category in the Orphan Drug Act—a law meant to encourage the development of drugs for rare diseases.

Current rules say medical foods can only be used under a doctor’s supervision—even though most physicians receive very little training in nutrition. Meanwhile, qualified nutrition professionals like Certified Nutrition Specialists and Registered Dietitians are shut out from helping patients access these lifesaving foods.

The FDA’s interpretation of the law is so narrow that medical foods are completely shut out from addressing common chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome, even though nutrition is central to their management. In its guidance document, for example, the FDA states, “There are no distinctive nutritional requirements associated with the management of [diabetes],” so medical foods cannot target diabetes.

Making matters worse, medical foods are often denied insurance reimbursement because FDA policy has left their prescription status in limbo. This is critical: our healthcare system mostly runs on insurance reimbursement. But because of the FDA’s restrictive rules, medical foods are left out of that system. As a result, most doctors and patients don’t even know these products exist—and when they do ask for them, insurance almost always refuses to cover the cost. By effectively hiding a whole category of safe, affordable nutrition-based treatments, the system blocks competition and discourages companies from investing in this promising area of medical science.

>>>Download ANH-USA Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan, Medical Foods: Unlocking Access and Value

In short: the FDA has put medical foods in handcuffs for decades while we’ve been seeing increasing rates of chronic disease that are nutrition and lifestyle related. This is crony medicine at its finest: shut out natural, nutrition-based interventions in favor of pharmaceutical monopolies over disease treatment.

Our Solution: A Roadmap for Reform

ANH-USA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan offers a clear, actionable plan to fix this broken system. We’re calling for a modern framework that empowers innovation and restores nutrition to its rightful place in medicine.

Key recommendations include:

  • Modernize the definition. Update the statutory language so medical foods can address common chronic diseases, not just rare ones.
  • Expand access and supervision. Allow qualified nutrition professionals—not just doctors—to oversee medical food use.
  • Clarify prescription status and enable reimbursement. Give medical foods a clear path to coverage through Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, and private insurers.
  • Replace regulatory intimidation with guidance. End the warning-letter culture and provide transparent, science-based rules for innovation.
  • Educate healthcare professionals. Integrate medical nutrition training into medical, nursing, dietetic, and pharmacy schools nationwide.

These changes would unleash innovation, bring competition and lower prices, and expand patient access to safe, proven, food-based therapies.

Why It Matters

Medical foods won’t replace drugs—but they can reduce the need for them. By addressing the nutritional roots of disease, medical foods can help people stay healthier, longer, while saving billions in healthcare costs.

It’s time to bring “food as medicine” from rhetoric to reality.

Action Alert!

(Go to top link to take action)

For more:

The importance of nutrition with Lyme/MSIDS:

The power of fasting:

Category:

Activism, diet and nutrition, Lyme

Tenenbaum Cancer Protocol

I continue to marvel at the many silver linings of the disastrous COVID era. One such silver lining is the plethora of information not only about successful cancer treatments but the truth about the very nature of it. Since a recent paper shows that chemotherapy the current poison treatment of choice that oncologists get a direct cut from, has a 97.9% failure rate in the U.S. over five years, these treatments are just in time as the American Cancer Society Projects diagnoses to exceed 2 MILLION in 2025.

Due to the fact ‘the powers that be’ have proven to be unbelievably corrupt hooligans, people have begun to realize that they in fact have a brain they can use for themselves!  

This awakening has brought many to the conclusion they can research, learn, and experiment just as well as those in a fraudulent, indoctrinated medical machine for profit which spews out mostly corrupt people with a few letters after his or her name.  (There are always rare exceptions and thank God for them!)

The world has already been regaled with the success of the Joe Tippen’s Protocol, Dr. Marik’s success, Dr. Makis’ success, Mel Gibson’s testimony of 3 friends healed of stage four cancer, a major review paper showing high dose IV vitamin C (75-100g, 2-3X week for 6-8 cycles) as a promising anti-cancer agent, and entire websites dedicated to high level guidance based on research for the layman who is interested in cancer treatments.  (COVID mania also exposed the ‘good guy’ doctors who were and continue to be tenaciously persecuted for daring to think for themselves)

Now we have the astounding success of Guy Tenenbaum, a 71 year old with stage 4 prostate cancer who was given a death sentence by all the doctors he consulted with, and who realized he had to rescue himself.  He studied the Metabolic Theory of Cancer, the work of Dr. Otto Warburg and Dr. Wilhelm Brunings [06:41], and discovered the key, autophagy, related to the work of Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi [06:54]. Many studies built on Ohsumi’s foundational work and applied it to cancer. Autophagy, the lysosomal clean-up of cellular debris, is controlled by the mTOR pathway and is turned on by fasting.  Fasting can also enhance chemotherapy and radiation effectiveness and dramatically lessen its toxicity.  Tenenbaum wrote “My Battle Against Cancer – Survivor Protocol,” “Beat Cancer to Cure From Cancer,” and co-authored “Can We Heal From Cancer? Guy and Fred Did it…..and Here’s How.”

It appears the medical machine refuses to apply previously done work to current diseases because there isn’t any money or power in it. 
You think NIAID will give grants for that?  Think again.

Guy Tenenbaum’s Cancer Protocol

  • Fast for 42 days, consuming nothing but water and occasional coffee or tea
  • Take 1,000mg of aged garlic (scientists believe it’s responsible for 30% of his recovery). Go here for research on how aged garlic:
    • reduced stomach cancer by 52% due to reducing IGF-1, activating autophagy, suppressing a master switch controlling inflammation & cancer stem cell survival, and enhancing Natural Killer Cells by up to 300%.
    • even 17 years after stopping it, subjects still had a 34% lower cancer mortality
    • has an anti-aging effect, slows heart disease progression, improves brain health, and beats EGCG and curcumin due to its bioavailability, clinical results, and track record.
    • causes blood levels peak within hours but clinical benefits usually appear:
      • 2-4 weeks – improved blood pressure and inflammation markers
      • 3 months – max cardiovascular benefits
      • 6-12 months – cancer prevention and longevity benefits

Tenenbaum continues to take aged garlic now with meals for better absorption. After his drastic self- experiment his PSA dropped from 58 to 0.1 and scans showed his bone metastases were healing.  Six years later, he remains cancer-free.  

It’s important to note that aged garlic is quite different from regular garlic or even odorless garlic due to the proprietary aging process which converts harsh compounds into gentle, beneficial ones, which have no odor and cause no irritation.  It would require 10-20 cloves of raw garlic a day to achieve 1,000mg.  I must add as a personal side note that I actually took 16 cloves of crushed garlic daily, broken down into 4 doses when I first got Lyme/MSIDS, based on the advice of a Master Herbalist.  I did it for 2 weeks and it nearly killed me.  First, I smelled like I came straight out of Shanghai (the kids banned me from the car), and second my stomach revolted toward the end.  It was just too harsh.  I will state it made me herx initially, so it gave some benefit.

Due to Tenenbaum’s success, there are now two clinical trials now in the works testing prolonged fasting and fasting-mimicking diets in prostate cancer patients.

The following tables are helpful comparing autophagy effectiveness:

Source

This seminal work has shown there there appears to be an autophagy threshold for cancer suppression, growth factor starvation, insulin suppression, Warburg effect reversal, and sustained immune activation, which the 42 day fast meets but the 16 hour intermittent fast doesn’t.

This analysis demonstrates that dose-response matters dramatically in fasting-induced autophagy:

  • Mild fasting (16h): 20-30% tumor growth slowing ✓ (good)

  • Extended fasting (5-7d cycles): 10-25% remission rates ✓ (better)

  • Prolonged fasting (42d continuous): 100% remission rate ✓ (transformational)

Milder Ways to Induce Autophagy for the average Joe

Let’s say you don’t have cancer but you want to incorporate helpful aspects of Tennenbaum’s protocol in a more sustainable manner for prevention or other issues? 

Regarding clearing of spike proteins from those who got the COVID shots, as well as curing Dr. Marik’s Type II Diabetes:

“Autophagy can be upregulated by fasting and calorie restriction [2], especially if protein is reduced [3]. Autophagy in many instances does not require the complete cessation of food intake (protocols are available at https://COVID19criticalcare.com/treatment-protocols/, accessed on 15 April 2023). Sharply decreasing protein intake can upregulate autophagy pathways [4], and this can be accomplished while still eating, which makes this more approachable as a protocol. Regular fasting was also associated with better outcomes from acute COVID-19 [5].  Source

For Average Risk Individuals

Daily: 16:8 Time-Restricted Eating

  • Fast 16 hours (e.g., 8pm – 12pm)

  • Eat 8 hours (12pm – 8pm)

Quarterly: 4-5 Day Fasting-Mimicking Diet

  • Every 3 months (4x per year)

  • 1,100 cal day 1; 500 cal/day days 2-5

Expected Results:

  • ✅ Cancer risk reduction: 40-60%

  • ✅ Sustainability: Excellent (85-95%)

  • ✅ Evidence level: Strong (multiple human RCTs)

For High-Risk Individuals (Family History, Genetic Risk)

Daily: 18:6 Time-Restricted Eating

  • Fast 18 hours (6pm – 12pm)

  • Eat 6 hours (12pm – 6pm)

Monthly: 48-72 Hour Water Fast

  • Once per month

  • Water, tea, coffee only

Quarterly: 4-5 Day FMD

  • Every 2-3 months

Expected Results:

    • ✅ Cancer risk reduction: 50-70%

    • ✅ Sustainability: Good-Excellent (70-85%)

    • ✅ Evidence level: Very Strong

Optimal Combined Protocol (50-70% Prevention)

DAILY FOUNDATION:

  • ✅ 16:8 Time-Restricted Eating (minimum)

  • ✅ 18:6 TRE for high-risk individuals

  • ✅ Eating window: 12pm – 6pm or 10am – 6pm

  • ✅ Black coffee, tea, water allowed during fast

QUARTERLY INTENSIVE:

  • ✅ Fasting-Mimicking Diet 4 times per year

  • ✅ Day 1: 1,100 calories (plant-based)

  • ✅ Days 2-5: 500 calories/day

  • ✅ ProLon kit or DIY version

  • ✅ Schedule: Jan, April, July, October

OPTIONAL MONTHLY BOOST (High Risk):

  • ✅ 48-72 hour water fast once per month

  • ✅ Or extend one FMD to 7 days

SYNERGISTIC ADDITIONS:

  • ✅ Aged Garlic Extract 2.4g/day

  • ✅ Green tea 3+ cups/day (especially lung cancer prevention)

  • ✅ Curcumin 500mg BID with piperine

  • ✅ Whole food, plant-based diet during eating windows

Go here for source and all research studies.

Repurposed Drugs for Cancer

By Paul E. Marik, MD, FCCM, FCCP and Justus R. Hope, MD

https://imahealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/approach-to-repurposed-drugs-for-cancer.pdf

We can be extremely thankful that COVID produced some amazingly unexpected benefits in how cancer and many other disease processes is being treated.

I’ll bet the medical machine didn’t predict their tyranny would promote invention!

For more:

Category:

Activism, Cancer, diet and nutrition, Herbs, Inflammation, Prevention, research, Supplements, Treatment

Study: Daily Cocoa Cuts Inflammation by 70%

https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article-abstract/54/9/afaf269/8253933?

Effects of 2-year cocoa extract supplementation on inflammaging biomarkers in older US adults: findings from the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study randomised clinical trial

, , , , , , , , 
Age and Ageing, Volume 54, Issue 9, September 2025, afaf269, https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afaf269
Published:
17 September 2025

Abstract

Objective

To examine the long-term effect of cocoa flavanols on inflammaging biomarkers in the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS).

Methods

COSMOS is a large, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2 × 2 factorial trial testing the effects of a cocoa extract supplement (containing 500 mg cocoa flavanols/day, including 80 mg (−)-epicatechin) among women aged ≥65 years and men aged ≥60 years. This ancillary study measured five widely used serum inflammaging biomarkers, including three pro-inflammatory markers (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [hsCRP], interleukin-6, tumour necrosis factor-α), one anti-inflammatory cytokine (interleukin-10) and one pleotropic cytokine (interferon-γ [IFN-γ]) in a random sample of 598 participants with biospecimens collected at baseline, Year 1, and Year 2.

Results

The mean age was 70.0 ± 5.6 years, and 49.8% were female. Cocoa extract supplementation significantly decreased hsCRP levels compared with placebo, with a between-group difference in yearly percentage change relative to baseline levels of −8.4% (95% CI, −14.1% to −2.3%; nominal P = .008; Holm-adjusted P value = .039). Moreover, cocoa extract increased IFN-γ with a 6.8% (95% CI, 1.5% to 12.2%, nominal P = .011; Holm-adjusted P value = .043) difference in yearly percentage change versus placebo. The effects of cocoa extract on other inflammatory markers were not significant (all adjusted P values >.05).

Conclusion

Cocoa extract supplementation significantly decreased hsCRP, supporting a role in modulating the chronic inflammaging process as a potential mechanism underlying its cardio-protective effects, including a 27% reduction in cardiovascular disease death in the COSMOS trial. The biological effect of increased IFN-γ by cocoa extract warrants further exploration.

Key Quotes:

Taking cocoa extract supplementation lowered C-reactive protein, a key marker of body-wide inflammation, by 70 percent after two years.

While the placebo group’s CRP levels rose by about 5 percent per year, the cocoa group’s dipped by about 3 percent—a change that wasn’t significant on its own. However, when the two groups were compared across two years, cocoa significantly prevented the usual age-related inflammaging, keeping inflammation steady. These results came from a standardized 500 milligram cocoa flavanol supplement (including 80 milligrams epicatechin).

Evidently CRP rises about 5% annually with age.

Cocoa is high in flavanols which counter inflammation and boost nitric oxide production which relaxes blood vessels, lowers oxidative stress, and helps reduce inflammation in vessel walls. A review of dark chocolate shows that effects are strongest with higher doses exceeding 450mg per day. Authors state the darker the better and to aim for 70% cocoa or higher and to be careful not to overdo chocolate in food as it is calorie dense.  All it takes is a square or two…..not the whole bar!

For more: 

Category:

Activism, diet and nutrition, Inflammation, research