Dry skin (technically called xerosis) is one of the most common of skin health complaints. Moisturizing products account for nearly 10 billion dollars in annual sales. Even though, according to the National Health Interview Survey, 3 or 4 percent of the population suffer from xerosis, it’s tough to find an adult American who doesn’t have at least some degree of skin dryness. Even kids are susceptible to the condition. According to an article published the September 2006 issue of Current Allergy and Asthma Reports, atopic dermatitis, a cutaneous disease characterized by dry skin, affects 10-20 % of American children.
Yet, despite its ubiquity, dry skin should never happen! The skin is exquisitely equipped with various mechanisms that are supposed to assure the tissue remains hydrated. When that doesn’t occur, something in the ordinarily resilient and responsive cutaneous biochemistry is tweaked. In other words, dry skin is much more than a superficial cosmetic concern. As insignificant as it may seem, it’s a fully-fledged health care issue. Dry skin is a symptom, and symptoms are the smoke which indicate a biochemical breakdown fire.
In this way the symptomology of xerosis is a message; it’s a harbinger and indicator that somewhere in the body something is wrong or something is missing. In this way, skin dryness, like other symptoms, should be regarded as a friend; it’s an announcement of increased risk of other, more significant health care challenges including heart disease, autoimmunity and even cancer!
Though all of the above diseases can be associated with xerosis, most of us believe that the symptoms of xerosis are merely superficial. So, to deal with the itchy flakes and uncomfortable dryness, we merely put a moisturizer on and forget about the matter. Even skin care professionals are entranced by the illusion. Dermatologists, estheticians and cosmetologists, like their patients, address skin issues by working topically.
If you’re gaining weight, feeling dizzy when you stand up, craving salt or not falling asleep even though you’re tired, you may be dealing with a health challenge both alternative and mainstream practitioners call “Adrenal Fatigue” (AF). You would be in good company. Although it’s impossible to know the full impact and incidence of the crisis, according to Dr. Kerry Saucer writing in the book “Exhausted & Drained? It's NOT Just in Your Brain”, estimates are that millions of Americans suffer some degree of AF.
The adrenal glands, two tiny pieces of tissue sitting atop the kidneys (renals) play an especially significant role in maintaining the movement of fluid through the circulatory system and can be thought of as a center for blood pressure monitoring and control. They accomplish this important job by constantly monitoring blood oxygen and carbon dioxide. When the former drops and the latter builds up, a hormone called “aldosterone” is secreted. In response, blood pressure (or the force of movement through the circulatory vessels) is adjusted, redirecting blood flow to the legs and arms and away from the skin, digestive and excretory systems.
I’ve been hearing a lot of commercials about beets lately, the latest darling of the nutritional supplement industry. Supplements using beets, particularly beet juice and beet powder, look to exploit recent research findings focused on the nutrient-dense tap root's ability to enhance athletic performance, strength and endurance.
The secret to the beet boost for athletes and workout warriors is in its nitrogen content, specifically in the form of nitrates and nitrites. Despite the conventional wisdom that these chemicals are best avoided, as it turns out the misunderstood molecules have been a valued medicinal asset for doctors and health care professionals for over a hundred years. They’re sources of nitrogen and, when transformed into the gas hormone nitric oxide (NO), they become a potent hormone-like biochemical that plays various important roles in keeping the body healthy. NO is especially important for heart health. It lowers blood pressure, supports the flow of fluid through the circulatory system, improves male sexual performance, fights cancer, destroys tumors and is anti-inflammatory. In addition to being a source of nitric oxide, nitrates may play an important role in eye health, particularly for patients dealing with glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness that affects 3 million Americans. A 1998 article published in the journal Vision concluded that the use of therapeutic nitrates in glaucoma patients may offer a protective effect. More recently, a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology found that American adults who ate the most nitrates were 21 percent less likely than those who ate the least nitrates to develop open-angle glaucoma by the time they were in their 60s and 70s.
Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)
Throw out the pizza and beer
Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)
Oh, get those jelly donuts out of here
Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)
Might seem a little severe
Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)
I’m gettin’ tired of my big fat rear…”
– “The Grapefruit Diet, Weird Al Yankovic
I don’t usually eat grapefruit, but every once a while I’ll get the urge to take a bite or two and as soon as the lip puckering tang gets in my mouth, I’ll remember why I don’t like the stuff. Apparently I’m not alone. Google “I hate grapefruit” and you’ll get nearly 578,00 hits! According to a poll of 8,066 respondents taken on the website Amplicate, 26 percent were grapefruit averse, many of whom would no doubt concur with the American playwright Harry Crews who wrote in his biography that when he first tasted the sour fruit, “I only had to touch my lips to my piece to know something was wrong, bad wrong.”
The grapefruit, which has been around for a couple of hundred years is the accidental love child of two types of citrus, the pomelo and the sweet orange which were inadvertently hybridized by Caribbean farmers in the early 1700’s. It’s Latin name “citrus paradisi” (citrus of paradise), refers to its tropical origins and it’s the only citrus fruit that did not originate in Asia. Originally called “The Forbidden Fruit”, possibly as result of its manmade, supposedly non-divine origins, it got the name “grapefruit” in the middle of the 19th century in reference to the grape like cluster in which it grows in.
One of the most common and poorly misunderstood ingredients in the world of skin care is silicone. It’s nearly impossible to find a moisturizer, anti-aging formulation, makeup, foundation or even hair care product that doesn’t contain it. Since its invention in the 1950’s, it’s been prized by cosmetic formulators and consumers for its soft velvety texture, smooth tactile quality, ability to protect the hair cuticle, waterproofing properties and ability to improve the application of products, allowing them to be applied with a frictionless feel with no greasy or oily sensation.
Silicones are highly processed chemicals derived from silica, a blend of silicon (the 14th element on the periodic table and NOT the same thing as silicone!) and oxygen, the 2 most abundant elements on earth, which together form nearly 60 percent the planet’s crust. Silica, also known as silicon dioxide, is a common constituent of sand quartz crystals and is widely used in the production of glass.
There is no one ingredient called “silicone”. Rather silicones are a family of molecules that come in numerous forms, all of which are inert chemicals, structured like a chain made up of repeating units of links called “siloxanes”, substances that are similar to water, except for the substitution of an atom of hydrogen with an atom of silicon. The net result is a siloxane molecule (technically Si2O instead of H20), that has the liquidy qualities of water with a different characteristic feel. This feature of being water-like, with a distinct and highly unique texture, is what gives silicone its multifunctional characteristics and is the main reason for its ubiquity in the world of cosmetic formulations.
