Hannah Calef Integrative Wellness and Acupuncture

02/15/2025

HER2- breast cancer patients are often curious about how much benefit they may receive from hormone-blocking therapies and often ask do the benefit outweigh the risks and adverse effects? New research has found that in the future the percentage of ER receptors may be used to guide treatment options https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-90134-9?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR01I8Njyof1LXgBq3bl8WyvMFBxG4c6q5uaAWZmFcGlVlmFu2zng2ceGZM_aem_PIhCKZCkofwjWcWN82cdHAnt options.

We used a novel shape-restricted Cox model to determine the desirable ER expression cutoff to predict breast cancer prognoses. Our model treats ER as a continuous variable using a flexible monotone-shaped Cox regression to assess its association with survival outcomes holistically. The study include...

09/01/2024

Your salt may not be as pristine and pure as the label says according to a recent analysis from Mamavation which found alarmingly high levels of metals including aluminum and arsenic in a number of popular salt brands. A handful of brands made the 'clean' list including Maldon Sea Salt. You can read the full study here and see how your favorite brand of salt checked out.

Are you concerned about the amount of heavy metals like lead, inorganic arsenic, cadmium, mercury, & microplastics in your salt? We tested!

04/21/2024

If you eat these vegetables and fruits regularly take note of this Consumer Reports study which found high levels of pesticides in these foods when conventionally grown. https://www.instagram.com/p/C552UOzvlPW/?igsh=azhzNDUzMzM1Z3lj

03/12/2024

Many of us liberally add cinnamon to foods and beverages to benefit from cinnamon's blood sugar lowering effects and more. But a recent Consumer Reports study found worrying levels of lead in a number of cinnamon products. Check the article below to see if the brand you use is on the list.

For a more extensive review of cinnamon brands, Consumer Lab tested seventeen products in it's most recent cinnamon review. Although a subscription is required to access the full report Consumer Lab is one of the subscriptions I truly value for independent testing of foods and nutritional supplements.

Testing by the FDA has found that six ground-cinnamon products could be contaminated with lead. Throw out any of the products you own.

07/29/2023

Cadmium is a heavy metal found at worrying levels in some brands of chocolate, and unfortunately, cadmium can adversely effect placental hormones. Unless you know for sure you are using a low cadmium chocolate (see reviews at consumer lab and consumer reports) you may want to minimize chocolate when trying to secure implantation and early pregnancy.

As with many toxins, exposure to the toxic metal cadmium during pregnancy can adversely impact fetal development. Now, researchers at the Rutgers School of Public Health think they're beginning to understand how the metal inflicts its damage: by disrupting placental hormones that regulate pregnancy....

07/27/2023

Many women are aware of the fertility risks of chemicals in personal care products take care to choose safe brands when trying to conceive. But men use far more fragranced personal care products that they used to and the chemicals in male-targeted products have also been linked with sub-fertility. Time to clean up male personal care products too when TTC. Search your products on the skin deep data base or Think Dirty.

Men's use of personal care products has almost doubled since 2004, exposing them to some potentially harmful chemicals, a new study commissioned by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) finds.

07/14/2023

Many women take CBD to manage anxiety and continue to take it during pregnancy. CBD is also often used to help manage nausea, especially during the first trimester, but research shows cannabinoids build up in the fetal brain and may have adverse effects. You can learn more here

Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have found that cannabidiol (CBD), often used to treat anxiety and nausea, can potentially harm a developing fetus. The paper was published in Molecular Psychiatry .

06/30/2023

As cannabis use has become more normalized in many states it's important not to lose sight of the fact that even small infrequent intakes of cannabis can have a significant negative effect upon fetal growth. Zero cannabis is the only safe levels of cannabis during pregnancy.

As more people use cannabis for recreational purposes, attitudes towards the drug have changed. For example, research has shown that dispensaries often recommend cannabis—also referred to as marijuana—to pregnant women to ease pregnancy symptoms, especially morning sickness.