Archive for February, 2008
February 27th, 2008 at 08:09pm
Under Food & Nutrition
Florida calls itself the Sunshine State … California also falls into that category (well, usually). Washington state … not so much. I do miss the California sunshine since moving north … even if it’s not pouring rain, the “gray days” of winter seem neverending. Life here has caused me to pay attention to a number of things I once took for granted … one being my vitamin D intake.
Its “liquid sunshine” not withstanding, I love the Pacific Northwest with its clean air and water, evergreen trees, and snow-covered mountains. It has wonderfully mild summers with (surprise!) plenty of sunshine and temps that rarely top 85 degrees, at least here in Western Washington … hot enough to grow a healthy crop of tomatoes in my garden without causing me to keel over from the heat. But winters? You must be kidding.
One of the main ways to get our daily dose of vitamin D is thru our skin via sunshine … about 15 minutes daily up here where the sunlight is weaker and a bit less in sunnier climes. So during the winter I can either 1) scurry to the deserts of California or Arizona or 2) get my vitamin D through food sources and nutritional supplements. Although salmon is king up here in the PacNW, I confess that I don’t eat salmon (or mackerel, or sardines), so I get my vitamin D through daily doses of high-quality Omega-3 fish oil capsules, a calcium supplement containing D3, and fortified soy milk.
In a well-researched article, Jane Brody, health columnist for the New York Times, notes: “In addition to fortified drinks like milk, soy milk and some juices, the limited number of vitamin D food sources includes oily fish like salmon, mackerel, bluefish, catfish, sardines and tuna, as well as cod liver oil and fish oils. The amount of vitamin D in breakfast cereals is minimal at best. As for supplements, vitamin D is found in prenatal vitamins, multivitamins, calcium-vitamin D combinations and plain vitamin D. Check the labels and select brands that contain vitamin D3, or cholecalciferol, because D2, or ergocalciferol, is 25 percent less effective (than D3).” *
Her article goes on to state: “… a growing legion of medical researchers have raised strong doubts about the adequacy of currently recommended levels of intake, from birth through the sunset years. The researchers maintain, based on a plethora of studies, that vitamin D levels considered adequate to prevent bone malformations like rickets in children are not optimal to counter a host of serious ailments that are now linked to low vitamin D levels.”
A team of nutrition experts noted in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that “randomized trials using the currently (govt) recommended intakes of 400 I.U. vitamin D a day have shown no appreciable reduction in fracture risk.”
“In contrast,” they continued, “trials using 700 to 800 I.U. found less fracture incidence, with and without supplemental calcium. This change may result from both improved bone health and reduction in falls due to greater muscle strength.” * So it sounds like we’re not just talking about women and children’s needs here … if you aspire to be a jock, take your vitamin D and you’ll have more bone AND muscle mass.
In addition to the benefits to bone protection, in animal studies vitamin D has been demonstrated to strikingly reduce tumor growth, and other studies have shown it to be a factor in reducing the incidences of M.S. and diabetes in humans.
So get out there in the sunshine and soak up your vitamin D, everyone. I’ll just continue taking my supplements and dream of California.
Yours in health …
*Personal Health, “An Oldie Vies for Nutrient of the Decade” by Jane Brody; New York Times; February 19, 2008
By admin
February 24th, 2008 at 06:34pm
Under CAM
Tom Sawyer declared to Huck Finn that warts could be cured by spunk (stump) water and a magic chant … Huck maintained it was better to use a dead cat.*
While we laugh at such odd notions today, the fact is, many “old time” remedies should have a permanent place in our home medicine cabinet. In fact, a friend recently advised me that soaking with common vinegar will indeed (over a few day’s time) remove a wart.
Some time-tested, common cures and treatments are now being seriously investigated under laboratory conditions with interesting results. Grandma didn’t know exactly how or why they worked, she only knew that they did.
One of the most useful items in our cupboard is ordinary, humble honey. We might expect honey to be useful for soothing a sore throat when added to hot herbal tea (or brandy), but its medicinal uses are many.
Due to its wound-healing properties, it was used extensively during the Civil War. Doctors in battlefield hospitals, known more for butchery than for surgical success, used honey as both an immediate field dressing and for post-surgical treatment of wounds. As well as needing no refrigeration, honey also had the advantage of being readily available (a short scouting trip of the surrounding countryside usually could produce a “honey tree”), and it could be put into jars or oilcloth packets and easily transported.
The notion of “germs” was still rather vague back then, so they couldn’t have known that honey has natural antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties derived from enzymes in what my uncle called “bee spit”. They only knew it was useful.
Those same properties also make it helpful for treating minor burns. One old-time method was to slather butter or fat on the burn, a treatment we now know does more harm than good. The reason is, you want a wound of any kind to “breathe” and not be sealed … butter can trap bacteria and actually encourage infection. I was always taught to just use plain ice on a minor burn, then pat dry and cover with a clean bandage.
But additionally, according to a blurb in the Health section of the New York Times*, scientists have now found that honey may be a quick and easy treatment to soothe and promote healing of minor burns. One study in 2006 examined results of more than a dozen previous studies and found that small, non-serious burns healed faster when treated with gauze and a dash of honey, on average, than those treated with antibiotic creams and other dressings. A separate report published earlier found similar results.
So take the honey jar on your next camping trip … you might just find it comes in handy.
Yours in health …
* Tom Sawyer; Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain)
* “Honey Can Soothe a Burn” by Anahad O’Connor; NYTimes, Feb 19, 2008
By admin
February 23rd, 2008 at 06:51pm
Under DIY
At one point I wore the (bubbly) hat of a handcrafted soap-maker, creating skin-friendly, natural alternatives to the world of commercial bath products. I have always liked the idea of do-it-yourself products made from commonly available ingredients, and it still makes me cringe to see containers of bath salts or body scrubs selling for outrageous prices, knowing they contain about 50¢ worth of ingredients (most of which can be found right in your kitchen cupboard). No matter how fancy the label or high-end the brand, they are not worth $50. Trust me on this one.
For example, here’s a link to an easy, make-it-yourself sugar scrub from The Green Guide which will help you cope with those dry, winter skin blues, and another for a simple bath salts recipe from wikiHow. One caveat: No matter how pretty those chunky bath salts are in the jar, they do not dissolve readily in your bath water and will feel like little shards of broken glass when you step on them. Ask me how I know.
So from time to time be sure to check back to find practical, inexpensive (and eco-friendly) do-it-yourself solutions for seasonal health woes, skincare issues, cleaning products, and organic gardening.
Yours in health …
By admin
February 19th, 2008 at 01:21am
Under CAM
Both Grandma’s home remedies and native peoples’ healing materials appear to have curative values that science is only now “proving” through more sophisticated technology.
We are beginning to see articles in magazines, on newstands, and through mainstream media about everything from the health benefits of honey to recent studies touting the potential of rice bran as a treatment for diabetes.
The basis of many modern medicines are often rooted, so to speak, in common plants or their components, and food and dietary factors relative to health (and disease) are now beginning to be at long last recognized and studied.
This is certainly gratifying, but altruistic aspects aside, there is also money to be made. Big money.
According to the New York Times, in a study by the European Commission, natural plant substances generate more than $75 billion in sales each year for the pharmaceutical industry, $20 billion in herbal supplement sales, and around $3 billion in cosmetics sales. The Times article states, “Although the efficacy of some of the products the herbal ingredients go into is hotly debated, their popularity is not in doubt. Thirty-six percent of adults in the United States use some form of what experts call Complementary and Alternative Medicine, CAM for short, according to a 2004 study published by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health.”*
Indigenous “medicines” are showing great potential in eventually leading to cures for some of our most devastating diseases … and what company wouldn’t like be the one to find a cure for cancer or any of the other Holy Grails of the world of medicine in a commonly found plant? This is exciting and heady stuff, but at what eventual cost? According to the article, Big Business and Big Pharm are joining hands and beating a path to remote areas as diverse as the Amazon rain forests and the Andes in Peru in aggressive searches for the latest discoveries. It’s telling that the aforementioned article was found not in the Travel or even in the Health sections, but in the Business section of the New York Times.*
Whether the indigenous peoples (and their fragile environments) will benefit or be on the losing end, victims of both the so-called “biopirates” (those who steal traditional knowledge and don’t give back to the local community) and the drug companies who are investing large sums in the hope of lucrative profits, remains to be seen.
* “On a Remote Path to Cures”; New York Times; Jan.1, 2008
By admin