Probiotics—the good bacteria that live in your gut and that are also found in yogurt and dietary supplements—have been shown in a variety of studies to improve digestion, but new research shows they can do much more. A study published in January 2012 in the FASEB Journal found that boosting the good bacteria in your intestines can help reduce the risk of death from heart attacks. Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin divided rats into three groups. The first group w

Would you ever eat “pond scum?” Despite this unpleasant nickname, the blue-green algae called spirulina is a nutrient-dense cyanobacterium that can often be found in still water lakes and ponds and has been eaten by people all over the world for hundreds of years. When the conquistador Hernan Cortes encountered the Aztecs of modern day Mexico, he found that they grew spirulina in large lakes and harvested the algae for culinary cakes that were sold to the local population. Th