Posts Tagged ‘Disease’
History of Medicinal Fungi
In 3,300 B.C., a tribal elder from Val Venosta, Italy, trekked across an Alpine glacier in an attempted getaway from enemies. But his foes got the better of him and with a well-aimed arrow pierced his subclavian artery, leaving him to bleed to death in a glacial cave where his mummified remains were discovered in 1991. Among the belongings of Oetzi the Iceman were two medicinal mushrooms, the earliest evidence in existence of mushrooms used as remedies.
One of the mushrooms he carried was a traditional de-wormer known as Birch polypore (Piptoporus betulinus), which makes sense because whipworm eggs were found in Oetzi’s intestines. The other mushroom was a species frequently used to cauterize wounds, Tinder fungus (Fomes fomentarius). The Iceman’s right hand had been injured days earlier and was in the process of healing when he was killed.
Both of these are polypores, so named because they have pores instead of gills underneath. No species of polypore is known to be poisonous. They usually grow on trees, dead or alive.
Polypores are usually considered inedible due to the fact that they are hard and wood-like. But for ancient peoples all across the globe – from China and India to Europe and the Americas – polypore teas and poultices have none-the-less been indispensible allies to human health at least for as long as written and oral traditions can recount.
Oral traditions of Native Americans bear tale of many types of polypores being used to help against the diseases brought by the Europeans, including Birch polypore but also Reishi (Ganoderma resinaceum), Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor), Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) and the now almost vanished species Agarikon (Fomitopsis officinalis).
Although nearly extinct today, Agarikon was once common in the old-growth forests of ancient Europe. Greek physician Dioscorides referred to Agarikon as a remedy for tuberculosis in Materia Medica, 65 B.C. It’s the earliest record of a medicinal mushroom in European literature. Two millennia later, the historic use of Agarikon in Poland was put down in writing in the article Medicinal mushrooms in Polish Folk Medicine by K. Grzywnowics. Again, it included lung conditions, as well as rheumatoid arthritis and infected wounds.
So far, we’ve only covered the history of medicinal mushrooms in Europe and America and have barely even touch upon their use in Asia, where their use has been even more exhaustive. At least three Asian species must be included in any article on the history of mushrooms.
First is the polypore Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), which has been used in China and Japan as a health bestowing mushroom of immortality for at least two millennia. It was first mentioned in the 2,000 year old book Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic. Many ancient wood-carvings and temple engravings in the Orient bear testament to the homage paid to this acclaimed cure-all mushroom.
Another Chinese medicinal mushroom known as Cordyceps was first described in the 200 A.D. book The Classic Herbal of the Divine Plowman. Cordyceps was, and still is, largely used as an aphrodisiac and to improve physical prowess in athletes, although modern research also indicates many other areas of potential usefulness.
Finally there is the Shiitake mushroom, which today is a common household name even in the West. In Asia, however, it is known to have been cultivated as a gourmet mushroom for at least a thousand years. What may surprise is that Shiitake is also one of the most researched medicinal mushrooms in the world. Its potential uses range from energizing tonic to immune-booster and antibiotic with anti-tumor properties.
Medical research on mushrooms appears to have begun in the late 1960’s in Japan. It gained attention in the West through the research by Dr. Ikekawa, who found that families growing mushrooms had lower cancer-rates than other people in their communities. Since those early days, medical research into mushrooms has grown exponentially and is still increasing. Medicinal mushrooms are continuing to make history.
How Will the Kidney Disease Diet Save You!
The kidney illness eating habits has turn out to be so well-liked nowadays. This is mostly due to the fact that a lot of Americans suffer from kidney disease in these times. What attributes most towards the development of kidney illness is simply because of the higher fat intake and sedentary lifestyle we Americans have. Couple this with higher sodium and alcoholic beverages then you my friend, are really likely to develop kidney illness.
To say that kidney diseases aren’t provided due diligence within the US is an understatement. It has become a societal tumor that has been neglected, allowed to spread to the other system from the community which lead to what it’s now-a societal cancer.
A scientifically proven way of treating a client is info giving. Patients are provided the exact numbers of the illness for them to decide for themselves if they would wish to go for particular treatments or not.
Let’s look at some numbers, shall we?
Kidney illness is more common among Hispanic, African American, Asian or Pacific Islander, and Native American people. It’s much more prevalent in people nearing age 60 at about 40% but kidney failure can show itself to people as young as 20.
The prevalence of chronic kidney illness has increased by up to 25% from the previous decade. The growing incidence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension high blood pressure, obesity, and an aging population have led to this improve in kidney disease. This really is the reason why there have been an growing need to develop a kidney illness diet to help address this issue.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) determined that almost 20 percent of all adults above the age of 20 years old have chronic kidney disease. To put it into a harsher term, if you’re in a bus with 9 other individuals, there is nearly 1 of 5 chance that you have signs of having kidney disease. Now this is one of those rare times when playing russian roulette would seem to be a much better alternative. Scary isn’t it?
CDC further indicates that over 400,000 patients are on dialysis or have received kidney transplants. When it has come to a point where kidney transplant is required, then the kidney transplant diet is correct for you.
The kidney disease diet is frequently followed with the advice of a doctor. Usually, the doctor will recommend it to you right after the determination of what kind of kidney disease you may have. You can also research for numerous kidney illness recipe which will cater to the needs of the body. With these staggering numbers shown above, I’m now certain you will take much better care of your kidneys and not abuse them so much.
Information On Prostate Cancer
Talking about a disease named Cancer gives an individual a heavy feeling inside the chest. It is a very serious sort of sickness that when one has it, he will never escape it. The quantity of people diagnosed with cancer is constantly skyrocketing as time rolls by and the amount of individuals dying from this disease is increasing as well . Today, folks should become more health conscious. There are a large amount of instances wherein cancer can be developed due to our lifestyle and from dreadful stress. Being a heavy smoker may cause lung cancer. Everyday intake of meat or carcinogenic foods can cause cancer of the bowel. Less intake of calcium rich foods can cause bone cancer. These are just few of those instances where cancer develops because of our everyday lifestyle .
Lifestyle alteration, daily consumption of healthful foods and exercise can help forestall the occurrence of cancer. However , if cancer runs in the family’s blood, there’s nothing else to do but to just accept the actuality. Cancer is hereditary so it’s vital to do early detection to every member of the family so as to know if you have cancer. The commonest kind of cancer a female develops is breast cancer. Breast cancer is one of the leading reason for mortality in girls. Breast sensitiveness, presence of lump, pain, nipple and breast changes are few of the leading indicators of breast cancer. When these are experienced and felt, it is critical to visit the nearest doctor in order to have your knockers checked and to do required interventions.
If females have breast cancer, in males, they have prostate testicular cancer. This type of cancer generally occurs in men aging 45 years and over. Prostate problems is also the leading reason for mortality in men apart from lung cancer. Evidence of prostate problems are often silent and are detected when the disease is in an advanced and progressive stage. When there’s agony on urinating or when there’s presence of blood or pus in the pee, agony in the lower back and discomfort on ejaculation, then the need to visit a doctor is a must.
Prostate problems can end up in barrenness in men if not perceived in an early stage. Testicular cancer detection is possible through performing testicular self-exams. This is usually done once every month most ideally when getting showered. Thru performing this, you can establish if there are changes with the size, form and feel of the testicles. The chance for survival is high when early detection is done. Surviving breast cancer and prostate problems can be accomplished when the patient undergoes surgery. Thru performing surgery, the influenced part is removed thus stop the dissemination of cancer to different parts of the body. Medications are then prescribed in order to completely eliminate the carcinogenic cells in the body.
Every individual must be aware of the different signs and symptoms of cancer. Early detection, being healthy and smart are important elements in keeping our bodies safe and unencumbered by any illness.
Keeping the bodies healthy should be a part of every individual’s priority. It’s a must to visit your medical practitioner when we feel our bodies getting weak or when we feel something unusual. We never actually know that what we already experience are signs of cancer.
How to Spot the Connection Between Kidney Stones and Diet
Kidney stones and diet are intertwined. In fact, most kidney stones can be prevented should you only follow a proper eating habits regimen. What I discover most frustrating for a nurse like me is that kidney stones could be easily prevented, but the resources available to spread the info are insufficient.
Kidney stones are formed within the urinary tract when urinary concentrations of substances for example calcium oxalate, calcium phosphate, and uric acid increase. We call this supersaturation and this is dependent on the amount of substance, ionic strength and pH of the urine.
Urinary stones account for about 328,000 hospital admissions each year. The occurrence of urinary stones occurs predominantly in the third to fifth decades of life and affects men more than women. About half of patients with a single renal stone have another episode within 5 years.
Via this alarming numbers you see above, it’s but natural that we should discuss the relationship between kidney stones and eating habits. With this information on hand, we can follow this eating habits to prevent kidney stones and save us all lots of trouble.
The greatest way to prevent kidney stone would be to drink lots of water. Actually, this is the mainstay treatment for kidney stones. Unless contraindicated, any patient with renal stones should drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily. This is to keep the urine diluted and avoid supersaturation.
An additional mislead information is reducing calcium. My advice is do not restrict dietary calcium unless instructed by your health care provider. Lowering your calcium intake will ultimately lead to much more disease conditions for example osteoporosis and it might improve the risk of oxalic acid kidney stones (thus reversing your purpose of decreasing calcium intake!).
Lowering protein intake is recommended to decrease urinary excretion of calcium and uric acid. We wish to lower calcium excretion to prevent osteoporosis.. A maximum of 6 oz of protein (on a normal healthy individual) gives the body sufficient energy during the day. You need to think about the truth that protein does not only mean meat, you are able to also get them from vegetables.
A wholesome practice would be to have a “meat break” every week and select a day that you simply would only use beans, peas, and legumes as your protein source. This way, you’ll lower down the family’s red meat eating habits and improve complex carbohydrates.
Now that you’ve read this article, you are able to now see the connection between kidney stones and diet. I hope that you will share this eating habits for kidney stones to others and help avoid the occurrence of a truly preventable disease.
