• Boosting Exercise Performance
• Probiotics Provide Balance
• Ginseng May Help Diabetics
• Revitalize Your Liver
• Repelling Insects Naturally
• Hope For Fibromyalgia

Probiotics Provide Balance

Some 60 to 70 million Americans suffer from digestive diseases of one kind or another and spend $107 billion on drugs and antacids annually.

Digestion is the process that powers the body—converting food into a usable form of energy that is used in turn to create health and vitality. Interference with this crucial process can lead to chronic fatigue, premature aging, arthritis, poor skin and hair, toxicity, allergies, and cancer.

One way to ensure proper digestion and health is to nurture the body's naturally occurring microorganisms. Billions of bacteria live in the gastrointestinal tract. Some are helpful, while others can cause problems. The body depends on the colon's beneficial bacteria to manufacture B vitamins including biotin, niacin, folic acid, and pyridoxine. In addition, these microorganisms produce antibacterial substances that kill disease-causing agents such as salmonella and some types of E. coli.

Two of the more predominant types of beneficial bacteria in a healthy human being are acidophilus bacteria (found in the small and, to a lesser extent, large intestines) and bifidobacterium (found primarily in the large intestine).

High-meat, high-fat diets alter colonic pH and kill helpful bacteria, as do alcohol, stress, and drugs such as birth control pills. Antibiotics are particularly effective at killing all kinds of bacteria, both good and bad—sometimes leading to candida overgrowth and yeast infections.

Probiotics, dietary supplements made of beneficial microorganisms, can reintroduce beneficial bacteria.

Because they convert cholesterol into a less absorbable form, probiotics may hamper the intestinal tract's cholesterol absorption—thereby decreasing serum cholesterol levels. There is also some indication that probiotics can reduce the generation of toxic and cancer-causing compounds produced in the intestinal tract. A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that L. acidophilus may reduce the recurrence of vaginal infections caused by candida.

Probiotic supplements offer a safe, natural, and effective way of maintaining gastrointestinal function. Considering the importance of digestion to overall health, when digestive problems occur, it is an investment worth making.

Reference: Kochar, N., Mehta, A., et al. "In vitro effect of lactobacilli on intestinal anaerobic flora and intestinal gas." Microecol Ther, 19: 119-20, 1989.

Ginseng May Help Diabetics

Writing in Diabetes Care, E.A. Sotaniemi, et al., said that ginseng may be a useful therapeutic tool for the management of non-insulin-dependent (Type II) diabetes.

In the study, 36 volunteers with recently diagnosed Type II diabetes mellitus were given 100 to 200 mg per day of ginseng or a placebo for eight weeks.

The researchers said that the supplement was associated with elevated mood, improved psychophysical performance, lowered fasting blood glucose levels, and lower body weight when compared with typical levels of these parameters in diabetics generally. No side effects were noted.

The researchers added that the 200 mg dose of ginseng enhanced physical activity and improved other variables associated with the disease.

Reference: Sotaniemi, E. A., et al., Diabetes Care; 18:1373-5, October, 1995.

Revitalize Your Liver

The liver is our largest organ, with as many as 500 vital functions. Nearly all products absorbed during digestion initially pass through the liver where it removes or modifies toxic substances before passing remains into general circulation.

The liver stores blood and fat-soluble vitamins. It aids food digestion and metabolism by making cholesterol and bile. After a carbohydrate-rich meal, the liver will convert some of the excess glucose into glycogen. During fasts, the liver releases glucose into the blood by breaking down its glycogen stores.

Optimum health depends on a sound liver. In most illnesses, health practitioners would do well to assess the status of a patient's liver. If liver function can be improved, the entire system will usually benefit.

Normally, the liver needs protein to repair itself. The sulfur-containing amino acids methionine, cysteine, and taurine are particularly important.

Antioxidants also facilitate liver healing. Supplementing the diet with vitamins C and E and the minerals zinc and selenium can help protect the liver from free radical damage. In addition, the B complex vitamins, particularly choline, may support regeneration.

Phosphatidylcholine, more popularly known as lecithin, not only maintains the integrity of liver cells but also may help regenerate damaged tissue and normalize bile function. Studies have found lecithin to improve health in alcoholic liver disease and viral hepatitis and to protect the liver against a variety of toxins.

Silymarin (Silybum marianum), a constituent of milk thistle, is a powerful antioxidant and lipotropic agent and has been shown to stimulate the growth of new liver cells.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), a nutrient-rich herb, has a long folk history as a liver tonic. The German Commission E reports that the root and leaves stimulate bile production, thereby diminishing liver congestion.

Reference: Wagner, H. "Plant constituents with anti-hepatotoxic activity." Beal, J., & Reinhard, E., eds. Natural Products as Medicinal Agents: 545-8, 1981.

Repelling Insects Naturally

If you don't like sharing the great outdoors with mosquitoes and other biting bugs you could do something natural to protect yourself from those pesky blood suckers.

Many of the commercial insect repellents available contain a substance called DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide) which, while an effective insect repellent, can be toxic if used excessively, particularly on children. Dr. Michael Watson, a board-certified toxicologist with the Environmental Protection Agency, said that "while reasonable application of DEET-containing products on adults is not generally a problem, extra caution should be exercised if such products are used on children."

He explained, "The liver tries to metabolize DEET and get it out of the body, but the metabolism isn't very rapid and after significant, repeated exposure, the DEET may remain lodged and stored in the skin. In small children, there's lots of skin relative to body size, so if DEET is put on them every day, there's a lot of possible loading going on."

Fortunately, there are alternatives to DEET with a variety of herbs that act as natural repellents. Because insects have an amazing sense of smell, odor is used as the basic element in most repellents. Four herbs which have been shown to act as natural insect repellents when applied to the skin are:

Eucalyptus: The leaves and oil from the eucalyptus tree are an extremely potent antiseptic, and are also useful for repelling fleas.

Pennyroyal: This herb has a long history of use as an insect repellent. It is a common ingredient in many herbal repellents.

Citronella: Distilled from Cymbopogon (Andropogon) nardus, citronella may be the most well-known natural insect repellent. Not only is it a common ingredient in natural topical repellents, but many light citronella candles to keep insects away.

Geranium Oil: According to work cited by The American Botanical Council, geranium oil has been proven to be an effective insect repellent.

Reference: Keville, Kathi. Herbs for Health and Healing, 1996.

Hope For Fibromyalgia

Three to six million people suffering from fibromyalgia are women 25-45 years old. They report the primary symptoms of aches and pains in their muscles, tendons, and ligaments, fatigue, swelling, muscle spasms, stiffness, headache, and difficulty getting a "good" night's sleep. Fibromyalgia may be hereditary.

Since the symptoms are vague, misdiagnosis is common. Although fibromyalgia generally emerges between the ages of 29 and 37, most people are not correctly diagnosed until the ages of 34 to 53—with the intervening years often spent being treated for one of the misdiagnosed conditions.

Treatment for fibromyalgia, until a cure is found, focuses on easing the symptoms of this disease.

Several studies involving patients with fibromyalgia suggest that a combination supplement providing magnesium and malic acid can relieve muscle pain. The individuals in these studies, after taking 300-600 mg of magnesium and 1200-2400 mg of malic acid each day for eight weeks, reported significant pain relief. When the magnesium/malic acid supplements were secretly switched with placebos, the pain returned, indicating that the supplement was helping control the pain.

Vitamin B1 may also be helpful in easing fibromyalgia, since some studies have found fibromyalgia patients to have low thiamin status. Vitamin E supplements are recommended by some clinicians as part of a dietary supplement plan for fibromyalgia.

Exercise is among the most important recommendations for people with fibromyalgia. Start out with low-impact aerobic exercise, such as bicycling, or walking, and build up to 20-minute sessions three to four times per week.

Reference: Abraham, G., and Flechas, J. "Management of fibromyalgia: rational for the use of magnesium and malic acid", J Nutr Med 3:49-59, 1992.

Older women taking vitamin C supplements for 10 years or longer were found to have a 77-83% lower risk of developing various kinds of cataracts, compared to women who did not take such supplements. Women taking vitamin C supplements sporadically or for less than 10 years did not benefit from the vision protection of long-term vitamin C supplementation.

Reference: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 66:911-6, 1997.