Monday, July 19, 2010
Skin the largest organ of the body
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Remedies for ears
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Vit C and Cardiac Health
Vitamin C and Cardiovascular Disease
A Personal Viewpoint by Alan Spencer and Andrew W. Saul
(OMNS, June 22, 2010) Linus Pauling was aware that studies of the animal kingdom showed that most animals have the ability to manufacture vitamin C in their bodies. Humans cannot. Furthermore, on average, mammals make 5,400mg daily when adjusted for body weight, and make more (often considerably more) when under stress or ill. This is about 100 times as much as the 50mg we get from a typical modern diet. It prompts the question, why do animals make so much vitamin C, and what purpose does it serve in the body?
A small number of animals which are known to share our inability to make vitamin C include the apes, the guinea pig, the fruit bat, and some birds, all of which will normally get a lot of vitamin C from their food. If you deprive a guinea pig of vitamin C it soon develops a form of cardiovascular disease (damage to its arteries showing within a few weeks). Similarly, studies of genetically modified mice have shown that if you switch off the gene that enables a mouse to produce vitamin C it will also soon show signs of heart disease. Re-introduction of a high vitamin C diet enables the damage to be reversed. While heart disease is rare in the animal kingdom, it is becoming a problem for apes in zoos where their diets are perhaps not as rich in vitamin C as when they are in the wild.
Collagen
A very important function of vitamin C in the body is its role in the production of collagen. Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body, and forms into fibres which are stronger than iron wire of comparable size. These fibres provide strength and stability to all body tissues, including the arteries. Vitamin C is absolutely essential for the production and repair of collagen, and is destroyed during the process, so a regular supply of vitamin C is necessary to maintain the strength of body tissues. Severe deficiency of vitamin C causes the total breakdown of body tissue witnessed in scurvy. Linus Pauling believed that whilst humans normally obtain sufficient vitamin C to prevent full-blown scurvy, we do not consume enough to maintain the strength of the walls of the arteries. He suggested that of all the structural tissues in the body, the walls of the arteries around the heart are subject to the greatest continual stress. Every time the heart beats the arteries are flattened and stretched, and this has been likened to standing on a garden hose thousands of times a day. Many tiny cracks and lesions develop and the artery walls become inflamed.
Dr. Pauling believed that in the presence of adequate supplies of vitamin C this damage can be readily repaired and heart disease is avoided. However, in the absence of adequate levels of vitamin C, the body attempts to repair the arteries using alternative materials: cholesterol and other fatty substances, which attach to the artery wall. (1-8)
Cholesterol and Lipoprotein (a), Lp(a)
The most abundant amino acids (protein building blocks) in collagen are lysine and proline, and when collagen strands are damaged lysine and proline become exposed. A special kind of cholesterol, lipoprotein(a), is attracted to lysine and proline and will attach itself to the exposed damaged collagen strands. It is an attempt by the body to repair damage to the collagen of the artery walls in the absence of adequate levels of vitamin C. Unfortunately the repair is not ideal and over many years repeated deposits can cause the artery to become narrow and inflamed. Heart attack or stroke is likely to follow (usually caused by a clot forming at the site of the narrowed artery, or by a piece of plaque breaking off and blocking a smaller vessel downstream). When vitamin C levels are low, the body manufactures more cholesterol, especially Lp(a). Conversely, when vitamin C levels are high the body makes less cholesterol.
If high blood cholesterol were the primary cause of heart disease, all bears and other hibernating animals would have become extinct long ago. They naturally have high cholesterol levels. One reason bears are still with us is simple: they produce large amounts of vitamin C in their bodies, which stabilises the artery walls, and there is therefore no tendency to develop cholesterol deposits or plaque.
Keeping healthy
The low levels of vitamin C that are available through diet are inadequate to prevent many people developing arterial plaques, and over time this may result in cardiovascular disease. Post mortem examinations showed that 77% of young American soldiers killed in the Korean war (average age 22) already had well-advanced atherosclerosis (heart disease), and post mortem studies from the Vietnam war gave similar results. Heart disease is not just a disease of the elderly, although it does not usually become life threatening until later in life.
How can we prevent it? Pauling believed that once we start taking high levels of vitamin C, the disease process is halted, or at least slowed, as Lp(a) cholesterol is no longer needed as a repair material. He also believed that when we take adequate levels of vitamin C, existing arterial plaques may start to be removed from the arteries. He found that the removal of plaques is more rapid if the amino acid lysine is taken along with vitamin C. Lysine appears to attach to the Lp(a) in existing plaque deposits and helps to loosen them. Linus Pauling recommended at least 3000mg of vitamin C per day as a preventive dose, and significantly higher levels of both vitamin C and lysine for the treatment of existing heart disease. Dosage is a key factor: low doses are ineffective.
Retention in the body
Another important point is that a single dose of vitamin C is not retained in the body for very long. This fact has been used for a long time by those who do not support the use of high doses of vitamin C as evidence that the body does not need and cannot use large doses. After a single large dose of vitamin C, the blood level quite soon returns to a low level. A lot is excreted, the high blood level only remaining for a few hours.
The key factor here is that the body is not designed to function with just a single large dose of vitamin C once a day. Animals are able to manufacture vitamin C in their bodies and do so continuously throughout the day. They have an enzyme which converts glucose to vitamin C, and each day they produce on the order of a hundred times more vitamin C than we are able to get from even a good diet. When animals are ill they manufacture even more, perhaps thousands of times more than we can get from our diet.
How much should we take?
For people who are essentially fit and well, the Vitamin C Foundation recommends perhaps 3,000mg of vitamin C per day, taken in divided doses as 500mg every four hours, as a protection against the development of heart disease. The problem with even this protective dose is that taking a tablet every four hours is not something that many people would want to adopt as part of their daily routine. But there is good evidence to suggest that this level of intake will help maintain the strength of the arteries and prevent the build up of cholesterol plaques. If everybody were to do this, perhaps heart disease would become a largely a thing of the past (as might many other chronic diseases).
When treating illness, "bowel tolerance" is the indicator of dosage level that should be used. This means taking just under the level of vitamin C (in divided doses) that results in loose stools. Everyone is different. Note that while a few 1,000mg doses a day might make you loose when you are fit and well, your "bowel tolerance" might increase to ten or even a hundred times this when very ill. So, for illness, the levels suggested by the Vitamin C Foundation are 6,000mg to 18,000mg of vitamin C per day (or up to bowel tolerance) plus 2,000mg to 6,000mg of lysine. These vitamin C levels may seem high, but are perhaps not particularly large when compared with levels seen in the animal kingdom. A substantial amount of lysine may be obtained from diet. For example, one may obtain 3,000 to 4,000 milligrams of lysine from about can and a half of beans. Supplementation reduces the need to consume that much.
Controversy
"Even though some physicians had observed forty or fifty years ago that amounts of vitamin C a hundred to a thousand times larger (than the RDA) have value in controlling various diseases, the medical profession and most scientists ignored this evidence." (Linus Pauling, How to Live Longer and Feel Better)
In medical circles, Pauling's recommendations remain controversial. However, his theory seems reasonable, and the implications are so significant that some major scientific trials should have been undertaken to assess it. This has not happened. Supporters of high-dose vitamin C have had their applications for research funding denied repeatedly, and have had to be content with carrying out small scale research projects and case studies. These have been very positive. Over the past fifteen years, Pauling therapy advocates have received hundreds of reports from heart patients who have self administered the therapy. It is reported that these people typically recover within 30 days, and the majority experience significant relief within as little as a week or two. In 1994, Linus Pauling wrote, "I think we can get almost complete control of cardiovascular disease, heart attacks and strokes by the proper use of vitamin C and lysine. It can prevent cardiovascular disease and even cure it. If you are at risk of heart disease, or if there is a history of heart disease in your family, if your father or other members of the family died of a heart attack or stroke or whatever, or if you have a mild heart attack yourself, then you had better be taking vitamin C and lysine."
References:
(1) Rath M, Pauling L. Immunological evidence for the accumulation of lipoprotein(a) in the atherosclerotic lesion of the hypoascorbemic guinea pig. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Dec;87(23):9388-90. PMID: 2147514. Free full text download: http://www.pnas.org/content/87/23/9388.full.pdf
(2) Rath M, Pauling L. Hypothesis: lipoprotein(a) is a surrogate for ascorbate. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Aug;87(16):6204-7. [Erratum in: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1991 Dec 5;88(24):11588.] PMID: 2143582. Free full text download: http://www.pnas.org/content/87/16/6204.full.pdf
(3) Rath M, Pauling L. Solution To the Puzzle of Human Cardiovascular Disease: Its Primary Cause Is Ascorbate Deficiency Leading to the Deposition of Lipoprotein(a) and Fibrinogen/Fibrin in the Vascular Wall. J Orthomolecular Med, Vol 6, 3&4th Quarters, 1991, p 125. Free full text download: http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1991/pdf/1991-v06n03&04-p125.pdf
(4) Pauling L, Rath M. An Orthomolecular Theory of Human Health and Disease. J Orthomolecular Med, Vol 6, 3&4th Quarters, 1991, p 135. Free full text download: http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1991/pdf/1991-v06n03&04-p135.pdf
(5) Rath M, Pauling L. Apoprotein(a) Is An Adhesive Protein. J Orthomolecular Med, Vol 6, 3&4th Quarters, 1991, p 139. Free full text download: http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1991/pdf/1991-v06n03&04-p139.pdf
(6) Rath M, Pauling L. Case Report: Lysine/Ascorbate Related Amelioration of Angina Pectoris. J Orthomolecular Med, Vol 6, 3&4th Quarters, 1991, p 144. Free full text download: http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1991/pdf/1991-v06n03&04-p144.pdf
(7) Rath M, Pauling L. A Unified theory of Human Cardiovascular Disease Leading the Way To the Abolition of This Diseases As A Cause for Human Mortality. J Orthomolecular Med, Vol 7, First Quarter 1992, p 5. Free full text download: http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1992/pdf/1992-v07n01-p005.pdf
(8) Rath M, Pauling L. Plasmin-induced Proteolysis and the Role of Apoprotein(a), Lysine and Synthetic Lysine Analogs. J Orthomolecular Med, Vol 7, First Quarter 1992, p 17. Free full text download: http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1992/pdf/1992-v07n01-p017.pdf
Friday, July 9, 2010
Excercise Fact vs. Fiction
1. FACT/FICTON: Cardio burns more calories than strength training.
Fiction.
Contrary to long-held belief, strength training is—as new studies have shown—superior to steady-state cardio in caloric burn. In one University of Southern Maine study, participants blasted as many calories doing 30 minutes of weight training as they did running at a six-minute-per-mile pace for the same amount of time. Unless you're Lolo Jones, strength is your best bet.
The other huge benefit of weight training? It boosts your metabolism after your workout—and builds muscle that will further increase your fat-burning potential in the long run. "If you do steady-state cardio, when you leave the gym, that's it for your calorie burn," says David Jack, general manager of Competitive Athlete Training Zone in Acton, Massachusetts. "But when you do strength work, you'll continue to burn calories for up to 36 hours."
2. You can reduce cellulite through exercise.
Fact.
Cottage-cheese thighs can affect even the fittest athletes, and though exercise can't prevent cellulite, it can help reduce the appearance of those tell-tale dimples. Cellulite is fat, so calorie-blasting activities and the right nutrition can make your skin look smoother. Likewise, weight gain can make cellulite worse.
"Women lose about five pounds of muscle per decade, and they lose most of it where they don't use their muscles: where they sit. When they lose that muscle in their hips and thighs, the overlying layer of fat doesn't have much of a foundation, so it starts to get pockmarked," explains Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., author of No More Cellulite. "Strength training can play a major role to tone that muscle and get the firm foundation back."
Westcott recommends moves that target your hips, quads, and hamstrings, but says not to ignore your other muscles. "Since all strength exercises boost your metabolic rate, they'll decrease fat too," he says.
3. Crunches are one of the best moves to target your abs.
Fiction.
You probably know crunches are old-school, but you may not know hwy they're not very effective. What's their weakness? Most women initiate crunches with their hip flexors without engaging much of their core. This may get the surface muscles in your abs, but it ignores the ones underneath, which are also essential to a flat stomach.
Plus, crunches mimic the sitting posture we use for much of the day. "We don't want to exacerbate this 'hips flexed/shoulders hunched' position," Jack explains. "The point of training is to fix the gaps and do something different. Crunches repeat a similar movement pattern.
A better bet for flat abs? Focus on moves like the plank and side plan that work often-neglected areas of your core. And don't forget your butt, too. Weak glutes push your stomach out and give you a belly even if you don't have one. (Not fair, we know!)
4. Exercise immediately improves your ability to learn.
Fact.
It sounds unbelievable, but it's true. In a study at the University of Muenster in Germany, participants who ran sprints learned new words 20 percent faster than those who did nothing. Other research has tied physical activity to improve attention and memory as well.
"Exercise is the best thing we can do to ready our brain to learn," says John J. Ratey, M.D., author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. "We know that the cells become more malleable and ready to make connections. And the learner is more focused, calm, and motivated—[she's] ready to learn."
Physical activity has one other major perk too: It increases production of the stem cells that develop new brain cells.
Ratey has found that both aerobic activities and strength training have benefits to the brain, but that more complicated forms of exercise—like tennis and soccer—provide the biggest boost. "You're taxing more parts of the brain in those activities, which helps it grow," he explains.
5. The morning is the best time of the day to exercise.
Fiction.
If you have your pick of any time of the day, the late afternoon would be your ideal workout window. Muscle strength and body temperature both peak somewhere between 4 and 6 p.m., allowing you to work out heard with less effort. And you've eaten breakfast and lunch, meaning you'll have much more fuel in your tank.
"Also, your threshold for pain is at its highest in the afternoon and your mental clarity is still there," says Jack. "Of all the different variables, the most are in place at that time of day."
Studies have show that the body can adapt to peak performance at any time, though, so if you'd rather work out in the morning or evening, go for it. "The best time of day to train is the time that you're able to actually do it. That's most important," notes Jack.
6. Running a marathon increases your risk of a heart attack.
Fact.
A May 2009 study form Winnipeg's St. Boniface Hospital and the University of Manitoba confirmed what other studies had previously said: Marathons do cause short-term injury to the heart, but thankfully, they don't seem to cause lasting damage. In this study, MRIs were used to show abnormalities in the hearts of runners in the Manitoba Marathon. They tracked 14 athletes, and all showed cardiac stress immediately after the race. After a week of rest, however, the runners' hearts showed no long-term effects, and for most, heart function had returned to pre-marathon levels.
The key to staying safe? If you're a newbie, talk to your doc beforehand, and make sure you train enough for the big event. A big stressor to the heart comes when runners attempt to do much more on marathon day than they've done in training. Also, remember that the overall risk is still very low: It's estimated that there are only four to eight deaths per million marathon runners.
7. Lift weights quickly to increase the burn.
Fiction.
Though it may seem counterintuitive, the opposite is actually true. When you blaze though each move, you often use momentum instead of your muscles, and you also increase your risk of injury. "If you go too fast, you'll muscle through areas that are weak," Jack says.
Do the same reps more slowly (try counting to three while you lift up, and another three while you lower) and you'll get more burn for your buck.
Westcott has done two slow-lifting studies published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. In each, on group did 10 reps of each exercise that lasted seven seconds per rep, while the other group did five reps in 14 seconds. At the end of the study, the "slow" group averaged 5o percent stronger than the regular-paced group.
Unfortunately, lifting slow can be torturous, too. Wescott says that in his study, only tow of the 15o people wanted to continue training the slow way. "It was too hard; they just didn't like it. So we use it as one of our tools in our toolbox, but not as our standard technique."
8. Stretch before you run.
Fact.
Stretching is a hot-button issue in running circles, and while "stretch before you run" used to be the conventional wisdom, new research has shifted this opinion. Recently, a review by epidemiologist Ian Shrier, M.D., of six stretching studies in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine found that none of the studies showed that stretching before exercise prevented injury.
Olympian Jeff Galloway has coached more than 250,000 runners and no longer recommends a pre-run stretch. "I used to be a huge advocate of stretching, but over the years, thousands of runners have described how they were injured by stretching." He says what when his runners stopped stretching, the injuries almost always went away.
But this doesn't mean that you should never stretch, or that it's OK to skip a warmup before starting your run. Robert Maschi, a physical therapist at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery and author of RunMetrics, tells his clients to do five to 10 minutes of a slow jog before increasing speed to a normal training pace. After the run, he recommends static stretches held for 30 seconds to a minute. "[Do] a comfortable stretch that's not overly aggressive," he advises.
9. Skinny people are always healthier than overweight people.
Fiction.
Take heart, our slow-metabolism sisters: They key to good health is not just your weight. "We judge each other by how we look," says Jack. "That's like driving by a beautiful house, but when you walk in, the place is a mess. We don't know what our real health markers are." Use measurements like resting heart rate, blood pressure, and cholesterol to monitor your health, not your six-pack or lack thereof.
Though belly fat in particular has been linked adverse health effects, some doctors believe it's the invisible fat around your organs that could cause the most trouble. And this fat is prevalent in people who don't exercise—whether they're thin or chubby. Jimmy Bell, Ph.D., a professor of molecular imaging at Imperial College, has used an MRI scan on nearly 1,000 people to locate where fat is on the body. Bell found that even among those with normal BMI scores (20 to 24.9), as many as 20 percent had excessive levels of internal fat.
Bell feels that physical activity is the key to reducing these inner fat stores, because many of the seemingly thin subjects stayed at a healthy weight through diet but didn't work out. "There are no shortcuts. Exercise has to be a part of everyone's lifestyle," he says.
In short: Overweight-but-active beats thin-but-inactive any day.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Sun Burn Remedies
Sunburn
Sunburn is caused because of exposure to the excess harmful rays of the sun. Excess sun rays is harmful for the skin as it damages the skin, can cause early aging sign on face, and may also lead to skin cancer. Due to sunburn skin turns blistered, red and dry. You also feel pain and irritation. Extreme or moderate sunburn can cause pigmentation, inflammation, puffiness, and skin breaking. You feel an irritating skin sensation and your skin looks restless. In ayurveda it is know as dagdh.
Symptoms for Sunburn
Skin inflammation, redness, dehydration are some of the symptoms of sunburns.
Severe itching in the eyes and skin, skin rashes, sickness, and vomiting tendency are some other symptoms of sunburns which require a medical need to meet a doctor.
Sunburn Treatment
Sun is a source of Vitamin D which keeps you healthy and active but excess sun exposure and ultraviolet rays are harmful. They can cause wrinkles and many other skin problems.
Develop a practice of daily skin cleansing using natural face wash or mild soaps.
Use natural sun protective cream and sunglasses when you go out in the sun.
Harsh soap, excess outing, swimming can cause sunburn so avoid excess sun exposure.
Never scrub your face excessively and always use natural soaps and lotion.
Never apply milk cream or oily lotions to the sunburn affected area as it lead much pigmentation and damage to the skin.
Drink one-two liter of water everyday as it keeps the skin which is sunburn moisturized and acts as a good substitute of the fluid which you lost by sun exposure.
Never use chemical-based soaps and face wash for washing sunburn face as it cause inflammation and much damage to the skin.
Above given home remedies are cost effective and helpful in the treatment of sunburn. Infants, obese, and elderly people need a good care and protection from sunburn so take good care of them and yourself.
Home remedies for Sunburn Relief
Dip few drops of rose water in a cold water and enjoy the refreshing bath. This will act as a good sunburn reliever in the summer days.
Put a wet, soft and cool piece of cloth on your face and other parts of the body (which is sunburn), whenever you feel itching and burning sensation in the skin.
Using Aloe Vera herb for sunburn relief---Your skin irritation and inflammation because of sunburn is easily recovered using Aloe Vera herb. Herb Aloe Vera (ghrita kumari) is very effective in relieving inflammation and this is easily available in medical stores. Apply few drops of ghrita kumari or oil in the affected sunburn area before going out in the sun. You can also use this 10-15 minutes afterwards of sun exposure. One of the best home remedies for sunburn
Take bath using cold water and few drops of sandalwood oil. This will cool down and relief the sunburn skin and keeps a healthy balance of your body.
Using vinegar as a sunburn treatment---Soak a soft cotton cloth in a bucket of water containing few drops of vinegar and put on face (except on eyes) and other body parts, this act as good sunburn reliever.
Prepare milk and water solution in a ratio of (1:1) and soak a soft cloth in this solution and put on face and other sunburn affected area. This will relieve discomfort caused from sunburn. This is one of the best home remedies for sunburn.
Using cucumber juices as a sunburn treatment---Applying cucumber juice also soften the skin and reduces redness and inflammation of the skin caused because of sunburn. Mix one tablespoon cucumber juice and one tablespoon milk and dab your face using this solution; this relives the burning sensation and puffiness caused because of sunburn.
Using lavender oil as a sunburn treatment---Mix its few drops in a bath tub and enjoy the refreshing bath.
Take a cold water bath using few drops of chamomile and lavender oil. This act as sunburn protective bath and is very refreshing. This relief skin inflammation and irritation.
You can also mix three-four tablespoon of oatmeal in the water and take the refreshing bath. This reduces skin itching and irritation. This is one of the useful home remedies for sunburn
Take 5-6 drops of Chamomile and mix it in a glass of warm water and apply on sunburn affected area using a cotton ball .This relieves skin itching and irritation.
Put 10-15 drops Calendula oil in the bath tub and take the refreshing bath. You will feel relax and fresh. This bath serves to relief pain and skin itching caused from sunburn. This is one of the important home remedies for sunburn.
Using potatoes juices or its slices as a sunburn relief---Make a fresh solution using one raw potato and two tablespoon cold water and use this natural homemade solution on face, neck, and hands which are sunburn.
Using peppermint oil as a sunburn treatment---mix its few drops in a bath tub and enjoy the refreshing bath. This is one of the useful home remedies for sunburn.
Applying onion juice on sunburn affected area also makes the skin cool and reduces inflammation.