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Microplastics are plastic particles ranging in size from 1 micrometer (1/1,000 of a millimeter) to 5 mm. Nanoplastics are even smaller, less than one micrometer. These particles are invisible to the naked eye, but are constantly being generated during the manufacturing, storage, transportation, and decomposition of bottles. Low-quality plastics, in particular, are prone to release microscopic debris due to sunlight, temperature changes, and physical manipulation. Unlike other plastic particles that enter the body through the food chain, those derived from plastic bottles are of concern because they are ingested directly with drinking water. Once in the body, microscopic plastics can enter the bloodstream and reach vital organs. This triggers a chronic inflammatory response and exposes cells to oxidative stress, which can lead to hormone system disturbances, impaired reproductive function, and damage to the nervous system. It has also been linked to various types of cancer.

Stevia comes from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana, a plant native to South America. Its leaves are packed with compounds called steviol glycosides — the most abundant being rebaudioside A and stevioside — which are about 200–300 times sweeter than table sugar. The stevia you’ll find in foods and drinks today isn’t the same form as the crushed leaves people used for centuries to sweeten tea. The FDA only allows the use of high-purity stevia extracts containing 95% or more steviol glycosides, compounds that don’t raise blood sugar, provide calories, or have the same metabolic and hormonal impacts as sugar. So why the scrutiny? For starters, when stevia hit the U.S. market in 2008, it followed decades of backlash against artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose and got inaccurately lumped into the same category. How Is Stevia Metabolized in the Body? Stevia moves through your body like a widget on a factory line: - Your small intestine passes it to your colon - In the colon, workers (your gut bacteria) break it down into parts.  - Then it rolls down the conveyor belt to your liver, which repackages it into a harmless form — steviol glucuronide— and ships it off to your kidneys.  - They prep it for delivery and send it out to be excreted in urine, no scraps left behind. Here’s how that process works in a bit more detail. 1. Digestion and absorption The chemical structure of steviol glycosides includes a steviol backbone with sugar molecules that your digestive enzymes can’t break apart.

For more than three decades, statins have been widely prescribed under the assumption that lowering cholesterol — specifically low-density lipoprotein (LDL) — protects against cardiovascular disease. Over time, this assumption has calcified into medical dogma, reinforced by clinical guidelines, pharmaceutical marketing, and statistical framings that favor surrogate markers over biological reality. Yet a growing body of biomedical evidence points to a far more uncomfortable conclusion. This pattern of well-intended but scientifically oversold interventions is not unique to statins. It also appears in other areas of cardiovascular care, including common supplements — such as calcium — where presumed benefits have masked unanticipated harms. According to research indexed in PubMed and the National Library of Medicine, statin drugs are now associated with more than 350 adverse health effects, impacting nearly every major physiological system. These findings are not anecdotal or fringe. They are cumulative, reproducible, and increasingly difficult to reconcile with the claim that statins are biologically benign--let alone intrinsically cardioprotective. The deeper issue is not merely the number of adverse effects, but their nature. A drug that damages muscle tissue, impairs mitochondrial energy production, disrupts metabolic signaling, and injures peripheral nerves cannot logically be assumed to protect the most energy-demanding, nerve-dense muscle in the human body: the heart. Since 2006, I have been issuing public alerts about these overlooked risks. I began systematically documenting and indexing the peer-reviewed literature linking statins to muscle injury, mitochondrial dysfunction, metabolic disruption, neurological harm, and paradoxical cardiovascular impairment. Today, 1000s of published sutides substansitae these concerns, forming an evidentiary record that remains largely absent from mainstream patient risk-benefit discussions despite its clear clinical relevance.

As a Nutrition Coach, one of the questions I hear most often is, “What should I feed my child if I want them to eat healthier?” As many parents know, that’s not always an easy answer—especially if you’re dealing with a picky eater. The good news is that there are simple, healthy swaps for many popular kid-friendly foods that are easy to find and, in my experience, kid-approved. I’ve included a list of 'better' and 'best' food swaps that I hope you’ll find helpful.