As you may know I live in Calgary and here in Calgary we have two real problems with the affects of the sun. In the Summer we have very strong sun and lots of it with long days this far noth of the equator. In the Winter time there is also lots of sun and very low humidity leading to dry skin – and lots of skiers in the mountains.

Samara Felesky-Hunt is a registered dietitian in Calgary at The Downtown Sports Clinics. Her website is at dietitian-online.com and she wrote the following article for the Calgary Herald newspaper.

Although summer is a time to get outside, the sun can leave skin looking and feeling dry and worn out. You tan it, shave it, scrub it and exfoliate it; it gets scratched, scraped and burned. It endures pimples, bites, freckles and moles, while wear and tear may show up as lines, wrinkles, blotches, spots and sags, rashes or even adult acne.

So, this summer, care and nourish your skin. Sunscreens can protect against sun damage, but a healthy, nutritious diet plays a role, too. Fill your grocery basket with foods that are good for your complexion and feed your skin from the inside out. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: acne, anti-aging skin care products, borage seed oil, calgary, Calgary Herald, dermatitis, eczema, freckles, primrose oil, Q, registered dietitian, Samara Felesky-Hunt, the Calgary Herald, vitamin a

I am really stretching the vitamin D thing lately but I just saw some medical news out of a skin conference in Praugue that explained research that a certain kind of Vitamin D supplement was more effective that topical steroidal cream for getting rid of eczema, this is bound to be big news in my house.

Almost half of patients with steroid-resistant hand eczema had complete or near-complete clearance when treated with the oral vitamin D analog alitretinoin, according to data from two randomized clinical trials.

Almost 80% of patients who relapsed after alitretinoin withdrawal regained disease control when treated again with the 9-cis retinoic acid agent, Uwe Hillen, M.D., of University Clinic in Essen, Germany, reported here at the International Congress of Dermatology.

“Alitretinoin produced improvement in all of the individual signs and symptoms of chronic hand eczema,” said Dr. Hillen. “Patients who relapse after initial treatment can be effectively retreated with alitretinoin, suggesting it is a suitable, intermittent treatment option for the long-term management of this chronic, relapsing disease.”

So the question is how hard would is be to get alitretinoin prescribed for this. The other question is weather taking alitretinoin is a bit of overkill for most people that have eczema probably this is suspected to be the best treatment for people with very bad rashes.

Tags: D, eczema, Essen, Germany, International Congress, University Clinic, Uwe Hillen, Vitamin D

Are there any home remedies for scabies that actually work, or do you need to use prescription medications in all cases? This article will consider the causes of scabies and the natural remedies that are available.

What Is Scabies?

Scabies is an intensely itchy skin condition caused by a tiny mite that burrows into the skin and lays its eggs. The itching is caused by our body’s allergic reaction to the mite. The first signs are small, itchy bumps or blisters, usually located on the inner area of the wrists or between the fingers or toes. Scabies is easy to recognize by the pencil-like lines that are caused by the mite passing along just under the skin.

Scabies is usually passed from one person to another by skin on skin contact. It is common in children who can pass it along during normal play. It can be caught by simply holding hands with an infected person. In adults it is sometimes transmitted during sexual activity and in that case may appear in the genital area.

Scratching the area will often break the skin and can lead to bacteria entering and causing other dermatological conditions, for example impetigo.

We can also catch scabies from dogs. The common name for scabies in dogs is mange. If you think your dog has mange, take it to the vet immediately and do not pet it until the condition has cleared.

Feline mange is not transmitted to humans, so you do not need to worry about catching scabies from cats.

Killing Scabies Mites

If think that you or your children have scabies you should see a doctor to have the diagnosis confirmed. A doctor will normally prescribe a cream which will kill the mites if used according to directions. However this medication is harsh and because it must be used all over the body, not only in the affected area, it can cause problems for people with other skin conditions such as eczema.

Keep in mind that the itching will continue for a few days even after the mites have been killed, because their bodies and waste products remain under the skin. If you see no new lines or itchy spots, that is a good sign that the mites may have been destroyed. However, keep watching and treating because any eggs that have been laid may still hatch.

Natural Remedies

The traditional Indian home remedy for scabies is to make a paste of neem oil and turmeric powder and apply it to the affected area. You can now buy prepared neem oil creams and lotions for scabies treatment.

Tea tree oil is another natural substance that has been used for scabies. You may find a lotion that combines tea tree, neem and turmeric. Tea tree oil can be harsh and should not be used undiluted on the skin.

Tea tree oil can be added to baths. Use 10-20 drops in a warm bath 2-3 times a day. This is a good preventive measure for people who may have had contact with an infected person, plus helping to treat anyone who is infected.

Chamomile lotion can ease the itching of scabies. Where scratching has damaged the skin you may want to use an anti bacterial cream or wash with anti bacterial soap.

Clothes And Other Fabrics

Unlike fleas, scabies mites do not hop. This means that they are less likely to be found in carpets and furniture. However, an infected person should always put on clean clothes after showering and change bed linen every morning or after a nap.

Do Natural Remedies Work?

Natural remedies appear to kill the mites in some cases. However, they work more slowly than the medication that the doctor will prescribe so a person will continue to itch and be infectious for longer if they use only natural remedies on a confirmed case of scabies. Home remedies for scabies may be best used as a preventive measure for other family members who are not yet showing symptoms, or where there is scabies in your child’s school class.

Tags: allergic reaction, blisters, eczema, home remedies, home remedy, impetigo, itching, natural remedies, neem oil, prepared neem oil creams, Scabies, Tea tree oil, waste products

Eczema is much less frequent in adolescence than in the first years of childhood. In teen-agers it usually causes a thickening, dryness, and redness of the skin. Itching, and at times pain, may accompany the rash. At this age, eczema is most frequently found in the folds of the elbows and knees and on the wrists. Another common location is the back of the neck and ears.

Eczema may bring scaling of the skin. At times there is marked splitting of the skin and sometimes blisters appear, filled with clear fluid or pus.The cause of eczema is usually an allergy. Though in infancy, the allergens (allergy causers) are nearly always foods, in later years the eczema is just as likely to be a reaction to wool, nylon, or other materials. Reactions to various plants can also cause the rash. The reactions may be from touching the plants or from inhaling their pollens.

The emotions can play an important role in eczema. If a person is anxious or tense, he is more likely to scratch and pick at the lesions. This can lead to trouble from secondary bacterial infections, or just from the mechanical irritation and injury to the skin. When the eczema has a nervous or emotional root, the medical term for it is neurodermatitis. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: allergens, allergic reaction, allergic reactions, allergy, angioneurotic edema, bacterial infections, blisters, cause of eczema, eczema, Flea, food, frequent food allergens, hives, incision, irritation, itching, joint pain, neurodermatitis, pain, pus, rash, urticaria

I have been compiling info on artificial sweetners for years and there are some that are OK and some that are really bad for you but here is a bit of an overview of he dangers of using different artificial sweeteners to try to drop your calorie intake.

Aspartame

Aspartame, a dipeptide of aspartic acid and a methyl ester of phenylalanine, is approved for use in pharmaceutical products and is being used increasingly in chewable tablet and sugar-free formulations. Labels for both prescription and nonprescription products must include the phenylalanine content. The major consideration in the use of aspartame in children is in patients with autosomal recessive phenylketonuria. Although heterozygotes do not appear to have clinically significant increases in phenylalanine after ingestion of even large amounts (equivalent to 24 12-oz cans of diet beverages), homozygotes with strict dietary restrictions should avoid aspartame. Children without dietary restrictions could safely ingest 10 mg/kg/day. Dietary consumption of aspartame is typically less than 5 mg/kg/day; young children, however, could ingest considerably more. For example, a 2-year-old child weighing 12 kg consumes 17 mg/kg from drinking one 12-oz can of diet soda and one serving of a sweetened product (eg, cereal, pudding, gelatin, or frozen dessert). Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: absence seizures, affective disorders, albuminuria, allergy, American Herbal Products Association, American Medical Association, artificial chemical, artificial sweetners, aspartame, aspartic acid, bladder cancer, blisters, Brazil, cancer, chemical, dairy by-product, dairy products, depression, diarrhea, diet beverages, Dietary Supplement, dietary supplements, dizziness, eczema, epilepsy, evidence, fda, FDA/National Cancer Institute, food, food additive, Food additives, food processors, food products, headache, headaches, Hypersensitivity, insomnia, Japan, Japanese government, migraine headaches, mitral valve prolapse, nausea, neuropsychiatric disorders, nonprescription products, oliguria, panic attacks, Paraguay, pharmaceutical agents, pharmaceutical products, phenylketonuria, placebos, product, prurigo, pruritus, Saccharin, salty applications, SeaLife SL 200C 35mm Film Camera, seizure disorders, seizures, sodium chloride, Stevia, strabismus, Sucralose, tachycardia, Tagatose, United States, urticaria, vascular headaches, visual hallucinations, wheezing

Some allergies are widely thought to be outgrown. Usually kids will outgrow egg and milk allergies but do not outgrow nut allergies. A recent couple of studies by John Hopkins.

The prognosis for a child with a milk or egg allergy appears to be worse than it was two decades ago, said Robert A. Wood, M.D., a co-author of both studies, and colleagues. Rather than outgrowing the allergies by the time they start school, only about 20% to 40% of children do so with milk and about 4% to 26% with egg. Twenty percent of patients with milk allergies and 30% of those with egg allergies don’t develop tolerance till age 16, found the researchers.

“We may be dealing with a different kind of disease process than we did 20 years ago,” Dr. Wood said. “Why this is happening we just don’t know.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: allergic rhinitis, allergies, allergy, Asthma, atopic dermatitis, co-author, counseling, eczema, egg allergies, egg allergy, food allergies, food allergy, infants and young children, john hopkins, milk allergies, milk allergy, nut allergies, pediatric allergy, Robert A. Wood

I have state in the past that I do take a Omega 3 vitamin pill every day. My wife calls that pills “Heart Pills” or fish oil pills. So I have no idea how this will change if I ever have to take real heart pills. Anyway in the search around for health info around the net I found this great articles telling us why we should be taking Omega 3 vitamin pills 

Omega 3 is the latest buzz in the health and fitness industry. Doctors and researchers all over the world recommend the intake of Omega 3 vitamins to treat a wide variety of diseases.

While most of us have heard something or the other about these remarkable fatty acids, we are not sure about a lot of things concerning Omega 3. This article will deal with what’s, why’s and how’s of Omega 3 fatty acids.

What is Omega 3 Vitamins?
Omega 3 is the name given to a group of polyunsaturated fatty acids or essential fatty acids. There are mainly three types of essential fatty acids – Alpha-Linolenic acids (ALA), Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).

The Alpha-linolenic acids break into DHA and EPA during the process of digestion, since these two fatty acids are most utilized by the body. Omega 3 or the essential fatty acids are vital for the healthy functioning of all organs but they cannot be synthesized by the body.

Sources of Omega 3 Vitamins
Dietary sources of ALA include dark green, leafy vegetables such as broccoli and spinach, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, flaxseed oil and Soya. DHA and EPA are found in oily fishes such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring and sardines. The richest source of Omega 3 is considered to be fish oil since it consists of both DHA and EPA.

This brings us to a very important question. Why do you need fish oil or Omega 3 Vitamin supplements, when you could just eat fish regularly as a part of your daily diet?

Eating fish regularly can lead to deposition of toxins like mercury, metals etc in your body. This is because most of the rivers, seas and other water resources are becoming more and more polluted each day. However, fish oil supplements that are molecularly distilled are safe for daily consumption.

Molecular distillation is the process through which all toxins and contaminants are removed from fish oil at the manufacturing stage. Make sure you buy molecularly distilled, pharmaceutical brand Omega 3 supplements to ensure their purity.

Why do I need Omega 3 Vitamin fatty acids?
Omega 3 fatty acids are the building blocks of our cell membranes and neurological system. They play a crucial role in many functions of the body. There are endless reasons why you should make these essential fatty acids a part of your diet.

Omega 3 fatty acids reduce the Triglyceride level in the blood and protect against cardio-vascular diseases.

They prevent the platelets from clogging and control the cholesterol levels in the blood.
It helps in maintaining a radiant, clear and healthy skin.

Pregnant women are advised to take fish oil supplements which help in the healthy development of brain and retina in the infant.

Fish oil helps in fighting against eczema, psoriasis and other skin problems.

Fish oils act as antidepressants which is why they are used to treat diseases like depression and schizophrenia.

Thus, for a healthy heart and mind, it is essential that you make   Omega 3 vitamins a part of your daily diet.

Micheal Thomas is an editor for a series of health related websites. Learn about the best fish oil capsules that we ourselves use daily after extensive product comparisons and research over at http://www.omega-3-fish-benefits.com

Tags: depression, eczema, Editor, Environmental Protection Agency, fish oil, fish oil capsules, Fish oil helps, fish oil pills, fish-oil supplements, flaxseed oil, heart pills, Micheal Thomas, oil, Omega 3, omega 3 fatty acids, omega 3 vitamins, pharmaceutical brand, psoriasis, schizophrenia, vascular diseases, vitamin pill, vitamins

No way, is it really true? Next time you are about to unwrap a chcolate bar or pop open that pop think about this list by Nancy Appleton, a PHD that wrote the book Lick the sugar habit. .I thought I knew why sugar was bad but here are well over 100 reasons why you should avoid it.

1. Sugar can suppress the immune system.
2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.
3. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.
4. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
5. Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection (infectious diseases).
6. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function, the more sugar you eat the more elasticity and function you loose.
7. Sugar reduces high density lipoproteins.
8. Sugar leads to chromium deficiency.
9. Sugar leads to cancer of the ovaries.
10. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose.
11. Sugar causes copper deficiency.
12. Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
13. Sugar can weaken eyesight.
14. Sugar raises the level of a neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.
15. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.
16. Sugar can produce an acidic digestive tract.
17. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children.
18. Sugar malabsorption is frequent in patients with functional bowel disease.
19. Sugar can cause premature aging.
20. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: adhd, alcoholism, Alzheimer�s disease, appendicitis, arthritis, Asthma, atherosclerosis, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bacterial infection, biliary tract cancer, bowel disease, breast cancer, cancer, cancer of the rectum, Candida Albicans, carcinoma, cardiovascular disease, cataracts, central reward systems, chromium deficiency, colon cancer, constipation, copper deficiency, Crohn's disease, depression, diabetes, dizziness, drowsiness, duodenal ulcers, eczema, endometrial cancer, epileptic seizures, excessive food intake, food, food allergies, gallbladder cancer, gallstones, gastric cancer, gout, headaches, heart disease, hemorrhoids, high blood pressure, hypoglycemia, infectious diseases, intravenous feedings, irritable bowel syndrome, kidney stones, laryngeal cancer, learning disorders, liver tumors, lung cancer, memory loss, metabolic syndrome, migraine, multiple sclerosis, myopia, Nancy Appleton, nearsightedness, neural tube defects, obesity, osteoporosis, pancreatic cancer, Parkinson�s disease, periodontal disease, peripheral vascular disease, polio, prostate cancer, schizophrenia, stomach cancer, sugar, sugar habit, Sweet food items, toxemia, travel time, ulcerative colitis, varicose veins, yeast infections

Both my son and daughter suffer from Eczema. Eczema is a skin condition that, on my kids anyway, results in red rashes on the skin in the folds of their elbows, backs of knees and in the folds of their neck. I was looking for a cure for this problem as at this point we are putting on a steroidal cream on the eczema to get rid of it and it kind of burns when we are smooting it in.

I have found one cure online and it is thanks to about.com. The ‘oatmeal Bath is supposed to help to get rid of these sores and tonight I tried it out with my son. I will have to post again over the next couple of days to let you know if this works to get rid of the eczema at least temporarily. Here are the instructions for creating a Oatmeal Bath.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bath, eczema, food processor, itching, shingles