Did you say you wanted a free radio show (podcast as it were) that talks all about natural health, the environment and the inter-connectedness of it all? Join me as I explore the Philosophy of Health in a rambling, gambling journey through life in general.
And if you don’t have time to listen to the whole episode, make sure you check out some various ways to Save the Monarch Butterfly
The journal Food Science & Nutrition recently published interesting study from India, as it shows the practical applications of three ‘super foods’ as a whole food soup mix. Cooked Moringa & Soy were combined with a few other ingredients (corn starch, salt and preservative). The study, entitled Formulation and nutritional evaluation of a healthy vegetable soup powder supplemented with soy flour, mushroom, and moringa leaf, is linked here.
Compared to other soup powders, this combination of super foods (they used the highly beneficial Oyster mushrooms) was found to have thee “Highest content of vitamin D, minerals, protein, and fiber” as well as Vitamin C.
Bulletproof coffee – stand back. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve been known to put a little coconut oil in my coffee. It’s actually a great idea. But lately I’ve been starting my day with a dose of electrolyte minerals and I’ve been really impressed with the results!
Humic acid, and its related metabolite fulvic acid, have been increasingly researched for their beneficial health effects. It is no secret that the abundance of trace minerals found in connection with humic fulvates are beneficial and energizing. They even kind of look like coffee! Talk about the doctrine of signature; I don’t know how I missed this combination that has been right in front of my face.
I’ve been adding a tablespoon per cup of coffee. It is fine to heat the minerals, but I have found it works best to add it in to the java once it has been brewed. The same way humic and fulvic acid can boost absorption of nutrients, minerals and botanicals – they can do for you and your morning caffeine beverage. You could even go crazy and add the minerals AND the coconut oil to your morning elixir. Have fun with it!
This month Whole Earth Minerals humic fulvic trace mineral blend is on sale at the Food Movement for just $29.99.
The title of this blog entry is an obvious question for anyone seeking natural solutions to health challenges. In natural medicine, we often take it is a base assumption that changing diet will have impact on health outcomes. The way in which specific dietary changes will affect body systems, however, is not always clear particularly when there is pathology such as in autoimmune and chronic inflammatory conditions.
One study done in Germany about 10 years looked at Mediterranean diet or extended fasting in patients with FM or RA and found no changes in intestinal microflora or secretory immunoglobulin A (a endogenous inflammatory compound). This may not tell us all that we need to know about these pathologies and their relation to diet, but it gives us some food for thought. Would anyone else like to see a followup study with natural anti-inflammatories or even probiotic supplementation?
One interesting Korean study found that EPA & DHA Omega-3s (fish oil) supplementation in Rheumatoid Arthritis sufferers helped them to lower their dosage of NSAIDS (Non-steroidal anti-inlammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen, etc.). While this is far from a dietary ‘cure’ for RA, it could be of immense benefit because of the myriad health benefits of Omega-3, as well as the decreased load on the liver when NSAID dosage required is lowered.
Another study in the International journal Rheumatology found that a vegetarian diet along with fish oil supplementation could greatly reduce symptoms for RA sufferers. “A diet low in arachidonic acid ameliorates clinical signs of inflammation in patients with RA and augments the beneficial effect of fish oil supplementation” found the researchers.
On Monday, the NY Times reported that the New York Attorney General’s office had accused four major retailers (Walgreen’s Wal-Mart, Target and GNC) of having adulterated and useless (or potentially harmful) products on their shelves. The paper of record reported that “The authorities said they had conducted tests on top-selling store brands of herbal supplements at four national retailers — GNC, Target, Walgreens and Walmart — and found that four out of five of the products did not contain any of the herbs on their labels. The tests showed that pills labeled medicinal herbs often contained little more than cheap fillers like powdered rice, asparagus and houseplants, and in some cases substances that could be dangerous to those with allergies.”
This could be attributed to what many in the natural products industry had already believed – that the products carried under the brand of big box retailers like Wal-Mart might be less than stellar quality. The unfortunate reality might also be that this could have negative ramifications for other companies as well.
Today the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) responded publicly to the charges from the NY State Attorney’s office by saying “the New York State Attorney General used an inadequate and unproven analytical method to test herbal supplement products at the core of the State’s allegations that several retailers are selling adulterated and/or mislabeled herbal dietary supplements. The results of this analysis, therefore, cannot be considered valid. According to AHPA Chief Science Officer Maged Sharaf, Ph.D., the New York State Attorney General and the laboratory that conducted the analysis relied on an analytical technology that does not have the capacity to reach the degree of certainty represented by the State in its accusations.”
While this is clearly an evolving case, it underscores the need for consumers to support high quality natural products supplements that use the kind of rigors in keeping with GMP. Read more about AHPA’s response here.
CBD (cannabidiol) seems to be such a promising new dietary supplement, especially as a super-critically extracted compound from industrial hemp. The pioneering health food store brand Super Hemp CBD, made with Plus CBD Oil from CannaVest and exclusively distributed by the Food Movement Co. in Illinois, has been very well-received due to the purity and 0.00% THC content of the product.
So, the letter to stockholders and customers just released by CannaVest’s CEO Michael Mona, Jr. may seem somewhat surprising. In the letter he officially responds to a recently-released smear article titled ‘Hustlers of Hemp’ by saying “Our industry as a whole is subject to numerous attacks, and typically we do not merit such attacks with a response. In this instance, where the quality and safety of our products is attacked, we owe it to our customers and stockholders to respond.” Read the full text of the letter here.
From my work on CBD with the Hemp Movement, I can tell you that Super Hemp CBD, made with Plus CBD Oil is substantiated by very reputable cutting edge testing methods. This is why we can assure that the product is indeed solvent-free because of the superior super-critical extraction method. Project CBD claims to be a third-party project, but according to Mona’s letter evidence indicates that Project CBD is little more than a marketing ploy by competitive products; in particular some which are marketed through multi-level networking channels or ‘pyramid schemes’; and have be known to slander competitors with similar smear campaigns and dirty business tactics.
In the end, I personally feel that those of us taking the ‘higher road’ of making products which pass credible third-party standards have already risen to the top as the product which belongs in the hands of the discerning consumer or health food store. In the short run, we give some attention to these attacks by responding. Ultimately, customers deserve to know the truth and products like Super Hemp CBD with a product that is guaranteed to be safe and legal, as opposed to the ‘whole Cannabis only’ platform which Project CBD claims to represent. Certainly in the interest of natural medicine, and particularly in states where medical marijuana is not an option, the non-psychoactive CBD seems to hold promise for many families and individuals.
Stephen Hawking has recently been quoted as saying “philosophy is dead” (or at least that little machine he speaks through did) and I couldn’t disagree with him more. Philosophy is alive and well in natural medicine; in order to believe in vis Medicatrix naturae (Latin for “by the healing power of nature”) one must believe in the wisdom of nature. We may need science to understand more about it; but when we can point to a long tradition of safe use that is a philosophical kind of data (more in the realm of say -ethnobotany) that we should not ignore.
Science seats itself on a lofty perch, the sometimes overly-haughty halls of academia. While I love a good double-blind study as much as the human or herbalist – give me the good ole common sense parameters derived from hundreds, even thousands, of years of safe and effective use over a narrow study that can be spun and reinterpreted ad nauseum.
One possible victim of that spinful extrapolation is a sea vegetable called Irish Moss, also called carageenan moss, which grows abundantly in the Atlantic ocean. Irish Moss (Chondrus crispus) is a type of red algae, used in traditional cultures as a food and a medicine. It is also best known commercially as a source for carageenan (a polysaccharide fraction naturally occuring in the plant) to be extracted from.
Carageenan is used in industry as a plant-based alternative to gelatin, and as a thickener and stabilizer in processed food products. Somewhat alarmingly, in animal studies a high dose of carageenan injected in vivo has been shown to cause severe inflammation. This kind of animal study data on the carageenan polysaccharides is distrurbing, if not altogether damning.
Irish Moss on the other hand, is now being condemened – apparently based almost solely conjecture from scientists – because it contains carageenan. This seems to me to be a leap of faith that defies both philosophy and science; and a big extrapolation that is contradicted by thousands of years of cultural use of Irish Moss. It is what is commonly knows as discarding the baby along with the bath water.
In Ireland (not surprisingly) Irish Moss is mixed with whiskey and spices to make a type of pudding. In Jamaica it is used medicinally as an aphrodisiac. In Venezuela it is boiled in milk and used a home remedy for sore throat and chest congestion.
These traditional uses support the huge difference between Irish moss and carageenan. It would be presumptuous to assume that a food with hundreds if not thousands of years of culinary and medicinal use is in fact dangerous and worth avoiding. We need to learn how to properly weigh the information in modern scientific analysis, rather than being reactive to it. Always put food first.
