Tag: inflammation

The benefits of Olive Leaf Extract

Today’s post is all about Olive Leaf Extract.

Around this time of year many chemists and health food stores have big displays of this product along side other cold & flu preventatives.

I have always considered olive leaf extract a great supplement for the immune system. However, it helps the body with so much more than colds & flu.

The use of the products derived from the olive tree on human health dates back centuries. In several civilisations, the olive tree had and still has a very strong cultural and religious symbolism.

Recently, accumulating experimental and clinical studies have given support to the traditional beliefs of the health benefits provided by olives and olive derivatives.

 What is Olive Leaf Extract?

Olive leaf extract comes from the leaves of an olive plant. Just like olive oil, the extract from the plants leaves is chock full of potent antioxidants, polyphenols and flavonoids.

In particular, a polyphenol called oleuropein. This nutrient is thought to contribute to the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of olive leaf extract.

How does it improve our health?

Besides protecting the body from harmful free radicals, oleuropein is also a well-documented antiviral. The oleuropein works on the protein coat of the virus. It is thought to inactivate micro-organisms by dissolving the outer lining of the microbe and penetrating the infected cells.

For its antimicrobial properties, oleuropein can be used for the treatment of respiratory tract and intestinal infections.

In addition, studies have shown that olive leaf extract also supports fat loss by improving how efficiently insulin works in your body, thereby reducing the amount of fat your body stores.

Olive leaf extract also helps stimulate the immune system to destroy infectious organisms. This can prevent the onset of colds, flu, and a range of viruses, yeast, fungal and mould problems, bacterial infections and parasites.

Several different studies have shown that the therapeutic properties of olive leaf extract may help in –

  • Lowering inflammation.
  • Protecting the digestive system and the central nervous system.
  • Inhibiting microorganism growth and preventing oxidation or cell damage.
  • Stabilising blood sugar and lowering cholesterol.
  • Protecting the brain against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
  • Improving heart health and lowering blood pressure

Another beneficial compound found in olive leaf extract is oleanolic acid. A 2006 study found that this acid interacts with the body in a way that increases the metabolism. It also boosts the thyroid, and ultimately leads to increased energy.

 How much should we take?

There are no official guidelines on how much olive leaf extract a person should take. In the human studies discussed above, participants usually took 500–1,000 mg per day of a standard olive leaf extract. Some of these were in divided doses.                 (Sources – www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, www.hindawi.com, www.webmd.com,)

 There are so many research articles and other information available on the benefits of olive leaf extract, I could have written so much more.

Basically, I think that all of this information shows that this extract, taken from the leaves of olive trees, is so good for us. We should take it every day to stay well and healthy.

Till the next post,

Live clean n prosper.

Some information about Pain

Today I’m writing about ‘pain’.

We all deal with some type of pain in our daily lives. Some of us have more to deal with than others. I have had conversations with several people about pain and pain management over the past week, which got me thinking about it.

Pain is complicated for lots of reasons. For one thing, there are many different types — a muscle ache is very different from a pinch or a burn. Plus, some people are more sensitive to pain than others.

 Pain is a survival mechanism that protects us.

When you touch a hot stove, you recoil in pain. That sensation helps you avoid getting a burn that could be dangerous. The throbbing of a broken foot tells you to stay off it until it heals, so you don’t do more damage. Without those signals, we’d all be in trouble.

Some pain is straightforward. When you burn your skin, pull a muscle or break a bone, you feel immediate discomfort. This short-term effect is called acute pain. Other pain can last months or years and is called chronic pain.

 How does our body deal with pain?

Pain is a kind of perception, similar to smelling, tasting and hearing. In simple terms when you suffer an injury, your nervous system is in charge of delivering the news. If you twist your ankle, nerve cells in your ankle pick up the signal that something’s wrong. A network of nerve cells relays this message to the spinal cord. From there, it shoots up to the brain. The brain then translates the message and registers the feeling.

At the place where pain starts, the body creates and releases several chemicals. These chemicals tell the body to send more blood flowing to the painful area. The extra blood flowing to the area includes white blood cells. These white blood cells bring prostaglandin, which creates inflammation and increases the painful feeling.

Inflammation is one way that the body responds to cellular injury. Beyond pain, it often triggers swelling, redness and heat. The nerves themselves represent a second source of pain.

 Treatment

Unfortunately, treatment is complex and uniquely personal. Diagnosis, biology and personal history all play a role, and finding pain therapies that bring adequate relief can be an effort.

Obviously the best way to treat pain is to eliminate the cause and this is not always possible. Many people have to rely on medications to help them manage their pain.

Different types of medication work in different ways. However, in short, pain medicine is used to block the processes that cause the feeling of pain. They don’t fix the problem; they just short-circuit the communication to the brain.

The most commonly prescribed medications for pain management include two categories of drugs: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin or ibuprofen and opioids, such as codeine or morphine.

*NSAIDs stop your body from making prostaglandins and inhibit certain enzymes in your body that are released during tissue damage. This reduces the inflammation as well as the communication to the brain.

*Opioid medications, just like real opium, mimic the natural pain-relieving chemicals — endorphins — produced by your brain. These drugs “turn down the volume” on the pain signals your nervous system sends through your body. They also muffle other nerve cell functions, such as your breathing, heart rate and level of alertness.

 The other side of treatment

After a medicine has been distributed throughout the body and has done its job, the drug is then metabolised.

Many types of medication can cause serious side effects. Opioids can cause addiction, especially if used over a longer period of time. NSAIDs can lead to stomach ulcers and damage to the kidneys.

Everything that enters the bloodstream — whether swallowed, injected, inhaled or absorbed through the skin — is carried to the body’s chemical processing plant, the liver.

The liver’s job is to then detoxify these medications and remove the byproducts resulting from the process of metabolism. In many cases, the liver is able to metabolise these (and other toxins) without significant damage to the organ itself.

However, when medications are taken in excess, the frequency of use is hourly or daily, or when multiple substances (including alcohol) are consumed simultaneously – there can be significant, cumulative damage to the liver.

For these reasons, people often turn to complementary or alternative medicine to ease their pain.

This is of course a whole other article, maybe the next post.

Till then,

 Live clean n Prosper.

(Sources – www.medicalnewstoday.com, www.livescience.com, www.mayoclinic.org, www.sciencenewsforstudents.org )

Inflammation and the Immune system

Todays post is about Inflammation,

Last week I wrote about the Immune System and how when it is compromised, we get sick. Well, this week I am going to expand on that subject.

One of the symptoms of a compromised immune system is Inflammation.

There was an article in todays Body & Soul that focused on this issue. Finally scientists are saying that Inflammation in the body is one of the major causes of illness. Many Naturopaths and practitioners of complimentary medicine have been saying this for years.

Scott and I first heard about Inflammation in the body and its relationship to illness approximately 8 years ago.

Normally Inflammation is a good thing. It’s a sign of the body’s defense system fighting infection or repairing damage. This is all well and good when our immune system is working well. However, as I mentioned last week, many of us have a compromised immune system due to the stressors we put on it.

We often suspend the body’s process of using inflammation to deal with issues. We start to feel the aches and pains and take anti-inflammatories. Therefore the body doesn’t get to complete its healing processes.

The result being that instead of only calling on our inflammatory defences when we are injured or sick, we’re increasingly triggering the response day in, day out. This creates a situation where our body is consistently emitting small quantities of inflammatory compounds. These levels are often too low to create noticeable symptoms.

There have been recent studies linking high levels of inflammation in the body with some major health problems, such as cancers and heart disease.

 So where does the inflammation come from?

Some is produced inside the body. Excess weight is a cause as fat cells excrete inflammatory substances. We also create it by not taking care of ourselves; stress causes the response as well as lack of sleep. If we soldier on with our aches and pains, ignore allergies and if we don’t look after our teeth, our levels of inflammatory chemicals rise.

Another cause is many of the foods that are a large part of the Western diet.

Foods such as sugar, alcohol, high fat meats, fried foods and refined grains cause inflammation.

 How do we reduce our inflammation?

 The good news is diet can also be used to protect us against inflammation. There is scientific evidence to show that there are foods that reduce inflammation in the body. These are green leafy vegetables, onion, garlic, herbs and spices such as ginger, turmeric and pepper. So by reducing our intake of the Pro-inflammatory foods and increasing the Anti-inflammatory foods in our diet, we are taking steps to lower the inflammation in our bodies.

This strategy along with improving our sleep, reducing our stress and getting some exercise, goes a long way to improving our immune system ability to cope.

A stronger immune system is a stronger, healthier body.

 

Till the next post,

 

Live Clean n Prosper