If you’re thinking of trying herbal supplements, understand that they aren’t right for everyone. Here’s what you should know before you set out to make that purchase.
Herbal supplements may be popular, but are they for you? That depends on the herb, your current health and your medical history. Herbal supplements have active ingredients that can affect how your body functions, just as over-the-counter and prescription drugs do. Herbal supplements may be particularly risky for certain individuals, and their labels are often vague, confusing and of little help when it comes to making a selection. If you’re considering herbal supplements, educate yourself about any products you intend to use before purchasing them, and talk to your doctor about any herbal supplements you’re considering taking.
Are herbal supplements safe? (more…)
There’s no definitive evidence that bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) is effective for weight loss. After ephedra was taken off the market due to its health concerns, many consumers — and weight-loss supplement manufacturers — began looking for alternatives. One such alternative is bitter orange, which has become a common ingredient in many weight-loss supplements marketed as “ephedra-free.” Unfortunately, many of the health problems associated with ephedra seem likely to also occur with bitter orange.
Bitter orange contains synephrine and octopamine — chemicals that are similar to ephedrine in ephedra. These chemicals may cause high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias), which can lead to heart attack, stroke and even death — as may occur with ephedra. Also, bitter orange juice — like ephedra — can inhibit metabolism of many drugs, increasing the amount of the drug in your body and the risk of adverse effects.
Because dietary supplements are subject to far less rigorous regulatory oversight than are pharmaceutical drugs, they may contain higher amounts of bitter orange than is listed on the label. This further increases the risk of adverse effects. People with existing heart disease, high blood pressure or other cardiovascular problems should avoid bitter orange. Eating less and exercising more still appears to be the safest and most effective approach to losing weight.
Your busy lifestyle leaves little time for pampering skin care. The result: Your skin isn’t the baby-soft body glove with which you were born. With age, your skin gradually becomes thinner and finely wrinkled. Oil-producing (sebaceous) glands grow less active leaving your skin drier. The number of blood vessels in your skin decreases, your skin becomes more fragile, and you lose your youthful color and glow.
Good skin care — such as avoiding the sun, washing your skin gently and applying moisturizer regularly — can help delay the natural aging process and prevent many skin problems. These simple skin-care habits will help you protect your skin to keep it healthy and glowing for years to come. (more…)
A reader asks: “My hair is falling out — can you recommend a natural treatment for this problem?”
Yes, I can recommend a natural approach to slowing hair loss, but I suspect that most readers aren’t going to enjoy this answer very much. That’s because as much as I disagree with the conclusion many medical researchers reach about the degree of influence genetics holds over chronic disease, the fact is that baldness, especially among males, is a genetically inherited trait. At a certain age, your hair does start to fall out if you’ve been genetically programmed for hair loss. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing that can be done about it. However, before I get to the solutions, I’d like to discuss some of the more revealing aspects of why hair falls out, and why hair turns gray.
Let’s talk about gray hair first, because gray hair is something that is quite obviously genetically programmed into both males and females. When your biological age reaches a certain threshold, your hair starts turning gray. This actually serves a social purpose, because gray hair signifies a degree of not just age, but wisdom and experience. And if you look at other primates, and the influences of behavioral evolution on human history, you realize that there was actually a strong social advantage to having gray hair after a certain age. (more…)
A randomized, single-blind comparative study concluded that the bee product propolis was more effective in the treatment of genital herpes than either placebo or acyclovir, a herpes drug marketed under the trade name Zovirax®. For the study, 90 men and women with recurrent genital herpes were randomly divided into three equal-sized groups and treated with propolis, acyclovir, or placebo ointments. Results were assessed on the third, seventh, and tenth days of treatment. The primary study endpoints were healing time of blisters and time until symptoms disappeared. According to the results, blisters healed significantly faster in people treated with propolis. On day 10 of the study, 24 of 30 people in the propolis group were healed, compared with 14 of 30 in the acyclovir group and 12 out of 30 in the placebo group. Among the 66 percent of women who had vaginal infections in addition to herpes at the initial examination, the incidence of additional infection was reduced by 55 percent after treatment with propolis. No change in vaginal flora was seen in the acyclovir and placebo groups.
The antioxidant activity of green and black tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze, Theaceae) in the body (in vivo) is well established, but an important question remains: Does the addition of milk to tea inhibit the bioavailability of antioxidant tea polyphenols? Not according to the results of this Dutch study, which showed that a single dose of either black or green tea with or without milk caused a significant rise in plasma antioxidant activity (Leenan et al., 2000).
The crossover study compared the antioxidant effects of green tea, black tea, and non-carbonated mineral water with or without milk in 21 healthy volunteers. Each participant received a dose of one of the six test substances on six different days. A single dose of tea was defined as 2 g of tea solids in 300 ml of water (Lipton Research Blend, Lipton, Englewood Cliffs, NJ). The researchers utilized the ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) assay to measure both plasma antioxidant and catechin levels. Blood samples were taken before consumption of the test substances and again 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after consumption. According to the results, both green and black tea caused a significant rise in plasma antioxidant and catechin levels, but the effect of green tea was significantly greater at all time points. The addition of milk to either type of tea did not significantly alter responses. (more…)
An open Japanese study suggests that consumption of oolong tea (Camellia sinensis) helps speed clearance of recalcitrant atopic dermatitis lesions. The 118 study participants continued their usual dermatologic treatments but also drank oolong tea (10 g steeped in 1000 mL water a day, divided into three doses). Beneficial results were noted after one to two weeks, and 74 (63%) of the participants showed marked to moderate improvement of lesions after one month. After 6 months, 64 patients (54%) still demonstrated a good response to treatment. The study builds on animal research showing that oral administration of green, black, or oolong tea suppressed allergic skin reactions.
INTRODUCTION
Since you are reading this, chances are you are a smoker, or someone you love is a smoker. In either case you surely are not looking for a article that will tell you how to smoke. Rather, you are looking for a “magic button” to quit smoking.
I am sorry to disappoint you, but there is no “magic button.” In fact, it is going to require discipline on the part of the smoker to kick the addiction. (You will read the word “addiction” over and over again throughout this article. The reason is simple… smoking IS an addiction no matter how you look at it.)
I can offer you facts, statistics and methodologies to eliminate the addiction, but the final ingredient is you and your desire to quit smoking once and for all!
I wish you the best of luck and, as we say in France, “Bon courage”, because I am also an ex-smoker and know how big a challenge it is to become a non-smoker once and for all.
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Healthier, Longer Living and Your Food Choices
Here is the seven step plan to get your diet under control and to use food as brain medicine.
Increase Water Intake - Given that your brain is about 80 percent water, the first rule of brain nutrition is adequate water to hydrate your brain. Even slight dehydration can raise stress hormones which can damage your brain over time. Drink at least 84 ounces of water a day. It is best to have your liquids unpolluted with artificial sweeteners, sugar, caffeine, or alcohol. You can use herbal, non-caffeinated tea bags, such as raspberry or strawberry flavored, and make unsweetened iced tea. Green tea is also good for brain function as it contains chemicals that enhance mental relaxation and alertness. (more…)
Some men may choose to use alternative treatments in addition to traditional treatments for erectile dysfunction (ED). If you are considering an alternative form of treatment for ED, you should seek the advice of a healthcare provider.
What is an alternative treatment? (more…)