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- Ben Fuchs
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.
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- Ben Fuchs
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.
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- Ben Fuchs
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.
