These are items from past Health e-Notes and odds and ends that aren't big enough for their own pages. So, this page will change as new items turn up.

Each of us has a unique assortment of bacterial colonies on our hands. Research, published mid-March in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said that crime fighters might be able to use as a “fingerprint”, the DNA of the bacteria we leave behind. It seems that we have roughly 150 species or families of bacteria on our hands and any 2 people only have about a 13% overlap. Within a few hours of hand washing the very same colonies come back! (newsletter 4/20/2010)

My 2 cents: This is a pretty cool discovery, but I included it here because it is like the unique blend of critters in our digestive tracts. We have hundreds of strains (i.e. families) of bacteria and each has a different role in protecting our health (e.g. making several vitamins, detoxifying, etc.). So, that's why I say over and over that it isn't enough to just supplement a few strains of probiotics (friendly bacteria). Yogurt usually contains only one or two strains plus it has sugar that feeds the bad guys. Even supplement pills that have 8 or more strains still just scratch the surface. I recommend products that feed your own unique strains and improve the gut environment so that all the good guys thrive. Read more .

A new reason to eat cheese: In a German study of over 24,000 adults followed for over 10 years, it was learned that those who ate more Vitamin K 2 were less likely to develop cancer or to die from it. (Vitamin K 1 did not have the same effect.) 1 The results were even more significant in men with regard to lung and prostate cancer. The researchers used cheese consumption as a main indicator of Vitamin K 2 intake. (newsletter 4/20/2010)

My 2 cents: There are many other reasons to get enough Vitamin K 2 . For example, it helps keep calcium going into the bones instead of gunking up the arteries. Seems there'd be zero cancer, heart disease or osteoporosis in the USA if eating cheese was all it took—we put it on everything. However, that stuff they squirt on your corn chips at the ball park (and call it nachos?) and “cheese” that squirts out of a can are not the kind these German scientists were talking about. Hard cheese is the best dairy source of Vitamin K 2 . Other food sources are dark greens like Kale (oops, not popular here) and parsley (you know that decoration people pick off of restaurant plates). I mentioned that our intestinal bacteria make vitamins. Good news, they make Vitamin K 2 . Germans may get more Vitamin K-producing bacteria from their fermented sauerkraut which isn't pasteurized like ours is.