Parasitic Diseases

The world has a flock of chickens to thank for the discovery of vitamins and, with time, vitamin supplements. Back in the 1880s, a scientist named Christiaan Eijkman studied chickens because he found they could develop a beriberi-like condition. Beriberi is a disease with two types: wet and dry. Wet beriberi affects the heart and circulatory system and can cause heart failure. Dry beriberi damages nerves, resulting in the loss of feeling in the legs. Christiaan discovered a flock of chickens that had recovered from beriberi. He found out the chickens had been fed leftover processed rice from a military hospital. Once the chickens resumed a diet of unprocessed rice, their symptoms resolved. Christiaan realized something vital in the outer layer of rice was stripped away during processing, what scientists later identified as vitamin B1, or thiamine. It was Polish biochemist Casimir Funk who called that something "vital amine," or vitamin. Over the next century, vitamins becam...

Share on Pinterest A student returns to campus for the first day of classes at Tustin Ranch Elementary School in Tustin, CA, on August 11, 2021. Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images A recent review included 14 international studies on long COVID in children and adolescents involving nearly 20,000 participants. Some studies indicated no difference in the symptoms reported by those who had experienced COVID-19 and those who had not. The review found little evidence to suggest that symptoms of long COVID typically last longer than 12 weeks in children and adolescents. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that for most people who develop COVID-19, the symptoms dissipate within weeks of onset. Yet, some individuals experience ongoing health problems, such as fatigue, cardiorespiratory, and neurological symptoms, weeks after the initial onset of their illness — a phenomenon commonly referred to as long COVID. While the CDC reports that p...

Share on Pinterest Prof. Hans Adolf Krebs, pictured in his laboratory at the University of Sheffield, oversaw the Sorby trials and subsequently won the 1953 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Keystone-France / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images Recommendations for the daily minimum requirements of vitamin C are based on a landmark, if unsettling, study from the 1940s. Now, researchers have reanalyzed that study's data using modern statistical tools. The new analysis suggests a much higher recommendation for the minimum amount of vitamin C required daily for good health. In the 1940s, England's Sorby Research Institute conducted experiments to learn how much vitamin C a person needs to avoid scurvy. The study's findings were later used to justify recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) about how much vitamin C is needed for good health. A fresh analysis of data collected in the Sorby experiments reveals that a person actually needs about twice the current reco...

Your body needs to consume at least 13 vitamins and 16 minerals regularly to function properly. A well-balanced diet is the best way to obtain these nutrients. That said, multivitamins provide a good alternative source for those who are unable to meet their nutrient requirements through diet alone. Multivitamins that provide up to 100% of the daily Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) are generally considered safe and often free of side effects, as long as you take them as directed. Nonetheless, some people may still experience a few side effects when taking multivitamins. Some side effects are more common than others ( 2 , 3 ). Common side effects Certain side effects are more likely to occur than others when you're taking multivitamins. These include ( 2 , 3 ): constipation diarrhea upset stomach nausea These gut-related side effects are generally minor and often temporary. They tend to disappear as your body gets used to taking the multivitamin. Nevertheless, contact your healthcare...

We've officially made it to the tail end of a harsh winter and couldn't be more excited to bask in warmer, sunny days where we can actually go for walks through nature. In preparation for the months of hydration that are on the horizon, we've been swapping out our thick moisturizers for lightweight gels and looking for serums that will draw water from the air to our skin as the humidity starts to rise. One ingredient we've been eyeing for its hydration-boosting benefits is provitamin B5. So what does it do? Dr. Joshua Zeichner, board-certified dermatologist and director of cosmetic and clinical research in dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital, and Dr. Dendy Engelman, board-certified dermatologist practicing at Shafer Clinic, gave us the intel on spring's hottest skin-care ingredient. What Is Provitamin B5? Although it may sound as if we're making cocktails of crushed vitamin capsules and serums, provitamin B5 is actually a common skin-care ing...