The A-Z of Health Concerns

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y

Acidosis

The human body is naturally mildly acidic in order to resist infection – its natural pH is between 6.0 and 6.8. Both acidity and alkalinity are measured according to the pH (this stands for potential of hydrogen) scale and acidosis is the medical term for an imbalance, where the body chemistry has become over-acidic.  Acidosis is in fact linked to premature ageing because it affects the performance of most of the functions of our glands.  Symptoms include indigestion, hunger, burning sensation and pain in the pharynx, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, headaches and joint pains.

Acne

Acne is a common skin condition that affects people of all ages with varying degrees of severity.  The most common cause for acne is a hormonal imbalance such as during puberty, pregnancy, menstruation and at times of stress.  The skin of sufferers has been found to show greater activity of an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase, which converts excesses of the male hormone, testosterone, to a more potent, spot-triggering form called dihydrotestosterone but this is not the only cause.  Blood tests, for instance, reveal higher levels of toxins from the gut flora of acne sufferers so improving digestion can also help. In addition, vitamins A and D play a key role which is why exposure to sunlight can help clear an acne infection.

Acne Rosacea

Acne Rosacea is an inflammatory skin condition that usually affects the forehead, nose, cheekbones and chin. The skin is these areas turn red and blotchy with small bumps, lumps and even pimples as a result of the dilation of blood vessels.  Acne rosacea affects around a fifth of all adults and can be triggered by alcohol, hot drinks, walking into a warm room and even spicy foods.  One of the hidden triggers for the acne-like eruption of the skin may actually be a deficiency in the digestive enzymes responsible for the breakdown of fats in the intestinal tract.  This is easily remedied if you take if you take a supplement to rebuild levels of lipase, the principle enzyme involved in this process.  Zinc is just as crucial to maintaining healthy skin and switching to chemical free cosmetics and skincare will help further inflaming the skin.

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Having regular bowel movements is absolutely vital for your health. Unfortunately, many people suffer from constipation and resort to the use of laxatives or drugs that may have side effects. Constipation is a very common problem and yet it can be remedied easily with some simply dietary and lifestyle changes.

The accepted definition of constipation is fewer than two or three bowel movements a week and yet ideally everyone should have at least one bowel movement a day, if not two or three. If you are having just one movement a day, or less, than I would recommend that you take some simple steps to relieve constipation safely.

Regularity is imperative because without it, toxins accumulate in the gut and are absorbed into the bloodstream. Without regularity, you increase your chances of haemorrhoids, will always feel full and in many cases feel bloated.

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Every mechanical object has a weak link, the one area that wears out over time and causes the mechanism to be prone to breakage. An analogy can be made that in the human body, our joints and the surrounding soft tissues are our weakest link. Indeed this breakdown affects millions of people worldwide suffering arthritic symptoms, whether due to age or the toll that sport can take on joint health. Our knees, ankles, elbows and wrists are the most common affected sites of pain. If our joints are the weakest link, then it is vital that we take control to ensure that they are flexible by introducing several strategies outlined below.

Exercise

Regardless of whether one suffers from arthritis or problematic joints, exercise plays an important role in promoting healthy joints with less pain. It is simply a myth that you can wear down your knees just from average levels of exercise and indeed the reverse is true. Inactivity causes your muscles to become weaker and works against joint flexibility and comfort.

Vigorous low impact exercise is beneficial for your joints as well as for the cardiovascular and circulatory systems within our bodies. Start exercising gently in order not to injure yourself. If typical vigorous exercise is simply not possible, then try walking, yoga or pilates, which have very low impact and are still beneficial for promoting flexibility.

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Scientists have known for years that everyone requires at least 90 nutrients to maintain optimal health. These nutrients include 17 vitamins, 59 minerals, 12 amino acids and three essential fatty acids. Whilst nature has provided us with all these nutrients to enable us to live a long and healthy life, unfortunately the processing of foods and the depletion of nutrients in our soils are some of the biggest reasons for nutrient deficiencies within our bodies. Fortunately, scientists have found that Fulvic Acid, an element found in soil, makes nutrients more available from the food we ingest and thus corrects deficiencies quickly and safely.

So what is Fulvic Acid?

Fulvic Acid is the element found in humus, the highly nutritious layer of the earth. Partially decomposed matter is the basis of humus and peat. It is this highly nutritious layer that feeds plants and ensures that they grow strong and healthy. Fulvic Acid is created in extremely small amounts by millions of beneficial microbes that work on the decaying plant matter. It combines with a variety of minerals to create a complex molecular compound. Fulvic Acid works to activate the nutrients within soil so that they can be utilised by the cells of plants. It is often termed ‘nature’s miracle molecule’ and for good reason. Unfortunately, modern farming practices have destroyed our soils, leaving them devoid of minerals and have thus disrupted the proliferation of this miracle molecule in the soil, and therefore in vegetation and animals – in effect within our food.

Like its action in soil, Fulvic Acid serves as an essential vehicle that carries vitamins and nutrients to the right place in our bodies. Fulvic Acid is so powerful that one single Fulvic Acid molecule is capable of carrying 60 or more minerals and trace elements directly into our cells. This is just one of its properties that provides Fulvic Acid with the ability to have a dramatic impact on all types of diseases and concerns.

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Vitamin B-12 is commonly referred to as the energy vitamin, although it has a number of other very important functions within our bodies. It is estimated that up to 40% of the UK’s elderly ‘meat-eating’ adults may be deficient in vitamin B-12 and that half of the adult population may have sub-optimal levels. These figures indicate that millions of adults may be deficient in vitamin B-12.

Historically, many experts believed that vitamin B-12 deficiency was solely associated with vegetarians since plant sources have virtually no vitamin B-12. This belief was wrong because vitamin B-12 deficiency is actually widespread and the older you get, the more likely you are to be deficient.

So what is Vitamin B-12 and what role does it play in our body?

Vitamin B-12 is scientifically named ‘cobalamin’. It is normally found in its natural state only in animal sources of food including beef, lamb, venison, salmon, chicken and eggs. Vitamin B-12 is simply not available from plants since plants do not require vitamin B-12 for any function and therefore have no mechanisms to produce or store it. Plant sources of vitamin B-12 are analogs and actually block the uptake of vitamin B-12 leading to deficiencies, particularly amongst strict vegans and vegetarians.

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Krill oil is manufactured from krill, tiny shrimp-like crustaceans that inhabit the cold ocean areas of the world such as the North Pacific Ocean and Antarctic. Despite their small size, roughly six millimetres in length, krill makes up the largest animal biomass in the world, more than the combined weight of all humans on earth.  Krill oil is now gaining in popularity by way of supplements due to its numerous advantages and benefits.

Benefits of krill oil when compared to fish oil

Krill oil, like fish oil, contains omega 3 essential fatty acids such as eicosapentoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA). We are constantly being reminded that we do not consume sufficient oily fish making us omega 3 deficient. I am going to digress briefly to talk about omega 6, another fatty acid which we obtain from vegetable oils, eggs, poultry, cereals, nuts and wholegrain breads. Ideally, the body requires both omega 3 and omega 6 in a ratio of 1:1, however our diet is abundant in omega 6 and deficient in omega 3. It is estimated that we currently ingest between 20 and 50 times more omega 6 than omega 3 essential fats. This does create a problem because an abundance of omega 6 can suppress the immune system, promote excessive cellular growth and cause inflammation in the body, which can lead to concerns such as arthritis.

I have consistently said that the two most important categories to maintain health are to increase your antioxidant intake and to ensure you take omega 3 supplements.  Until a couple of years ago, I used to recommend high strength fish oils as a source of omega 3. High quality fish oils are good sources of omega 3 fatty acids, however they have no antioxidant activity and thus vitamin E is added to supplements to help protect the oils from turning rancid. Taking fish oils actually requires you to take high levels of antioxidants since fish oils have weak/little antioxidant protection. Fish oils are perishable and their oxidation in the body may lead to free radicals, which may damage our cells. Therefore when you take fish oils, you need to increase your antioxidant intake whereas krill contains one of the most potent antioxidant called astaxanthin, which occurs naturally within krill giving them their distinctive salmon pink colour. Krill oil also contains naturally occurring vitamins A, D and E further adding to its extraordinary antioxidant properties.

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As autumn and winter approach, many of us will experience bouts of colds, infections, catarrh and similar concerns. Often we blame bugs as the cause of our illness rather than addressing varying weaknesses in our immune system.

So what is the immune system and how does it work

The immune system is unlike any other system within our bodies with a complex interaction between several glands, proteins, tissues, chemical compounds, hormones and gut bacteria.  These interactions are all involved to help achieve optimal immunity and in its simplistic form,the immune system comprises specialised white blood cells, which learn what belongs to the body and what does not. The role of the immune system is to protect the body against many pathogenic bacteria and viruses on an ongoing basis. Any organism that attacks our system will cause infection and disease and it is the optimal working of the immune system that helps destroy these organisms in order to prevent any further damage and infection. This process is referred to as the immune response.

The skin has a strong immune system capacity, which is why a healthy person who suffers a cut will heal quickly; this is a gateway for viruses to penetrate the body and our immune system works to close the gate as quickly as possible. The ear, nose and throat are other possible entry points, which can lead to a variety of concerns including sore throats, catarrh, bronchitis and middle ear infections.

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Modern-day lifestyles often dictate a more hectic and faster-paced way of living, which can often result in raised stress levels; but what is the definition of stress?  The classic definition of stress is ‘any real or imagined threat, and your body’s response to it’. Stress is often considered a mind-altering state and the causes of stress produce a physical reaction in the body.

When a person feels overwhelmed by a situation, they throw their bodies into a ‘fight or flight’ response. This response physically increases the heart rate, increasing blood pressure, and blood is moved from your mid-section of the body to the legs, arms and head, for quick thinking and for fighting or fleeing.

Some stress is unavoidable and can actually be of benefit such as the adrenaline rush for needing to meet deadlines, however stress becomes a problem under the following circumstances:

• If you are continuously in an overwhelming mode
• When your response to that mode is negative
• When your emotions and reactions are inappropriate to the stressor

Prolonged stress can be linked to heart disease, muscle pain, chronic headaches, insomnia, weight loss and some digestive disorders; it is also considered to be the single biggest killer of the 21st century.

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A urinary tract infection is one of the most painful infections a woman can get and the most common complaint is an intense burning sensation when trying to urinate.  The most common and popular self-treatment has been the use of cranberry juice, but I believe there is a problem with cranberry juice because of its high sugar content.

The problem with Cranberry Juice

Cranberry, alongside other fruit juices, contain fructose, often referred to as fruit sugar. Fructose is a simple sugar that can cause many problems within the body including having an impact on the health of the urinary tract. If you ingest a lot of sugar, and this includes grains which are easily converted into sugars, then this feeds the bad bacteria within the intestines and the bladder. It is for this reason that I never recommend any form of cranberry juice for urinary tract health although I have no problem recommending cranberry capsules or tablets.

There are many cranberry supplements on the market

Nearly every herbal supplement manufacturer has a cranberry extract within their range, which presents a problem to the consumer. So which cranberry supplement should you take? Before I give the answer, it is important to understand how cranberry supplements work. Cranberries contain fructose, a carbohydrate called mannose and also a group of very specific antioxidants called proanthocyanidins (PAC’s). Recurring urinary tract infections can result in damage to the bladder walls encouraging bacteria to attach to the walls of the bladder, where they can proliferate and cause an infection. PAC’s have the ability to block the ‘receptors’ existing on the bladder walls improving the bladder’s ability to flush away the bacteria and hence prevent infections.

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Records indicate that tea drinking started in China and dates back more than four centuries ago. Today, tea is one of the most popular beverages in the world. There are several types of tea including black tea, green tea, oolong tea and pu-erh. They are all derived from the same plant, Camelia sinensis, but they have different components and are prepared differently leading to their varying benefits. Although black tea is the most widely consumed tea, it is also the most processed tea and its healthful antioxidant properties are much lower. More and more, green tea is now gaining popularity because of its powerful antioxidant properties, which may help to protect the body against numerous concerns.

What is so special about Green Tea?

As I mentioned earlier, the different components and processing sets them apart from each other. After the leaves are plucked, they begin to oxidise and ferment which imparts a distinctive colour and flavour. Green, Black and Oolong refer to the different methods used to process the plucked leaves. As far as green tea is concerned, the leaves are steamed, roasted or pan–fried almost immediately, ensuring the fermentation is kept to an absolute minimum. As a result, most green teas tend to be of light green colour. If the green tea you are currently drinking is not light green in colour, then the chances are that you are getting inferior oxidised tea with less health benefits.

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