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Polypodium leucotomos (PL) is a tropical fern plant native to Central America and parts of South America. It grows in the rain forest and has a long history of use as an herbal medicine ingested for a variety of ailments by the indigenous people of Honduras. The Mayans even drank it as a tea. Historically, ferns have been used for medicinal purposes since ancient Europe. Commercial extracts of Polypodium leucotomos have been available since at least the 1970s. Polypodium leucotomos is actually the common name for the herb known as Phlebodium aureum. Other names for PL include: calaguala (in Mexico...

Overview People have been drinking infusions of tea for thousands of years, beginning in China and India. Today, tea is consumed more widely than any other beverage in the world except water. Billions of people drink tea, and a large number of studies show that tea has many health benefits. There are three main varieties of tea: green, black, and oolong. All three varieties are made from the leaves of the same species of plant called Camellia sinensis; the difference is in how the tea leaves are processed. Green tea is made from unfermented leaves, while oolong tea is made...

Overview As was discussed in a previous article, What Are Free Radicals?, just the very act of living–breathing, eating, and building up and breaking down the tissues and structures that make up your body–generates free radicals. These free radicals are necessary for many reactions that occur in your body, but if not precisely controlled, these free radicals can cause problems. The reason is because free radicals are highly reactive, and as such can cause damage to anything close to them. This damage, if not repaired, can lead to permanent changes in your body and what you eventually see as a...

Overview Free radicals are atoms or molecules with unpaired electrons. These molecules are considered oxidized. Because in most molecules this state is very unstable, free radicals are highly reactive and therefore try to pair these unpaired electrons in whatever manner they can. This unstable state is often stabilized when the free radical grabs or shares an electron from or with another molecule (when the free radical is reduced). Often a free radical is stabilized when it grabs a free electron from a nearby molecule that is stable, causing that molecule to now become a free radical and be unstable itself....

You may realize that what you eat impacts how you feel; when you eat healthy you have more energy and feel better. You may also notice that what you eat often impacts how you look; healthy food can help your skin look fresh and clear, and may give you a little more “glow” than you otherwise might exhibit. Interestingly enough, there have been a few clinical studies conducted demonstrating that taking an antioxidant call astaxanthin orally can improve the way you look. For more information about astaxanthin, see this article: Astaxanthin: The Wrinkle-Preventing Wonder Compound. Japanese Studies In 2002, a...