Bring A Little Sunshine into Your Bones

Vitamin D3 is vital to our bodies.  It is one of the vitamins that our system can produce itself, providing there is enough sun.  In our climate sunlight is not always available and this is more of a problem for darker skinned people.

This vitamin is produced photo chemically when the upper layer of the skin is exposed to UV-B rays. Since you need to be in the sun every day for 15 minutes in the middle of the day, it is not likely that many people will want to be exposed to the harmful rays of the sun.

However, help is at hand and all is not lost.  There is a dietary supplement available called Suntrex which contains this vitamin.  Because it is made entirely out of plant substances, it is also suitable for vegans.

Why do we need this vitamin? It is responsible for aiding the digestive tract in the absorption of calcium and phosphates which promote strong bones and teeth. It will also help with repairing bones.  Furthermore many cells in the body utilise this vitamin for cell growth, immunity and it reduces inflammation.

Indications have recently emerged that it reduces incidences of various illnesses such as auto-immune disorders, diabetes and cardio vascular ailments.

Deficiency could lead to loss of bone density and brittle bones and a higher rate of breaks both in children and adults.

Older people and those who suffer Crohn’s disease are susceptible to bone loss as these groups have a diminished ability to make vitamin D3 and whose kidneys lose the ability to convert it into its active state.
There are not too many foods that contain it, but you will find it in limited amounts in oily fish, such as mackerel, mushrooms, cheese, beef and egg yolks.  Unfortunately if you are a vegan you won’t be able to eat most of these things.

It seems that the only way we will get enough of this vitamin is to supplement your diet with health products, drinking milk that has had vitamin D added to it and to be in the sun for a certain amount every day.

Candida: An Overview of this Pesky Fungus

In recent years, we have all become a little more aware of candida, although we might not know its name. Candida is a type of fungus that causes common ailments like thrush and nappy rash. Below, we are going to explore this fungus in more depth.

What is candida? 
As we mentioned above, it is a type of fungus. It lives on all of our bodies, where it usually causes no problems.

However, sometimes, the fungus can grow in excessive numbers, and this leads to the problems, such as nappy rash and thrush.

Why does candida grow excessively?
Under certain conditions, the candida fungus will grow to excess numbers. There are several reasons why this happens:

1. A recent course of antibiotics can cause you to lose the friendly bacteria that keeps the candida fungus at manageable levels. 
2. A compromised immune system means that the body cannot fight the infection (it’s common in immunology problems, such as AIDS). 

What are the Candida Symptoms?
There can be various signs of candida. These include:

• White, thick, patches in the mouth, nose, or genitals. 
• Pain and itching 
• Difficulty eating in the case of oral thrush
• Tiredness and lethargy
• Foggy thinking 

The latter two candida symptoms can be indicative of other problems, too. You are more likely to have candida if you also have the thick white patches.

How do you treat candida?
There are numerous ways of treating candida. You can buy anti-fungal medication over-the-counter. You can also buy products from health shops that can purportedly reduce the number of infection-causing candida spores. There is also a “candida” diet that can supposedly keep the fungus at bay; this usually involves cutting out sugars, which is the main source of fuel that the candida fungus uses.

Aging Disgracefully: 3 Supplements/Foods that Can Turn Back the Clock

OK, so we misled you. We can’t turn back the clock just yet, but we can certainly slow it down, and we can sort of reverse some signs of aging, albeit temporarily. Below, we’re going to look at some supplements and natural foods/drinks that can help you slow that clock right down.

Green Tea
This is revered in Eastern cultures, and now Western medicine is in agreement. Green tea is a powerful antioxidant that can help maintain brain health. A healthy brain is a happy brain, and happiness is one of the leading factors of longevity.

Active Digestive Enzymes
These help the body to process vitamins and nutrients better. This serves several different benefits. First, it means that our bodies work less hard. As a consequence, we conserve energy instead of wearing ourselves out. Secondly, active digestive enzymes allow us to process a greater number of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Therefore, our bodies receive more of the good stuff. This contributes to faster cell repair on all levels.

Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ACL)
This is fantastic for brain health. One thing that it purportedly does is to increase the levels of acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is directly implemented in Alzheimer’s disease. You might have heard recently that certain medications, such as Diphenhydramine-containing sleep supplements, contain anticholinergic. These damage the myelin sheath around brain neurons, which is needed for adequate communication and plasticity. Without these sheaths, the neurons become damaged.

Well, ACL helps to reverse the damage of anticholinergic products and processes, by boosting acetylcholine, which is protective to the myelin sheath. If you’re interested, there’s a fantastic TED Talk about demyelination in certain neurological conditions. It’s called “Minding Your Mitochondria”. There are some people that dismiss her diet, but much of what she says is accurate.