Dokudami, also known as Houttuynia Cordata, is a plant that has a lengthy history as a healing agent. It is also used in cooking, as well as in teas like dokudami cha, which translates literally to “Houttuynia cordata tea”. This tea is created with a mixture of the Houttuynia cordata and Oolong tea leaves and Job’s Tear’s, which is a tall tropical plant that bears grains. The plant itself can be found in many Asian countries like Japan, Korea, and southern China. It grows mostly in moist, darkened areas and can be found at all times of the year, in any season.

So what health benefits does this tea leaf offer? That depends entirely on how it will be used, either internally or externally. In Asia, dokudami is considered a “cure-all” medicinal herb. If taken internally, it is believed to help with the following: cervical infection, coughing, enteritis, gastritis, infected sores, cystitis, chronic bronchitis, lung abscesses, pharyngitis, snakebites, urinary infections, and tumors. If used externally, it can be used for abscesses, analgesic, bone growth simulation, boils, diuretic, snakebites, swellings, hemorrhoids, mild laxative, urinary antiseptic, and detoxification. Now some of that is probably legendary folklore, but there have been studies conducted that add some scientific backing to how dokudami functions as a medicinal herb.

One of the health benefits of dokudami, that has some science behind it, is that it can help fight asthma, as well as allergies. These disorders are both caused too much histamines being released. It can also remove free radicals from the body that are not supposed to be there, ones that come from processed food, pollution, and chemicals in water. Free radicals are believed to cause cancer and speed up aging. Dokudami has also been found to fight off bacteria that are harmful to the body. It is especially useful in fighting off two types of bacteria that cause acne.

Another benefit of dokudami is that it helps to boost the immune system. It does this by increasing the amount of lymphocytes, a white blood cell, that are made. It can also help reduce inflammation. Back when SARS was going on in China, dokudami was selected as one of eight aids to help treat it. It can help treat an infection within 24 hours of receiving an injection. Another thing dokudami can do is reduce swelling, which is due to it reducing inflammation. So a lot of what the tea leaf is believed to be able to cure may simply be old wives tales, but it does have some scientifically verified benefits.

There is a healthier Japanese herbal tea than green teas, called Tenchicha containing 12 herbs with no caffeine. Mr. Kumagai is the president of Eco Vita, which provides information on health benefits of herbal products including tenchicha. For more detail, please visit http://tenchicha.com.

What are the vegetarian vitamins you may be missing out on? Have you found the answer to this question? Surely, you have done some research about this before. And by now, you may already have some idea about certain vitamins that are usually left out by those who are on a vegetarian diet. To be able to discuss this topic further, this article will proceed by listing the critical vitamins that are necessary to keep you healthy but you may be missing out on. We will also elaborate on each vitamin and why you should not leave this out while on a strict vegetarian diet.

Here are the vitamins that you will most probably need supplementation:

1. Vitamin B12: This is definitely one of those vegetarian vitamins you absolutely must not do without. Why? This vitamin is required for the proper red blood cell formation; this prevents anemia. Also, it allows the proper development of nerve cells. Vitamin B12 makes protein usable to the body as well. With all these, how can one doubt the importance of this vitamin? And since this vitamin is mostly stored in animals than on plants, vegetarians will need supplementation for this.

2. Vitamin D: This vitamin does a lot of things. It helps in the prevention of hypertension, heart disease, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and colon cancer. It also helps keep the bones and teeth healthy. Furthermore, it also reduces inflammation and regulates the growth of the cells of the body. Vitamin D has also been known to aid in the absorption of calcium by the body. And for you to get more of this important vitamin, you can expose yourself to sunlight early in the morning. If this is impossible for your case, you may then give yourself a supplement or vegetarian vitamins having this nutrient. As an additional information, the following are good sources of this vitamin: cod, eggs, salmon, shrimp and vitamin D fortified milk.

3. Calcium: This nutrient helps keep your bones strong. While mainly associated with maintaining the health of bones, it has also many other roles: it supports the proper functioning of the nerves, regulation of enzyme activity, and aids in cell membrane function. These physiological support function requires the presence of calcium. When calcium levels are low, the body will draw this from the bones. To prevent this from happening, take a calcium supplement. For natural sources, you can go with yogurt, milk, spinach, celery, broccoli, cabbage, tofu and many more. And remember, you need Vitamin D for your body to absorb calcium better. So keep in mind that these vegetarian vitamins work well together.

As you can see, these vitamins play an important role for the body to function properly. They are essential to one’s health: supporting physiological functions and helping the immune system to work well. With a vegetarian diet, you may not get enough of these vital nutrients. It is important then that you check your diet and see which nutrient you might not have gotten enough of. It can’t be emphasized enough that these vegetarian vitamins are a necessity for your optimal health-leaving these out from your diet is to your disadvantage.

To find out more about vegetarian vitamins, check out : http://www.greathealthyvegetarian.com/

It is only in recent years that the connection between what you eat and your health has been accepted as mainstream and never is this more true than in the area of reproduction. A healthy diet, supplemented with vitamins, minerals and specific herbs can be an excellent starting point to your battle with male infertility.

You may already be eating a healthy, well balanced diet – but unless your food has been grown in soil that has been looked after properly and organically it does not necessarily contain the vitamins and minerals that it should do. A vitamin and mineral supplement may therefore be a very good way of ensuring that you are getting all the necessary elements for successful fertilisation.

You can easily purchase a vitamin and mineral supplements that has been specifically formulated for male infertility – they will contain key antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals – as well as the amino-acid L-Carnitine – these are the ingredients that have been proven scientifically over time to improve male fertility and your overall health.

The ingredients of male fertility supplements may vary between manufacturers but there are certain things that you need to check are contained to make sure you are getting the most important five ingredients needed to increase male fertility:

1. Vitamin C – found naturally in citrus fruits, strawberries and all brightly colored vegetables including capsicum, cabbage and broccoli. It is an antioxidant, which neutralise free radicals, this is essential for general well being. Vitamin C does not only improve the sperm count and sperm motility it can also stop sperm clumping together this is known as sperm agglutination. The recommended daily intake of vitamin C is 500-1000 mg per day.

2. Vitamin E – found in food sources such as whole grains, nuts and seeds. This is another antioxidant and can aid the fertility of both males and females. Vitamin E helps give the sperm the strength to penetrate the ovum and achieve conception. 4mg of Vitamin E is recommended daily.

3. Vitamin B12- Beef, lamb and liver are all high sources of B12. This is another vitamin that helps to improve sperm count and sperm motility, and the recommended intake is 1.5 mcg per day. Studies have shown that taking this amount of B12 leads to the improvement of sperm counts in 60% of users.

4. Zinc – Lamb, beef, chicken and dairy, all protein foods are also rich in zinc. Another essential element in male fertility, zinc has to be replenished on a regular basis because every time a man ejaculates he can lose up to 5mg of zinc. The absorption of zinc can be inhibited by smoking, alcohol and caffeine, so a supplement is essential. The recommended daily intake of zinc is 10 – 30 mg per day.

5. Arginine – although not a vitamin, is an essential amino acid and is required to produce sperm and to improve sperm motility. Arginine can be found in seeds, nuts and soy products. Controlled studies have shown that taking the recommended daily intake of 4g per day means that 74% of men show a marked improvement in sperm count and sperm motility when measured over a three month period.

Taking a vitamin supplement can quickly and easily help with male infertility and is definitely worth trying out. But remember to stick to the prescribed number of tablets per day, when it comes to vitamins and minerals more is not necessarily better, and some vitamins can cause problems if taken in high doses

Also, do not presume that taking supplements means you do not have to eat healthily. You should make an effort to improve your diet, give up smoking, and try to drink less alcohol. All these steps can help you combat male infertility.

Find out more about vitamin and mineral supplements at maleinfertilitycauses.com/top-five-vitamins-to-aid-male-fertility

If male infertility is a problem for you read the Top Ten Tips for improving your sperm count, sperm mobility and sperm motility at:
www.maleinfertilitycauses.com

It is perhaps understandable that companies want to sell their products and if they can include the latest trend in their advertising it is generally to their advantage.

But have you been taking various probiotic products on a daily basis and wondered if they have made any difference? You are not alone. There is much confusion so let’s take a little time to do some clarification.

First, let’s just quickly look at the meaning of the words. The word ‘biotic’ means, ‘of or having to do with life or living organisms’, so for simplicity sake, let’s just say ‘life’.

‘Pro’ means, ‘in favour of, supporting something’ and ‘anti’ means, ‘not in favour of, against or in place of’.

So, very quickly we can see that ‘probiotic’ means, for life or supporting life and that antibiotic means the exact opposite, against life.

In our intestines, which are some 20 feet long, there live about 100 trillion bacteria. Applying our definition of words to these bacteria, a probiotic supports the life of these much needed bacteria and an anti-biotic kills them off.

Some things kill them off on an ongoing basis like coffee, fluoride, chlorine, carbonated drinks, processed foods and much more. But one of the biggest killers is antibiotics.

The difficulty with antibiotics is that they do kill off the bad bacteria which have been the cause of your infection or problem but they also kill off the good bacteria at the same time. This makes you very vulnerable towards further infections once your antibiotic course has finished.

I remember reading how a well known athlete was surprised that she succumbed immediately to a bad cold and chest infection after finishing three consecutive courses of antibiotics for a much more serious problem. She was obviously totally unaware of the devastating effect that the antibiotics were having on her ‘friendly’ bacteria!

It is easier to refer to the good bacteria as our ‘friendly’ bacteria because their actual names are much more difficult to remember. How about Lactobacillus Acidophilus or Bifidobacterium Bifidum, to name just two?

There are foods that contain these ‘friendly’ bacteria. Just as with vitamins and minerals, some foods have a higher probiotic bacteria content than others but generally due to the desire for longer shelf life, these bacteria have had a pasteurisation treatment thus rendering them more or less useless.

You will have realised by now why probiotic supplements are much needed and so we can now finally, come to the good news! The best probiotic supplements will contain a variety of the different strains of bacteria including both lactobacillus and bifidobacterium bacteria.

A capsule holding 10 billion bacteria overall is generally recommended on a daily basis. Yes, that figure is correct, 10 billion!

Properly formulated these capsules will dissolve in the intestines where they will go to work dealing with breaking down foods still further, extracting remaining vitamins and minerals for absorption and most importantly, duplicating themselves.

If you have access to magazines or articles that independently test natural products you will be able to find those few products that genuinely have the 10 billion live bacteria.

A recent test of 55 probiotic products found that just 11 contained all the ingredients listed on the label! 9 had no bacteria at all! Sadly this is not unusual, so don’t believe everything you read on the label!

Therefore, be committed to taking a probiotic supplement on a daily basis and enjoy improved health daily.

Copyright 2010 Penny Shellswell has personally enjoyed the benefits of Natural Treatments for years. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience and this has led her to share the benefits so others also can lead healthier lives. http://www.naturaltreatmentsonline.com/probioticsupplements

World-class endurance athletes and their trainers are constantly seeking new ways to improve performance and endurance without running afoul of the organizations that monitor their sport or sacrificing their health. At such an elite level, improvements measured by fractions of a second can be quite significant so triathletes and other types of endurance athletes examine every aspect of diet, training, sleep patterns and other factors to gain a competitive edge. Thanks to innovative research on how our bodies manufacture lactic acid and process it, endurance athletes and their trainers now have a much better understanding of how to prepare for elite competitions.

Best of all, their decisions are based on hard scientific evidence instead of anecdotal evidence and supposition. Over the last several years, several sports supplements have been developed to help prevent lactic acid buildup in muscle tissue during intense exercise by including compounds that act as lactic acid buffers. This overview of how lactic acid buffers help reduce lactic acid buildup from impairing performance and endurance during intense workouts has been demonstrated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study.

How Lactic Acid is Produced and Processed by the Human Body

When the muscle cells in an endurance athlete’s body need fuel, they convert glycogen or glucose into lactic acid. Next, each muscle cell’s mitochondria, the power plant of a cell, burns lactic acid for fuel. Specific types of proteins called “transporter proteins” expedite the delivery of lactic acid, also called lactate, to each cell’s mitochondria through a network of tiny tubes throughout the cell. Through proper training, an endurance athlete like a triathlete can gradually improve the rate at which lactic acid is burned for fuel in their body so it doesn’t accumulate in their muscle tissue and impair performance, endurance, and cause them to “hit the wall.”

How Lactic Acid Buffers Work

Buffers are substances that help prevent any solution, such as blood or the fluid in muscle tissue, from undergoing a change in pH when introducing an acid, such as lactic acid, or alkali. In order to illustrate how lactic acid buffers work and help an endurance athlete stay competitive, it is helpful to have a basic understanding of the physiology and biochemistry of the human body.

The lungs and kidneys work together to maintain a pH of 7.4 in blood by altering the components of naturally occurring buffers. If the blood’s pH becomes too acid or alkali with pH’s as low as 7.0 or as high as 7.8, the body’s buffers can no longer compensate for the extreme conditions and systems begin to fail one after the other. There are four major buffering systems in the human body:

Biocarbonate buffers found in the blood’s plasma correct the equilibrium shift that occurs when a surplus of lactic acid in muscle tissue creates an abundance of excess hydrogen ions.

Hemoglobin in red blood cells acts as a buffer to byproducts and other threats to the pH balance in blood. For instance, when glucose is broken down into fuel by muscle cells and converted to lactic acid, the byproducts created are carbon dioxide and excess hydrogen ions.

Phosphate buffers are essential for buffering the pH of fluid in cells and are especially important for buffering urine in the kidneys. Protein buffers also buffer the effects of excess hydrogen ions created when glucose converts in lactic acid. Protein buffers primarily buffer the pH of fluid inside cells.

Lactic Acid Buffers such as Magnesium and Potassium

Many sports supplements include magnesium and potassium in their formulas because these two substances, along with a lesser amount of sodium, help regulate fluids in cells, especially muscle cells, and help equalize or buffer the blood’s pH. Potassium levels maintained in a ratio of 5:1 to sodium help regulate water retention in our bodies and prevent too much potassium from voiding as waste in urine. Potassium protects against kidney damage, strokes and high blood pressure.

Only within the last two decades has magnesium’s importance in maintaining proper pH and overall health been understood. Research has found that magnesium is essential for facilitating the storage of potassium in our bodies. Without magnesium, the human body cannot store potassium. When triathletes and other endurance athletes take sports supplements that contain recommended dosages of potassium and magnesium, the amount of sodium removed from the body increases, as does the amount of excess fluids. These minerals are not only essential to proper health and balance, they also facilitate the body’s ability to buffer and quickly process the lactic acid created during strenuous exercise.

Whether you’re an elite endurance athlete or a weekend warrior, taking a sports supplement with lactic acid buffers such as potassium and magnesium is not only a good way to gain a competitive edge, it is also essential for overall health!

Paul Guenther is a Website and SEO Analyst for Freaky Nutrition. Learn more about Cheap Protein Supplements: http://freakynutrition.com/
This article is free for republishing – Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_1204965_23.html

If you have struggled with the inability to get a good night’s sleep for a while, you are probably ready to try anything. There is simply no way you can go without sleeping for long. While there might not be a product labeled as insomnia vitamins, there are some supplements that can help you get to sleep.

They are typically better than sleeping pills because they are not addictive and are actually made of the essential minerals that everyone needs to stay healthy. While caffeine, stress, and nicotine might be preventing you from sleeping, you could also have some type of deficiency, so find out how to easily solve the issue.

If you do not like taking pills, you can try to increase your intake of certain vitamins through food. Vegetables are usually a good bet, such as spinach, beets, carrots, and green peas, to name a few. Fruits are always good, too, such as mangos, oranges, bananas, and pineapples. Whether or not you suffer from insomnia, vitamins and the foods that are full of them are good for you in general.

Some minerals, however, are particularly good for those who cannot sleep. Vitamin B6, B12, and B5 can all help you sleep better. You can ingest these in the form of supplements everyday, or you can eat foods rich in them, like seeds, egg yolk, walnuts, tuna, milk, fish, and liver.

While getting these minerals through food is often recommended by doctors, it is usually easier to keep track of how much of the vitamin you are getting if your take daily supplements, so the choice is yours.

There are additional insomnia vitamins that are vital to those who need help falling asleep. Though most people do not know much about them, amino acids are crucial. L-Tryptophan can help you feel calmer, while L-Theanine can amplify the feeling so that these two amino acids essentially work together to help you fall asleep.

GABA is yet another amino acid that also helps you sleep, and since these are all safe and not addictive, taking these as supplements to ensure you have enough can be a good idea.

You do not have to get addicted to sleeping pills to be able to pass out at night. However, you also do not have to suffer from lack of slumber. In general, you can simply change your diet for the better, and add natural substances that your body just does not have enough of right now, in the form of insomnia vitamins.

Sleep supplements like insomnia vitamin can give you restful and restorative deep sleep without feeling drowsy next morning. To know more about such products, visit http://www.goodelements.com