Recently, while shopping at my local nutritional supplements store, I was faced with a dilemma: should I shell out more money for an herbal extract that was prepared using the patented phytosome technology or opt for the considerably cheaper regular extract? I then was made to recall an incident at the same store concerning a [Read more…]

A subset of people interested in low-carb diets have issues with insulin resistance, high fasting blood glucose levels, and potentially type 2 diabetes. Berberine, a yellow compound occurring abundantly in some plants, has been drawing some attention in the low-carb blogosphere. This is due to both its folk use along with scientific research showing positive [Read more…]

I’m delighted to welcome Rob Rojas as an occasional contributor to the PracticalCarbs.com blog. He’s chosen as his first topic the vexing issue of standardization for herbal supplements. He’s covered this issue previously on his own blog and expands upon it further here. Warning: contains some mild chemistry lingo along with some very basic math.  [Read more…]