Charlie Brown's Health Food Ltd

05/23/2026

That’s right, we’re hiring again. Bring in your résumé or email to the store. #17 1533 Estevan Rd., Nanaimo BC. charliebrowns@shaw.ca.

05/02/2026

Today is May's Senior's Day. Senior's get a 15% discount on all items not already on special. Have a beautiful day!

04/01/2026

Stress, Anxiety & Depression: Mushrooms Might Be Your Mind’s Best Friend
Way too many people struggle with anxiety, stress, depression and insomnia that can lead to illness and diminish quality of life. This new study shows that a blend of powerful traditional medicinal mushrooms can help.
Around the world, rates of stress, fatigue and poor sleep are just continuing to go up. As many as 28% of people may be depressed, 26.9% may be anxious, 36.5% may be stressed and 27.6% may have trouble getting a good night’s sleep.
A number of powerful medicinal mushrooms have shown an ability to alleviate stress, depression, anxiety and insomnia. This new study put five of those mushrooms together to see what effect they might have.
50 people with at least 3 stress related symptoms were included in the double-blind study. They all had moderate to severe levels of stress and fatigue. Half were given a placebo; half were given a combination of mushrooms. The mushroom supplement was a blend of shiitake, maitake, reishi, lion’s mane and cordyceps. The dose was 1g a day with food for 12 weeks. The mushroom supplement was standardized for at least 30% β‐glucan and at least 30% total polysaccharides.
At the end of the 12 week study, the Hamilton Anxiety Scale showed a 33.5% improvement in anxiety in the mushroom group compared to a significantly less 13.1% in the placebo group. The Beck Depression Inventory showed that depression improved by 16.8% in the mushroom group while worsening by 4.1% on placebo. According to the Perceived Stress Scale, stress went down by 10.1% on placebo, but by a significantly greater 17.8% on the mushrooms. Already by week 6, the mushrooms were significantly better for anxiety, depression and stress than the placebo.
The primary objective of the study was to see what effect the mushrooms would have on stress reduction as measured by changes in cortisol levels. While cortisol went down by 0.8% in the placebo group, it went down by a significantly greater 5.5% in the mushroom group.
When faced with stress, the pituitary hormone ACTH triggers the production of cortisol. While ACTH levels went down by 0.2% in the placebo group, they went down by a significantly greater 8.1% in the mushroom group.
But that’s not all. The mushrooms improved physical fatigue by 9.2% versus a significantly less impressive 2.1% in the placebo group. When it came to markers of fatigue, the mushrooms were significantly better than the placebo for improving norepinephrine and C‐reactive protein.
When it came to sleep, overall sleep quality worsened slightly in the placebo group by 0.4%, but it improved by a significantly greater 6.4% in the mushroom group.
The mushrooms gave all this benefit with no risk. All safety parameters, including liver function, kidney function, hematological indices, electrolyte levels, and blood glucose levels remained normal on the mushrooms.
This study shows that “the mushroom blend offers a natural and effective intervention for managing stress‐related health issues,” including stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue and insomnia.

03/18/2026

Supplementing Curcumin Helps Cholesterol
Cholesterol problems are an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Several studies have suggested that curcumin can help fight cholesterol. This new meta-analysis put the data on curcumin to the test.
This new meta-analysis gathered research that was published up until August 2025. In all, 16 controlled studies of 1038 people were included. The curcumin was combined with piperine to improve absorption.
The pooled results showed that curcumin significantly reduced triglycerides and total cholesterol. The reduction in the heart harmful LDL-cholesterol was not significant, but the even more important increase in the heart healthy HDL cholesterol was.
The researchers concluded that the benefits of curcumin are clinically meaningful. The benefits are greatest for people with cholesterol problems, metabolic disorders or who are overweight. They also say it works best with prolonged supplementation.

03/01/2026

Want Safe, Natural Help for Menopause? Introducing Ashwagandha.
Women going through menopause can experience hot flashes, sweating, loss of libido, depression, anxiety, insomnia and more. Real help that is safe to take would be a huge relief. Meet the ancient herb ashwagandha.
The conventional treatment for menopause is hormone replacement therapy and antidepressants. Given the potential side effects of these powerful drugs, that’s a lot to ask for a totally normal change.
Nature offers a number of herbs that provide significant relief without the potential side effects. One of them is the ancient Ayurvedic herb ashwagandha.
This new 56 day, double-blind study compared 300mg of ashwagandha root extract taken twice a day with a placebo in 60 healthy menopausal women.
The primary outcome measured was improvement on the Menopause Rating Scale. And the ashwagandha did not disappoint, significantly outperforming the placebo. While the women on placebo improved only from a score of 30.73 to 30.03, the women on ashwagandha improved remarkably from 31.37 to 18.53. Ashwagandha produced significant improvement on all subscales, including psychological, physical and urogenital.
Estradiol and progesterone went up, while follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone went down in the herb group; luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone went up in the placebo group. While hot flashes did not significantly improve in either group, they improved significantly and consistently more in the ashwagandha group.
The 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) is used to measure quality of life related to health. It improved significantly more in the ashwagandha group. There was also significantly greater improvement on the Perceived Stress Scale.
The ashwagandha was remarkably safe: the only adverse event was one woman reporting cough and cold. None of the adverse events were associated with the treatment.
This study suggests that ashwagandha safely improves multiple symptoms of menopause.

01/05/2026

Orangutans Use Herbal Medicine Too!
Non-human animals have been known to use herbs to medicate for a long time, but it is very difficult to document. Now a clever orangutang has valuably contributed to the documentation.
Zoopharmacognosy is the name for the study of self-medication behaviour in non-human animals. For a very long time, humans have been aware that animals use specific plants to treat specific illnesses. “Humans and non-human animals have been observing and interacting with each other since prehistoric times and learning about nature together.” In some cases, non-human animals “even seem to use plants or other natural items as drugs in a very similar way to ourselves in order to treat the very same symptoms that we do” (International Journal Of Applied Research and Studies. April 2019;5(5):73-79). It is even possible that humans gained some of their herbal knowledge by observing and learning from non-human animals.
It’s tough to document non-human animals treating themselves herbally because it is tough to predict when it is going to happen to observe it. But several animals are known to self-medicate, including everything from birds and bees to lizards, bears, deer, elephants and chimpanzees. Some lizards are believed to treat venomous snake bites by eating a particular root. Pregnant elephants eat particular leaves to induce delivery (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2014 Dec 9;111(49):17339–17341).
Most evidence of non-human animal herbalism comes from the great apes. There is a lot of evidence that great apes, orangutans, gibbons and other species of monkeys eat whole leaves, chew bitter pith and engage in fur rubbing with plants medicinally.
Up to now, though, there has only been one report of a non-human animal using herbal medicine to treat a wound: that was a chimpanzee.
But now, scientists have observed an orangutan in Sumatra, whose name is Rakus, deliberately and patiently treating a wound with a herbal treatment. Three days after sustaining a bad facial wound, he carefully selected and tore off leaves of a vine known as Akar Kuning (Fibraurea tinctoria). He then pulverized them by chewing and repeatedly applied the juice to his wound several times over a period of 7 minutes. He then smeared the entire wound with the chewed leaf pulp to fully cover the wound. Rakus did not apply the herb to any other part of his body. He then fed on the plant for 34 minutes (he had also eaten the leaves and stems prior to the herbal treatment). The next day, but not again after, he ate the leaves of the plant for 2 minutes.
Remarkably, the wound did not develop any signs of infection, and 5 days later, the wound appeared to fully healed, leaving only a faint scar.
The herb the orangutan selected has painkilling, antifever and diuretic effects. It contains alkaloids and other compounds that have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antioxidant, antihemorrhagic and other activities that are important for wound healing.
The researchers intriguingly conclude that “This possibly innovative behavior presents the first systematically documented case of active wound treatment with a plant species know to contain biologically active substances by a wild animal and provides new insights into the origins of human wound care.”

01/03/2026

That’s right, it’s Senior’s Day again! First Saturday of each month. Let’s start this New Year’s well with our health.

01/01/2026

Closed for New Year’s Day. We will reopen on the 2nd 9:30am!!
We wish you all a most wonderful 2026!!

12/26/2025

12/26/2025

Merry Christmas from all of us at Charlie Brown’s 🎄❤️

12/12/2025

Order mixup. Our loss is your gain! $16.95 for a case of nag Champa!! come in while supplies last. Whole enquires welcome.