Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)

Sources and Physiologic Functions

Requirements and Sources: Pork, whole grains, and legumes are the richest sources of thiamine. Outer layers of seeds are particularly rich in this vitamin.

Populations at Risk: The populations most at risk of developing a thiamine deficiency are chronic alcoholics in Western countries and those with an over dependence on polished rice as a staple in undeveloped nations. In alcoholics it may be caused by decreased intake, reduced absorption, and impaired ability to use the absorbed vitamin. Thiamine is spared by fat, protein, sorbitol, and Vitamin C. High carbohydrate intake, parenteral glucose, pregnancy, lactation, high basal metabolic rate, and antibiotics will increase needs. Also, it is readily lost in persons consuming raw fish, tea, coffee, blueberries, red cabbage, and cooking with excess water and baking soda. Breast fed infants of thiamine deficient mothers are particularly at risk, as death from cardiac failure can result within a few hours, even though the mother appears healthy. Other risk factors include chronic colitis, fever, malignant disease, sprue, and thyrotoxicosis. Intestinal absorption of thiamine appears to be controlled and limited, and modest increases in the serum concentration were accompanied by active renal clearance.

Signs and Symptoms of Deficiency: Children present with aphonia, cardiomyopathy, and polyneuritis. Symptoms involving the heart include tachycardia, cardiomegaly, and cardiac failure. Neurological symptoms include mental confusion, anorexia, ataxia, nystagmus, and weakness of hands, calves, and feet as a result of degeneration of sensory and motor nerves. Thiamine deficiency in adults is called Beri-beri and is characterized by dry skin, irritability, disorderly thinking, and progressive paralysis. In chronic alcoholics, a syndrome of Wernicke’s – Korsakoff”s Psychosis develops. Ataxia and Nystagmus (Wernicke’s ) develop early and, if left untreated progresses to amnesia, confusion, and polyneuropathy ( Korsakoff’s ). Complete recovery at this stage is seen in only 25% of the patients. Vomiting, diarrhea, edema, and weight loss are other non-specific symptoms.

Safety:

Due to relative increase in sympathetic activity, nervousness, sweating, tachycardia and tremors can be seen with excess thiamine. Edema and vascular hypotension occur as a result of capillary leakage. Allergies, fatty liver and herpes are common. Folates and thiamine cause seizures and excitation when administered in high dosage directly into the brain or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of experimental animals, but have rarely been reported to cause human neurotoxicity, although fatal reactions to i.v. thiamine are well known.

Biochemistry: The biologically active form of thiamine is TPP (thiamine pyrophosphate). It acts as a coenzyme in the oxidative decarboxylation at the pyruvate and the alfa-ketoglutarate steps in the energy producing Kreb’s cycle and is particularly important in the tissues of the nervous system. It also acts as a coenzyme in the oxidative decarboxylation ( of alfa-keto acids and in the formation or degeneration of ketols ) by transketolase in the Pentose phosphate pathway, the intermediary products of which are used in the synthesis of ribonucleotides such as ATP & GTP, deoxyribonucleotides such as dATP & dGTP, and nucleic acids DNA & RNA. Thiamine is also essential for protein catabolism, acetyl choline synthesis, normal muscle tone in cardiac and GI tissues, and for normal growth and appetite.

In human the storage of thiamine is is in greatest concentrations in skeletal muscle, heart, brain, liver, and kidneys. The human stores about 25 to 30mg of thiamine. ThMP and free (unphosphorylated) thiamine is present in plasma, milk, cerebrospinal fluid, and just about all extracellular fluids. Unlike the highly phosphorylated forms of thiamine, ThMP and free thiamine are capable of crossing cell membranes.

Recommendations: RDA in mg

• Infants birth to 6 mos – 0.3mg
• Infants 6 mos to 1 yr – 0.4mg
• Children 1 yr to 3 yr – 0.7mg
• Children 4 yr to 6 yr – 0.9mg
• Children 7 yr to 10 yr – 1mg
• Adolescent males 11yr to 14 yr – 1.3mg
• Adolescent females 11 yr to 14 yr – 1.1mg
• Adolescent males 15 yr to 18 yr – 1.5mg
• Adolescent females 15 yr to 18 yr – 1.1mg
• Adult males 19 yr to 50 yr – 1.5mg
• Adult females 19 yr to 50 yr – 1.1mg
• Adult males 51 yr plus – 1.2mg
• Adult females 51 yr plus – 1.0mg
• Pregnant Women – 1.5mg
• Lactating Mothers – 1.6mg

Thiamine hydrochloride is the common supplemental form. Thiamine therapy for alcoholics may involve a single injection of 10-mg thiamine or 50 mg of oral fat-soluble thiamine propyl disulfide that permits efficient absorption in alcoholics. Erythrocyte transketolase activity is considered the most reliable index of the functional state of thiamine.

Thiamine B1

Food Source – Serving Size – Number of milligrams per serving

• Pork (lean arm braised) – 3.5 oz – 0.60mg
• Pork (bacon cured/pan fried) – 4.48oz – 0.88mg
• Navy beans (canned) – 1 cup – 0.37mg
• Pinto beans (canned) – 1 cup – 0.24mg
• Pinto beans (boiled) – 1 cup – 0.32mg

Literature:

A cross-sectional investigation of patients with congestive heart failure being treated with loop diuretic therapy showed that thiamine deficiency may occur in a substantial proportion of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and dietary inadequacy may contribute to increased risk. Men and nonwhite patients with CHF appeared most likely to have evidence of thiamine deficiency, although this reflects, in part, the gender composition of the patients recruited for the study. Patients with more severe CHF (as indicated by lower percentages of left ventricular ejection fractions) had greater biochemical evidence of thiamine deficiency. Another study found left ventricular ejection fraction to be adversely affected by thiamine deficiency and described that, when these patients were supplemented with thiamine intravenously, the ejection fraction improved significantly. Thus, nutritional assessment of thiamine status, including dietary intake, may be an important component of care for patients with CHF who are being treated with loop diuretic therapy.

Cognitive functioning

A study by Benton et. al demonstrated the association between improved thiamine status and improved performance on a range of measures of cognitive functioning in females. No such association was found in males. Although it was not possible to establish the reason for a beneficial response in females rather than males, there is evidence that females respond differently to dietary factors.

Alzheimer’s disease:

Results of one study suggest that probable Alzheimer’s Disease (pAD) is associated with a decrease in plasma thiamine levels. In another study, a 40-50% decrease of thiamine diphosphate (TDP) was found in patients with frontal lobe degeneration of the non-Alzheimer’s type (FNAD). As TDP is an essential co-factor for oxidative metabolism and neurotransmitter synthesis, and because low thiamine status (compared with other species) is a constant feature in humans, a nearly 50% decrease in cortical TDP content may contribute significantly to the clinical symptoms observed in FNAD. This study also provides a basis for a trial of thiamine to improve the cognitive status of the patients. A mild beneficial effect in patients with Alzheimer’s disease was observed on supplementation with Fursultiamine (TTFD), a derivative of thiamine, at an oral dose of 100 mg/day in a 12-week open trial. Similar benefits were observed in another trial with high dose thiamine (3-8 g/d), while a 12 month study with 3 g/d of thiamine showed no apparent benefit in slowing the progression of dementia of the Alzheimer’s type. Thus, weak and contradictory evidence suggests that vitamin B1 may be helpful for Alzheimer’s disease.

Assessment of thiamine status

In several human studies during the past 10 years, thiamine status was assessed either by measuring thiamine pyrophosphate response alone or by using TPP response measures in conjunction of calculated estimates of thiamine intake from diet histories. Some investigators have combined estimates of thiamine intake with measures of thiamine status other than TPP response, such as erythrocyte TPP [18] or plasma TPP In several of these reports, poor thiamine status, as defined by TPP response, could not be related to less-than-adequate thiamine intake. Several authors have noted that valid TPP response measures depend on a kinetically normal enzyme. Hence, disease states, such as alcoholic encephalopathy, may affect enzyme-cofactor binding, and thus, TPP response. Rigorous statistical analysis of relationship between urinary thiamine excretion and TPP response seems to be lacking in the report generally cited as evidence of the validity of TPP response measures. In the ICNND report, categories of thiamine status appear to relate superficially to urinary thiamine excretion, but when there is no clear break-point in the curve for thiamine intake plotted against urinary excretion, it is difficult, in contrast to the case with urinary riboflavin excretion, to define deficiency. One author has demonstrated that in non-human species, pyruvate dehydrogenase appears to be a more sensitive indicator of tissue thiamine deficiency than is transketolase. A study by Gans et. al. raises questions about the usefulness of the TPP response as the sole indicator of marginal thiamine status. Thiamine status was measured in 137 incarcerated and 42 nonincarcerated adolescent males by use of both dietary intake data and a standard biochemical assay, thiamin pyrophosphate (TPP) response. Although average daily thiamine intake of nonincarcerated subjects was significantly higher than that of incarcerated subjects, both groups appeared to be at minimal risk for marginal thiamine status. Comparison of TPP response values indicated that there was no significant difference between groups. However, approximately 24% of the total population appeared to have less than adequate RBC thiamine on the basis of current standards for TPP response. Neither dietary intake nor reported previous alcohol intake was correlated with TPP response. Thus, clinical standards of thiamine deficiency seem to lack firm definition. Perhaps a better, more valid metabolic measure, such as thiamine or TPP in plasma, should be investigated and adopted. Also, intake data as well as some appropriate measure of enzyme activity or function may be important values to assess to describe the thiamine status of a group more correctly.

Summary:

Thiamine is essential in the metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. It is also needed in the synthesis of ATP and GTP and nucleic acids DNA and RNA. It acts as a coenzyme in the energy producing Kreb’s cycle and is particularly important in the tissues of the nervous system. Thiamine is also essential for acetylcholine synthesis, maintenance of normal tone of muscle in cardiac and GI tissues, and for normal growth and appetite.

A number of claims have been made about the beneficial effects of thiamine on numerous conditions. (Fibromyalgia, HIV Support, Pregnancy and postpartum support, Canker sores – mouth ulcers, and Minor injuries)

Evidence strongly suggests that patients with CHF may benefit from thiamine supplementation. Patients with CHF who are on loop diuretics are shown to have thiamine deficiency and patients with more severe CHF showed greater biochemical evidence of thiamine deficiency. Thiamine supplementation is shown to improve the left ventricular ejection fraction significantly.

Thiamine supplementation may improve cognitive functioning and has been shown to improve performance on a range of cognitive tests in females.

Populations who are prone to be deficient in this vitamin, like chronic alcoholics, patients with malabsorption syndromes, and those who consume high carbohydrates should receive supplementation. Pregnancy, lactation, high basal metabolic rate, and parenteral glucose therapy will increase the requirements of thiamine. Breast-fed infants of thiamine deficient mothers should receive adequate supplementation, as death from cardiac failure can result within hours, even though the mother appears normal.

Our recommendation for adults is 25 mg/d. This amount can be obtained from approximately 41 servings of Pork (lean arm braised), 28 servings of Pork (bacon cured/pan fried), and 80 servings of Pinto Beans (boiled). The RDA for adults is 1.5 mg/d, although a range of doses from 1-25 mg/d is usually consumed. Thiamine therapy for alcoholics may involve a single injection of 10-mg thiamine or 50 mg of oral fat-soluble thiamine propyl disulfide that permits efficient absorption in alcoholics. Wernicke’s syndrome, which involves ataxia and nystagmus, develops early and, if left untreated, may progresses to Korsakoff’s psychosis, the neurological manifestations of which are irreversible in 75% of the patients. Fatal reactions to high doses of I.V. thiamine have been reported.

The best positive effects of Pueraria Mirifica are noticed when the product is used for a relatively short time. It is believed that Pueraria formulation products work best when they are used as prescribed but the long term usage may result in several complex health problems. For instance, women using Pueraria products for breast enlargement are often advised to stop using if after few weeks, failure to do this may result in several breast enlargement complications such as pains, formation of lumps and may even result in cancerous development, hence it is often prescribed for those who have lesser than average breast sizes.

Another negative side effect of consuming excess Pueraria products is diarrhea. People who take excessive dietary supplements of Pueraria Mirifica often risk diarrhea infection. Phyto-estrogens compound found in Pueraria Mirifica are capable of preventing some forms of cancer and the presence of Phyto-estrogens for instance can be increased in the body when Pueraria products are consumed and this means that the level of production of some Hormones in the body, when Pueraria is consumed for prolong period of time the level of such hormones may be increased to an extent of causing discomfort within the body.

Pueraria Mirifica has been known to cause some discomfort to several systems of the body especially the digestive systems and the sensory organs especially when it is consumed beyond regulated dosages. It is essential to note that excessive consumption of Pueraria can cause constipation and irritation to the bowels. Diarrhea and vomiting are associated with such conditions.

Pueraria Mirifica is good for destroying bacterial infections on the skin and helps to detoxify the body from harmful toxins but when used excessively on the skin it may developed into an unhealthy situation where the skin becomes discolored and may even developed into some serious disorders including rashes and burns, it is ideal to use Pueraria on skin under a prescribed condition.

The consumption of Pueraria can increase the level of estrogen in women but its excess may result in serious complications such as fatigue, increase body fat, loss of muscle tone , loss of libido and enlarged prostate, hence Pueraria Mirifica consumption must be used in moderation especially by post menopausal women and older adults in general.

Pueraria Mirifica works best with a healthy lifestyle such as healthy diet consumption, little alcohol consumption and a smoke-free lifestyle. People who consume alcohol much and smoke excessively may have difficulties using Pueraria because they will get less benefit from the herb due to their lifestyles.

Pueraria Mirifica serves as a great dietary supplement especially for people who are not getting the needed essential vitamins and minerals through their everyday diets. Dietary supplements of Pueraria ensure an adequate supply of these nutrients for the body’s needs. It is also important to note that excessive presence of some nutrients in the body as a result of excessive consumption of Pueraria Mirifica may result in negative side effects

Cascara sagrada bark is a common ingredient in colon cleansers, often reported to promote ‘detoxification of the colon’. In actuality, cascara sagrada is a powerful stimulant laxative, which initiates fecal elimination by triggering contractions in the colon.

Cascara sagrada bark has numerous side effects and contraindications, all which affect colon, stomach and liver function. This herb is not safe to use if you have a history of any colon or gastrointestinal problems, such as ulcerative colitis or diverticular disease. Pregnant women cannot take cascara sagrada bark because it can put undue stress on the fetus. Long-term use can also cause permanent damage to these organs.

Short-term side effects of cascara sagrada bark include:

* Stomach pain or cramps

* Persistent diarrhea.

* Dehydration

* Dizziness, fainting

Long-term side effects associated with cascara sagrada bark include:

* Chronic constipation

* Loss of normal bowel function

* Colon or bowel damage

* Muscle weakness

* Fatigue, pronounced tiredness

* Decrease in bowel movements

* Pigmentation of the colon (melanosis coli)

* Changes in heartbeat

* Electrolyte loss

* Possible liver, kidney or heart damage

Long-term use is also associated with laxative dependency, a condition that causes the colon to become dependent on laxatives in order to have a bowel movement. Using cascara sagrada bark for longer than prescribed, or more than seven days, can increase a person’s risk for these side effects.

There have also been rare reports of hepatitis occurring after long-term use. It can also increase a person’s risk for adenomas, or colorectal growths. This may be a precursor to cancer.

Allergic Side Effects

Cascara sagrada bark can also cause severe allergic reactions in some individuals. The following reactions have been reported:

* Hives

* Skin rash, excessive itching

* Difficulty breathing

* Chest tightness

* Swelling of the lips, tongue or mouth

* No bowel movement

* Bleeding of the rectal area

If any of these side effects are reported, seek medical treatment immediately. This is a sign of a severe allergic reaction, which can be fatal if left untreated.

Possible Complications

This herb can also worsen the severity of certain illnesses. If you have any of the following health conditions below, this herb may be possibly unsafe to take:

* Diverticular disease

* Ulcerative colitis

* Congestive heart failure

* Heart disease

* Anemia

* Liver disease

* Kidney disease

* Appendicitis

* Crohn’s disease

* Hemorrhoids

* General heart problems

* Cancer of the colon or gastrointestinal tract

People who suffer from laxative dependency or who have abused laxatives in the past should not take this herb. People with a history of eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, should also avoid using this herb.

The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for medical advice. Any health concerns or questions should be discussed with your local healthcare provider.

Glutathione is also important to physically active people. Many world-class athletes are discovering that well-maintained glutathione levels give them the edge over their competitors, bringing greater strength and endurance, decreased recovery time from injury, less muscle pain and fatigue, and muscle-promoting activity.

The side effects of taking glutathione depend on the form you are taking it in, and the side effects maybe direct or indirect.

Practitioners of complementary medicine have long advocated the use of milk thistle for liver problems. It turns out that this herb works by modestly elevating glutathione levels.

Drugs that are precursors (building blocks) for glutathione. Some include S-Adenosyl-Methione, which is expensive and can cause gastrointestinal problems, while ornithine decarboxylase, procyteine, and oxothiazolidine carboxylate both are enzymes and limited in their production of GSH in the body.

American physicians seeking ways to raise a patient’s glutathione levels can open the standard Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR) and find an options i.e., the pharmaceutical drug NAC (n-acetyl-cysteine), but has significant side effects, which include its efficacy or usefulness peaks very quickly, and has to be administered several times per day, which causes toxicity. This is a direct glutathione side effect.

Generally it is considered to be free of side-effects. Neither untoward side-effects, nor interactions with oral administration reported even in prolonged use. It is SAFE. Classified as Food Supplement not an herbal. Made from genetically synthesize molecules. The only reported side- effect is SKIN WHITENING when taken in increased doses by modifying conversion of eumelanin (dark/brown/yellow pigmentation) to phaeomelanin (reddish white pigmentation). This is the main reason why whiter skin is produced. Most dermatologists use it. It is proven to be very safe and effective.

Then there are Co- Factors or substances working synergistically for glutathione production.

Defination of cofactor: A substance, such as a metallic ion or coenzyme, that must be associated with an enzyme for the enzyme to function eg., Selenium, Vitamin C, B6, B12, folic acid, vitamin E, and other micronutrients, are included in the substances called co-factors.

Selenium: The mineral selenium also produces subtle elevations in glutathione by becoming integrated into the enzyme glutathione peroxidase.

Side effects of over doses occur around 400 mcg/day and include hair loss, numbness or tingling in the fingers or toes, and white spots on fingernails and toenails. Selenium overdose leads to an indirect glutathione side effect.

Glutamine: Whether taken orally or intravenously, glutamine supplements raise glutathione concentrations.

Side effects: Completely healthy individuals shouldn’t require supplemental glutamine and it can lead to side effects such as gastrointestinal upset. Older people as well as kidney and liver patients should be cautious. Any serious use of this supplement must be monitored by a health professional.

Vitamin E: Like selenium Vitamin E is an antioxidant, a detoxifier, and helps to keep glutathione in its reduced (non-oxidized) state. Dosages up to 400IU are recommended.

Side effects: Excessive intake can be toxic creating gastrointestinal and neurological side-effects.

Silymarin (Milk Thistle): The milk thistle plant, (Silybum marianum, silymarin) has a long history in the treatment of liver problems. It clearly prevents the oxidation of fats and maintains glutathione levels, but possible toxic reactions include gas, cramps and diarrhoea. Liver disease should never be treated without the supervision of a health professional.

“We would like to add… as to date there is no scientific evidence as to the harm or value. It would be best that you discuss it with all on the health care team. There is a theoretical risk in taking the product if you have an organ transplant.”

Cellulite – a word most women are very familiar with. Cellulite is the formation of tiny dimples on the skin, usually appearing on the thighs and your bottom.

Now dimples were really cute when we were children, but the puffy puckering dimples we find on our body are a curse to most women. Statistics say that over 80% of women develop cellulite.

Cellulite is very difficult to treat. Cellulite is constructed of small pockets of waste and studies indicate is tied to poor circulation and a sluggish metabolism.

The most effective treatment involves enhancing your natural cellular function and speeding up your metabolism so it is better capable of eliminating toxic waste from the body.

There is a huge selection of cellulite remedies on the market, all claiming to reduce or rid the body of cellulite. It’s pretty easy to get caught up in the hype of the miracle cellulite cure.

So how does one determine what will or will not help? Below is useful information to help you make an intelligent choice.

Up until recently most of the treatments for sale were merely topical treatments which by themselves are not very effective at treating cellulite.

It is important to remember that until now very few if any remedies were more than simple topical treatments, which alone are not very effective in treating cellulite. There are many creams on the market the mix combinations of vitamins, herbs, and antioxidants. Some will do no more than make your skin appear smoother and healthier.

Although a superficial treatment, it will reduce the appearance of the cellulite areas.

The better creams will contain antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, and ingredients that stimulate the flow of blood. Cellulite areas are damaged skin pockets which are normally dehydrated. . Increasing the blood flow and reducing inflammation help the skin repair itself. The best treatment comes from the inside out.

We’ve all heard the commercials or ad campaigns that claim that “their cream” can decrease the size of the thigh and repair cellulite.

What these products actually do is draw waste water away from the area, thus temporarily decreasing the size of the thigh and the appearance of the cellulite. T

his is “not” a cure, but a temporary fix. Any size you lost will be regained as soon as you drink water. Body size is not relevant to having or not having cellulite.

Topical cellulite remedies can be beneficial, however they have little effect if they are used alone. Creams reach only the epidermis [top layer] of the skin. They are unable to penetrate the dermis where much of the damage is.

Because they are unable to penetrate the dermis layer and fight the skin damage, many of these treatments are not successful. The surface dimpling caused by cellulite is merely a symptom of the underlying cause.

To reverse the damage you must go beyond treating the top skin layer. Internal treatments and technological treatments can be very successful in treating the underlying problem. Combine science and nature with your topical treatments for real help.

To “really” fight celluloid you need to go within the body. By working inside the body and outside with topical treatments, you’ll have a better chance of fighting cellulite.

The more of them that you use, the more success you will be in reducing, preventing, and even eliminating your cellulite.

It is very important to strengthen blood vessels/increase blood flow. Strengthening blood vessels and increasing blood flow you increase circulation.

Increasing circulation will then allow more blood flow to the celluloid areas so the body will better be able to break down the toxic areas.

The first stages of cellulite and are not visible to the naked eye. The first stages are the result of blood vessels breaking down. Nutrients reach the skin via blood vessels and when the blood vessels are unable to feed nutrients to the skin damage occurs. This damage is called cellulite.

It is very important that the right nutrients are actually able to reach the areas that need them. Feed your body antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, water, and collagen. These will act as reinforcements to help nutrients reach the affected areas. etc., the skin has no way to attain reinforcements. It eventually loses the battle to cellulite

It is important to encourage the Production of connective tissue. This can be done by increasing production of the matrix (GAGs) that make up connective tissue in your body. A strong dermis will help in preventing and repairing cellulite.

The connective tissue is the primary water reservoir for your entire body, so it stands to reason if you have healthy connective tissue your body will be much better able to hydrate itself when needed, keep all of your cells, from your liver to your skin, supplied with their ideal component of water, thereby functioning at their optimal level.

The most important Internal needed to form GAGs in your body, is glucosamine. Glucosamine is the primary building block of GAGs. Your body also needs B vitamins and trace minerals so that your body can metabolize the glucosamine into GAGs.

It is also important to stimulate the production of collagen and elastin. Your body needs ample collagen and elastin to keep the connective tissue strong. When the dermis is strong, fat cells are not able to break through and appear on the surface, with the familiar dimples.

Your need to supply the body with amino acids to build collagen and elastin.

Make sure that your cells are fully hydrated. De-hydrated cells become weak and are then unable to hold back the fat from surfacing. By drinking plenty of fluids you keep your body hydrated, which revitalizes your cells.

They are then able to push the cellulite forming fat cells back below the surface into the deeper layers of the skin. Keeping your body hydrated has other benefits also, it will keep your skin looking young and beautiful and allow you to better fight disease and infection.

By optimizing the health of your cells they will be able to function at peak levels. Your skin will look younger, smoother, and overall more beautiful.

It is also important to ensure waste is properly removed from the body. If your body is retaining wasted water it can cause problems such as bloating, weight gain, edema, and puffy eyes. It also interferes with your body’s ability to repair cellulite damage.

All of us are exposed to the damage caused by free-radicals. Free radical damage occurs from many sources, such as sun exposure, smoking, and a poor diet.

Free radicals damage the skin making it more susceptible to cellulite. The best way to prevent and repair free-radical damage is with the use of antioxidants, both topically and internally.

Your body responds to damage by rushing defensive nutrients to the affected area. It accomplishes this by dilating the blood vessels and releasing specific chemicals.

What you witness is the skin becoming warm and red. This is inflammation. Prolonged inflammation causes the free-radical damage and cell wall deterioration that it is attempting to prevent.

That is why it is so important to use soothing ingredients, both topically and internally, to calm inflammation before it begins doing more harm than good. Anti-inflammatories are widely available in a variety of products.

Exfoliation is a must. By the time we reach adulthood, the rate our cells turnover has drastically decreased, leaving us with a surface of dead skin cells that not only looks dull, it no longer provides an adequate barrier against the elements and water loss.

The most effective way to combat this is to exfoliate. Exfoliation removes the surface layer of dead cells. There are many ways to exfoliate. Chemical formulas use mild agents to dissolve the dead cells.

Textured soaps, sponges and brushes strip away the surface cells. When you remove the dead cells from your skin’s surface, a message is sent telling your body to create replacements.

The dead cells are replaced with strong young cells that look and feel healthy. But more than that, these cells are better equipped to stand up to the onslaught of cellulite.

Many effective ingredients include essential oils and botanical extracts. Before using a product is always wise to do a patch test. Some botanicals and antibacterial agents can cause reactions in sensitive skin types.

Aloe Vera juice or oil is extracted from the aloe Vera plant. The leaves are made up of water, enzymes, and minerals such as calcium, aluminum, iron, zinc, potassium, magnesium, and sodium.

But wait there’s more. Aloe Vera juice also contains twenty amino acids. Aloe Vera is well known for its healing and anti-inflammatory properties.

Alpha and Beta Hydroxy Acids are used in many cosmetic products. Certain combinations of AHA products increase cell turnover rate and increase the thickness of the epidermis.

The effect depends on the product’s pH level, the AHA concentration, whether it is a cream or cleanser, as well as how the product is used AHA products make the skin appear smoother and younger.

Lactic acid is commonly found in milk, pickles, and other foods made by bacterial fermentation. Lactic acid can help reduce the effects of photo-aging and can play an important role in the treatment of sun-damaged skin.

Glycolic and salicylic increase the cell turnover rate and uncovering younger skin.

Hydroxy acids unclog embedded cellular debris from pores and shedding the outermost layer of dead skin.

Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) is a potent fat- and water-soluble antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. ALA penetrates the skin cells the lipid-rich cell membrane and continues to be effective once inside the cell due to its water solubility. ALA works with vitamins E and C, boosting their antioxidant abilities.

Basil extract is used to relieve pain and muscular spasms, and to stimulate blood flow. It is also known for its restorative and anti-inflammatory properties.

Bioflavonoids’ have strong anti-inflammatory powers, and are also a strong antioxidant.

Niacin improves the ability of the epidermis to retain moisture. When used topically it produces softer, smoother skin with less dryness and flakiness, and it reduces the appearance of fine lines.

Butcher’s broom root extract strengthens and tones blood vessels. In Europe it is a popular treatment for varicose veins and hemorrhoids.

Carnitine is found naturally in the body. It transports fatty acids to your cells, where they are metabolized. It burns fat and strengthens cells.

Cat’s-claw is an effective anti-inflammatory, which also increases blood flow throughout the body. Recently is has been successful in stimulating the immune systems of cancer patients.

The active ingredient in cayenne is capsaicin. Capsaicin not only increases circulation. It also alters the action of the body’s substance P which transfers pain messages to the brain. As a result it is effective in reducing both pain and inflammation by short-circuiting the pain message.

Coenzyme Q10 is a powerful antioxidant. Studies have shown its ability to increase resistance to disease and to strengthen the heart. It creates a substance known as ATP in the body’s cells which is vital for energy. It also has great antioxidant abilities, as well as boosting the antioxidant effect of vitamins C and E.

Peptides are the amino acid, the building block for collagen and elastin. Copper peptide is a trace mineral that helps the body convert amino acids into this connective tissue. Copper peptides are an excellent source of collagen and elastin production.

Essential fatty acids are so vital that they have been referred to as vitamin F. They have amazing hydrating abilities in topical creams, and when taken internally they help to build up the cell membranes and attract water to cells.

Fennel is a diuretic and an anti-inflammatory that needs more research to find its full abilities.

Ginkgo Biloba is an antioxidant, but it also increases the blood flow throughout the body, expanding the reach of any nutrients in the food you eat.

Grapefruit oil and extract have been used for muscle fatigue, stiffness, acne, fluid retention, and skin tightening, and as an antiseptic and astringent.

Grape-seed extract inhibits the enzymes collagenase and elastase, which break down collagen and elastin. Because grape seed is able to prevent the damage from ever occurring, it is very effective in the prevention of celluloid.

Green clay is sometimes referred to as a cellulite solution but does need more study to confirm this. Green clay contains many of the trace minerals that your body needs to metabolize nutrients into new tissue.

Juniper berries extract is high in vitamin C. It is used to treat pain and inflammation from arthritis and varicose veins, and to increase circulation.

When Lecithin is taken internally on a regular basis, it aids your body in repairing and strengthening its cell membranes.

Kelp is well known for its anti-inflammatory properties on the skin. It is rich in minerals and has been used to supply the thyroid gland with iodine in some instances. Kelp can also be used to hydrate the epidermis, nourish the skin, and protect elastin fiber.

Pine oil is used as a disinfectant, anti-inflammatory, as a diuretic, and to stimulate circulation.

Pomegranate is fast becoming recognized for its antioxidant qualitites. Studies have showed the that the topical application of pomegranate extract has an effect on preventing skin cancer. Pomegranate is a very potent antioxidants that work primarily in the skin.

Retinoids applied topically over a long period of time temporarily thicken and strengthen the dermis, making it more difficult for cellulite to push its way through.

Zinc, manganese, copper, selenium, magnesium, boron, chromium, molybdenum, silica, and vanadium are all trace minerals. Our body needs these minerals in trace amounts to r metabolize nutrients. Trace minerals are vital to cellulite.

Vitamin C fights an ongoing battle against cellulite and skin damage. Vitamin C breaks down collagenase and elastinase, two naturally occurring substances in the body that attack collagen and elastin.

Vitamin C is also a natural anti-inflammatory and powerful antioxidant with proven studies that it is effective in battling free-radical damage within the skin.

Vitamin E, both topically and when taken internally, is a very potent fat soluble antioxidant. Because it is fat soluble it can work its way into the fat-rich cell membranes in our bodies, protecting the cell walls from free-radical damage. Vitamin E is also an excellent hydrating and sealing agent in topical creams.

Many popular treatments claim to reduce cellulite. Treatments range from body raps to massage to surgical procedures.

Body Spa Treatments are beneficial on many levels. Great for exfoliating, toning, and stimulating blood flow. A terrific skin care regime.

Body wraps induce sweating thereby having a temporary diuretic effect. However, fat cells and connective tissue are not affected by sweating.

With a body wrap you are covered from head to toe for up to an hour in herbal or seaweed-soaked cloth strips to increase circulation and firm the body’s contours. Once you are unwrapped you body is massaged to enhance circulation and send oxygen to blocked tissues.

Watch your alcohol and caffeine intake prior to a body wrap as both are dehydrating. Body wraps are not recommended for anyone with high blood pressure, anyone who is dehydrated, or pregnant women.

Deep-tissue massage consists of slow strokes to create micro tears at the surface level, making tissue longer and smoother. It also loosens the connective tissue so that it moves more freely and no longer adheres to underlying structures. Deep massage followed by lymphatic drainage can make the surface layer of skin more flexible.

Massage can improve the condition and appearance of your skin, however it does not remove or decrease fat cells. It is excellent for increasing circulation and thus moving nutrients to tissues.

However, if deep massage is too intense, it can also damage blood vessels, which defeats the benefits for cellulite reduction. Areas with cellulite are already sensitive, so be sure to tell the therapist it it feels like too much pressure is being applied. Deep massage provides relaxation and can stimulate the blood vessels and reduce stiffness.

Dermal fillers are expensive. They are a temporary method that improves the appearance of cellulite dimples. The treatment consists of a serious of human fat injections which make dimples less obvious.

Other filling agents can be used rather than fat. The dimples appear less noticeable until the fat is absorbed by the body, then the dimples return to their normal appearance. Not only is this procedure quite costly it is a lengthy procedure.

Electronic Anticellulite Devices are a few noninvasive, nonsurgical treatments for skin contour irregularities. This procedure temporary reduces the appearance of cellulite.

A vacuum type device creates suction to temporarily immobilize and lift the fatty tissue, while dual rollers create deep, subdermal massage to the connective tissue. This stretches the connective tissue, increases blood and lymphatic flow, and exfoliates the skin.

A session can take from forty to ninety minutes, and entail from ten to thirty treatments as well as a monthly maintenance treatment. If you stop treatments your skin reverts back to its original condition. Long term results have never been established either clinically or scientifically.

The lymph system is the body’s waste disposal system. It is the body’s natural defense system, clearing away bacteria, cell debris, excess water, proteins, and wastes from the connective tissue and returning it to the bloodstream for ultimate removal by the kidneys.

If pathways become congested or damaged fluids build up in the connective tissue, leading to edema, swelling, and inflammation. When this occurs the lymphatic system transports the damaged cells, inflammatory substances, and waste away from the area. The sooner this occurs the faster the recovery.

Manual lymphatic drainage is a technique that involves a gentle lymph massage, which enhances and stimulates the lymphatic system to remove wastes more rapidly from around the cells and in the tissues, sending it back into the lymphatic system for removal and ultimate cleansing.

For cellulite treatment, the therapist first assesses the condition of the skin: color, texture, temperature, moisture, and elasticity.

The next step is to look at the contour of the hips and legs, and hunt for skin thickening, ridges, lumps, and visible scars that run across lymph vessels and may obstruct lymph drainage.

The therapist also examines for visible veins, looking for redness, swelling, heat, and pain. Lymphatic drainage is very useful before and after cosmetic surgery to decrease bruising, edema, and inflammation. The effects are only temporary, and it has not been proven to reduce dimpling in the long term.

Mesotherapy are micro injections injected into the middle of the dermis at a trouble spot, to deliver healing or corrective treatment to a specific area of the body. They can be made of conventional or homeopathic medication.

They are mixed with isoproterenol, vitamins and a diuretic when treating cellulite. Isoproterenol is touted to melt fat although no clinical studies are available to back up this claim. Up to two hundred deep injections are delivered into trouble.

The biggest problem with mesotherapy is that there is no standardized mix for the formula. Long-term, chronic cellulite and wrinkles may require at least fifteen sessions before you notice any result.

Microdermabrasion is a popular alternative to chemical peeling that utilizes a blast of aluminum oxide or salt crystals to exfoliate skin superficially, by passing the particles through a vacuum tube to gently scrape away the aging skin.

The results are similar to a light peel. Microdermabrasion devices are available for home use, although not as good as a professional treatment the cost is significantly less.

Nonablative Lasers point the laser beam at the affected area, causing the collagen and elastin bundles to heat up and move closer to the surface. This firms the skin and reduced imperfections. The results are temporary.

Peels utilize a strong concentration of a chemical exfoliating agent to resurface the skin. New cells made by the remaining dermis result in a newly healed surface, and healthier, more radiant skin.

Chemical peels are very flexible and can be adapted to various levels depending on how deep a peel you want and how sensitive your skin is. Glycolic acid is a common ingredient in peels as it is generally gentler and safer than trichloracetic acid

Peels work by damaging the skin to a stage where the body needs to build new collagen and elastin bundles. You might feel a burning or stinging sensation, and there will be moderate swelling of the treated areas for about a week and minimal scabbing, followed by healing and a toughening of the skin

Thalassotherapy is rich in sea minerals and nutrients.

The therapy combines the sea nutrients with warm sea water to dilate pores and blood vessels, opening the skin to absorb the sea minerals.

In the end the best way to cure celluloid is simply to avoid getting it. Eat a balanced diet low in fat, drink plenty of water, eat fiber foods, and plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit.

Exercise for 20-30 minutes daily to help keep the body in shape, and avoid smoking, alcohol. A healthy life style will go along way towards prevention.

After a stressful day as a computer programmer, Jim pulled into his driveway. The children’s toys were scattered on the walkway to the house.

He immediately began noticing slight tension in his muscles and apprehension in his stomach. Entering his house, his wife ignored him while she talked with her sister on the telephone. His heart started beating a little faster.

Looking around, he noticed disarray; nothing was picked up, the house was a mess. Irritation and frustration started to settle in. Finally, as his feelings grew, he exploded and began yelling at his wife and children.

Stress may trigger anger:

Stress is often the trigger that takes us from feeling peaceful to experiencing uncomfortable angry feelings in many common situations such as the one described above.

Stress is most easily defined as a series of bodily responses to demands made upon us called stressors.

These “demands” or stressors can be negative (such as coping with a driver who cuts in front of you on the freeway) or positive (such as keeping on a tour schedule while on vacation).

Stressors may be external to you (like work pressure) or internal (like expectations you have of yourself or feeling guilty about something you did or want to do).

Whether the stressor is external or internal, scientists have discovered that the major systems of the body work together to provide one of the human organism’s most powerful and sophisticated defenses; the stress response which you may know better as “fight-or-flight.”

This response helps you to cope with stressors in your life. To do so, it activates and coordinates the brain, glands, hormones, immune system, heart, blood and lungs.

Avoid Jim’s destructive behavior toward his loved ones. Before your stress response turns into anger or aggression, use these strategies to get it under control:

Read your personal warning lights: Becoming aware of your stress response is the first step to managing it. This means listening to your body, being aware of your negative emotions, and observing your own behavior when under stress.

For instance, notice muscle tension, pounding heart, raising voice, irritation, dry mouth, or erratic movements.

What you see is what you get: For a potential stressor to affect us -stress us out – we have to first perceive it or experience it as a stressor.

Gaining a new perspective on the stressing situation can often drastically change the effect it has on us. Our stress response can indeed be a response (something we can control) instead of a knee-jerk reaction (which is automatic).

Examples: Cut off on the freeway? “It is not personal. That guy has a problem. I will stay calm.” Bullied by a co-worker? “If I react, he wins. Later, I will privately let him know how I feel about what he did. If that doesn’t work, I’ll discuss it with our manager.”

Stress-Guard your life: You can also make many life-style changes to reduce or minimize feeling stressed-out, even if you can’t change some of your actual stressors

For instance, manage your time better, establish priorities, protect yourself from toxic relationships, and find a way to manage your money better, or consider changing your job or occupation.

Other stress-guards include those you have probably heard before, but maybe need to do more frequently such as:

getting adequate rest,

eating a healthy diet,

avoiding excessive alcohol intake,

living in a way consistent with your core personal values,

developing social networks of friends and support.

Stress is most easily defined as a series of bodily responses to demands made upon us called stressors. It’s important to recognize these stress responses and develop techniques to lessen the impact.

When one thinks of colostrum, they generally think of pregnancy milk or breastfeeding. Colostrum, also known as “beestings”, “bisnings” or “first milk” (sometimes “baby’s first milk”) is the milk produced from the mammary glands during pregnancy and after delivery. Colostrum is generated in all mammals, but is most commonly produced by humans.

As a nutritional supplement, colostrum is used by adults as a way to support a healthy immune system and gastrointestinal tract. While the original use of colostrum was influenced by human breast milk, most nutritional supplements are made from cow’s milk. Shortly after giving birth, cows produce close to nine gallons of colostrum. It is then mixed with other nutritional supplements into a powder format that is suitable for human use.

This nutritional supplement comprises antibodies and other proteins that work to prevent many different diseases. Bovine colostrum is usually generated through pasture fed cows as it contains pathogens that are similar to human pathogens. The use of this supplement has become increasingly popular, mostly due to its association with prevention and treatment of dementia in the elderly and its association with improvement of people suffering from eating disorders. Some people prefer to call colustrum powder or pills “miracle pills”, as they help to detoxify your body. This supplement trend has been a more recent one and is popular among middle-aged or elderly people or people especially concerned about their health.

While there are many great aspects of colostrum, it’s interesting to note that the first oral vaccine against polio was created using bovine colostrum.

Benefits of Colostrum

As a medicinal supplement, colostrum has many great advantages. A lot of people use this supplement to maintain their health or possibly prevent the early onset of certain diseases. Since colostrum is created from cows, people who have allergies to dairy should be wary of taking colostrum. However, aside from that concern, colostrum is a medicinal supplement that can benefit and drastically improve your physical and psychological state.

Detoxifier

Colostrum is a supplement that works to detoxify your body of negative compounds and chemicals. While there are many supplements out there that claim to do the same thing, most of them are comprised of a multitude of non-synthetic materials that do more harm than good. They’re usually full of artificial ingredients that don’t actually flush out the material in your body, and instead dissolve into your blood stream and cells, often carrying unwanted and unhealthy side effects.

Natural Agent

Fortunately, colostrum supplements never include artificial ingredients and are absorbed into your blood stream naturally. Colostrum works to remove all the negative fats, toxins, and unhealthy cells from your body. These toxins and negative components are often the triggers that cause such problems as fatigue or insomnia, as well as the occasional mood swings. By removing these triggers from your body, your energy is improved, which improves your body’s physical stimulation. It also helps to improve your mood, evening out behavioral issues.

When colostrum cleans out your blood stream, it also eliminates the harmful pathogens from your intestines and bowel. A pathogen is an infection or germ, usually a microbe or microorganism (i.e., a virus or fungus), that resides within your body. Since your body is easily susceptible to harmful pathogens, it’s important to medicate with antibiotics. However, a lot of pathogens can evade antibiotics, which makes colostrum a wonderful, surprising solution. The supplement eradicates those pathogens, which helps to prevent and repair intestinal ulcers and erosions.

Blood Sugar and Diabetes

Colostrum supplements also help prevent diabetes. Bovine colostrum contains the component Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), which is a somatomedin C protein that is composed in a molecular structure that makes it work similar to insulin. IGF-1 comprises seventy amino acids that are on one chain of three intramolecular disulfide bridges. IGF-1 resembles insulin and has been shown to help prevent the onset of diabetes in most people, but especially in people who have a genetic disposition for developing diabetes. Diabetes is a serious health issue that affects millions of people in the world and it often goes untreated and unrecognized. If you have diabetes, have a family history of diabetes, or are worried about developing diabetes, the IGF-1 levels within colostrum supplements will help prevent diabetes. Colostrum works to delay diabetes not only just because of the high concentration of IGF-1, but because the IGF-1 reduces the activity of cell destruction. The prevention of this disease is one of the best physical benefits of this medicinal supplement.

Similarly, colostrum helps to maintain the blood sugar level of people with low IGF-1 levels. Low blood sugar does not necessarily mean diabetes, but rather, someone who either has poor dietary habits or doesn’t regularly consume food high in natural sugars. Natural sugars are a natural part of a person’s daily diet, as they help to strengthen the body’s immune system, as well as prevent fatigue and weakness. Lack of blood sugar causes unexpected fatigue. Natural deficiency of IGF-1 levels in incredibly worrisome and by frequently consuming colostrum, you’re working to prevent that deficiency.

On that same note, people with serious eating disorders are often people who suffer from low levels of IGF-1. This can be due to malnutrition, obesity, or disinterest in eating. There are a variety of eating disorders, such as over eating or anorexia. Colostrum’s high levels of IGF-1 is useful in weight reduction for obese people. While it is not an instant weight loss supplement, it will help to regulate weight and influence a person to start maintaining a normal, healthy diet. Additionally, it will create high levels of IGF-1, which strengthens the body’s blood sugar within the blood stream and stimulates the muscle and brain’s energies and reflexes.

Antioxidants

A colostrum supplement, whether in powder or pill format, is also ripe with antioxidants. Antioxidants are molecules that are chemical reactions that transfer electrons so that they create oxidizing agents which, in turn, produce free radical. Free radicals produce chain reactions that eventually cause the death (or damage) to harmful cells or resins within the body. Antioxidants are usually referred to as reducing agents, as they work to eradicate and reduce negative agents within the body. Someone who frequently consumes colostrum supplements is supplying their body with healthy chemicals that will fight to prevent the onset of diseases.

Prevents High Blood Pressure

In addition to the high level of antioxidants in colostrum medicinal supplements, colostrum also provides your body with prevention against high blood pressure. As the colostrum supplements that are usually consumed are made from bovine cells and milk, their composition is inherently healthy. The composition is dairy-based and in powder and pill form, this makes colostrum easier to digest. While this helps flush out your digestive system, it means that the colostrum supplements are more easily spread throughout the oxygen in your blood stream. As it travels through your blood stream, it lowers the negative cell count, which is what helps to lower or prevent high blood pressure. The presence of colostrum fights the invading negative blood cells and pathogens and lowers the risk of heart problems. High blood pressure is one of those harmful heart problems.

Psychological Therapeutic Benefits

While colostrum is extremely beneficial in fighting against blood pressure, heart problems, and many other physical issues, it also helps to erase psychological problems, especially those that are cognitive in nature. Colostrum is especially beneficial to those suffering from dementia. Dementia is the loss of the cognitive abilities and recognition, which is generally caused by damage to the body, especially the brain. The components and effects of this medicinal supplement work to improve the ability of the brain’s functions, which is what usually decays during the onset of dementia. Frequent consumption (with normal dosage amounts) of this supplement helps to regular any previous negative cognitive ability. Colostrum forces the brain to regulate its functions, which helps to normalize its processes. The regulation and normalization of these cognitive processes is what ultimately improves the brain’s capabilities. Improving these capabilities means there’s less of a chance of dementia.

Additionally, colostrum helps to regulate behavioral issues. Since the supplement helps improve the function of the brain and the body’s digestive system, there’s less fatigue present. Fatigue tends to be a trigger for multiple psychological problems and is a major factor in behavioral issues. Combating fatigue leads to an overall better attitude, less mood swings, and a more positive well-being.

Health

Other benefits of colostrum range from overall maintenance of a person’s body (whether physically or psychologically) to extra improvement of the body’s functions. Some athletes are known to use colostrum to help improve their physical performance during endurance sports. They’ve also been noted as using colostrum to prevent the onset of illnesses during peak performance levels or to improve their performance recovery time. Athletes – or people who are concerned about either health or their body weight – have also shown frequent consumption in order to bolster lean body mass.

The use of this medicinal supplement has many benefits, though most of them tend to be physical benefits over psychological benefits. However, the physical benefits are incredibly important and useful to keep in mind. Physicians have recommended the use of colostrum as a medicinal supplement to many people suffering from malnutrition, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and dementia. They unique way this supplement is produced means that its all-natural components allow a quicker, more healthy way to eradicate harmful cells to treat physical and medical issues.

This is a supplement that has many wonderful benefits that improve the issues that are found within the body’s blood stream. These issues can be found in the intestines, bowel, or brain. Regardless of what the physiological or physical issues are, colostrum supplements are incredibly useful in counteracting the problems, making your body stronger, healthier, and less prone to developing diseases.

Methods of Use

Colostrum is created from the milk of cows that recently gave birth. However, people rarely use colostrum in its liquid form, instead preferring to consume it through a pill or powder. Colostrum is a popular supplement in the athletic community and is often combined with daily meals. It is recommended the colostrum supplements are taken with additional food or liquids. While human produced colostrum is essential for newborns, it is recommended that bovine colostrum supplements should only be used by adults. Additionally, no more than five hundred mg a day should be consumed.

Colostrum supplements can be found in powder or pill formats. Powder formats are usually mixed into liquids, such as water, tea, juice, or health shakes. Depending on your skills in the kitchen, you can also include the supplements in soft foods, such as applesauce, mashed potatoes, or yoghurt. Since the supplement is in powder form, it will be easily dissolved into the food or liquid.

As a pill, it is recommended that you take additional food or liquids. The specific food you eat with the pull doesn’t matter, though studies have found that food high in carbohydrates or protein is the best. While you can consume the supplement on an empty stomach, it’s not recommended. Pills generally come in 500 mg, though you can break it into 250 mg dosages if you prefer to take a lower dosage.

As we domesticate the dog more and more each day, canine health problems continue to more closely follow human disorders. As the natural dog is separated further and further from their wild environment their health problems increase dramatically. One of the major contributors to this canine health problem is the constant exposure to harmful toxins. The most damaging of these are the metals aluminum, lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium. They contribute to everything form dog teeth cleaning problems and dog bad breath to worsening allergies and skin diseases to serious life threatening illnesses such as cancer, arthritis, kidney failure, congestive heart disease, liver diseases, diabetes, deteriorate defenses against infections bacterial, viral and fungal diseases.

In our modern day society the domesticated dog is exposed to these harmful toxic metals in alarming amounts. The natural dog was not exposed to these toxins and is not able to defend himself as humans can in their new domestic world. These harmful metals are all around us and sometimes more so around our pets. They can be found in municipal water supplies, our soil, natural water sources, our food supply, as well as in sewage sludge, fungicides, pesticides, everyday products, including cosmetics, fabric softeners, batteries, inks, latex, paints, plastics, solvents, and wood preservatives. I mention all of these items because your dog doesn’t know this and thinks nothing of drinking contaminated water, chewing on batteries, plastic bottles or laying in the yard after the exterminator left completing his monthly spraying. Your dog is at further risk then yourself due to their relatively small size compared to humans making them more vulnerable to smaller amounts of these toxins.

Disturbing as it is, a major source of all these metals is commercial dog foods. Tests of many recognized and respected products both canned and kibbled have shown various levels of aluminum, mercury, cadmium and lead. The amounts of these metals were greater in kibble versus canned due to the refining and dehydration through the high temperature extrusion processes.

The Government and other agencies have long been assessing, regulating, protecting, and providing information to the public on toxic substances such as heavy metals. Organizations such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the Occupational and Safety Health Administration (OSHA) have been in existence for years. In comparison little has been done for our pets. So we must learn from human experiences and adapt these to the natural dog. On ATSDR’s “Top 20 Hazardous Substances “the heavy metals arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium appear #1, #2, #3, and #7 respectively. Therefore we must assume that if this is the case for humans it is likely also true if not more so for our “Best Friend” the domesticated natural dog.

The staff at Vitahound.com recommends both the addition of certain natural foods and herbs to the dog diet and the use of oral chelation cleansers to purge toxins from the body and return your friend back to their natural dog condition. Before we discuss these techniques it is useful to learn more about several of the more harmful heavy metal toxins that are adversely affecting your dog’s health. Information is provided below on the most common and worst toxins that are exposed to domesticated dogs. Each is covered separately in a few short paragraphs. You will find similar facts across all the metals but we intentionally repeated the information under each metal to emphasize to the reader the threat and the importance of understanding each metal by itself especially if one wants to return to this dissertation to refresh themselves on one particular heavy metal toxin.

Aluminum

Aluminum is the most plentiful metallic component in the outer layers of the earth. It infiltrates our air, water, and soil thus finding its way into nearly all our food and water supplies. Numerous municipalities treat their water supplies with aluminum sulfate and fluoride. This combination is problematic because the body has trouble excreting through the kidneys and urine this particular compound of aluminum fluoride. But by far like most heavy metals, the leading source of aluminum comes from Acid Rain. The strong acids produced by this common environmental condition react with the aluminum molecules in the earth around us releasing them as free agents. These free agents them easily find their way into our crops and livestock food chains.

Commercial dog food is one of the foremost sources of the toxin. Independent testing has found it in many of the off-the-shelf name brand dog foods in toxic levels. Eating is the principal means of introducing aluminum into the body since it is easily absorbed by the body through the digestive tract. In addition it is absorbed via breathing (lungs) and physical contact (skin). Testing labs have reported it as the most prevailing metal toxin found in all animal hair samples. Once in the body, aluminum accumulates over time inclining to find its way to brain and nervous tissues. This means it can eventually affect every body organ though nerve connections. The array of health problems is therefore plentiful. It contributes to arthritis, kidney failure, congestive heart disease, liver diseases, colic, rickets, diabetes, multiple allergies and skin diseases, thyroid problems, pancreatic problems affecting ability to digest food properly, Cushing’s Syndrome, anemia, and blood clotting ability. A serious consequence of high levels of aluminum accumulating in the body is that dogs cannot fight infections effectively leading to a higher death rate attributed to bacterial, viral, and fungal diseases.

Symptoms of aluminum toxicity in dogs include extreme nervousness, weak muscles, seizures, loss of balance, and loss of energy.

Lead

Like the other metals Lead is stored in the body and is cumulative over long periods of time. Unlike some of the other metals is has no known need or benefit for your dog and is extremely toxic. If the body does not excrete it through the digestive system it is absorbed through the blood into body tissue. The body treats it the same way as calcium storing it even at low levels in the bones. It then continues to build-up concentration in the bones over the entire life of your dog. At any time but usually during some stressful or drastic change in some body function the lead can leave the bones once again entering the bloodstream.

Whereas exposure to aluminum comes from natural sources such as the earth’s crust, air, water, and food supplies high levels of lead are introduced into the body through man-made substances. It is one of the most widely used metals in the United States today. The problem with these everyday common substances and products is that dogs cannot read warning labels or know what should not be chewed on, eaten, smelled, or innocently rolled on. Lead poisoning can often be attributed to exposure to common household and outside pesticides which contain large amounts of lead. Lead-based paints that were applied years ago can produce harmful dust during home renovations. This dust in turn can contaminate dog food, dog beds, and even the dog’s coat and skin. People often use old or discarded bowls for watering that can contain lead paint or glazing. Puppies are especially in danger of lead poisoning from their constant need to chew. Electronic gadgets such as remote controls, cell phones, batteries, golf balls, ammunition fishing lures and sinkers are all common things they can find laying around.

At toxic levels lead prevents various basic enzyme functions. For instance the body relies on minerals like selenium and sulfur to act as strong antioxidants to protect cells from free radical damage. Lead lessens this function exposing the cells to serious damage. In your dog this results in damage to the heart, kidneys, liver, gastrointestinal tract, and nervous system. Lead poisoning then can eventually leads to blindness, paralysis of the extremities, liver failure, and even coma and death.

As mentioned, exposure to lead in dogs can take years before it reaches dangerous levels and therefore is commonly seen in older dogs. Symptoms of lead toxicity in dogs include lack of appetite, vomiting, abdominal pain, constipation followed by diarrhea, crunching of jaws, blindness, seizures or muscle spasms, behavior changes, circling, and loss of balance and agility.

Mercury

This heavy metal is also exceptionally toxic and lethal, actually more so than lead. This contagion is used in fungicides and pesticides but also in products we used daily in a variety of undertakings. It is often used in household products that are dogs are exposed such as batteries, light bulbs, fabric softeners, latex gloves, paint, plastics, ink, and solvents. If mercury vapors are ever present from such things as house renovations involving old paint, broken thermometers or thermostats it will concentrate at floor level were dogs are laying or walking. Even some cosmetics contain it…when is the last time your dog licked your face. Because of this plentiful list of everyday products that contain mercury this heavy metal toxin eventually ends up in either our sewage or landfills finding its way into our soil, water, and food supply. As for food, methyl mercury chlorine bleach is even used on certain grains and seeds. Mining operations and paper industries are significant producers of mercury especially into the atmosphere which can get dispersed across large regions or even globally. Acid rain then returns it the earth. Well known is the fact since our waters are contaminated with mercury it can be found in fish and sometimes in large amounts especially common ones eaten such as orange rough, swordfish, tuna and halibut.

As with most heavy metal toxins mercury is a cumulative poison. Your dog’s body, as in humans, has no natural mechanism to stop mercury from reaching tissue and cells. It is accumulated in the brain and central nervous system. Once it reaches and is stored in the cells, it seriously affects their normal critical body functions. It affects the processes at both ends, first prohibiting minerals and nutrients from entering the cells and then likewise preventing waste to be purged. Mercury also adversely affects your dog’s overall immune system by attaching to the immune cell structure altering their ability to function normally. Mercury can cause permanent kidney, cardiac, respiratory problems arthritis, and gum disease in your dog. Ultimately blindness and paralysis can occur.

Symptoms include loss of balance, fatigue, vomiting, hair loss, diarrhea, weakness, and excessive salivation. High levels can also interfere with enzyme activity, resulting in blindness and paralysis.

Arsenic

As with the aforementioned heavy metals, arsenic is also highly poisonous, remember it is listed #1 on ATSDR’s “Top 20 List.” It also is cumulative and remains in the body for years. Arsenic can be found in a multiplicity of commonly used products including fungicides, pesticides, herbicides, laundry products, secondhand cigarette smoke, paints, and wood preservatives. Global industries such as mining and smelting, chemical and glass manufacturing produce arsenic as a by-product. This in turn finds its way into our water supplies and food sources. Once again, as with other heavy metals, arsenic is found in fish such as haddock, tuna, and halibut.

For years the most common cause of arsenic poisoning in dogs (as well as children) was the consumption of rodent trap, pesticides (ant bait) which relied on arsenic to kill the pests. In the late 1980’s the federal government started regulating the use of arsenic in consumer products such as pesticides and since then the incidences of accidental arsenic poisoning of dogs has steadily reduced. The common use of heartworm medications for both prevention and treatment has introduced yet another opportunity for arsenic poisoning of dogs or at least facilitating the buildup to toxic levels. These products contain organic forms of arsenic such as diethylcarbamazine citrate (Brand names Dimmitrol and Filaribits) or thiacetarsamide (Brand name Caparsolate). One warning concerning such medications states: “Low margin of safety. Need to have an accurate weight before starting treatment. May see damage to the lungs, kidneys, or liver. Signs may include staggering, lethargy, depression, tremors, drooling, panting, difficulty breathing, vomiting, collapse, coma, and death.” They could have just stated “Arsenic Poisoning.” Obviously, extreme care must be taken when administering these products.

Arsenic is stored in the hair follicles, skin, and nails and as mentioned will accumulate over long periods of time. Since the lethal dose only is 1 to 12 mg of arsenic per pound of your dog, this buildup of arsenic can cause serious health problems. Therefore it is important to know the symptoms of arsenic poisoning whether the result of an accidental consumption of a household product or the slow accumulation over time. Symptoms include drooling, vomiting, bloody diarrhea with mucous in, bloody urine, muscle cramps, weakness, hair loss, skin rash, gastrointestinal pain, convulsions, trembling, and staggering.

Arsenic toxicity affects the blood, lungs, skin, kidneys, liver, gastrointestinal tract, and the central nervous system. Arsenic compounds can create reactions in the body that disrupt enzymes that are involved in respiration of cells, fat and carbohydrate breakdown and their proper absorption into the body. Certain types of cancer have been linked to arsenic as well. The accumulation of toxic levels of arsenic can result in paralysis, coma, cardiovascular collapse and death.

Cadmium

Cadmium although not as well-known as aluminum, lead, mercury and arsenic makes the list of heavy metals to be aware of that adversely affects dog health. Cadmium has no known required body function in the natural dog. It is extremely toxic with tolerable levels one tenth that of most of the other heavy metal toxins. It is has no definite taste or order and thus is hard to detect or know if you have been exposed. Moreover it is one of the largest industrial pollutants globally. Cadmium is widely used in industry as a plating material, in galvanizing coating on iron, steel, and copper, inks, and dyes. The vast array of the plastic and rubber products we use everyday use cadmium in the processing of the base materials. One of the main threats to dogs is its use in many fungicides and fertilizers. These agricultural products introduce cadmium into our food supply mainly rice and wheat crops both a common ingredient in commercial dog food. Like the other heavy metals it has contaminated our waterways and is commonly found in shellfish and others such as halibut, cod, haddock and tuna. One good aspect of cadmium is the body tends to not retain it passing it through the digestive system excreting it successfully and it is not easily absorbed through the skin. If inhaled as with your dog sniffing fertilizers and fungicides it is more likely to remain in their body being stored in lung tissue. But with this said a fundamental problem with cadmium absorption by the dog is linked to the beneficial metal zinc. Zinc is critical to proper dog health. It is a component of many vital enzymes promoting a healthy immune system, liver, and bones. It inhibits the absorption of cadmium by the body. When the proper level of zinc is not present the body replaces it with cadmium. So here is the problem. Our modern day commercial dog food refining processes removes most of the zinc. Therefore, when zinc is removed, much more cadmium is absorbed, stored in the liver, bones, and kidneys accumulating over time.

Its effects on the dog body are many, and it can be even worse than mercury and the other heavy metals. It causes a reduction in the production of the critical white blood cells (T-Lymphocytes) which defend the body by destroying harmful free radicals and cancer cells. The list of dog diseases that cadmium can promote is extensive including cancer, diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, bone disorders, and digestive problems. Cadmium toxicity can even contribute to the loss of the natural dog critical sense of smell.

Symptoms include fatigue, hair loss, increased susceptibility to infection, slow healing of wounds, skin lesions, loss of smell, yellow coloration of teeth, inflammation of mucous membrane of the nose, and loss of appetite.

Testing the Dog for Toxic Levels of Heavy Metals

Testing for toxic levels of the heavy metals in your dog include blood, urine, hair, fingernail, and fecal analysis. Most Veterinarian offices are not equipped to perform these tests and samples must be sent to appropriate laboratories that perform such testing. For measuring effects due to exposures within days or as long as sometime several months, blood, urine, and fecal analysis is the best. For long term and cumulative effects hair and fingernail tests are best. Consistent Minimal Risk Levels (MRL), acceptable levels or toxic levels for dogs are hard to find in the literature. Remember we mentioned the Government is looking out for dog owners but are not yet serious in their efforts for dogs. In addition as research and testing is increasing (usually in major University Veterinarian Schools), once proclaimed safe levels of toxins is now considered either borderline or unsafe especially over the lifetime of your dog. The following data is from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Agency (ATSDR) and is for humans but as a rule can be used for dogs adjusting to body weight. Test results need to be interpreted by your veterinarian or a medical toxicologist.

Aluminum: MRL 1mg/kg/day; Blood or Urine 3ug/L; Hair.05 ppm

Arsenic: MRL.005mg/kg/day; 1-25 mg/kg is lethal

Cadmium: MRL.01mg/kg/day; Blood 5ug/dL; Urine 10ug/dL

Lead: Blood 1.5ug/dL; Urine.677 ug/dL

Mercury: MRL.05ug/kg/day; Blood 5ug/dL; Urine 10ug/dL

Oral Chelation Therapy as Treatment to Heavy Metal Toxicity

Oral chelation therapy has long successful track records. It has been recommended by doctors for years for humans and can also be effective with dogs. Chelation was developed initially by Alfred Werner who received the Nobel Prize in 1913. G. T. Morgan coined the term chelation in 1920 deriving it from the Greek word “chele”, meaning a crab’s claw which refers to the pincer-like manner in which the metal is bound. This process stabilizes the heavy metal particle by binding it to the chelating agent, usually amino acids or organic compounds changing it to a chemically inert form that can be excreted via the kidneys without further damage to the body.

There are many effective chelation agents. Each one affects absorbability of minerals needed by the body and also the ability to bind potentially to different toxic metals making them inert. We discuss below five effective agents: Fulvic Acid, Glutamic Acid, Ferulic Acid, Malic Acid, and Lipoic Acid.

Fulvic Acid

Grandma said “It never hurt to eat a little dirt.” What she was really saying was “Fulvic acid is very beneficial to your good health.” Modern day and ancient civilizations such as China, Mexico, India, and South America have known the health benefits of fulvic acid and use it as a natural medicine. Fulvic acid comes from humus material which is organic material that has decomposed over very long periods of time. It therefore naturally contains practically all if not all the substances we and our dogs need for a long healthy existence. Since humus over this long decomposition period assimilates a vast multiplicity of natural organic plant material, it and the resulting fulvic acid contain an immense collection of naturally occurring phytochemicals and biochemicasl along with 70 minerals and nutrients,18 amino acids, and 3 essential fatty acids. This in turn supplies natural antioxidants, enzymes, antivirals, hormones, and antifungals. For antiviral use it is one of the best there is for your dog. Fulvic acid also has antibiotic benefits without creating strains of disease that become resistant as with the common synthetic antibiotics of modern medicine.

Fulvic acid is one of the most aggressive antioxidants capable of neutralizing harmful free radicals, making it an effective chelation agent of heavy metal toxins with the ability to not only purge them from the body but repair damage to the cells as well. It can likewise eliminate food poisoning ill effects within minutes.

Fulvic acid is water soluble. This enables it to makes cell walls more permeable enabling substantially more amounts of nutrients and minerals to be absorbed. This characteristic prolongs the effectiveness of minerals and nutrients in the body metabolic processes.

Because of our modern agricultural methods that use synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides fulvic acid finds its way less and less into our food supply. Farm lands today have only a fraction of the humus soil base that they did even 100 years ago. Commercially processed dog food is even worse than our food supply when it comes to supplying sufficient amounts of fulvic acid. Therefore it is best today to use dog supplements to supply the necessary fulvic acid to your dog’s diet.

Fulvic acid is considered very safe with few side effects reported when used for either humans or dogs. Diarrhea and/or change in the smell of feces can occur but usually only last a few days.

Glutamic Acid

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and glutamic acid was the most common amino acid found in the natural dog’s body. It accounts for approximately 20% of the total body protein. It produces the most common excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. The amino acid composition of the brain is more than 50% glutamic acid.

Glutamic Acic is an effective antioxidant and heavy metal chelation agent. But has many other health benefits for you dog. It fights heart disease, strengthens the immune system, helps to reduce inflammation, helps prevent and heals ulcers, and increasing overall energy levels. It is commonly also used as an additive to food to deter dogs from eating their own feces. It mixes with other acids in the digestive system making the stool bitter to the taste.

Glutamic acid is found naturally in high-protein foods like beef, pork, chicken, fish, eggs, corn tomatoes, soybeans and milk. Even through many of these can be found in commercial dog food the high temperature processing of these foods destroys the usefulness of the glutamic acid.

Ferulic Acid

Ferulic acid (FA) is a phytochemical commonly found in fruits (apple, pear, orange, pineapple), vegetables (tomato, spinach, asparagus, carrot, sweet corn), brans (wheat, rice, oat). Phytochemicals are natural chemical substances and nutrients formed a plant’s normal metabolic processes. Phyto is the Greek word for plant. There have been thousands of different types of phytochemical identified and research is proving their benefits to good health in both humans and dogs.

Ferulic Acid has excellent antioxidant properties and is effective in fighting diabetes, cancer, heart, blood and circulatory disease, bone deterioration and neurological problems. It is often added to the diet of very active dogs such as work dogs since it helps rebuild the muscles quickly. As a chelation agent it effectively binds to free radicals neutralizing and enabling them to be safely purged from the body.

Malic Acid

Malic acid is a very effective chelation agent. Malic acid creates a reaction in the stomach to enhance absorption of minerals. The acid reacts with the mineral to break the bonds with its original inorganic chelation agent. This frees the mineral to bond with the malic acid to create a malate or allows the free mineral to chelate to other organic bonds available in the stomach, i.e. citric acid (citrate), proteins (amino acid chelate) and so on. These more effective chelation agents allow for better absorption.

Malic acid is a powerful detoxifier of aluminium, and may offer benefit in the chelation and removal of heavy metals. When used orally, malic acid can cause mild gastrointestinal (GI) disturbances.

In addition to increasing energy levels, malic acid is also an effective metal chelator. This means it is able to bind to potentially toxic metals that may have accumulated in the body, such as aluminum or lead, and inactivate them. As a result, the risk of toxicity is considerably reduced. Heavy metal overload has been linked to serious problems like liver disease and brain disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.

Lipoic Acid

Lipoic acid (LA) is an organic compound that is found in every cell of the body therefore it is essential to numerous metabolic enzymatic process needed for proper dog health. This sulfur containing acid has the unique characteristic of being able to be dissolved and work both in water and fatty tissues. This is completely contrary to vitamins which are either water soluble (B-complex, C) or fat soluble, (A, D, E, K).

Lipoic acid converts glucose into energy thus reduce risk of diabetes. Even though it is an effective antioxidant it also the ability to reestablish the effectiveness of other antioxidants. One of the critical ones that it helps restore is glutathione. This also occurs in every cell of the body and is critical to your dog’s immune system. Through these processes Lipoic Acid helps slow aging. If you dog is on any type of therapy or medication such as cancer treatments which compromise the immune system supplemental Lipoic Acid can be extremely beneficial.

Lipoic Acid is also one of the most effective antioxidants in neutralizes harmful free radicals. Research has shown it is effective against heavy metal toxicity due to lead, mercury, and cadmium.

Lipoic acid is found in very low concentrations is almost all foods but in higher levels in kidney, heart and liver meats as well as spinach, broccoli and potatoes. Because of this low concentration and it is not readily available from the food sources due to the nature it is chemically structured, all lipoic acid supplements are chemically produced.

Helpful to Counteract Metal Toxicity

Aluminum

Nutrients: Pectin, Calcium, Magnesium, Coenzyme A, Vitamin E, L-Glutathione, LecithinS-Adenosylmethionine, Vitamin B-Complex**

Herbs: Garlic*, kelp, Burdock Root, Ginseng,Ginkgo, Biloba, Echinacea

Arsenic

Nutrients: Superoxide Dismutase, Vitamin C, Selenium, L-Cysteine, C-Methionine, Pectin

Herbs: Garlic*

Cadmium

Nutrients: Calcium, Magnesium,Coenzyme A, Vitamin E, L-Cysteine, L-Lysine, L-Methionine, Zinc,Lecithin, Rutin

Herbs: Garlic*, Alfalfa, Burdock Root, Red Clover, Milk Thistle

Lead

Nutrients: Alpha-lipoic Acid, Pectin, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Vitamins A, C, E, B-Complex, L-Lysine, L-Cysteine, Selenium, L-Cystine, Methylsulfonfl-Methane, S-Adenosyfmethionine, Glutathione, L-Methionine, Lecithin

Herbs:Garlic*, Kelp, Alfalfa

Mercury

Nutrients: Glutathione, L-Cysteine, L-Methionine, Selenium, Pectin, Vitamin A, C, E, B-Complex, Lecithin

Herbs: Garlic*, Kelp, Alfalfa, Brewer’s Yeast

* Although garlic is a good detoxifier it should only be given to dogs in small amounts if at all.

** Extra B6 & B12 should be given

Chelation Agents Sources

Ferulic Acid

Brans (wheat, rice, oat)

Fruits* (apple, pear, orange, pineapple)

Vegetables (tomato, spinach, carrot asparagus, sweet corn)

Fulvic Acid

Humus Soil (need to use supplement)

Glutamic Acid

High Protein Foods (beef, pork, chicken, fish, eggs, soybean)

Tomatos, Corn, Milk

Lipoic Acid

Low content in nearly all foods

Higher content in kidney, heart, liver meats & spinach, broccoli, potatoes

(Due to very low concentrations and difficulty in extraction source from supplements is recommended)

Malic Acid

Fruits* (apples, cranberries, pineapple, apricot)

* Only use the “meat” of the fruit- never feed the seeds

Conclusion

We have found that heavy metal toxicity is a major factor that affects proper dog health, especially in the modern day domesticated natural dog. That it is almost impossible to keep our dogs free from exposures to heavy metals. This toxicity is an accumulative process in the dog’s body therefore overtime even small exposures are harmful. Exposure to such heavy metals as aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury come from are environment, everyday products we use, and even commercial dog food. Commercial dog food producers are particularly deficient in their control of these toxins. There are symptoms we can look for that indicate possible heavy metal toxicity in our dogs. Exposure can be minimized by having a good knowledge of were the heavy metals exist around us. There are foods, herbs, minerals, vitamins, and supplements that we can use to help protect, minimize effects, and even purge these damaging toxins from our dog’s bodies constantly promoting good dog health. And finally that dog owners should consider chelation therapy that uses power antioxidants to cleanse the body of the accumulated heavy metal toxins.

NOTICE: The content in this article is provided for informational and educational purposes only. While we make every effort to present information that is accurate and reliable, the views expressed here are not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by a licensed veterinarian. Please consult your veterinarian for specific advice concerning the medical condition or treatment of your dog and before administering any medication or pursuing any course of treatment that was presented in this article.

If you experience symptoms of kidney disease, your doctor will recommend a few tests. One of these tests helps to determine the GFR, or glomerular filtration rate of your kidneys. This refers to the amount of fluid that’s filtered per minute by the glomeruli – capillaries or tiny blood vessels in the kidneys.

The GFR test is considered to be the most accurate way to measure how well your kidneys are functioning. It can also help your doctor to determine the stage of your kidney disease. This illness is a progressive disease that has no cure with orthodox therapies. It goes through five stages in which symptoms become worse, or you start to experience additional symptoms. Knowing the stage of the disease you’re in affects your treatment.

How Is GFR measured?

In the past, GFR was measured through a 24-hour collection of urine to track the filtration rate of a substance injected into the body. These days, an estimate of GFR (eGFR) is done through a blood test. This test measures the levels of creatinine in the blood, without the need for a substance to be injected. Sometimes, the terms GFR test and eGFR tests are used interchangeably.

A health care professional will collect a sample of blood from your vein. Small children being tested for kidney disease may be pricked through the skin with a lancet in order for blood to be collected. The blood sample is sent to a lab for assessment.

As mentioned, technicians check for levels of a substance called creatinine. It’s a waste product of muscle metabolism. It’s eliminated from the body by healthy kidneys through urine and remains within a certain range in the body. However, when the kidneys cannot effectively rid your body of creatinine, it accumulates to higher than normal levels, indicating that kidney disease is present.

To determine your GFR, other factors are taken into account, such as your age, race, and gender. Also, GFR is compared to levels of protein in your urine for even greater accuracy to determine the albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR). A healthy ratio is 0.2 grams of protein to one gram of creatinine.

Doctors may also use a method known as the Cockcroft-Gault formula to estimate creatinine clearance from your blood, and in turn, your GFR. This method uses creatinine measurements and your weight to predict the rate at which creatinine is being removed from the blood.

GFR may need to be measured more than once before an assessment of kidney function is determined.

Although the eGFR is a very useful test to determine kidney function, it’s not useful for everyone with suspected kidney disease as results may vary in some situation. This includes people who are:

• Age 70 or older
• Under 18 years old
• Pregnant
• Obese or very overweight
• Very muscular
• Malnourished
• Vegetarian
• Of African descent

These factors affect creatinine generation. In these cases, the traditional GFR test with 24-hour urine collection may be more accurate.

What Is a Healthy GFR?

A normal or healthy range for GFR is 120 to 125 millilitres per minute (ml/min). However, GFR varies depending on your age, sex, body size and race. It naturally declines as you get older as kidney function diminishes.

If your GFR is 60 to 89 ml/min you may have kidney disease. If it’s 30 to 59 you may be in stage 3 kidney disease. A GFR of 15 to 29 are in stage 4 kidney disease. While 15 ml/min or lower means you may have developed kidney failure.

Pregnancy, and some foods and medications may affect your GFR calculation. Let your doctor know if you could be pregnant, or if you’re on a special diet or taking any medications so they can factor this into their diagnosis.

What Happens If Your GFR Is Low?

Your doctor will likely recommend other tests such as an ultrasound or CT (computer tomography) scan to spot any abnormalities in the kidneys such as kidney stones. These tests can also determine if there are blockages in your urinary tract, which could also affect how well your kidneys are filtering.

Another test your doctor may perform if your GFR is low is a kidney biopsy. During this test the doctor will insert a needle into your kidney to remove tissue to examine for abnormalities or disease.

If you are diagnosed with any level of kidney disease, or you are at risk, the use of natural therapies can both reverse damage and prevent future kidney damage by treating the cause of the problem. Herbs, nutrients and dietary and lifestyle changes can go a long way in improving your kidney health and your health in general.

My story begins late one night in December 2008. I’d just come home from a long and wonderful trip to Bhutan, Nepal and India and was in the midst of moving in with a man I’d met and fallen in love with two summers before. We’re both in good health, exercise regularly and keep our diet on the light side. But this night we’d been out to a fancy restaurant. We were in a high mood, planning a celebration for our 70 and 75th birthdays as one big party in February. A few hours after I’d gone to sleep, an intense cramping in my lower left side awakened me. My abdomen was bloated. My stomach felt hard as a rock. I couldn’t lie still so I stood up. I immediately bent over in pain. Feeling pretty weak I supported myself with the back of a bedroom chair. Sitting or lying down felt worse. That night, I walked around and around and around the living room wondering what was wrong and what to do. I’d suffered digestive discomfort for years but never anything like this. It was logical to believe I’d picked up a bug in India. As I walked, I took GasX. About ten minutes later, I felt better and was able to go back to sleep. I thought that was the end of it but it was just the beginning.

I’m a psychologist who hears many clients describe digestive discomfort, especially after a meal out in a restaurant. I’ve listened to many women describe similar nightly walkabouts in which all they could do was wait for gastrointestinal pain to subside. One woman told me her mother had been having attacks for years and tried every home remedy and medical prescription in the book with no sustainable relief. It’s common to hear people report getting so frightened by the pain that they believe they’re having a heart attack. They go to an ER, lay around on a gurney for hours and come home with a diagnosis of indigestion. Still, since the pain was extreme, I called my internist the next day and got an appointment a few days later. He sent me for scans of my liver, kidneys, gall bladder and esophagus, gave me an ECG in his office and prescribed Prevacid for indigestion. All the tests came back normal.

But nothing was normal. I continued to have severe digestive discomfort and painful spasms every few nights. I searched the Internet hoping to understand my symptoms better. I kept coming up with GERD (gastro esophageal reflux disease) and IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Each search described many of my symptoms but there was little mention of the pressure from gas that I was experiencing or the pain. I saw a nutritionist who was convinced that my gall bladder was malfunctioning. Her dietary recommendations didn’t work but she heightened my awareness of the importance of diet. In particular, I learned that carbohydrates produce gas and overeating at any particular meal puts extra stress on the stomach. I started a low carb diet and ate small frequent meals. I also stopped eating anything after six pm. Even though my alcohol habit consisted of little more than a glass of wine with dinner, I stopped drinking any alcohol. A glass of wine seemed to set off a spasm. Same with my morning cup of coffee. Taking these measures slowed down how often I experienced these episodes of intense pain but did not affect the intensity once one got rolling. Modifying my eating habits certainly helped but didn’t solve the problem.

Next I saw a gastroenterologist who was convinced I had SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). He prescribed Xyfaxan, an antibiotic that targets bacteria in the intestine in order to restore proper balance and cease pain caused by spasms of the gut. I did several series of this antibiotic over the next months. The third, pulling out all stops, was for three weeks. He also prescribed Levsin, an antispasmodic medication. The antibiotics seemed to lessen the frequency of occurrences and the Levsin was a godsend. My symptoms were increasing and the episodes becoming more frequent, more unpredictable. It’s hard to describe how disturbing it was to be clueless about when an episode might occur. If I had an afternoon of clients, I ate a light breakfast with no carbs and skipped lunch. It was the only way I could be sure I wouldn’t crash in the middle of a session with a client. With Levsin in my pocket, I felt more in control but when I wanted to be sure I wouldn’t get an attack I just didn’t eat.

Oddly, when I was fine, I was fine and that was most of the time. Difficult to predict, symptoms often came out of the blue and while very intense, passed within minutes. I learned that I could avert an episode by taking Levsin at the first sign of symptoms and even stop a rising spasm on its way to full bloom if I acted quickly. Because Levsin worked and because the antibiotics seemed to be working, I had confidence that the GI doctor knew what he was doing and felt confident he would solve the problem. I began to keep a journal of what I was eating and when I had symptoms. Eating carbs and eating too much at one meal continued to be major culprits. They led to gas, bloating, abdominal cramping, heartburn and scratchy throat. As months passed, I sometimes felt an intense pressure pushing on my diaphragm and rising to the center of my chest. I sometimes felt a hot spot behind my sternum, pain in one or both arms and soreness under my ears. I took Levsin everywhere with me. On a walk, to the movies, to bed.

Adding to my difficulties, I felt depressed, tired and annoyed. So many interactions in life revolve around food. “Let’s get together for lunch” became a challenge. Not being able to eat freely meant playing a game when we went out with friends. I began a blind man’s game of not seeing food on the table, on my plate or on a menu in order to enjoy myself. At least in California where I live, restaurants are used to people customizing their meals but I only had one diet I knew worked. When it didn’t fit the occasion, I cancelled. It’s an education to notice how central food is to so many ordinary things we do in a day. Being so restricted often secretly stole the fun out of a get together for me but I couldn’t risk a build-up of pressure.

On occasion, symptoms got started and subsided on their own. But mostly, the only thing that made a spasm bearable was Levsin. GasX always helped. Sometimes Gaviscon or Prevacid helped. I tried PPI acid suppressors (proto pump inhibitors) but with little reliable effect. On my low carb diet, I lost weight, 20 lbs from 138 to 118 in eight months. In a society where “one is never too thin”, I was looking good and getting lots of compliments but I did not feel good. It’s one thing to modify life to live around symptoms, another to think of living with an imposed restriction day in and day out for the rest of my life. As time wore on without a diagnosis, I began to think the painful episodes were here to stay.

My spasms felt like contractions in childbirth, horribly intense but subsiding in minutes. Resolved to their intrusion, at least I knew they would end. Like a woman giving birth, I went with the pain, breathed as rhythmically as I could and held the faith that I could get through it. I leaned against a couch, a fence or a wall depending on where I was when they happened. Since I felt like a pregnant woman with too much pressure on her stomach, I slept on a wedge to keep my head elevated to alleviate weight on my digestive tract. Keeping my upper body elevated while I slept helped me feel better but it didn’t prevent pressure from building up. Sometimes I woke up in the middle of a nightmare dreaming that I was being strangled or crushed or worse. To combat this invisible foe, I did everything I could, but to no avail.

Since I believed my symptoms were clues, I described them numerous times to numerous doctors, each with a different specialty, hoping one of them – internist, nutritionist, cardiologist, gastroenterologist and holistic md – would recognize what I could only sense. I kept asking questions, kept looking to them for answers. What’s causing all this? Where’s all the gas coming from? If it’s acid reflux, GERD and/or IBS, why doesn’t elimination of the usual culprits – gluten, dairy products, chocolate, wheat, red meat and alcohol – make a difference? If it’s SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), why aren’t the antibiotics working? And, bottom-line, how does pressure from intestinal gas cause a cramp in my chest? Since my problems started the week after I came back from a trip to India, doctors and friends joined me in speculating that I’d brought back an obscure bug. That added to the mystery but it still didn’t explain how indigestion was related to spasms.

Did I take tests? Of course. Blood tests, electrocardiograms (ECG), scans and scopes of the upper and lower GI tract. They ruled out esophageal problems, gall bladder, liver and kidney problems, heart problems – or so I thought. Did I follow doctor’s instructions? Of course. Three rounds of intestinal antibiotics. Did I talk to people? Of course. Smartest friends in the room. Everyone had their own experience and/or someone close to them who had similar symptoms. They also had lots of advice. Apparently, there are millions of Americans suffering from chronic bouts of indigestion that they’re treating with billions of dollars of digestive aids. But no one pieced together the combination of symptoms I was describing into a diagnosis.

To add to my confusion about what was happening and, in hindsight, to the hidden danger of a missed diagnosis, I had a para-thyroidectomy in December 2008. I had been diagnosed with parathyroid dysfunction during an annual checkup with my internist before my trip to India. There was some speculation about whether it could be a cause of my digestive discomfort. Not likely but a possibility. Apparently faulty calcium regulation can contribute to digestive problems. The surgery required – of course – blood tests and another ECG. Fortunately (especially in hindsight), I flew through the surgery with flying colors. But it further confused the picture. After my calcium levels were restored, I enjoyed an upsurge of energy. When I was not actually experiencing an episode or its aftermath the next day, I felt better than I had in years.

Incidentally, in January 2009, I saw a cardiologist. It was a routine visit, like seeing a gynecologist. It was simply part of my overall pursuit of greater health appropriate to my age. My cholesterol levels were a bit high (LDL 120) and I was considering statins. I did, of course, describe my symptoms to him, including the fact that I was seeing a GI doctor. During the exam, he thought he noticed a murmur and recommended I get a stress-echo test to complete my work up. “Nothing urgent”, he assured me. Nothing that couldn’t wait until after a spring trip my partner and I were planning to Paris. In fact, none of my doctors expressed any caution about traveling for six weeks out of the country or any urgency regarding any other tests.

In August 2009 – after eight months of mind-numbing episodes of pain — I did find the answer. Persistent questioning – and, I believe, lady luck was on my side. We came home from Paris mid-June and I made an appointment to complete my cardiology workup with a stress echo test at the first opportunity. That would be August 7. By this time I was afraid my digestive difficulties were burdening my heart. I thought I might not be able to complete the stress echo well enough for accurate results. But by August, I was a pro at dealing with my attacks and felt confident I could get through it even if I felt one coming on. Exertion at this time was the least of my concerns.

Even though I knew that going up a steep sidewalk, swimming 4 short laps in a row or spending ten minutes on the elliptical trainer could arouse symptoms signaling the likelihood of an attack, I could work around it. I’d learned to pace my walking, slow down my exercising and not lift anything heavy. On the stress echo treadmill, it didn’t surprise me that I was fine for 4 ½ minutes, 134 heartbeats. At that point I began to feel the usual pressure in my stomach, a light-headedness, pain behind my ears and a desperate need to rest. I’d been told 138 heartbeats was the target so when the monitor flashed a red 141, I figured I’d more than accomplished the target. I gasped for breath and asked the nurse, “Is that it? Can I stop now?” And she answered, “Only if you want to.” She didn’t bat an eyelash at my obvious distress. I’ve since discovered that people like to challenge the treadmill when they take the test so I guess that’s what she was used to. Then I did what I usually did when I was faced with an imminent attack. I calmed myself down. I breathed, meditated and thought pleasant thoughts while the nurse scurried around getting her numbers.

I was completely unaware of what had just happened. Customary for me, by the time I got to the waiting room, I felt fine. In this case, I felt pleased that I’d recovered without taking a Levsin. As I waited for the cardiologist, I was in a good mood, sure that – one more time – the test showed nothing definitive. My blood test numbers looked better than ever. They had all dropped dramatically from the year before. Total Cholesterol — 202 (from 247), Triglycerides — 61 (from 95), HDL 79 (108), LDL 111 (from 120). Clear proof that diet can affect your cholesterol — in case you had any doubt!

This was Friday afternoon. I was reading these results when the cardiologist came in. I was fully expecting a smile on his face. Instead, the look on his face was dead serious. He was very careful with his words. His words. “You have angina. Your reaction to the stress echo test is one of the most extreme we’ve had here in quite awhile.” My brain. “Is this something new, different or related to my problem?” He wanted to schedule me for an angioplasty as soon as possible. He asked me “Were you frightened while you were taking the stress-echo?” Wryly I answered, “No, I’ve felt similar spasms hundreds of times since December.” I had no idea what he was talking about. He was the first person to mention the word ‘angina’. First to indicate that I should be very concerned, even alarmed. He scheduled an angioplasty for Monday. I had a vague idea of what an angioplasty was but I had no grasp on angina. I certainly wasn’t thinking what I should’ve been thinking. ‘Good grief, I’m lucky I’m not dead.’

The cardiologist knew, of course, what I didn’t know – that the angina I had experienced on the treadmill was a life threatening aspect of blockage of the arteries in my heart. He continued to talk while I continued to blur. He assured me that the beta-blockers and nitroglycerin he was prescribing would, as he put it, “make sure I got through the weekend without an incident”. After not worrying for months, I now had to fret the weekend? Blur. As it turned out (and as usual), I had attacks both nights. And I used the nitroglycerin both times and it worked very quickly. I guess the good and the bad of the nitroglycerin was that it worked. It was evidence that the condition of my heart was the root cause of my painful episodes.

Fear blocked the big picture, distracting me from the warning my body was giving me that something very serious was wrong. Pain swept me off, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, into a foreign land of medical expertise desperately in search of an answer to my symptoms. For eight long months, I had been swept away by a tornado of puzzling pain into the medical specialty of gastroenterology. As much trust as I’d put in the wizards of medicine, as conscientiously as I’d sought answers from them to show me the way home to health, the man behind the curtain didn’t have the answers.

Now, after the fact, I’ve learned that the information my doctors needed for a differential diagnosis for a woman has been all but excluded from medical research until recently. According to Harvard Health Letter (Vol. 34, 9/09), medical research on heart disease has steadfastly overlooked women because maleness has been considered the top risk factor. There is precious little published, even for doctors, indicating that gastrointestinal distress is a possible much less definitive symptom of heart disease in women. Furthermore, according to the same Harvard Health Letter, even when diagnosed, a woman still must be “a little more aggressive in getting the care” she needs. I can attest that I passed from doctor to doctor in Los Angeles, seeing some of the best doctors in the country without arousing the slightest expression of urgency about what they were seeing and hearing.

Medically speaking, I had angina pectoris. The spasms radiating to my arms finally made sense. After the fact, everyone seemed to know that angina causes pain when the heart experiences competition for its oxygen from digestion. I can’t imagine what would’ve been required to alert anyone of my doctors to imminent danger while I was traveling the yellow brick road of doctor’s appointments. What more could I have done? I even had an attack during an appointment with the GI doctor. As it was, the diagnosis did not get made until after I nearly set off a heart attack during a routine stress echocardiogram. Who were these doctors seeing in their examination room?

Angina is dangerous. It typically sets in motion a quadruple by-pass. I was diagnosed on a Friday, went in for angioplasty on Monday. In an extraordinary procedure that is now so standard it takes your breath away, a surgeon weaved a little camera up through an artery in my groin to my heart and discovered a 90% blockage. Instantly, he inserted a stent. Saved my life. That’s the only way to say it. I was very very lucky. Any untoward event. Any slight fender bender. A heated argument. Sudden anxiety. Traumatic surprise event – to me, a member of my family or one of my friends. Any unexpected stress that would’ve demanded more than 10% flow to my heart and I’d be dead. It’s a humbling thought.

The first thing my friends say when they hear my story is “That’s great. You’re going to be fine now.” And then there’s a pause, a second take. The next thing they say is ‘Ohmigawd, 90% blockage, you could be dead. That’s weird. How could your doctors miss that?’

I know I tell a harrowing truth that’s hard to believe. No one, not one doctor, friend or family member ever mentioned the word ‘angina’ to me in eight months of suffering. Angina was not in anyone’s vocabulary. Angina was never mentioned until my cardiologist said the word to me after the stress echocardiogram, a test ordered because he’d thought he heard a slight murmur in my earlier exam. Maybe my heart was murmuring to him, telling us to check out my heart and discover the angina behind my digestive distress.

Further in the ‘believe it or not’ department and to my complete delight, I’ve experienced a complete erasure of digestive distress since my angioplasty. All of my digestive problems have cleared up. I can eat anything I want. Drink wine and indulge in desert. My choice for the first time in almost a year.

But more important. Missing the diagnosis was extremely dangerous. Angina is as close as you can come to having a heart attack without having one. Angina is a build-up of plague in an artery of the heart – called atherosclerosis – that interferes with blood flow. Angina attacks don’t kill heart muscle but angina is a ticking bomb, ready to set off a heart attack with just the right amount of pressure – from stress, exertion, excitement. I’ve run across an impressive anecdote about angina written in 1790. Before the tests of modern medicine, Dr. John Hunter showed himself to be an astute observer of his own angina pectoris when he wrote, “My life is in the hands of any rascal who chooses to annoy or tease me.” What he knew is that an imbalance between the metabolic demands of the heart and the adequacy of one’s coronary circulation to provide oxygen causes pain. I wish I had had his insight. I experienced surges of physical symptoms when I got angry, upset or frightened or ate too much but I had no inkling what it meant. Now I know, angina interferes with the flow of blood when we need it the most. Not during an ECG when the heart’s at rest. If my heart had needed more than 10% blood flow to deal with a sudden jolt of fear, heavy lifting or – as with the stress echo – running, I’d have had a heart attack.

Time to ask the big question. But before I do, I’d like to make a qualifying statement. Even though it’s clear to me, after the fact, that my doctor’s lack of insight endangered my life, I’d like to make it clear that I’m not blaming my doctors for missing my diagnosis. I’m grateful for their continued concern and, ultimately, thankful for to their expertise. As I said, they saved my life. But why didn’t the absence of a source for the relentless distress I was experiencing arouse a sense of urgency in my doctors?

Recent news headlines about being in charge of your own health care have taken on new meaning for me. Here are some thoughts to ponder, more frightening than they seem when one’s life is at stake.

1) It’s no secret that there’s a breakdown in the health system that doesn’t encourage communication between specialties. I don’t have statistics but, as in my case, it could be critical if lady luck isn’t on your side. My cardiologist believed I was in good hands for digestive distress and stayed his course until a stress echo that put me squarely in his ballpark. When my GI doctor tapped the bottom of his bag of tricks, he didn’t have a policy directive to pick up the phone and call my cardiologist even though he was seeing symptoms indicating a crossover. My internist, persistent and conscientious, is not a coordinator of services.

2) Medical training is not oriented to educate patients as partners in finding a diagnosis. Yet patients need help now. We need to know how to go beyond the walls of a particular specialty. Even my ability to ask in-depth relevant ‘doctor to doctor’ questions did not uncover my diagnosis. Not one of my doctors expressed the need for a stress echocardiogram. Though I’d seen the cardiologist initially in January, his response was routine. My internist, who I saw often, first in December and last in June, mentioned in passing “if you’d like to move your appointment (for the stress echo) up from August, you probably could.” I took that to mean the stress-echo was one more elimination test.

3) Where does the fabric of integrity underlying the medical field as a whole come into action? My GI doctor, with whom I was in continuous contact, agreed with my plan to finish up my cardiac workup after I got back from France. But he expressed no sense of urgency and no possible explanation of how my heart might be related to my digestive problems. Is that an appropriate end to his responsibility? Did he suspect a connection between digestion and the heart and not say so? Or if not, why not? If the patient is the lynch pin, the only one carrying information from specialty to specialty, they need education as much as elimination to find a diagnosis.

True, I didn’t fit the picture for Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). I had no markers, as they call the signs of CHD in medical circles. My numbers are good. I’m a happy 70 year old in a relationship, slim and in general good health. I stretch, walk, and workout daily. I’ve followed a fairly good diet for years. And I had my heart checked. I’d had two ECG’s. I’d had surgery, a high heart stressor. And I’d seen a cardiologist. I also felt fine when I wasn’t having an attack. No doctor objected to my taking a long trip out of the country even though we didn’t know what was causing my problem. No one explained I might need more than an ECG – or insist on a stress echocardiogram or a nuclear cardiogram, the tests that take pictures of your heart in action and when increased blood flow is needed – to determine whether my heart was okay. Even the idea that blood flow might be related to my spasms and/or digestive problems did not enter the equation until after the fact.

It seems more important than ever to see oneself as a detective hot on the trail of your own case. Or, a Dorothy who has pulled back the curtain and knows a doctor is just a person, not a god. It’s pretty much a medical fact these days that each doctor who sees you looks from their own particular specialty and that there’s little crossover from one specialty to another. As I heard one cardiologist put it “When you’re a hammer, everything you see is a nail”. Makes it not only good but necessary, I believe, to track your own clues. As if you were finding fingerprints, you can identify a pattern running through one appointment after another even when logic is missing and everyone is looking in the wrong direction. As hidden as it may be, a magical through line exists. On the road, a tin man without a heart, a scarecrow without a brain, a lion without courage all became more than when they started. Even though nothing made sense, I persisted, never lost my curiosity and, in the end, I found the answer. Like a murder mystery without the murder, my tale would make a captivating adaptation of the Wizard of Oz.

The moral of my story? Don’t hand over your ruby red shoes. Doctors are ordinary people. It has to make sense to you before it makes any sense at all. Put angina in your vocabulary alongside heart attack and stroke. No reason to wait and wonder if your heart might be the heart of the matter. Check it out. Don’t wait for your doctor to tell you it’s urgent. And don’t settle for a test that won’t give you the full picture of your heart at work. It’s when it has to go to work that your life depends on it.

I’ve lived my life citing a couple mantras. One from Bob Dylan — “Those not busy being born are busy dyin’.” Another from Yevgeny Yevtusheko — ‘Don’t die before you’re dead’. I’ve never had my life saved before. Now death is more than a metaphor. Perhaps old age is the age of miracles. Or at least the profound realization of life as miracle. Take it to heart. Literally.

By Jane Alexander Stewart, Ph.D.