"[Fat-soluble] vitamin A . . . became known as the 'anti-infective' vitamin."

Christopher Masterjohn calls fat soluble Vitamin A, aka, Retinol, the anti-infective vitamin.  And by anti-infective, he means anti-infection, meaning that it would protect you from infections?  Particularly the measles. "What about Vitamin C?  I thought that Vitamin C was the vitamin to take to stave off infections!" you insist.  The two focus on different components of your immune system.  Retinol Vitamin A protects your ". . . immunity, bone growth, mucous membranes and the eyes, skin, hair and nails." Mucous membranes are an important part of your overall immunity, protecting the cells and keeping pathogens from penetrating your cells.

Vitamin C, a water soluble anti-oxidant, works on other parts of your immune system, coalescing in a forceful attack against predatory pathogens to destroy infections.  Vitamin C and Retinol A should be taken in conjunction.  Both produce much better results in repair as you are recovering from any debilitating condition, whether it be pathogen or injury. 

BEST SOURCE of RETINOL VITAMIN A
Wikipedia explains that "Cod liver oil is a nutritional supplement derived from liver of cod fish. As with most fish oils, it has high levels of the omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Cod liver oil also contains vitamin A and vitamin D. It has historically been taken because of its vitamin A and vitamin D content. It was once commonly given to children, because vitamin D has been shown to prevent rickets and other symptoms of vitamin D deficiency."

BRIEF HISTORY OF VITAMIN A

Weston A. Price Foundation's Christopher Masterjohn explains that:

While vitamin K2 languished in obscurity, vitamins A and D continually traded places with one another as the favored vitamin du jour. The pendulum initially swung in favor of vitamin D because rickets was common in the early twentieth century while eye diseases resulting from vitamin A deficiency were rare. It then swung in favor of vitamin A when that vitamin became known as the “anti-infective” vitamin.2 After World War II, the medical establishment had easy access to antibiotics and thus lost interest in battling infections with vitamin A.3 Vitamin D fared far worse, taking the blame for a British epidemic of infant hypercalcemia and eventually earning a reputation as “the most toxic of all the vitamins.”4

These days, the pendulum has swung full force in the opposite direction: we blame an epidemic of osteoporosis on vitamin A, and see vitamin D as the new panacea.5

Though a paradigm of synergy never took hold, it was not for want of opportunity. When Mellanby and Green first demonstrated in the 1920s that vitamin A prevented infections, they concluded that vitamin D could not be “safely substituted for cod-liver oil in medical treatment,” and that “if a substitute for cod-liver oil is given it ought to be at least as powerful as this oil in its content of both vitamins A and D.”2 Consistent with this point of view, clinical trials in the 1930s showed that cod liver oil could reduce the incidence of colds by a third and cut hours missed from work in half.6 Cod liver oil also caused dramatic reductions in mortality from less common but more severe infections. The medical establishment, for example, had been successfully using it to treat tuberculosis since the mid-nineteenth century.7 Studies in the 1930s expanded this to the treatment of measles.8 These findings made the popularity of cod liver oil soar (Figure 1).9.

The Miracles & Speed of 3D Printers in Healthcare

from CBS News

A 3D printer saved the lives of three baby boys with the same life-threatening condition, their doctors report in the latest issue of Science Translational Medicine.

Kaiba Gionfriddo was six weeks old when he turned blue because his lungs weren't getting enough oxygen. He was diagnosed with a terminal form of tracheobronchomalacia, a medical condition that causes the windpipe to periodically collapse and prevents normal breathing. With no cure and a low life expectancy, doctors told his mother April he may not make it out of the hospital alive.

Kaiba was one of the three babies who became the first in the world to receive 3D-printed devices that helped keep their airways open so they could breathe properly, thus saving their lives. "These cases broke new ground for us because we were able to use 3D printing to design a device that successfully restored patients' breathing through a procedure that had never been done before," Glenn Green, MD, an associate professor of pediatric otolaryngology at the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, said in a statement.

Tracheobronchomalacia affects about 1 in 2,000 children around the world, according to the doctors, and renders them unable to fully exhale. Using a 3D printer, Green and his colleagues were able to create and implant a customized splint around the airways of the three boys to expand the trachea and bronchus. This 3D printed device is made to change shape over time as the children grow, and eventually be reabsorbed by the body as the condition is cured.

The findings in the report suggest that this early intervention may prevent complications of conventional treatment of tracheobronchomalacia such as a tracheostomy, prolonged hospitalization, mechanical ventilation, cardiac and respiratory arrest, food malabsorption and discomfort.

3D-printed hearts help surgeons save babies' lives

Kaiba was the first to receive the implant three years ago and his doctors report that the splint has degraded and he appears to be disease-free. "Before this procedure, babies with severe tracheobronchomalacia had little chance of surviving," Green said. "Today, our first patient Kaiba is an active, healthy 3-year-old in preschool with a bright future. The device worked better than we could have ever imagined."

Garrett Peterson

UNIV. OF MICHIGAN HEALTH SYSTEM

Two other children have also had success with the device.

Garrett Peterson received one a the age of 16 months. Garrett spent the first year of his life in hospital beds tethered to a ventilator, being fed through his veins because his body was too sick to absorb food.

Since receiving the device, he has not shown signs of any complications and is leading a normal life, able to breathe properly, doctors say.

Ian Orbich's condition was so grave that his heart stopped before he was even six months old. He received a customized 3D-printed splint and is now doing well at the age of 17 months.

Green and his colleagues received emergency clearance from the FDA to do the procedures. While these three cases appear to be a huge success, the doctors noted that this technology will take time to put into widespread practice. "The potential of 3D-printed medical devices to improve outcomes for patients is clear, but we need more data to implement this procedure in medical practice," Green said. The authors also acknowledge that potential complications of the procedure may not yet be evident.

Can't Sleep?  Skip the Melatonin and Grab the Magnesium!!!

As a popular sleep aid, Melatonin came on line about 12 to 15 years ago.  It was marketed as a rejuvenator, as a wonderful sleep aid, as a way to set the clock back on aging.  I mean it seemed to cover a whole host of remedies, but that it was best when taken as a sleep aid.  And the sleep that you would get from it was sold as being miraculous.  It is amazing how a story, a narrative, a theory can have a hold on you as long as you believe in it.  And one way that makes believing a story more effective is if you don't have any other experience to compare it with.  Beside milk and turkey breast, melatonin was the first sleep aid that I had ever taken.  It certainly made me feel groggy.  It wasn't quite like an anesthesia you take before surgery; it didn't put me out like that.  But it certainly made my body feel heavy.  Even in the morning when I woke up, I did not wake up feeling refreshed.  I woke up feeling groggy, even drugged.  And this was after taking a 1mg tablet.  Melatonin comes in 3 and 5 mg doses. I could not imagine taking anything stronger than a 1mg.  But given my experience with Melatonin I will never take it again.  What was that experience?

My limbs were asleep.  That's not waking up feeling refreshed.  

Only to learn that the effects of Melatonin are worse than even I had imagined:

Sylvie McCracken writes that "We do produce melatonin naturally, so I see how it can be misconstrued as a benign supplement to simply pop in your mouth and start counting sheep. Melatonin is associated with sleep because it’s produced as a stress hormone to cope with darkness.

We’re stressed by the dark —> we produce melatonin to try and sleep —> anti stress.

You say you’re feeling sleepy when taking melatonin? Well, it’s merely inducing limpness in your body where blood is restricted to the brain and heart and your general cognitive function is impaired. Um, yikes!  Deliberately slowing down the blood supply to my vital organs isn’t something I really want to be doing all that often.

Although melatonin may help induce sleep in the elderly, Emily states that there is no solid scientific evidence to support melatonin’s effectiveness for treating insomnia in young and middle-aged adults.

In The Sleep Solution, Emily outlines the possible side effects of melatonin consumption:

·         Vasoconstriction of the brain, organs, and heart.

·         Shrinks and involutes the thymus gland

·         Shrinks sex organs Increases heart rate and perpetuates the stress cycle

·         Inhibits fertility

Read more: Why I Choose Magnesium Over Melatonin for Sleep - Hollywood Homestead http://www.hollywoodhomestead.com/magnesium-over-melatonin-to-induce-sleep/#ixzz3Z6yD2Net
Follow us: @hollywoodhomest on Twitter

So magnesium is one answer to taking melatonin.  But it's not like meltatonin is the most effective, natural sleep aid.  It's not.  Magnesium is. So are B Vitamins.  Try a B-Complex at bedtime and watch the next morning how you will absolutely wake more refreshed than your experience with Melatonin.  

THE SALES PITCH
Vitamins and minerals and supplements are always sold in terms of the problems caused by their deficiency in your system.  That's an easy sell. But what people are really looking for are specific benefits from taking this or that food, this or that supplement to remedy what ails us.  And we always have choices, but the sales pitch rarely presents us with the choices and the benefits or hazards of each.  And here I can only report on my experience which as you know is quite specific from any experience that you might enjoy or endure.  But in my experience the B vitamins provide excellent therapy for the nerves and muscles.  So does magnesium.  So, in fact, does dark chocolate.  But I have recently sworn off chocolate because of the caffeine, though mild might be its effects. Another source is Epsom salts.  I have even tried a table salt bath with regular Morton Salt and that has relaxed me beyond measure.  But I cannot reproduce the exact same benefits each time I use any of these minerals.  

The sales pitch for magnesium sounds wonderful:  "This critical mineral is actually responsible for over 300 enzyme reactions and is found in all of your tissues — but mainly in your bones, muscles, and brain. You must have it for your cells to make energy, for many different chemical pumps to work, to stabilize membranes, and to help muscles relax."  I don't know how many times I've heard that 300 number.  And when I do I think that the mineral is of vital importance.  But I must be getting enough of it, for when I take supplements of magnesium I don't exactly feel rejuvenated by the infusion.  Though I don't feel a rejuvenation from magnesium I do feel a relaxation of my muscles, usually the muscles that I use a lot, like I leg muscles, back and neck muscles.  Some might argue, "Well, you might be taking the wrong kind of magnesium or the wrong brand."  I take Advanced Research's Magnesium Orotate, considered by many to be the most absorbable form.  "For magnesium to be effective, you need to take this or that with it."  Then if that's the case, doesn't that, in effect, render all of the arguments about any mineral supplement empty?

Then the sales pitch moves from deficiency to specific medical conditions that are related to deficiency.  We comb through the list to find ourselves, and when we can't find ourselves in the list we realize that maybe we aren't deficient.  To ramp up the deficiency fear, the authors often times wax on the social problems of a deficiency.  It will sometimes read like this, "In our society, magnesium deficiency is a huge problem. By conservative standards of measurement (blood, or serum, magnesium levels), 65 percent of people admitted to the intensive care unit — and about 15 percent of the general population — have magnesium deficiency."

From social problems to problems of modern life . . . as though the stresses of modern life is a real thing.  Last time I checked all of the modernization and technology of modern life have made life easier.  We don't have to go to the store to buy things.  Instead, we can order online and have the product delivered to our front door.  We can communicate with anyone anywhere in the world while driving.  I mean we have voice recognition technology.  All you have to do is speak to your phone and it will find the restaurant you're looking for in Los Angeles or any other town in the world for that matter.  In spite of the ever increasing rise in prices in most commodities like food, housing, and clothing, electronic devices at least are getting ever cheaper.  And we can easily find food and vitamin supplements at discounted houses.  So the "modern life" argument is a bit specious but here it is, "In our society, magnesium deficiency is a huge problem. By conservative standards of measurement (blood, or serum, magnesium levels), 65 percent of people admitted to the intensive care unit — and about 15 percent of the general population — have magnesium deficiency."  Again, the sales pitch calls us to find ourselves in that 15%, rendering your choice to supplement a very private and exclusive decision.  It's not for everybody after all; it's only for those of us who are health conscious or need to be.

Still, for specific conditions, like insomnia, I prefer magnesium or a B-Complex to melatonin.  By far.  I do not like waking up feeling like a zombie.  Sleep should rejuvenate you.  You know this intuitively from a 15 to 20-minute power nap in the afternoon.  You wake re-energized and able to produce for another 8 hours.  That should be your measure of the quality of your sleep.  

Happy dreams.

Gaming Can Improve Our Minds

Gary North writes: 

This video has been seen by fewer than two dozen people. It is new. It was recommended to me by an old friend who got all the way to an oral defense of his Ph.D. dissertation in neurophysiology, and then quit. He had been asked to provide new evidence for his dissertation, due to an external event in his department. He went on to become one of the nation's leading trial lawyers. He keeps up with the field. Within five years, this could be a game-changer, literally. Specialists are at the edge of a transformation of their understanding of the brain. With positive feedback through video games, individuals will be able to restore lost brain functions. This technique has been demonstrated to have produced astounding improvements in cognition in people age 70 and older -- restoring some functions to age 25.

TREAT KIDNEY STONES W/LEMON & OLIVE OIL

Symptoms of Kidney Stones

No symptoms will appear if the stones are extremely small, but the kidneys will not function optimally.

Sudden, severe pain that gets worse in waves. Stones may cause intense pain in the back, side, abdomen, groin, or genitals.

Nausea and vomiting.

Blood in the urine, or strange urine colors.

Inability to find a comfortable position.

Frequent and painful urination, which usually occurs when a stone lodges in a ureter, but it may also indicate a bladder infection that was caused by the stones.

---

Eliminating Kidney Stones by Sarah C. Corriher @ Healthwyze.com.

Some people have managed to pass kidney stones by eating large amounts of watermelon. However, our research has concluded that the popular lemon juice and oil combination is the most effective method. Lemon juice breaks down the stones, while oil provides lubrication to allow the stones to pass.

To perform a lemon and olive oil cleanse, blend 5 ounces of lemon juice with 5 ounces of olive oil. Extra-virgin olive oil is best because it is the healthiest, and it has a thicker consistency than most other food oils. People may wish to add a small amount of honey to improve the taste. Drink the solution as quickly as possible. Do this once in the morning, and once in the late afternoon. Continue this for several days, or until the stone passes. Drink plenty of water throughout this process, including extra lemon juice if possible.