Low-sodium levels can kill you!

A few years ago, an internist told me that no one in America suffers from too-low sodium. I'm sure she based that opinion on people who eat fast food or lots of processed food. But, if you don't eat junk food or fast food, then you may find your body's low on sodium. Also, if you've been told that too much salt causes high blood pressure and have reduced your intake of this mineral, you may be doing more harm than good.

Diuretics remove more than water
Do you have relatives or friends who take diuretics in order to relieve hypertension? It's THE "go-to" drug to relieve excess pressure of fluid-filled tissues on blood vessels. The diuretics aren't particular what they wash out along with the water. In the water being released are various life-sustaining minerals that are literally being flushed down the toilet...sodium, potassium, magnesium and a host of essential trace minerals. I've already written about potassium (Low potassium causes hypertension, constipation, heart problems & more!), and most doctors are aware of the debilitating effects of low potassium. But, like the doctor I mentioned earlier, very few give sodium a second thought. They wrongly assume that everyone over-salts their food or eats salt-laden processed food. That's why a doctor rarely advises you to add salt, even if you suffer from an obvious sodium deficiency!

Even if you don't take diuretics, you could still lose more sodium than is healthy. For instance, drinking a lot of water (especially at one time) could remove too many minerals from your body. If you're low on sodium, your body may start preserving whatever sodium remains in the cells and start flushing out potassium in order to maintain a proper balance. Sodium is essential, and your body will do whatever it takes to make sure sodium is retained.

Low sodium can cause high blood pressure - even death!
Sodium is in your blood. When you receive an IV, it's a saline (salt) solution. One of sodium's more surprising benefits is that sodium helps your body maintain a normal blood pressure level. Sodium also helps keep your blood from clotting as it runs through your body, makes sure the correct volume of blood is maintained and helps maintain the correct pH of your body. Also, sodium prevents stomach acids from burning your stomach lining. It even helps your body respond better to carbohydrates by producing more insulin. An important fact for diabetics!

It's essential for proper muscle and nerve action. Your heart is a muscle, and low sodium levels could result in arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats). The other muscles in your body can also show signs of sodium depletion, such as cramps. If you tend to suffer from leg cramps or "charley horses," it might be time to increase your salt intake.

If you don't have a lot of energy, your sodium levels may be so low that your body cannot convert food to energy. While causing fatigue, it further depletes your muscles.

Symptoms typical of a sodium deficiency or too-low sodium levels include swollen ankles or legs, confusion, dizziness, fainting, nausea, high blood pressure, weakness, trouble concentrating and memory problems. If your sodium levels are too low for too long, serious complications can occur, such as water intoxication. In that case, an abnormal amount of water enters your cells and they swell up. This makes you feel fatigued and apathetic. Also, your muscles will have spasms. If you don't get an immediate infusion of sodium, potassium and other essential minerals, you could have seizures, go into shock and die.

Good salt, bad salt
It would be foolish to think that eating salt-filled processed or fast foods will solve a sodium deficiency. Of course, you'll get enough sodium, but you'll probably cause other health issues that aren't as easily resolved. Sodium occurs naturally in some foods, such as milk, cheese, meat, fish and a few vegetables, but not enough to prevent sodium deficiency. Your best bet for increasing dietary sodium is by adding salt to your food. Not just any salt, of course!

Regular table salt found in most homes and restaurants isn't the best type. The best is RealSalt. It's plain sea salt, but it's not superheated, as most mined salt is. RealSalt comes from a Jurassic-era dried seabed that was covered in volcanic ash. The ancient seabed was discovered in Utah, and the salt is now being extracted and sold under the brand name of RealSalt. No matter what brand or type of salt you've tried, you will be surprised at the wonderful flavor of RealSalt. You'll get 580mg of sodium from a 1/4 tsp. (Morton Salt has 590mg per 1/4 tsp.). I'm guessing that RealSalt has slightly less sodium because it also contains natural trace minerals.

If you can't find RealSalt in your town, order some through the link below.



* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

Low potassium causes hypertension, constipation, heart problems & more!

If you have high blood pressure and can't seem to lower it, you may be deficient in potassium.

Symptoms of potassium deficiency
Your body requires a careful balance of potassium, sodium, magnesium and calcium in order to function properly. If any of these are not in proper proportion, you could become ill. In fact, you could die!

When potassium gets too low, you experience constipation, irregular heart rhythm and high blood pressure. You'll feel tired, fatigued and weak. It affects your muscles and can cause serious problems with one of the most important muscles in your body - your heart. You may be ripe for a heart attack! Potassium also affects your nervous system, and low levels can make you feel anxious or possibly cause other psychological problems.

While it's difficult to take too much potassium through supplements, it IS possible. Known as hyperkalemia, very high potassium levels can cause heart attacks and can disturb your body's electrical system by interfering with nervous system transmissions.

Potassium is strictly regulated by the government
Because potassium is particularly important to the ongoing health of your heart, the government limits supplements to no more than 99mg per serving. Plus, any supplement that contains potassium in its mixture cannot have more than 99mg per serving. Since you need about 4,700mg of potassium per day, it's impractical to get extra potassium from supplements!

If you're desperate to increase your potassium level but cannot eat enough of the foods that are rich in it, then start using a salt substitute made from potassium chloride. It doesn't taste quite as good as salt, but it'll immediately help raise your potassium level. Please remember that you must continue to take in sodium to have a proper balance and stay alive.

Most importantly, your blood electrolyte levels should be tested to make sure you're in proper balance. Your body excretes excess potassium through the kidneys, but people suffering from kidney disorders shouldn't supplement with potassium in any form without consulting a healthcare professional.

Foods rich in potassium & a guidebook to show you the way
Below is a partial list of potassium-rich foods. I've gathered them from several websites and books. To learn more about how a low potassium level can damage your health and cause premature aging, get Betty Kamen's book (Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Potassium But Were Too Tired To Ask). It just might save your life and may even get you off prescription drugs:



Sweet potatoes
Tomato paste, puree, sauce or juice
Beet greens
Baked potato
White beans, kidney beans or lentils
Plain yogurt
Canned clams
Prune juice
Carrot juice
Blackstrap molasses
Cooked halibut
Cooked soybeans
Yellowfin tuna
Cooked lima beans
Winter squash
Pacific rockfish or cod
Bananas or plantains
Spinach
Peaches
Milk or buttermilk
Pork, chicken or turkey
Apricots
Rainbow trout
Honeydew melon
Orange juice
Split peas
Avocado
Celery
Broccoli
Raw, unsalted nuts

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

Stop mental decline with natural supplements

Several years ago, I wrote about galantamine, an extract from the bulbs of lilies and daffodils that helps slow down the damage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The product is sold as a prescription drug (Reminil) and as a non-prescription supplement (GalantaMind).

A common problem among AD sufferers is the inability of the body to stop acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that inhibits acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter. Neurotransmitters carry nerve impulses and aid memory. If acetylcholine is prevented from doing its job by acetylcholinesterase, then your ability to remember is hampered. Galantamine prevents acetylcholinesterase from working!

I've recently come across some research that other natural products are showing promise as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors or slowing down AD in other ways.

Licorice, nutmeg and vitamin C work as well as drugs!
Doctors at the Pharmacology Division at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in India tested the seed of the nutmeg tree (which produces the spices nutmeg and mace), licorice and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to determine if they could significantly decrease the activity of acetylcholinesterase.

The researchers gave extracts of all three natural products to mice for anywhere from three to seven days. A control group did not receive these treatments. After this short period of time, they found that licorice, nutmeg and ascorbic acid were as potent as the drug Metrifonate in inhibiting acetylcholinesterase. Metrifonate's side effects include diarrhea, nausea, leg cramps and a slight decrease in heart rate. The one side effect you may get from licorice is a slight increase in blood pressure. To avoid this, buy licorice that has been deglycyrrhizinated.

Another interesting effect of licorice is that it stimulates your immune system. Doctors at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon, found that licorice helps stimulate immune cells in as little as seven days.

Ayurvedic herb may bring back your memory
Nardostachys jatamansi is an Indian herb commonly known as muskroot or Indian spikenard. It's even mentioned in the Bible as spikenard oil. The roots of the plant have been traditionally used for improving memory, mood and behavior. In a recent study conducted by SET's College of Pharmacy in Karnataka, India, researchers found that spikenard reversed induced amnesia in mice. In fact, it "reversed aging-induced amnesia" by improving the transmission of impulses to the brain through acetylcholine. Doctors concluded that the ayurvedic herb would be "a useful memory restorative agent in the treatment of dementia seen in elderly persons."

Ginseng destroys mind-robbing amyloids
Alzheimer victims have an accumulation of amyloids (a peptide) in their brains. People who suffer from other dementia diseases do not show this excess of amyloids, which is how we can differentiate between AD and other illnesses that affect memory. If the amyloids can be destroyed or prevented from forming in the first place, it is believed that Alzheimer's may be averted or at least slowed down.

The Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Jacksonville, Florida, found that ginsenosides, the active constituents of ginseng, significantly reduced amyloids. While this study was conducted in a lab on a cell-based model of AD, it is still worth mentioning. In another test, doctors found that ONE dose of ginsenosides resulted in significant amyloid reduction.

If you have a family history of Alzheimer's disease or are concerned that your memory is slowly ebbing from your mind, you may want to consider adding these supplements to your daily regimen.

Here are some links to products discussed in today's blog.




Additional resources:
J Med Food. 2006 Summer;9(2):281-3
J Med Food. 2006 Spring;9(1):113-8
Phytother Res. 2006 Aug;20(8):687-95
FASEB J. 2006 Jun;20(8):1269-71

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

The latest news from alternative medicine research

Here's some recent research that may help you live longer, healthier and happier.

Vitamin C can help you burn 4 times as much fat!
If you've tried every diet and haven't been able to lose any weight or an appreciable amount of inches, it may not be the diet that's at fault. According to some recent findings, you may have a low vitamin C level, which is known to prevent weight loss.

Because vitamin C is used by carnitine (an amino acid that helps burn fat), researchers wanted to determine if low levels of vitamin C affected weight loss. In an eight-week double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, subjects took a 60-minute treadmill test at submaximal levels (levels that were not the maximum that the subjects could perform). Their vitamin C levels were checked before and after each treadmill test during the study. The doctors found that "individuals with marginal vitamin C status oxidized 25% less fat per kg body weight during the treadmill test compared to individuals with adequate vitamin C status." Subjects who took 500mg of vitamin C per day burned four times as much fat!

The link below is the vitamin C our family uses. It's 1000mg, very inexpensive and comes in the economy size. In fact, this is almost a one-year supply (300 tablets).



Prevent colon cancer by eating flaxseed
You probably already know that flaxseed and flaxseed oil are good for you. But, did you know that you might be able to stop colon cancer tumors with flax?

Scientists conducted a test with 48 rats that were divided into two groups, with one group receiving 15 percent cornmeal supplements and the other group receiving 15 percent flaxseed meal supplements (flaxseed meal is finely ground flaxseeds). After 35 weeks, they found that only 29.4 percent of the rats fed the flaxseed meal had cancerous colon tumors compared with 82.6 percent of the rats eating cornmeal! Flaxseed is rich in lignans (antioxidants), and it reduced the incidence of colon cancer tumors by almost two-thirds!

If you don't want to add more pills to your daily regimen, you can get the benefits of flax by eating it as ground meal. Add it to cereals, yogurt and other foods. The package will list other uses for flaxseed meal. Keep it refrigerated or frozen to preserve the integrity of the oils. The link below is a fabulous deal. It's FOUR 32-oz. packages. It's made from golden flaxseeds, which is believed to be a higher quality than the brown seeds. This is the best deal I've found. Even with shipping, it's cheaper than what I can buy locally.



Diabetics may be able to prevent blindness
Doctors conducted a study with diabetic rats and found that late-phase experimental diabetic retinopathy (deterioration of the retina) can be prevented with the use of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA). ALA is an amino acid that you can get from supplements or food (flax seeds or oils, soy beans or oil, pumpkin seeds or oil and walnuts or walnut oil). The researchers found that oxidative stress contributed to retinal oxidation, which leads to serious vision impairment and even blindness. Since ALA is an antioxidant, it can help curb the advancement of retinopathy, even when it has advanced to its latter stage.

In an unrelated study, German doctors found that extended use of ALA, even in significantly large quantities, was safe and did not adversely affect the heart, liver, lungs and other major organs. It's safe to use, but diabetics should check with their doctors before adding ALA to their diets.

ALA is inexpensive. The Vitamin Shoppe has a great deal for 120 softgels. The link below is for 120 softgels (1-2 month supply), but you can buy as many 240 softgels if you'd like to lay in a longer supply.



Grape seed extract prevents periodontal disease
The condition of your teeth and gums is a window into the health of your heart. The bacteria that causes gum disease as well as the unrelenting accumulation of plaque on your teeth can result in infections elsewhere in your body and can seriously affect the health of your heart.

Canadian doctors at the Research Group in Oral Ecology at Laval University found that proanthocyanidins (antioxidants) found in grape seed extract (GSE) had a "strong inhibitory effect" against destructive oral bacteria that is known to deteriorate bone and and tissue. They concluded that GSE "should be considered a potential agent in the prevention of periodontal disease."

Grape seed extract isn't too expensive, all things considered. Below is a link to The Vitamin Shoppe's brand. It's 100mg per capsule, and it's a two-month supply.



Additional resources:
Nutr Metab (Lond). 2006 Aug 31;3(1):35
Nutr Cancer. 2006;54(2):216-22
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2006 Sep;47(9):4077-82
Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2006 Aug 7
J Periodontol. 2006 Aug;77(8):1371-9

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates