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Ashwagandha Normalizes Hypothyroid Levels Ashwagandha, a traditional ayurvedic herb, can significantly improve symptoms of subclinical hypothyroidism, a condition that affects many women, a new double-blind clinical study shows. Researchers from India’s Sudbhawana Hospital tested 50 patients that had high circulating thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels. For eight weeks, half were given 600 milligrams a day of ashwagandha; the other half were given a placebo. In the treatment group, TSH levels fell by more than 17 percent, T4 levels increased by nearly 20 percent and T3 levels increased by more than 40 percent. “Ashwagandha treatment effectively normalized the serum thyroid indices during the eight-week treatment period in a significant manner,” the report concluded.
The Power of Thank-You Notes Practicing gratitude is a healthy habit, yet people often hesitate to write heartfelt thank-you notes to people that have touched their lives. Researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Texas, in Austin, report that writers underestimate how much people receiving those notes are surprised, happy and appreciative. The researchers also found that the letter writers were unduly concerned about their ability to express their gratitude skillfully. While the writers worried about choosing the right words, the recipients felt happiness simply through the warmth of the gesture.
Walnut Leaves Improve Diabetic Health In a double-blind study of 40 Type-2 diabetes patients, Iranian researchers gave half of them 200 milligrams of an extract of walnut leaf (Juglans regia) for eight weeks and the other half a placebo. Although the walnut leaf extract had no significant effect on their blood glucose levels or insulin resistance, it significantly lowered systolic blood pressure and body weight in the patients.
Sniffing Dogs Can Detect Malaria After years of worldwide decline, malaria is on a worrisome upswing, but researchers from Durham University, in the UK, have found a quick, non-invasive,
low-cost detection method: dogs. Trained to sniff out malaria parasites in socks that West African children wore for one night, the canines correctly identified 70 percent among the infected and 90 percent among the uninfected children. February 2019
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