In the U.S., reports emerge periodically indicating that herbal products are not to be trusted. When products have been tested from American chain drug stores, such as CVS, they are sometimes found to contain far less, if any of the labelled ingredients. These reports tend to cast a rather cynical shadow across the industry as a whole, but this is altogether mistaken. There are many companies in the natural products sector competing for market share and industry respect.  One way this is done is by incorporating advanced technologies and methods to ensure the quality and character of their end product. Ingredients that are particularly hot in the marketplace, such as curcumin (derived from turmeric), have companies virtually tumbling over each other to create ever more absorbable forms or cutting-edge formulations. In the last few years, I’ve had the opportunity to visit two herbal/natural product research laboratories and several natural product...

Wh eat and  grain s  g enerally  the focus of a great deal of controversy in recent years.  Publications like Wheat Belly and Grain Brain have created the impression that the ingestion of grains, particularly wheat, is the cause of major health worries such as obesity, diabetes, autoimmune illness, etc.   Despite these anti-grain opinions, the research evidence is strong that whole grains of all types are healthful and central to a nourishing natural food diet, as they have been for thousands of years.  Whole grains such as brown rice of different varieties, millet, buckwheat (a particular favourite), quinoa - all are a regular part of my plant-based diet. Today I would like to briefly discuss the issue of gluten that in a few short years has created an earthquake in the food and restaurant industry.  Gluten is a mixture of two proteins and found in grass grains, particularly wheat....