The Claim: Sipping on this keeps blood sugar in check and helps you slim down quicker

The Verdict: There is not a lot of convincing evidence that it will help you drop pounds, but the acetic acid in apple cider vinegar could knock down the amount of sugar absorbed into your blood when you eat. Lower blood sugar is linked to less inflammation, and that's important because chronic inflammation can lead to heart disease, cancer, and obesity. Drinking it straight can also harm your tooth enamel and your esophagus, so just dilute one to two teaspoons in an 8 oz. glass of water..

Dr. Oz says......YES! But not because late night calories stick and become fat....that has not been proven. The real reason is that meals too close to bedtime can cause acid reflux or it's more severe form, GERD-which stands for:

                  Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease

In some people, the muscles at the base of the esophagus don't fully close after they eat, allowing stomach acid and digestive enzymes to gurgle back up where they don't belong and damage the inner lining of the esophagus, and bringing on the discomfort and misery of heartburn, nausea, bloating, indigestion, and sometimes even hoarseness, difficulty swallowing, or chronic coughing. There may even be a link between severe GERD and esophageal cancer.

When you lie down shortly after a big meal, you lose the benefit of gravity helping to keep food and enzymes down. Antacids can temporarily tame troubling symptoms, but using a No-pill strategy is what really helps prevent it. Wait at least three hours after eating before lying down and try to make lunch your biggest meal. If you do have to eat later, skip high-fat and process foods, which slow down digestion. Also try to avoid alcohol, caffeine, chocolate, spicy sauces, and carbonated beverages.

     Some people have a lot of nerve......and if it’s their sciatic nerve, they may also have a lot of pain.    That’s because when the sciatic nerve, which originates in the lower back, becomes inflamed—it really hurts.  Other symptoms can include low back pain and/or  tingling and numbness going down one or both legs.

     Fortunately these symptoms often respond well to chiropractic care.  A study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found spinal manipulation to be  just as effective as microdiscectomy surgery for most people with sciatica secondary to a lumbar disk herniation, with 60 percent of sciatica patients able to avoid low back surgery by treating with  a chiropractor.

    “This study,”  said Dr. Gordon McMorland, who co-authored the paper with medical neurosurgeons Steve Casha, M.D., Stephan J. duPlessis, M.D. and R. John Hubert,M.D., "can provide evidence for a valuable treatment alternative to low back surgery.”                    

     Doctors of Chiropractic are trained in physical examination and diagnosis and routinely treat patients with symptoms of sciatica.

     If you have a headache, you may want to visit a doctor of chiropractic care first before heading to the medicine cabinet.   Doing so can speed relief and help you avoid the side effects associated with certain OTC and prescription drugs.

    Chiropractic care has long been used to treat headaches without using drugs.

    A report from the Duke University Evidence-Based Practice Center in Durham, N.C.,  found that spinal manipulation quickly improved headaches originating in the neck,  had far fewer side effects,  and achieved longer-lasting relief from tension headaches than commonly prescribed medications.

    Other studies have shown chiropractic care to be effective in the treatment of migraine headaches.

     Headaches can often be debilitating and deserve examination by a doctor, and can often be a warning sign of  something more serious is wrong.   That something wrong could also possibly be a structural problem with the head and neck as a result of posture or injury.

     Doctors of Chiropractic are trained to diagnose and treat many different kinds of headaches and insure their patients receive proper care, whether it is with chiropractic spinal manipulation in the office or with a referral to the family doctor or medical specialist.

    Best advice would be that instead of masking their pain with medication,  people should consider a visit to a doctor of chiropractic to first determine the cause of the headache and then obtain appropriate care and treatment.

       lf you're advised by your doctors to  go under the knife to treat neck pain, should you listen?

Maybe not.   A recent study found that surgery, often touted as the most effective way to treat certain types of neck pain, might not be the best approach after all.  A study reported in the medical journal Spine, concluded that interventions by a chiropractor prior to surgery can sometimes be the best treatment option.

   Neck pain affects up to 70 percent of the population , and thousands of surgeries are performed each year.     Spinal manipulation of the neck often proves to be the best approach when treating neck pain.

    Another study conducted by the International Neck Pain Task Force of the World Health Organization concluded that in cases of neck pain without consistent radiating pain in the shoulder and arm, surgery should rarely be advised.  This is an authoritative study, and if the advice it offers is heeded, many less surgeries will be performed in the future.

Debunking Myths

    The Neck Pain Task Force also questioned a link once thought to exist between the cervical spine and neck manipulation and the development of a vascular problem known as vertebrobasilar artery insufficiency, or vertebrobasilar artery stroke.

    Some erroneously believed that chiropractic care could lead to higher rates of the condition. But the study confirmed that's not true.  The study concludes that patients develop stroke symptoms at the same rate, regardless of the type of practitioner they select.

    It's important to make important decisions about your health with information based on facts and not myths.   This new study may help more people obtain needed relief without having to consider surgery, with it's long rehabilitation period and risk of painful complications afterwards.

     There may be a new mantra when it comes to treating back pain: chiropractic care first, medicine second, and surgery last.  Many of those suffering from this often debilitating condition already know first-hand that traditional medical treatments like costly surgery, steroid injections and prescription medicines may not even provide relief and can result in abnormal complications and negative side effects.  The Centers for Disease Control reports that nearly 80 percent of Americans will experience back pain at some point in their lives.   Chiropractic care is being increasingly viewed by many health experts as a more effective and safer alternative.  It’s fast becoming the first option in providing a drug-free, non-invasive approach to effectively manage back pain.  In fact, a recent study by Dartmouth College Geisel School of Medicine regarding Washington State workers who had suffered job-related back injuries documented positive outcomes and significantly reduced odds of surgery for those patients whose first provider was a chiropractor.