You don’t hear a lot about it, but it’s one of the most ubiquitous of the all the vitamins. It’s called pantothenic acid, a named derived from the Greek word “pantheon”, meaning “found in all quarters”. Indeed, the nutrient, also known as Vitamin B5, is an essential constituent of every one of the 100 trillion cells in the body.
B5's main role is to help the body process and utilize lipids; it facilitates fat burning inside cells. It can be a helpful supplement to speed healing, especially of the skin and the digestive tract. It's also a player in the production of anti-aging steroid hormones associated with growth, repair and fertility. But, pantothenic acid is not only valuable as an internal nutrient. When it's topically applied it can have some interesting and helpful cosmetic effects too.
One of the most important benefits of pantothenic acid, in its topical form, is its effect on acne. Its fat processing properties help the skin slow down excessive secretion of oils, reducing shine and helping eliminate facial and back acne. Pantothenic acid used directly on the skin has anti-inflammatory and anti-irritant properties too. It can prevent he formation of scars and speed the healing of broken and wounded skin. It has also been effectively used to treat burns and surgical wounds. The first beneficiaries of the power of panthenol were soldiers. In the 1940's Swiss Medical researchers seeking new treatments for burn victims during World War Two, came up with the idea of using the vitamin topically. In short order, the drug company Hoffman Laroche, best known for their invention of Valium, came up with the idea of using it to beautify the hair. In 1947 they started to manufacture a shampoo featuring the vitamin. They called it “Pantene”. It became one of the most successful and iconic hair care brands ever and is still one of the bestselling shampoos in the world.
If you want to take advantage of the power of panthenol for preventing hair breakage, improving shine and radiance or if you want to use the vitamin to improve skin health, you don’t need to spend money on fancy products. It’s easy to go the “do-it-yourself” route as pure panthenol, the cosmetic form of Vitamin B5, is inexpensive and readily available on the internet. It comes as a viscous liquid that can be directly added to shampoos or skin creams and lotions. But you are going to have to make sure you use a healthy dose. According to information published in the Journal of Cosmetic Science, it takes 1.0% panthenol to have an effect on skin integrity. In my experience I’ve had to use even more.
If you find the liquid form too difficult to work with (and it is quite sticky), powdered panthenol is also available. You can dissolve two teaspoonfuls to a cup of water to make a 4.0% solution. Store it in the fridge and add as desired to your favorite hair and skin care products making your own home-made panthenol rich beauty products.
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Dr. Joel Wallach discussed how to benefit from natural healing and diet without using modern medicine. Diseases and ailments are often related to deficiencies in various nutrients and minerals, he contends. Recently, the World Health Organization said that eating processed meats like deli slices and bacon increases your risk of cancer at the same rate as smoking, or working in an asbestos environment does, "and I said that since '71, and everybody laughed at me," he recalled. "When you cook your meat well done, it increases the risk of breast cancer for ladies by 462%," he added.
Distilled water is good because it's clean but it does pull minerals out of your body, he noted. What he suggests is adding 1 ounce of organic plant minerals (a colloid solution) into each quart of distilled water. Wallach also recommended Quanta water-- a structured water that lowers the surface tension of your intestine so that you can absorb more nutrients. He also commented on medical marijuana-- it does have omega 3 fatty acids in it that can reduce inflammation and reduce risk of blood clots, he cited.
Did you know?
Plain old gelatin can, taken in capsules or powder, improve digestion, soothe ulcers and improve the symptoms of heartburn and acid reflux .
In a world of oddball animals like giraffes with 30 foot necks, color changing chameleons and serpents that see with their tongues, nothing beats the syphoza for sheer strangeness. Known more commonly by its descriptive (if not entirely accurate) common name, the jellyfish, the intelligent (relatively) gelatinous blob is not a fish at all, but a primitive ocean denizen that has floated the seas for over a half a billion years and is considered to be the world’s oldest multi-organed animal. While there are thousands of different species of jelly fish that come in nearly infinite variety of shapes and colors all are skeleton free and composed of 1 percent solid material that somehow incorporates a solution of 99 percent ocean water.
Scientists call substances that are made up of ordinary sloshy water somehow trapped in an organized, semi-solid jelly like structure “gels” and nature is filled with examples. In addition to the jelly fish, citrus pectin, ocean algae and the squishy stuff in our earlobes, are all types of biological structures that can be classified as gels.
The most fundamental gel structure in biology is the living cell. Contrary to its typical presentation in textbooks as an open circle with sub-cellular things inside, a cell is a gel composed of fluid and little submicroscopic organs (called organelles) that perform the various functions, including locomotion, production and secretion of chemicals, detoxification and energy production. There are literally hundreds of thousands of organelles inside a cell and each of them functions as a water attracting particle. The combination of cellular fluids trapped by these water magnets creates a little blob of jelly, which is exactly what a cells is. And this slippery, slimy quality allows cells to morph and mature, to basically shape shift, while at the same time maintaining a certain stability. This makes them extraordinarily responsive to their environment. It also makes them mobile, allowing them to locomote by propelling themselves via various bodily fluid highways.
Molecules that form gels, called gelling agents, are among the most common chemicals on earth. In fact, three of the most abundant are all capable of forming gels when combined with fluids. Cellulose, which is produced by all plants and makes up most of their cell walls, is THE most abundant organic compound on earth. It’s a long chain, made up of lots of the simple sugar glucose, and is called a “polysaccharide”. When modified it forms a wonderfully effective gelling agent that is considered a go-to gellifier for the formation of numerous cosmetic and medical products. Check out the ingredient deck on your favorite skin care lotion or cream and the odds are pretty good you’ll find hydroxyethyl cellulose or perhaps methyl cellulose, inexpensive and highly effective ingredients that readily form stable and very bouncy gel products.
A second biological compound found abundantly in nature is called chitosan. It’s found in shells of insects and shellfish. Similar to cellulose, it’s a polysaccharide, although somewhat more complex than those found in the plants. Chitosan is prized in the medical industry for its tremendous healing properties. When added to water it readily forms gels that can be used to enhance the growth of new skin tissue to accelerate recovery from burns. Chitosan also has anti-microbial properties making it even more valuable as a healing gel for broken burnt or otherwise traumatized skin. And recently, an inject-able anti-cancer bio-gel composed of the crustacean compound has been shown to be an effective vector for delivering chemotherapeutic pharmaceuticals directly into tumors.
An even more complex gelling agent is collagen, contained in large quantities in most higher order animals. Although like cellulose and chitosan, it’s found abundantly in the natural world, unlike the former polysaccharide gelling agents, collagen is a protein composed of amino acids. Collagen gels are used by scientists as seeding agents for tissue engineering applications. By placing stem cells into collagen gel matrixes, which are then incorporated into burnt or otherwise damaged skin, freshly fabricated fibers can be laid down right into the wounded tissue. Medication can also be incorporated alongside stem cells further enhancing the gels therapeutic value.
Skin care products often take advantage of gellificiation. In addition to lotions and creams which typically contain a combination of wax, oil and emulsifying agent, in addition to a gellifier like cellulose, some products are outright simple gels. If you add say 1-2% gelling agent, to plain old water you can make a basic moisturizer, especially if you add in some glycerin or a drop of honey.
One of the coolest skin health ingredients is a breakfast cereal, it’s called colloidal oatmeal. Oatmeal has a long track record of skin treatment effectiveness and has been used to soothe rashy, broken skin and relieve itching for centuries. In the 1940’s processing machinery was developed that could grind oat particle into a fine colloidal powder that would readily formed gel-like consistencies. This processing technique also released the nutrients in the oat grain, including moisturizing and calming Vitamin E, anti-oxidant phenols and an anti-irritant molecule called beta glucan, allowing the skin to access them with a greater facility than had been the case historically. The active ingredient in oatmeal can also help accelerate healing from burns and skin ulcerations as well as pressure and bed sores.
Gels also make great masks. In fact, most powdered “just add water” masks are polysaccharide rich algae (among the most gel-like of all substances on the planet). Other masks are made with clays which form another type of gel material known as a colloid. Then there’s egg masks, made with the most abundant of biologic proteins, albumin, the same stuff that gives blood it’s gel like consistency.
But gels are far more than mere biological curiosities, cosmetic concoctions and topical tools for therapy. When eaten, they provide wonderful nutritional support too. It takes a lot of energy for all that water to be trapped in a semisolid form and that energy is readily transformed to the organism that consumes it. This makes them especially helpful for the health of the rapidly reproducing cells of the skin and the digestive system, which are especially dependent on energy. Orally ingested gels from seaweed can be used to improve healing of digestive ulcers and leaky gut syndrome. When it comes to the health of the dermis, polysaccharide rich foods can help improve the production of collagen fibers, moisture factors and the cells of the skin’s built in immune system.
Gram for gram the most powerful foods in the world are gels. Plankton, a type of single cell gel that floats on the ocean, are incredibly nutritious and contain enough nutrients to live a pretty healthy life. That’s why the largest creatures on the planet subsist on little else. Living foods like oysters and sprouts are composed of gels. And, the most well-known of nutritional gel, gel-atin, which is composed amino acids and water, has been prized for its tissue healing properties for centuries. Ancient Chinese medical texts described it’s use as an astringent for nose bleeds and the 12th century physician Maimonides identifies it in a soup format as medicine for treating colds. One of my favorite nutritional gels is made with silica, a powerful mineral that readily forms a thick jelly called Liquid Silica Gel (LSG) that has powerful bone building properties. LSG can be used to prevent osteoporosis and speed healing of broken bones too. It also has anti-aging properties and can be used to prevent or perhaps even reverse wrinkle formation. And liquid silica gel may help stimulate the growth of nail and hair tissue too.
You can make your own nutritional gels by simply adding gelling agents to water and drinking them down. Collagen and gelatin is readily available; add a teaspoonful to water and drink down daily as an inexpensive tissue building anti-aging supplement. You can also use dry gelling powders on their own in capsule or powder form. Empty gelatin capsules can be used or you can buy capsules loaded with gelatin and other gel former like the well-known joint building biochemical called glucosamine. And don’t forget to leverage the power of seaweed, algaes and other sea vegetation, among the most multi-functional of all natural health foods. You can make your own seaweed gels by simply adding water to dried seaweed products which are readily available in Asian Markets and health food stores. Or you can buy them premixed in liquid forms, which are more expensive, but may be easier to use. In addition to the power of the polysaccharide gel, algaes are a complete food that provide all your essential vitamins, minerals and fats. And if you’re trying to lose weight, they’re a source of filling fiber too and make a great natural, healthy appetite suppressant.
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Registered pharmacist Ben Fuchs discussed the latest in health information and natural approaches. Speaking of Thanksgiving, he spoke about gratitude as an important part of the spiritual, mental, and emotional strategies that can keep a person healthy. He also cited how relaxation (through simple things like taking a hot bath, or deep breathing) can improve one's skin and stimulate collagen production. "We have a high tech society, where we think it's about surgery, we think it's about...being medicated when it comes to health. Well, what has that gotten us? We've got hundreds of millions of people who are sick," he lamented.
Fuchs maintains that all diseases stem from a fouled bloodstream that is caused by substances that come in through the digestive tract, as well as nutritional deficiencies. A good supplement program can help counteract this, he said. Many diseases, he continued, are partially related to deficiencies in the B vitamins and he recommended taking them in liquid form which can be accessed more readily into the body. Type 2 Diabetes affects millions of Americans, and is a progressive disease that relates to how people process sugar, which includes starches such as bread. Fuchs suggested people "re-sensitize their sweet button" so they can consume less sugar and still be satisfied.
