A new study from Northumbria University indicates that runners who drank cherry juice experienced a faster recovery than athletes who downed a placebo.

The study centered around runners in the London Marathon, 20 of whom drank either a tart cherry blend juice made from Montmorency cherries or a placebo twice daily for five days before they ran the race. After the race they continued the twice-a-day juice or placebo habit for two additional days. Read more »»

Black, oolong, green, and white tea all come from the Camellia sinensis tea plant, yet they are not the same, and the difference begins the moment the teas are picked.

White tea begins its journey to your tea cup when the plant sports a greater proportion of buds to leaves. These buds are covered with whitish hairs, which is where the tea gets its name. Once the white tea buds and young leaves are picked, they are steamed and dried rapidly, just enough to stop oxidation (oxidation occurs in different levels in green and black teas, giving them their respective color and flavor).

The result is a tea that is barely processed, which allows it to hold onto high concentrations of the potent polyphenols called catechins. All other teas undergo more processing than white tea, which reduces their level of catechins (e.g., epicatechin, epigallocatechin, epigallocatechin-3-gallate [EGCG]), those potent antioxidants for which white and green tea are well known. Read more »»

Listen up, ladies (and guys too, even though the study doesn’t mention you): Boston researchers say that women who live in the northern latitudes are more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than their friends living down south.

Dr. Veronica Vieira, MS, DSc, associate professor of environmental health at Boston University School of Public Health says “This might be related to the fact that there’s less sunlight in these areas, which results in a vitamin D deficiency.” Read more »»

Mr. JoMo just got back from Tahiti where over lunch of Poisson Cru one day we started debating the relative value of good genes versus lifestyle and what matters most in terms of living a long and healthy life.

Of course the debate started when I questioned the amount of French fries that were arriving at the table as well as the butter that was being spread on some great French baguettes (we were, after all, in France technically). Read more »»