Zinc Vitamin Benefits

Zinc Vitamin Benefits

We all consider vitamin and mineral supplements to be useful – and commonly look at such things as vitamin D supplementation, or boosting our vitamin C levels to fight off a cold. But how many of you consider the zinc vitamin benefits from taking zinc supplements?

It is easy to skip over zinc when it comes to supplements to boost our health, I know I did for a long time. This is because zinc only needs to exist in small quantities within our body to provide the health boost that we are looking for, so we don’t need excessive amounts of it. The National Institute of Health recommends taking between 12 and 15 mgs a day (for adults).

So if we need so little why should we look at using the likes of zine supplements to boost our health? What are the health benefits of zinc?

Zinc Vitamin Benefits
Many Zinc Health Benefits

The Health Benefits of Zinc

Immune System. Zinc is a vital part of our immune system. It is used in the creation of T-lymphocytes. These are a type of white blood cell that is essential to keeping us clear of disease. Zinc deficiency in the elderly can be linked to their increased susceptibility to pneumonia and other diseases.

Improved Healing Time. No, you are not going to get the healing powers of Wolverine but by taking zinc vitamin, benefits include the increased healing ability if the skin – allowing you to recover from skin wounds more quickly, and toughening it so that you suffer wounds less severely. Zinc supplements may be used to help people who have chronic wounds.

Keep Your Eyesight. If your family is prone to having their eyesight deteriorate as they get older (as mine is) then you may well benefit from zinc supplements – which have shown to slow down the deterioration process (though sadly not stop it), when combined with other antioxidants which occur naturally.

A Healthier Pregnancy. One of the most important benefits of taking zinc vitamins is that it is able to help improve the health of both mother and baby within pregnancy and childbirth. Studies by the University of Oregon have shown that low zinc levels can be associated with low birth weight, birth defects and other issues. Also suggestions have been made that low zinc level inhibits the absorption of folic acid, which aids in fertility.

Who Does Zinc Vitamin Benefit?

So as we have seen taking zinc vitamins benefits a wide number of people- those who suffer from skin diseases, those that need their immune system boosted, those looking to keep their eyesight strong and those who are pregnant (or looking to be pregnant).
For the most part it is recommended that you take over the RDA % – BUT if you are on antibiotics of any kind then you should stick close to the RDA. Take 50mg or more and it can lead to a reduction in effectiveness (and for those with lung issues, may also cause problems with oxygen getting around the body).

As ever before embarking on ANY supplement course it is important to check with your Doctor BEFORE you start. But in 99% of cases zinc vitamin benefits should be a health boost that you can tap into, allowing you to improve the function of your body.

We also recommend that you take Zine supplements separate form multivitamins, rather than a catch all solution containing them all. As you can see from this study, the health benefits were greater when the zinc was taken separately.

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Pantothenic Acid and Acne

Pantothenic Acid and Acne

Pantothenic acid is regularly used by people as an alternative medicine in the treatment of acne.

It is more commonly known as Vitamin B5 (aka pantothenate). This vitamin is essential for many animals (humans included) in order for us to synthesise a substance known as CoA (coenzyme-A). This may sound complicated by what we simply need to understand is that we need pantothenic acid in order to metabolize proteins, carbohydrates and fats – rather important in the digestion and breakdown of food into substances we can use.

More About Pantothenic Acid and Acne

So how does this have an impact as an alternative cure for acne?

It is thought that vitamin b5 is responsible for regulating certain hormones within humans, hormones that are often responsible for causing acne (especially within teenagers). Most worryingly (with regards acne) is the fact that it is believed that without sufficient quantities of pantothenic acid the CoA will produce excess androgens.

coenzyme-A and pantothenic acid for acne?
coenzyme-A and pantothenic acid for acne?

Androgens will cause the build up of fatty acids, especially in the glands which will block them up and cause acne to form.

This theory was tested firstly on mice in the late 1990′s, where it was shown to help cure acne. Further testing continued and in a study in 1997 by Dr Lit-Hung Leung. In a test involving 45 Asian males and 55 Asian females the Doctor tested varying amounts of vitamin b5, from 10 – 20g (which is roughly 100000% of the US daily allowance of vitamin b5).

What is exciting is that the report showed that the acne of the individuals improved between 1 week and 1 month of starting the test. This shows a strong likelihood that pantothenic acid and acne have a strong correlation, and that vitamin b5 taken orally can have a big part to play in the curing of acne.

Of course there is more studying that needs to be done to understand the link between pantothenic acid and acne, one study is far from enough to draw conclusive results. But for those who are suffering badly from acne it would, based on this, be a good idea to ensure that you have sufficient levels of vitamin b5 within your system. One aspect that would be useful to look at is how vitamin b5 can combine wit the vitamin D acne cure we already have

Foods High in Pantothenic Acid

So if you are going to include vitamin b5 in your system, how should you do so? One way, of course, is to use supplements. These can be a very quick and painless way of getting them into your system.

But for those that are determined NOT to use supplements then what you need is a list of foods that have high levels of Pantothenic acid in them. Thankfully we have such a list!

For the most part try including these in your diet to help improve your acne with pantothenic acid.

  • Whole grain and All Bran type cereals.
  • Other cereals (such as corn flakes and Cheerios)
  • Mushrooms
  • Grapes
  • Liver
  • Kidneys
  • Various cereal bars
  • Eggs

So as you can see, when you are looking for foods for vitamin b5, cereals are important – and with the inclusion of eggs you could well argue that breakfast is the most important meal of the day (in fact it is already that, but more so for people looking to cure their acne).

Breakfast is important anyway, as it is already considered the most important meal for regulating hormones that can cause acne. This further research on the link between pantothenic acid and acne shows that it is more important than many thought.

Whilst not tasty, chicken liver, fried, is the most efficient way of introducing vitamin b5 into your system – it has 5 times the amount an egg does for example. So if you can bring yourself to eat it (even in something like a steak and kidney pie) then it could well be a very useful ingredient to add to your meals to help you use pantothenic acid to cure acne.

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Vitamin D Acne Cure?

Vitamin D Acne Cure?

One of the most worrying thing for many people, especially teenagers, is acne. It effects a huge amount of people worldwide and can lead to a loss of confidence, as well as being a concern that it might be a symptom of something more. Which is why so many people are looking for acne cures, such as the vitamin D acne cure.

As a personal note I suffered badly from acne as a teenager. Otherwise I was healthy growing up (which changed as I got older, more on that again), but the acne covering my face dented my confidence and it took me years to develop the outgoing, confident self I am now.

So I understand the pain that many people are going through when they suffer from this skin condition, and why they are looking for cures. One of the most interesting was discovered nearly a hundred years ago, but time seemed to bury the results and we are only just revisiting them.

The Vitamin D Acne Cure

Vitamin D acne cure?
Vitamin D acne cure?

This had been investigated a few times in the past, but the report that is of most interest was developed way back in 1938, but seemed to disappear from our knowledge base, until recently (shame they didn’t have the Internet back then).

The report I am talking about is this one.

As you can see there is a lot of positives in there – including the amazing stat that being treated with Vitamin D cured the acne of a massive 47% were healed inside 3 months, with a further 27% ‘improved’.

So how come we’re just reading about it? Seems the medical brains studying the vitamin forgot about it, until this newsletter from the vitamin D council in 2008

“I have had some reports that vitamin D cured acne but frankly, I didn’t believe them. Then I ran across this 1938 paper. You can read the entire paper yourself and see what 5,000 to 14,000 IU per day did for these patients with severe acne. When I was a kid, I always wondered why my pimples got better in the summer and worse in the winter.”

So is it an Acne Cure?

Which is interesting, as it shows that scientists now are waking up to the research done nearly 80 years ago. It also suggests that vitamin D has a strong role to play in helping to cure acne. The suggestion that the vitamin D acne cure is starting to look promising.

Certainly we know that vitamin d cures can be used for a number of skin problems, including psoriasis, which it is very powerful in curing.

So with regards acne? More modern studies certainly need to be carried out, but the current thinking is it could be very powerful as a means of fighting acne. As was suggested by the Vitamin D council it is easy to see for yourself that the spots are better in thesummer – why we are absorbing more vitamin D from the sunlight than we do in the winter.

So whilst there is no specific answer to whether vitamin d acne cure is a reality, there are strong signals that suggest it could well be a powerful tool in helping people to break the curse of acne.

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Caraway Seed Substitute

Caraway Seed Substitute

The caraway seed is used in all sorts of ways, from stunning caraway recipes through to using it for it’s many and varied health benefits as an alternative medicine. The problem is that such seeds are not always easy to get hold of, which is why many people look for a caraway seed substitute to help them replace the problem.

Of course to know what caraway seed substitute to use, we need to look at what you are looking it for. Very obviously there could well be a different replacement to someone making a seed cake to someone who is trying to tap into the digestive tract benefits that are associated with the caraway seed.

Caraway Seeds
Caraway Seeds

Caraway Seed Substitute – Recipes

Caraway seeds can be very tasty when used n the right recipes, and so are rightly sort after by many chefs and cooks. Given they are not always easy to get hold of it is important that anyone who does not have a regular supply knows what to replace the seeds with.

Assuming you are using the seeds simply for flavor then the best bet is to use fennel seeds which have roughly the same sort of taste as the caraway. This can give a very tasty (if somewhat different) taste that you should enjoy without ruining your recipes and creations.

Mixing rye seeds with cumin can also give a great alternative for those that want to add plenty of flavor to their food.

Tarragon is a carrway seed substitute that can be used, both in cooking and for health benefits.

Caraway Seed Substitute – Health Benefits

The caraway seed health benefits are one of the most popular reasons to be buying them in the first place. So if they are no longer an option what sort of herbs or seeds should you be looking at to replicated caraway seed health benefits?

The main health benefit of caraway seeds is to increase the output and regulate the gastric tract. Thankfully there are a number of other herbs that are able to produce similar health benefits.

Before you do look for such see if you have alternative caraway options. You need not use the seeds, there are tinctures, mixtures, oils and the like, all infused with the caraway seed health benefits, that you can tap into to help improve your health.

Amongst the most popular caraway seed substitute is the Mugwort herb. Mugwort, like Caraway, has a large amount of power with regards helping to improve digestion, as well as the added benefit of helping to relieve trapped gas (which can often be painful).

Tarragon is another that can be used, both in cooking and for health benefits. It also has strong powers with regards digestion. It is important if you are using tarragon as a caraway seed replacement that you use the fresh tarragon herb, as many health benefits are lost if you used tried or frozen alternatives.

There are also numerous bitter tonics, such as Chinese bitters and horehound, which can be used in cold tinctures to help aid digestion.

So as you can see if you are unable to get your hands on caraway there is no major problem – you have numerous alternatives. These caraway seed substitutes may not be quite as useful as caraway, but they will certainly do in a pinch.

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Black Cohosh to Induce Labor

Black Cohosh to Induce Labor

Firstly a warning. Anytime that you are considering taking anything during pregnancy it is important that you consult a doctor. This is true of any drugs, herbs, new diet and the like…with so many different medicines and supplements taken in pregnancy it is important to know how all interact. So if you do want to use Black Cohosh to induce labor then you are going to need to consult a medical professional.

Black Cohosh to Induce Labor
Black Cohosh to Induce Labor

That said it is always important to know what you are talking about, even when talking to medical professionals. To that end we have tried to gather all the relevant knowledge for inducing labor with Black Cohosh into one place.

A Natural Way to Induce

Many pregnant women want to induce their labor when it is time, but rather than looking to drugs and western medicine it is preferred to use a natural method to help speed up the pregnancy. When they do so the Black Cohosh is amongst the most popular of routes.

For many people the Black Cohosh is first introduced to them as a method of alleviating the pain of menstruation. For others it is a way of helping control the symptoms of menopause.

But many women first come across it when a midwife or a natural health practicioner suggests it to them as a way of helping to speed up the labor. A Black Cohosh induced labor is common in many parts of the country.

Taking Black Cohosh to Induce Labor

When you are looking to take Black Cohosh you need to know how much. Again it should be stressed the importance of talking to a medical professional about this – everyone is different when it comes to amounts and so it is important to have professional advice.

For the sake of completeness the average amount of Black Cohosh taken is 5 drops of the tincture to a cup of water or tea. It is important that you only do this after the 37th week of pregnancy, before that is dangerous (and may still be after, again check with your doctor).

If you are still not finding that there is any change after a week of taking 5 drops in a cup of water, double the amount (divided into two glasses of water or cups of tea).

If you prefer to take capsules, take one 500 mg capsule of Black Cohosh to induce labor – do so 3 times a day.

Before any decision is made, make sure that you talk to a health professional. You do not want to be endangering the life of your unborn child, or your own life.

Related Posts

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Tart Cherry Juice Benefits

Tart Cherry Juice Benefits

Tart cherries have all sorts of medicinal benefits. They are packed with important anti-oxidants and nutrients. The problem is that you need to eat a massive amount of them to get the benefits that you are aiming for. Thankfully there is another option – tart cherry juice benefits are the same as normal berries, but in a much easier quantity.

By concentrating the cherries into a small amount of juice you are able to tap into the amazing health benefits, but do so without having to sit down and work your way through an entire sack of the cherries!

Tart Cherry Juice Benefits
Tart Cherry Juice Benefits

What are the Health Benefits of Tart Cherry Juice?

Buy Tart Berry Juice

Of course one the most important questions for anyone considering buying tart cherry juice is – just what are the health benefits? Is it really worth including as part of the everyday diet?

Tart Cherry Juice Benefits

Because the tart cherries are rich in an antioxidant known as anthocynanins, they pass on health benefits such as

  • Healthy circulation.
  • Improve and upkeep nerve function
  • Anti-cancer properties

The important factor of antioxidants is that they help stop oxidisation of cells from free radicals. This sort of oxidisation can lead to all sorts of disease and illness including cancer, alzheimers and diabetes.

A study in August of 2009 by the Journal of Nutrition conducted by T Traustadóttir, SS Davies, AA Stock, et al showed that the use of tart cherry juice helped to prevent cancer, reduce cognitive decline and increase the health of aged participants in the trials.

Cancer Fighting Powers

Buy Tart Berry Juice

It is not just the anthocynanins that help the tart berry juice benefits be powerful cancer fighters, other antioxidants are contained within the cherries that give it additional cancer fighting benefits.

Further health benefits of the tart berry juice include the reduction in cell mutation from free radicals and other sources, mutation that often causes cancer in people.

Helps to Lower Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a problem among many people as they age. Tart berry juice benefits include the antioxidant quercetin, which prevents the free radicals from damaging LDL. This is important as when LDL is oxidised it ‘coats’ the arterial walls, a major problem with heart complaints and circulation issues.

Pain relief

Further testing is starting to show that tart berry juice benefits include pain relief and anti-inflammatory powers, prevent cataracts and slow the ageing process. Testing on these health benefits of tart berry juice is currently ongoing.

ORAC value

Further proof that tart berry juice is one of the best sources that you can get for antioxidants comes in it’s ORAC score. Orac (oxygen radical absorption capacity) measures the amount of antioxidants in a food. Tart berry juice concentrate comes out top in many tests and has an orac value of 12,000. By contrast dried tart cherries has only a score of 6,800 – showing why the juice is better than using the berries, powders etc.

As a comparison, blueberries, considered a ‘superfood’ by many for their antioxidant powers, has an Orac score of just 2400.

Buy Tart Berry Juice

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Coconut Water Hangover Cure

Coconut Water Hangover Cure

There are a huge number of health benefits that are associated with coconut water. The coconut water hangover cure may be the most famous use of it, but other reported benefits include anti ageing properties, sports recovery and even as an intravenous fluid by doctors!

Coconut water is the fluid taken from young coconuts. The odds are that you are aware of coconut milk, which is the fluid usually associated with coconuts. Well the water is produced just as the milk is, but by the young coconuts – as they age they start producing milk rather than water.

But it is coconut water as a hangover cure that we are interested in right now. Can it really help us beat that dreaded ‘day after the night before’ feeling, where we have drunk too much and left us in a weak, ill and depleted state?

The Health Benefits of Coconut Water

Coconut Water Hangover Cure
Coconut Water Hangover Cure

First let us look at the health benefits that the water pulled from young coconuts can give us. The main use, as you might have seen from suggestions such as a curing a hangover and aiding in sports recovery, is to replace lost fluids.

When we exercise we sweat, a lot. Even if you feel you are not sweating you are still losing moisture, moisture that needs to be replenished. But it not just moisture that is lost, so to are essential salts and electrolytes.

Interestingly enough these are also the same electrolytes we lose when drinking. Alcohol is a diuretic, in causes us to urinate more – revealing us of liquids and electrolytes. These are essential to the well being of the body. This, when added to the damage you are causing yourself by essentially putting a poison into your system, causes a hangover.

Whilst replacing water does help replace the moisture lost through sweat, or from our removing it from our body via the toilet, it does not replace the salts and electrolytes. Since our body needs these in order to start feeling well again we need to look elsewhere. This is where coconut water comes in.

Amazingly coconut water’s electrolyte balance is very similar to the body’s plasma, which is why it was often used as an intravenous drip – it could replace what the body was losing. This means that you can replace what you lose, whether it is playing sports or curing a hangover.

Coconut Water Hangover Cure

Buy coconut Water to Cure Your Hangover

Hangover cures are all about replacing what your body lost when it was drinking too heavily, and reducing the stress that excess alcohol is having on your other organs. By replacing lost electrolyte balance, coconut water is the perfect hangover cure for many people.

It has the added benefits of being completely fat free and, perhaps surprisingly, considering how sweet it tastes, contains no sugar either. Additional benefits include it being a good source of calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium and vitamins A and B.

So if you are looking for a hangover cure that not only works, but also helps to improve your body, then look into the coconut water hangover cure. It could well help save the day!

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Proven Health Benefits of Ginger

Proven Health Benefits of Ginger. When it comes to finding health benefits a lot tends to rely on old wives tales. Simply guessing at health benefits because your aunt got better from her cold after she ate some ginger. Interesting, but not exactly scientifically relevant.

Now there are problems with using scientific evidence in herbal lore…for all that scientists want us to believe that science is the be all and end all there are in fact huge gaps in their knowledge. Just because they don’t see how something could work doesn’t mean that it doesn’t actually work, it just means that the understanding, or the measuring instruments, aren’t up to spec.

So what does that mean with regards the health benefits of herbs, such as ginger? That it is worth looking at the proven, the whys and the wherefores that science has given us, but also it is worth coming to our own conclusions…there are few black and whites.

The Science?

health benefits of ginger

The good news is that there is considerable amounts of research available with regards the health benefits of ginger. Leading research bodies and Universities have carried out investigations into many supposed benefits of using ginger – finding them to be accurate in some cases, not so accurate in others.

As we explained it is not just the proven health benefits of ginger that we should be concerning ourselves with, but also investigating on out own. That said here we want to focus on what the science is telling us – so that we have a constant reference sheet should anyone aim to belittle the health benefits of using ginger by trying to blind people with science. In our experience being able to back up your opinions with verifiable facts should help you educate wannabe scientists who aim to do herbal remedies down.

Scientific Research into the Health Benefits of Ginger

So what have these research bodies proven the scientific health benefits of ginger to be? Whilst many people have studied ginger in depth to understand what benefits can be passed on to people, perhaps the most important is the research done by the University of Michigan, which as undergone several important trials testing a number of health aspects of ginger in people, and the data collected by the University of Maryland

1. Ginger Helps control nausea and stomach ache

Long been used as a remedy for a bad stomach and to cure nausea, there seems to be a substantial truth behind the traditional cure.

Ginger contains a substance called gingerol. This is a powerful addition to the body when it comes to combating free radicals. Specifically with regards nausea it is able to significantly cut down on the amount of oxidative products in the stomach.

More importantly the ginger moves to block serotonin receptors in the stomach, which blocks the feelings of nausea.

“What it actually does is blocks those receptors so serotonin can’t go into them and cause more nausea,” says Suzanna Zick, N.D., MPH, research investigator in family medicine at the University of Michigan Health System

What is interesting is the many types of nausea that it can block. For instance.

    • Motion sickness. In a trial of 80 novice sailors, all of whom tended to suffer from motion sickness, ginger was shown to help improve the nausea of patients more than a placebo. A significant decrease in the amount of vomiting and cold sweats was observed in those taking the ginger vs those on the placebo.Whilst not as effective as motion sickness medication (in a follow up test those taking the medication fared better again than those on ginger), for those that are allergic, or that don’t want the many side effects of the tablets, ginger looks to be a worthwhile choice.
    • Chemotherapy. Intensive testing by the University of Michigan on the use of ginger to help deal with nausea post chemotherapy was carried out. Initial results show that ginger can help with many of the side effects of chemotherapy such as the cold sweats and nausea feelings, but the amount of vomiting was in no way effected. A promising but not ideal solution for those having to undergo chemotherapy
    • Pregnancy Nausea. Women who were pregnant and prone to nausea were tested with ginger at a dose of 1mg per day for a period of 4 days (prolonged, heavy ginger use in pregnant women is not recommended). It was proven to be more beneficial than the placebo in re-leaving the symptoms of nausea, including amount and duration of vomiting.

Other tests being carried out include investigations into the effect of ginger on post surgery nausea – which is having split results at the moment.

2. Ginger for Cancer Treatments

A testing lab

One unexpected health benefit of ginger to be brought up by scientific researchers is the use of ginger as treatment for cancer. Specifically ovarian cancer.

University of Michigan research has discovered that ginger causes ovarian cancer cells to die in laboratory conditions.

“In multiple ovarian cancer cell lines, we found that ginger induced cell death at a similar or better rate than the platinum-based chemotherapy drugs typically used to treat ovarian cancer,” says Jennifer Rhode, M.D., a gynecologic oncology fellow at the U-M Medical School.

This has only been tested under lab conditions, so research has yet to be carried out to find if this works in people, and how ginger interacts with more traditional cancer treatments and drugs, so patients should only ever take ginger for ovarian cancer under advisement from their doctor.

3. Inflammation

One of the long held ginger health benefits has been that it is able to help reduce inflammation. It has been used to treat all sorts of problems, from simple sports injuries to arthritis. But does it work?

Yes, to a degree. It seems that testing has shown that one of the health benefits of ginger really is to help treat illnesses and problems with inflammation, but that it is not as powerful as leading drugs.

Ginger has shown, in numerous case studies and tests, to ease inflammation problems. But it has tended to test as no more powerful than ibruprofen. Though it does have the advantage of not having the side effects that the other drugs tend to have.

Any other health benefits of ginger? Possibly. Whilst, as we have seen, significant testing has already gone into finding the best health benefits of ginger, that is not to say that the list is exhaustive, far from it. Many claims have been made on how ginger can improve our health, and so research is only starting to address some of these claims, there are many more to get through yet!

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Fetal Heart Rate and Gender

Fetal Heart Rate and Gender.  There is something very comforting about ‘knowledge’ passed down from generation to generation, especially that from mother to daughter. It feels solid, real, something that if science manages to prove wrong then it is science that is wrong, not your mother.

Unfortunately we have been shown the error of our ways in many aspects – but also been proven right in many, many others. One of the current battle grounds is the claim by many that there is a direct link between fetal heart rate and gender.

For years it has been claimed that such a link exists. It was maintained that the link between fetal heart rate and gender was a simple one. By studying the baseline heart rate of the foetus you would be able to predict whether it was a boy or a girl

fetal heart rate and gender
fetal heart rate and gender - is there a link?
  • Under 150 bpm – Boy
  • Over 150 bpm – Girl

Nothing could be simpler. But how useful a guide is it?

Testing the Link Between Fetal Heart Rate and Gender

The problem with such studies is that there are a lot of variables that need consideration when it comes to the final results, so many variables that it can be next to almost impossible to claim to have any sort of definitive answer.

For instance did you know that there is a direct relationship between the heart rate of the mother and the heart rate of the foetus? So if the mother is at all anxious, or relaxed, the effect on the heart rate of the baby can be enough to give a false result. Finding a baseline is very difficult.

With these and other factors effecting the outcome any research will be flawed – if you want an indication of how many factors are in play try skimming this research. But there is a number of pieces of research that we can call on to give us an idea.

One of the most prominent and recent was called the ‘Study of Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy’, in it after a study of 500 births, they gave the confident statement

“Contrary to beliefs commonly held by many pregnant women and their families, there are no significant differences between male and female fetal heart rate during the first trimester.”

This further backed up the 1980s study of the link between fetal heart rate and gender. A senior sonographer took over 10,000 fetal heart rates and then compared them to the births of the children. It gave the conclusive answer that such a method of checking the fetal heart rate for gender purposes was no better than simply guessing.

Is this true? The evidence suggests it is – and yet millions of people the World over strongly believe that there is a link between fetal heart rate and gender selection. They use the method to predict the sex of a child well before modern medicine does, and many claim it is done with a huge amount of accuracy.

At the end of the day does it really harm? For many people part of the fun of pregnancy is guessing the sex of the child – so why not try the link between fetal heart rate and gender for yourself, and see if you can help decide one way or another whether this technique works or not.

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Himalayan Salt Lamp Benefits

The Himalayan salt industry has been thriving in recent years…thanks in part to the discovery of Himalayan salt lamp benefits.

It is hardly a secret that the world is getting smaller. Maybe not in size but certainly in time and availability. A couple of decades ago the Himalayas would have been all but another World…something mentioned in text books and maps, but not something we would have had much to do with.

But technology has improved and now we can ship in items from just about anywhere, quickly and cheaply. Which is why phrases like “Himalayan pink salt” and “Salt inhalers” are something we can just bandy around now as if they were common place items you’d pick up from your newsagents at the end of the road.

In some cases this can be a bad things, commercialism gone mad. But at other times it can be a massive blessing, especially in the health industry where you can now get natural herbs, medicinal plants and other home remedies that would not normally be found in your country – such as Chinese Ginseng being able to be found in San Fransico, Selah or Yakima. Fantastic remedies like the Himalayan salt lamp benefits us all.

Speleotherapy

The odds are that you haven’t come across the word “Speleotherapy” before…most people haven’t. Speleotherapy is the posh way of saying ‘salt therapy’. Salt therapy (and there are still plenty of people who don’t know the salt therapy benefits) is simply taking the health benefits of salts and applying them to people via various means, such as salt lamps, salt pipes, inhalers and more.

himalayan salt lamp benefits
himalayan salt lamps

The salt used in Speleotherapy is usually natural, unrefined rock salt – natural deposits of the mineral Halite – are formed from ancient lakes and rovers evaporating over time, depositing the salt in large numbers.

We will save going into detail about how these salts are formed for another article (whilst interesting it has no place in an article on Himalayan salt lamp benefits), suffice to say that each deposit of rock salt has it’s own unique chemical composition, so using Himalayan rock salts is likely to be very different to using rock salts found elsewhere.

With regards speleotherapy, it is all based around ionizing these rock salts and allowing tiny salt particles into the lungs where they have remarkable healing powers – many people with breathing difficulties, such as asthma, have reported great improvements by using ionized Himalayan salt (actually mined in Pakistan, about 300km from the Himalayas).

Himalayan Salt Lamp Benefits

Himalayan salt lamps are made from large crystals of the salt, hollowed out to allow an electric light or a tea light candle inside. Since the salt crystals can actually be many colors (pink Himalayan salt is very common for example) there are numerous attractive designs in all shapes, sizes and colors for people to choose from.

Whilst the benefits of Himalayan salt lamps are not only decorative it should be noted that they do create a striking design, and can be used in many different rooms to add a certain ‘something’. Certainly they are very different to your average salt lamp!

Health wise there are a number of Himalayan salt lamp benefits claimed. Whilst little by way of scientific proof has been undertaken numerous well respected scientists and Doctors believe that the use of Speleotherapy (remember that word!) has a very big positive impact on the health of many people.

The claimed health benefits of salt lamps include

  • A reduction in the symptoms of many breathing and airway based health complaints. Complaints such as asthma, sinusitis, bronchitis and many allergies (such as pollen etc).
  • For those that suffer with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) it is said to help balance the mood, reducing the impact of SAD during the winter months.
  • It is also said to help us relax, reducing our stress levels and allowing us to unwind. It is also said to reduce
  • Himalayan salt lamps are also said to be great for reducing fatigue and increasing energy levels.

As you can see the reported Himalayan salt lamp benefits are huge, and given the natural style that they add to any room that they are part of you can see why so many people are keen to get their hands on them.

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