Natural Healing: Bitter is Better Befriending the Bitter Herbs

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

No other mammal eats this much salt and no other mammal has the health problems we do. High blood pressure, for example, was never even seen in animals until researchers found they could induce it either by surgery or by introducing large amounts of salt into animal’s diets.

We unknowingly absorb excessive salt not only from the food we consume, but also from an unsuspected source: the salt-softened water in which we bathe. Because the American Heart Association now warns that salt-softened water can cause an elevated sodium level, many health-conscious Americans no longer drink salt-softened water. Few realize, however, that we receive a lot of unwanted sodium every time we take a shower or a bath or wash clothes in softened water. Sodium is very efficiently absorbed through the skin and topically ingested salt has become a common culprit of excess sodium.

Part two of this column will appear in the next issue (May/June 2003) of Herbs for Health.

Ann Louise Gittleman, Ph.D., C.N.S., is one of the foremost nutritionists in the United States. She is the author of The Fat Flush Plan (McGraw Hill, 2001), Eat Fat, Lose Weight (Keats, 1999), and Why Am I Always So Tired? (Harper San Francisco, 1999).

Healthy Fruit Juice Recipes

Increase your fruit intake this spring by adding one of these healthy juices to your diet. The juices are as delicious as they are nutritious, so get out your juicer and enjoy.
APPLE-CARROT-GINGER
CITRUS MEDLEY
BLUE WATER
BERRY BEST

Herbal Research Updates

Kathi Keville

Hot answer to back pain

Everyone knows that cayenne pepper (Capsicum annuum) is hot stuff. However, when its active compound, capsaicin, is applied to the skin, it relieves pain rather than producing it. Unlike many pain relievers, capsaicin doesn’t work by reducing inflammation. Instead, the compound blocks production and transport of “substance P,” a chemical that carries pain messages from nerve endings in your skin to control headquarters in your central nervous system. Double-blind clinical studies indicate that it helps relieve the nerve and muscle pain caused by conditions such as osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, whether or not there is inflammation. To test the efficiency of capsaicin on back pain, a double-blind, parallel-group, placebo study applied a capsicum plaster on the backs of 154 volunteers who had been dealing with chronic back pain for at least three months. Nearly one-third of them found that their pain was quickly reduced. After three weeks, another 31 percent were feeling less pain, and it was easier for them to get around and to function in general. Tolerating the treatment was actually easier for those using capsicum rather than the placebo group because it provided so much pain relief, although some volunteers reported discomfort. Previous studies have shown that a burning sensation can last for up to three days in some people. In another recent study, when an analgesic balm made with capsaicin and methyl salicylate (aspirin) was applied on the skin, it decreased muscle contraction and the resulting discomfort. This suggests that capsaicin relieves pain by signaling muscle receptors. While a capsaicin or cayenne plaster is effective, an easier way to treat back pain is with the over-the-counter capsaicin cream sold to treat shingles. In clinical trials, it gave 75 percent of the people with shingles who tried it complete or substantial pain relief and it is also being tested on other painful skin problems, such as diabetic neuropathy, psoriasis, and pain after surgery.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print