Category Archives: Lemon/Lime

Functional foods, nutraceuticals, and your local food store

Since Hippocrates advised “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,” we have defined medicines and foods based on what is known about each substance in terms of efficacy, safety and the significance of its perceived contribution to health.

Over time, we redefine these substances as our experience and expectations change.

Continue reading Functional foods, nutraceuticals, and your local food store

A critical review of herbals to treat anxiety and depression

In 2003, Professor Edzard Ernst writing on the Cochrane Collaboration website concluded, “Compared with placebo, kava extract is an effective symptomatic treatment for anxiety although, at present, the size of the effect seems small.” Continue reading A critical review of herbals to treat anxiety and depression

Transplant patients are cautioned about taking Schisandra

Schisandra sphenanthera (Nan Wu Wei Zi, lemon-wood) is “commonly used in Chinese herbalism, where it is considered to be one of the 50 fundamental herbs.” I found no clinical study in humans to support the many claims for this Chinese herbal medicine.

Now, there’s a report of a drug interaction with tacrolimus (Prograf) — a drug used to suppress the immune system in order to prevent organ rejection of liver, kidney, or heart transplants. Continue reading Transplant patients are cautioned about taking Schisandra