City living and modern conveniences tend to desensitize us from the natural change in seasonal foods, lifestyle, and energies, but in the past, cultures sustained themselves locally and lived by the seasons.   Harsh winters forced families to hunker down and live within a small radius, huddled by the wood stove or the keeping room fire.  Surviving the dormant winter season required strategies for rationing scarce resources.   Winter survival also demanded planning during the prior planting and harvest seasons; a cooperative family effort; and favorable weather conditions.

Winter, with few possibilities and limited stimulation, imposed itself as a time of rest.   Long weeks of bone-chilling cold, close quarters, and isolation from the outside world also required ingenuity, as family members had to rely on simple pleasures and their own inner creativity for amusement.  These conditions left plenty of time to develop strength of character and a firm sense of self.

In these modern times, I get to taste the best of this seasonal life by spending dark winter evenings in our 1803 Cape house located deep in the Massachusetts woods.  With its original modest windows and multiple fireplaces, now supplemented with a state-of-the-art heating system, I enjoy the comforts of modern life, but with the romance associated with the lifestyle of New England some 200 years ago.  Living in this way makes it easy to imagine how, as winter drew on for our forebears, their almost desperate desire for spring, as well as their sense of gratitude when February, March, and April days lengthened exponentially.  As my 94-year-old father, who grew up on a small rural Missouri farm, tells it, spring brought many joys, not the least of which was liberation from the bedraggled suit of long underwear that was sewn on in the fall and “shorn away” each spring.

In the past, people observed animals in the wild to guide them to seasonal foods that were safe to eat.  In the spring, animals came out of their winter isolation/hibernation to munch on surface roots (rhizomes), as well as shoots, sprouts, and cleansing bitter greens.  Seeds that lay fallow in the frozen ground all winter, sprouted into first-growth alkalizing foods packed with nutrition—vitamins; minerals; enzymes; chlorophyll; antioxidants; fiber; and other phytonutrients—the perfect liver cleansing, energetic, and nutrient boost/ antidotes to the heavy, acid-forming, monotonous staples of the winter pantry.

Relishing Winter’s Darkness in A Modern World

Finding Darkness, Winter.  Today, the expansive energy and stimulation of television, computers, and electronics of all kinds present not only opportunities but also a special set of challenges to the individual.    We can best welcome the expansive energy of spring, when we are able to retreat in order to relish and restore ourselves during the contractive phase of winter.  But how do we do this?  How do we connect with our inner selves amid the sea of electronic stimulation?   How do we develop our individual self against the “inner breeding” of four-five hours of daily television?  How, when we tune into the same nightly news programs and read from the small remaining cluster of national newspapers?  Mobility and stimulation ask little of us, particularly when it comes to relying upon our own inner resources.  Yet the strength of a democratic culture to sustain itself is built upon education, diversity, and a broad spectrum of points of view.

Eating Locally, Seasonally.  Regional climates and foods affect local attitudes, customs, and behaviors, so foods grown and eaten locally and seasonally also support individuality and cultural diversity.  This is because plants, as rather simple forms of life, are adaptogens.  They stand on the forefront of environmental and climate change to supply seasonal energy and nutrients for our survival.  For example, plants that grow in cold, harsh climates are generally more tonifying , strengthening, and warming compared to plants that grow in warmer climates, which tend to be cooling and moistening.   Because plants adapt quickly to environmental change, they supply seasonal energy and nutrients for our survival.

Our massive supermarkets with food flown in from around the globe can be a blessing, particularly to the wise shopper, but mega-stores make it easy to lose sight of and attunement to foods are local and seasonal.   Yes, we can buy cooling foods like cucumbers, zucchini, and melons in winter, but the variety of supermarket choices, no matter the season, can sometimes lead to confusion about what and how much to eat, as well as to a loss of connection to our body’s seasonal and nutritional needs.

Fast food and packaged foods take this one step further.  Fast food chains’ standardized décor and menu guarantee an expected dining experience and the brand assurance that a Big Mac or Papa Pizza will taste the same, whether purchased in Kennebunkport, Louisville, or Seattle.  Likewise, a child downing a Twinkie or a bowl of Cheerios will eat the same meal, whether in Alaska or Florida.  Within our media-driven culture, the homogenization of food tastes and preferences devalues individuality.  The vast array of food choices and uniformity of prepared foods nationwide have quashed much of the former American pride in ethnic and regional cuisines—coloration sadly lost to time.

Choosing the North Face.  Wild crafters traditionally seek herbs that grow in the harsh, windy, inclement, darker conditions of the north face of the mountain because these are the herbs that have the greatest strength, stamina, and healing power.   Our forebears could not escape the north face.  They had few tools to manipulate their environment to do so.

Today, in a world that we can far more readily manipulate to assure comforts and ease, I like to think about choosing the north face in some of my daily lifestyle choices—to walk when I could ride; to cook from scratch when I could purchase prepared foods; to read when I could watch TV.  Through science and technology, we have constructed an ever larger south face of the mountain, promising warmth, artificial light, comforts, conveniences, and gratification.  But what happens to our own individuality and to our civilization if as a people we continually take the easy step, the south-face choice?

In a world of artificial light, we need darkness all the more—darkness where we can find peace to restore our souls, uniqueness, and creativity.  Darkness leads to light, to enlightenment.  When we relish winter, we are ready for fresh life, energy, and possibility—all that Spring has to offer.

Spring Foods

Foods that attune us to the dry, cold weather—hearty soups and stews; sweet, “sticky” root vegetables and dried fruits; nuts and seeds; warming/moistening grains (e.g., oats); red meats and roasted marrow bones— are warming, sustaining and perfect for winter.  But these are also acid-/mucus-forming foods that require a little spring cleaning once winter bids farewell.  Spring invites us through the foods that burst forth from the first thawed ground—sprouts, shoots, and all kinds of leafy bitter greens and pungent roots and rhizomes—to lighten up and allow our body to do a thorough spring cleaning.

Spring greens and sprouts are alkalizing and detoxifying.  They are low in fat and full of revitalizing, rejuvenating (DNA/RNA) life force energy.  They are also packed with vitamins, minerals, cleansing chlorophyll, fiber, antioxidants and other phytonutrients.  They work to break up excesses built up over the long winter season by reducing mucus and expelling toxins as the body seeks to do its natural spring cleaning.

Spring greens, sprouts, and pungent roots and rhizomes also help detoxify the liver, the major organ associated with spring.  The liver serves many functions in the body; one of its most important is to filter and breakdown toxins that can result from general overeating, as well as from alcohol, drugs, oily and fried foods, heavy meats, pesticides, and chemicals.  A liver overwhelmed by winter eating and drinking habits can be revitalized by the alive, biogenic (transferring life) sprouts and by other chlorophyll-rich foods offered by spring.

To assist the liver and the body as a whole in the spring, we need lighter, cooling foods that are generally bitter and pungent (to dispel mucus); pungent (to move energy); and sour (to assist the liver, break up heavy fats, and relieve indigestion and stagnation).

Sour.  Sour, the color green, the liver/gall bladder, and the emotion anger are all associated with spring according to Chinese Five Phase Theory.  A liver overwhelmed by heavy foods and toxins can stagnate energy (“Qi”), leading to anger, depression and mood swings, and the inability to plan and make decisions.  The sour flavor is cooling; has a drying, astringent effect; and acts on the liver to relieve congestion.  Lemon tea, simply lemon and hot water, is a good example of a fitting antidote to a heavy meal.   So is sauerkraut with hot dogs/meats.   Fruits and berries that are sour and cooling in nature—grapefruit, lemons, apples, mango, pears, and strawberries— also assist the liver and fit a spring diet.

Bitter.  Bitter foods are cooling and downward draining.  They help rid the body of excess fluid and damp conditions that can lead to spring colds, asthma, allergies and congestion.  Spring gives us plenty of these light, bitter foods through the plethora of leafy spring greens and vegetables like asparagus.  Also good are vegetables in the cabbage family such as bitter Brussels sprouts, kale, and broccoli rabe.

Pungent.  Pungent foods, such as onions, garlic, ginger, watercress, radishes, and turnips, as well as cayenne and cooling mint are also fitting for spring.  Pungent foods help clear the lungs and large intestine, stimulate digestion, and move Qi to relieve stagnation.  Pungent foods also move energy upward and outward and help the body breakup and dispel mucus, particularly from mucus-forming foods like dairy.   [Dairy is cooling.  No matter the season, dairy products, if tolerated, are best consumed in moderation; at room temperature; and away from the cold and flu season since dairy is a favorite food of bacteria.  Scientists use dairy in the lab to grow bacteria.  We need not do the same.]

Spring foods to emphasize.  In Spring, people who are generally balanced will want to eat foods from all five flavors—sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty—but with less emphasis on the sweet, salty sustaining foods of winter and more upon the bitter, pungent, and sour detoxifying foods of spring.  At this time of year, it is best to try to avoid red meat and dairy which are mucus-forming.  Also try to rotate from wheat and oats to the more drying bitter/sour grains such as rye and amaranth, as well as buckwheat, corn, millet, and quinoa, all of which are drying and cleansing compared to oats and wheat.  Because wheat allergies can result from heavy reliance on wheat throughout the year and from poor food combining when proteins are eaten with wheat (e.g., sandwiches, pizza),  consider rotating in spring to more seasonally-appropriate, non-gluten grains such as quinoa, millet, and buckwheat.

Below are listed foods by category that are neutral to cooling, and either bitter, pungent, or sour.  If listed more than once, foods embody more than one taste.  Foods that are not listed are either warming or exclusively sweet or salty or a combination and therefore more fitting for seasons other than spring.

Cooling-to-neutral temperature foods that are bitter:  Vegetables—lettuce, broccoli rabe, celery, chicory, dandelion greens, escarole, endive, mustard greens, rutabaga, turnips, olives; Fruits—none; Grains—amaranth, rye [both grains are also drying, in keeping with spring.]

Cooling-to-neutral temperature foods that are pungent:  Vegetables—bokchoy, broccoli rabe, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, radish, rutabaga, turnip, watercress;  Fruits—none; Grains—none.

Cooling-to-neutral temperature foods that are sour:  Vegetables—none; Fruits—apples, grapefruit, lemon, grapes, mango, pears, pineapple, plum, strawberries [most of these are both sweet and sour]; Grains—barley, millet [millet is also drying].

[Note:  A devoted rotation to spring bitter and raw foods will not generally work well for people who are deficient, have cold conditions, and/or weak digestion.   Cooked foods and foods that are sweet in flavor are more strengthening and tonifying and may be appropriate throughout the year for some individuals with cold and/or deficient conditions.  In the same spirit, it may make sense for someone with heavy congestion and excess, heat conditions to eat cooling, cleansing raw foods and bitter greens throughout the year.  A person’s physical profile takes precedence over seasonal food considerations.]

Growing Sprouts

Spring brings to mind many foods—asparagus, peas, a rich variety of spring bitter greens, and early strawberries ripening under the bright May sun.  But, for me, nothing quite captures the revitalizing transition from dark, dormant winter to the bright, enlivening energy of spring like sprouts.  Sprouts vividly reveal the life force of a seed miraculously coming to life.  They are one of the most nutrient-dense foods imaginable; they detoxify the liver; support the immune system (T-cells); and, they are full of life force energy.   Sprouts are biogenic, alive foods that appear to pass their essence (RNA, DNA) as a live force when eaten (see # 3, below).1   Sprouts contain all the nutrients and energy to support a mature plant; when we eat sprouts, we acquire this “kidney essence” but without the bulk.  Growing sprouts in your home is easy to do in any season, but to do so now can be both emotionally satisfying and nutritionally sound.

Sprouts and health.  Shoots and sprouts are tender and loaded with nutrition to help support the plant on its journey to maturity:  When a seed sprouts, it starts to quickly develop a rich array of nutrients to support the mature plant that it is to become.  According to Steve Meyerowitz, who has devoted much of his life to the science of sprouting,  in the first 5-10 days, young seedlings attain their greatest nutrient density; vitamins increase many-fold; and complex starches are broken down to make beans and grains more digestible.  In a related area, sprouting can prevent allergies to wheat or other offending grains.   According to Steve Meyerowitz, in #1 and #2 below, with the germination of a seed:

1. “Nutrients are broken down—protein into amino acids, fats into essential fatty acids, starches to sugars, and minerals chelate or combine with protein in a way that increases their utilization.  This…increases nutrition and improves digestion and assimilation…the reason sprouts are considered predigested food.
2. “Proteins, vitamins, enzymes, minerals and trace minerals multiply from 300 to 1200 percent.  Chlorophyll develops in seeds that become green plants.  Certain acids and toxins that can interfere with digestion are reduced or eliminated.  Size and water content increase dramatically.”²
3. According to the pioneering work of Viktoras Kulvinskas, nucleic acids (think DNA, RNA), which are key elements of cell growth and regeneration, increase by as much as 30-fold through sprouting.   Ann Wigmore calls sprouts biogenic (alive) foods, to distinguish them from bioactive raw fruits and vegetables.  Biogenic foods—sprouted grains, beans, nuts and seeds—are able to transfer their life energy to us when we eat them.  This may shed light on why David Wetzel  of Green Pasture.org believes that first-growth spring grasses provide a stem-cell component that underlies the mysterious health benefits of X-factor butter oil.  (See January/February 2012 newsletter on vitamin D).

Counter-top sprouting.  Growing sprouts can be as simple or complex as you wish it to be.  You can purchase professional sprouting equipment such as vertical sprouters and sprout bags, or you can simply have fun with good seeds and a large jar fitted with a mesh top.

Counter-top sprouting can be done in any home and during any season. It requires no long-term commitment and makes no mess.  You need neither yard nor soil,  hoe nor gardening gloves.  All that is required is a large jar; a screened lid; good, organic sprouting seeds; water; and a few consecutive days when you can rinse, shake, and drain the sprouting seeds each morning and evening. This step keeps the seeds cool and moist.

Sprouting seeds takes a week or less. You may want to grow sprouts regularly; or you might prefer to dabble now and then, washing the jar and setting sprouting aside until you are once again in the mood. For children, growing sprouts in a jar on the countertop is a perfect first-growing adventure, one that can encourage eating greens, the major food missing from their diets.

 
The simple steps for sprouting are:

• Put about 2 tablespoons of sorted, organic seeds, or ¼-1/2 cup grains, beans, or legumes in a clean two-quart jar fitted with a screen top (or a square of cheese cloth, nylon, or mosquito netting)  held in place by a canning jar ring, string, or strong rubber band.  This screened opening permits easy rinsing, draining, and air ventilation.  Use a one-gallon jar if you choose to sprout more seeds, though keep in mind that while 2 tablespoons looks like a small quantity of seeds, sprouts need plenty of space to grow and to prevent overcrowding.
• Cover the seeds with plenty of filtered water that is free of chlorine, and let it sit overnight, or about 8 hours.  Some seeds require only 6 hours of soaking, while beans and grains with tough exteriors may benefit from a soak as long as 24-36 hours. There are also mucilaginous seeds that require no soaking at all. For more information on seeds and soaking times, I can refer you to www.sproutpeople.org.
• At the end of the soaking period, and with the screened lid firmly in place, pour off and discard the water.
• Cover the seeds with plenty of fresh water, swish them around inside the jar, and drain once again. Then turn the jar upside down and set it at an angle; a dish drainer works well for support. Keep the seeds out of direct sunlight, though ordinary room light and indirect sunlight are both fine. A room temperature of 60-70 degrees is ideal because growing sprouts produce heat. Rinsing the sprouts morning and evening prevents them from overheating in a jar that traps heat; it also keeps the sprouts moist.   [If you grow sprouts in warmer temperatures, you may want to give them cooling baths more frequently than twice a day.]
• Repeat the above step twice a day, morning and evening, for several days, until the seeds are well-sprouted and, if applicable, starting to turn green (not all sprouts are green in maturity).
• When you are ready to harvest your sprouts (grains are sweetest and beans/legumes have the highest protein levels after just 2-3 days; greens need longer in order to develop chlorophyll), rinse them and then pour them onto a towel to air dry. Place dry sprouts in a covered container, lined with a paper towel, and refrigerate.  They should keep for a week or more and can be used in salads and sandwiches, or for juicing.

Note:   Because sprouts are cleansing and detoxifying, they may work less well for older people in the “winter, drying-out” phase of life.  At age 64, I find I need a good complement of sweet round and root vegetables plus good fats and oils throughout all seasons of the year, and I must consume sprouts rather sparingly.

Reading Resources

Chinese Medicine and Five Phase Theory:

Harriet Beinfield, L.Ac and Efrem Korngold, L.Acl O.M.D., Between Heaven and Earth

John W. Garvy, Jr., N.D., D. Ac., The Five Phases of Food:  How to Begin

Ted Kaptchuk, O.M.D., The Web that Has No Weaver

Giovanni Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine

http://pathways4health.org/2010/03/01/chinese-5-phase-theory/

Food Energies and “Kitchen Medicine”:

Steve Gagne, The Energetics of Foods

Harriet Beinfield, L.Ac and Efrem Korngold, L.Acl O.M.D., Between Heaven and Earth, 323-379.

Annemarie Colbin, Ph.D., The Natural Gourmet

Paul Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods

http://pathways4health.org/2010/08/30/sept10-seasonal-harmony/

http://pathways4health.org/2010/09/16/oct10-signatures-2/

Sprouting:

Viktoras Kulvinskas, Sprouts for the Love of Every Body

Steve Meyerwitz, Sprouts, The Complete Guide to Sprouting; www.sproutman.com

Ann Wigmore, The Sprouting Book; The Wheatgrass Book

Spring Recipe:  Pathways4Health Non-gluten, Moist Cornbread with Drying Grains of Spring/Summer

1 cup cornmeal                                                                 1-2 eggs, beaten, depending on size

1 cup millet flour                                                              1 cup cooked pureed squash or sweet potato

2 t. baking powder                                                          1 cup organic milk, or soy, rice, almond milk

2 T. sugar; 1 t. salt (optional)                                       1 t. vanilla (optional)

¼ cup softened butter or coconut oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and oil a 9” square pan.  In a bowl, mix dry ingredients, including sugar if you want a slightly sweet cornbread to be eaten like you would a muffin.  Cut in shortening.  In a separate bowl, beat egg(s); add squash, milk, and vanilla.  Gently fold dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, pour into the well-greased pan.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Pureed squash makes this a moist cornbread that is light, gluten free, and attuned to spring/summer because corn and millet are both drying grains.

Appendix:  Eating by the Seasons, the Sun’s Seasons in Contrast to the Calendar Seasons

Our calendar seasons do not correspond with the dynamics of the sun.  We actually gain about one hour more sun time (roughly 3 ½ hours in total) in the winter quarter, December 21-March 21, than we do in “official” spring season, from the spring equinox to the summer solstice, March 21-June 21.  To synchronize to the sun, we can begin to eat spring foods in late February and early March if the weather is warm enough and we feel the need to shift to lighter fare after weeks of heavy winter eating.

Monthly Footprint of Changes in Sunlight

(Based on New York City)

Copyright 2012, Pathways4Health.org

1. Ann Wigmore, The Sprouting Book, v, 6, 15, 16.
2. Steve Meyerowitz, Sprouts, The Complete Guide to Sprouting, 93

“If I had to give you a single secret ingredient that could apply to the prevention—treatment, in many cases—of heart disease, common cancers, stroke, infectious diseases from influenza to tuberculosis, type 1 and 2 diabetes, dementia, depression, insomnia, muscle weakness, joint pain, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, and hypertension, it would be… vitamin D.”              …Michael F. Holick, Ph.D, M.D.

“Vitamin D may be one of the most fundamentally important building blocks available to us for creating and sustaining vibrant health…Yet vitamin D is also considered to the ‘the most toxic of all vitamins.’”        …Chris Masterjohn, April, 2011, Weston A. Price Foundation

Vitamin D is essential for good health, not only for the bones and teeth, but also for metabolism, genetic expression, and to support the body’s other non-skeletal systems—cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, nervous, muscular, immune, reproductive and endocrine.  Given this breadth, vitamin D is linked to the prevention of a host of chronic diseases  including cancer, diabetes and obesity, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, and, of course, rickets and osteoporosis.  Science now appreciates that the cells of the body are equipped with vitamin D receptors.  This helps to explain the far-reaching roles of vitamin D in maintaining good health.  Yet, according to Michael F. Holick, Ph.D., M.D., who has spent his life researching vitamin D, it is “the most common nutritional deficiency in the world.”1

Rather than a vitamin, science presently recognizes vitamin D as a hormone that works synergistically with other hormones within a complex matrix of body chemistry to affect metabolic and cellular function, as well as genetic expression.   To be effective, vitamin D must act in tandem with vitamin A, as well as vitamin K.  Vitamin D depletes vitamin A, so even modest amounts of vitamin D without sufficient A can lead to vitamin D toxicity.²  Likewise, vitamin A can become toxic without adequate levels of vitamin D.³

For good health, therefore, while we need to be aware of safe, reliable sources of vitamin D, we must also consider vitamin D within the context of our intake of the right kinds of vitamin A and K.   Science is just beginning to unravel the vitamin D story.  Vitamin D may come in far more forms than the D2 and D3 recognized today.  Vitamin D research promises to be one of the more exciting health fields of the future.

Sources of Vitamin D

How we obtain vitamin D—through sunshine, supplements, or food—is a personal decision.  Sunshine and supplements have advantages, but, as you might guess, they also come with their own limitations and risks.  Food presents limits, too, since few foods are rich in vitamin D.  How we obtain vitamin D is a choice that depends upon health and life style, diet and personal tastes, geographic location, skin type, and age.

Sunshine 

Throughout time, plants, animals, and people have been drawn to the sun.  Plants bend to catch its rays.  Animals, especially those that are vitamin D deficient, know to bask in its light.  We are no different—after a bone-chilling winter, nothing feels better than to spread a blanket and stretch out in the sun.  Given that our cells and hence our tissues, and arteries are equipped with receptors for vitamin D, it is not surprising that we are naturally and intuitively drawn to the sun’s warmth and healing powers.

Thanks to the benevolence and good planning of Mother Nature, it is possible for us to get in warmer seasons enough vitamin D from sunshine to last all winter.   We do this by taking in UVB radiation through the skin and transforming it via the liver to calcidiol, known as 25(OH)D, the water-soluble, storage form of vitamin D that can be deposited in our fat cells for future use.⁴  For enough UVB radiation to store vitamin D to sustain us through the year, we generally need 15-30 minutes of unprotected exposure several times a week between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., April through October.  Exposure should be over much of the body since a specific surface of skin produces only a finite amount of vitamin D, no matter the length of time in the sun.

Obtaining vitamin D from the sun has several advantages.   It is free.  It can, by encouraging the body to produce endorphins, 5 lift our spirits and provide a sense of well-being.  Sunshine helps regulate our circadian rhythms to help us sleep.  It is a natural source of vitamin D that many experts believe cannot, even with prolonged exposure to the sun, lead to vitamin D toxicity.⁶⁷  And, as noted, if enough sun is taken in during the summer months, it can be stored by the body in sufficient quantity to last all winter.

Scientists specializing in vitamin D research now believe that “sunshine vitamin D” provides many photo-nutrients that extend beyond our current understanding of vitamin D.   Sunshine is the most natural source of what we might think of as “full spectrum” vitamin D.  Scientists have discovered that the body, taking in UVB radiation through the skin, makes not only vitamin D as we know it but also other vitamin D metabolites with potential health benefits not yet understood.   Ancient cultures perhaps knew to use the sun for healing.  One of the sun pioneers in more contemporary times was Arnold Rikli (1823-1906), known as the “sun doctor” and regarded as the founder of heliotherapy.  Rikli used natural sunlight in many drugless institutions in Europe to cure tuberculosis, bone and skin diseases, and to accelerate wound healing.⁸

Another aspect of sunshine and health relates to UVB radiation’s positive effect on body chemistry by entering the iris of the eye.   John Ott, best known in the 1950s-60s for his work in the early days of time-lapse photography of plant life, was a pioneer in this field.  Ott discovered that sunshine entering the unprotected iris of the eye affects the pineal and pituitary glands to aid in the proper chemistry and hormone balance of the body.  As an arthritis sufferer, he discovered this by accident.  Ott had long observed the positive benefits that sunshine held for plants and animals, and he extrapolated this to his own improved health when he broke his glasses and began to notice a great improvement in his arthritis condition (glass screens out 99% of the sun’s UVB radiation, but none of the UVA radiation that causes wrinkles).  He was one of the first to link sunlight and the retinal-hypothalamic-endocrine system and its role in the body’s chemistry and hormonal balance.⁹  [This same principle is used with laying hens to boost egg production in the shorter days of fall and winter, since artificial light entering the eye stimulates a hen’s pituitary gland for an increased yield.]

While we do not understand all the benefits of ultra violet exposure, the fact that Nature provided melatonin in our skin and yet few vitamin D-rich foods suggests that we are supposed to get at least some vitamin D through sunshine.  Given the broad spectrum of ultra violet wave lengths, we might think of sunshine much like we do a whole food, with factors that work synergistically and in ways that cannot be fully appreciated with a microscope.

Of course, sunshine is not a trouble-free source of vitamin D.  While sunshine may help prevent specific types of cancers such as breast, prostate, and colon, among its well-publicized drawbacks are the risks of cataracts and non-melanoma skin cancer, as well as wrinkles, which is a price of UVA exposure.¹⁰

Another problem is that some people cannot convert enough sunshine to vitamin D to meet their needs.  Included are: 

• People living in the mid- and high-latitudes (above 35 degrees latitude, which comprises the northern two-thirds of the United States), where in winter the need for cold weather clothing and the low arc of the winter sun prevent acquiring sufficient sun-based vitamin D.
• Darker-skinned people because they have more melanin in the outer layers skin which curtails their ability to make vitamin D from sunlight.¹¹
• Babies who are breast-fed because breast milk lacks vitamin D.
• Older adults because with time the skin is less able to efficiently synthesize vitamin D; people who are obese because fat cells retain vitamin D and resist releasing it into the blood stream when needed.
• Individuals with celiac or other conditions that make it difficult to digest fats. 
• People who live and work indoors through the midday hours; and
  
• All who generously apply sunscreens or try to avoid the sun-related risks listed above.

Well, that is just about all of us!  With such a long list, it is not hard to see why Michael Holick, a pioneer in vitamin D research, believes Vitamin D to be the most pervasive nutritional deficiencies in the world.  While figures concerning vitamin D deficiency vary, at perhaps the upper end, a 2009 Harvard study suggests that 70% of Caucasians, 90% of Hispanics, and 97% of African-Americans have deficient blood levels of vitamin D.¹²  [These statistics can raise questions about the validity of current vitamin D tests.]

Allow me to stop for a moment to make a side comment about the sun.  Leaving out concerns about the ozone layer, I believe that a large part of the present-day problem with sun exposure is rooted in our indoor lifestyle and our modern nutrient-deficient diet, particularly with respect to vitamin A and K2.  Traditional cultures consumed ten times the vitamin A¹³ ( and I suspect a similar or even greater multiple of vitamin K2) that we do.  These two vitamins are important because they are vital working partners with vitamin D and, as such, important antidotes to relatively excessive levels of vitamin D.  In addition, until the industrial revolution, which brought city life and with it, rickets as a major health problem, people worked outside without sunscreen throughout the year and could adjust to the sun, gradually building up melatonin.

Regarding diet, our modern processed foods lack antioxidants to diffuse free-radical damage.  They also lack the vital animal based, fat-soluble forms of vitamins A (retinol) and K that are essential partners to work alongside vitamin D in the body.   Preformed vitamin A is different from plant-based provitamin A–beta-carotene and the carotenoid group–little of which may be converted in the body to vitamin A.  And, vitamin K2 is different from plant-based vitamin K1 which is associated with blood clotting.

Foods that supply vitamin A and K2 include liver and other organ meats, fish eggs, and eggs and butter/animal fats from grass-fed animals.  Vitamin K2 is also found in lacto-fermented vegetables (the kind made without vinegar that need refrigeration) like sauerkraut, pickles, and fermented fruits (see July/August 2009 newsletter).  The point is that none of these foods, which were staples in the diet of traditional cultures, would be high on our list of favorites today.  If we get a lot of sun, we need to consume some of these foods.  In any event, given our modern lifestyle and contemporary diet, it is only logical that stretching out on a sandy beach for a week or two of summer sun can invite trouble.

Finally, while sunshine may provide a potential array of photonutrients to support health (some, in ways that we do notfully understand), by the same token, the erosion of the ozone layer may pose new health risks.   We can only assume that sunshine may bestow untold benefits as well as perhaps untold risks not faced by prior generations.

Vitamin D Supplements

Because vitamin D is naturally present in few foods, vitamin D supplements are often recommended by doctors for people who want to avoid sun exposure and/or who may not be able to convert sunshine into a sufficient quantity of active vitamin D.  For most of us who are indoors spending long hours at a desk, vitamin D supplements may seem to be the answer.   They are convenient, reasonably priced, and easy to take.  In addition, unlike sunshine, their potency does not decline as we age—a fact that is also true of foods rich in vitamin D.   On the negative side, the quality of supplements, in terms of their ingredients and processing, may vary and the dosage stated on labels may not be reliable.  In addition, vitamin D from supplements is quickly dissipated in the body (its half-life is just two-three weeks) compared to the long-lasting effects of vitamin D from sunshine.  And, supplements do not impart the sun’s “feel-good-feeling,” nor do they help to regulate circadian rhythms.¹⁴

But, above all, the greatest strike against supplements is that they are the most likely of the three vitamin D options…sunshine, supplements and food…to cause vitamin D toxicity.  Put simply, it is easy to overdose when taking supplements because of the toxicity risk inherent in even modest doses of vitamin D when the other essential fat-soluble partners of vitamin D, vitamins A, possibly E (vitamin E’s role with D is not yet understood), and K2, are lacking in the diet.  In addition, synthetic supplements, whether  vitamin D or A, are far more  likely to build to toxic levels than these vitamins in their natural forms..¹⁵  And, as mentioned earlier, vitamin D testing appears to have its pitfalls so “normal” readings may not be conclusive.

Vitamin D in Foods

Foods that naturally contain vitamin D are not common to the American diet.  Yet, the few good sources (mostly fatty fish, such as salmon) do present  certain advantages—they can be assimilated equally by young and old; they incorporate other nutritional cofactors; and, (unless rich sources like cod liver oil or lard are used with abandon), their low levels of vitamin D pose little risk of vitamin D toxicity.  Some foods, such as cow’s milk, nut and seed milks, yogurt, orange juice, and boxed cereals are now fortified with vitamin D.  Milk was first fortified in response to a major outbreak of rickets in the 1930s, a result of city living.  It is important to read food labels since not all milk, yogurt, juice, and cereal are fortified with vitamin D.

Vitamin D3 and D2.  Vitamin D3 is synthesized by our skin, as well as the skin and oils of the fur of animals.  As a second stage, the liver converts it to 25(OH)D, or calcidiol, the more water-soluble storage form that can be deposited in fat cells and carried in the blood to be bound to the vitamin D binding protein, DBP.  This can be activated as 1,25(OH)2D, or calcitriiol, when needed.   How vitamin D is stored and carried in the body is instructive because it suggests what kinds of foods are rich in vitamin D, as shown in Table 1, below.

How vitamin D3 is synthesized is also important to appreciate the difference between D3 and D2.  Vitamin D2, often used to fortify foods, is produced commercially by irradiating yeast.  The fact that both D2 and D3 resolve rickets has led some to believe that they are equivalent, but there appear to be subtle differences. Unlike D3, vitamin D2 does not bind well to DBP and therefore only fractionally raises calcidiol levels of the blood.¹⁶  [As noted, beyond D2 and D3, there may be a host of other forms of vitamin D yet to be discovered.]

As an introductory comment to Table, I used two measures of daily vitamin D requirements—400 IUs, the official government guideline; and 1000 IUs, which is still a conservative level and perhaps a better intake for optimal health.  I included pork blood in italics, not as a food source for us in modern times, but to illustrate the high vitamin D content of blood.  Blood is consumed as a source of vitamin D by the Masai of Africa and also by animals that eat insects or animals of prey.

Lard.  Lard deserves a special comment.  My parents each grew up on rural Midwest farms in the 1930s and 1940s where lard from free-range pigs was used as a staple in daily cooking and baking.  Surviving as they did to the cholesterol/fat-phobic decades of more recent times, my mother and father often bemoaned the large amounts of lard that they ingested as children.  My parents (with no access to cod liver oil’s vitamins D and A), stayed active well into their 90s, and I wonder if lard was, in fact, their true saving grace.  Lard provided a rich source of vitamin D and, because vitamin D works to prevent obesity and diabetes, lard may have helped them stay warm, trim and happy in their active outdoor life.  And, sources of vitamin A to complement this D were just beyond their doorstep in the eggs from their barnyard chickens and butter from their grass-fed cows—a homemade formula for their vibrant health.

Fatty Fish.  The more appetizing source of vitamin D3 for many people is oily fish like salmon, mackerel, herring, and sardines.  How do fish, living underwater and away from the sun make vitamin D?  …Not so much from sun exposure to their oily skin since they spend most of their life deep underwater.  Instead, most of the vitamin D3 in fatty fish is a by-product of the plankton that they eat.  Plankton contain vitamin D precursors that fish are able to synthesize.  Many oily fish, if eaten with the skin and bones, provide a healthy array of oils, including EPA and DHA, as well as calcium.

Mushrooms. The skin of mushrooms acts much like our own, taking in UVB radiation to synthesize vitamin D.   Mushrooms are the only plant-based food with natural vitamin D.  Several companies market sun-dried mushrooms with significantly higher vitamin D content than fresh mushrooms.  More recently, Monterey Mushrooms of California developed with the USDA fresh mushrooms sold under the Sun Bella label that are grown with ultra violet light.  The company advertizes that just 3 ounces, or about four or five mushrooms, provide 100 percent of the daily requirement (based on 400 IUs).

Table 1:  Selected Food Sources of Vitamin D; %Daily Value 400 IUs and 1000 IUs

Source:  USDA; Weston A. Price Foundation.org; Green Pasture.org; Pathways4Health.org

Fermented Cod Liver Oil

You need very little; it is easy to store; and it needs no cooking.

“There is hardly a disease in the books that does not respond well to cod liver oil, and not just infectious diseases but also chronic modern diseases like heart disease and cancer.”¹⁷

This is my favorite source of vitamin D because, unlike the foods listed above, it is naturally balanced with vitamin D’s vital partner, preformed vitamin A.  Cod liver oil also contains health-supporting quinines, EPA (for inflammatory response) and DHA (for brain and neurological function), and omega-3,-6,-7, and -9 oils.  A teaspoon or two over breakfast along with X-Factor butter oil (which provides vitamin K2) works well for me.   Also, for people with an aversion to its taste, fermented cod liver oil comes both in flavors and capsule form and can be taken with orange juice to blunt any aftertaste.

Fermented cod liver oil that is made in accordance with tradition often contains ten times the vitamin A relative to vitamin D, but the amount of A to D is inconsistent; these amounts vary according to the diet of the specific catch and the season (summer cod livers have more oil than those taken in winter and are less potent—the less oil in a liver, the more potent the oil).

Fermented cod liver oil should not be confused with commercial brands that are cleaned and deodorized using alkali refining, bleaching, and deodorization.    Because people often buy cod liver as a source of EPA and DHA, some deodorized brands do not bother to add back lost vitamins, and hence have low levels of vitamin A and no vitamin D.  Such a product can lead to vitamin A toxicity if over-consumed.  Other brands—the majority of cod liver oils sold—are cleaned and deodorized, and synthetic vitamins A and D are added back after processing.  When labels contain exact levels of vitamins A and D, it is a sign that they fit this latter category.  Read labels carefully.  Traditional cod liver oils, such as sold by Green Pastures; Radiant Life; and Dr. Ron’s UltraPure may not list vitamin A and D levels.  Lack of labeling can be a good sign, indicating that it is a natural product created without commercial processing and the addition of synthetic, measureable forms of vitamins A and D.

While dosage recommendations can vary, a dose of high-vitamin fermented cod liver oil is generally half that of regular cod liver oil.  Guidelines provided by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig of the Weston A. Price Foundation are as follows:

• Children aged 3 month to 12 years:  ½ teaspoon, providing approximately 4650 IU vitamin A and 975 IU vitamin D;
• Children over 12 years and adults:  1 teaspoon or 10 capsules, providing 9500 IU vitamin A and 1950 IU vitamin D;
• Pregnant and nursing women:  2 teaspoons or 20 capsules, providing 19,000 IU of vitamin A and 3900 IU vitamin D.¹⁸

All cod liver oils in the United States are tested for contaminants like mercury, cadmium, lead, and PCBs by the Association of Analytical Communities.  Mercury, which is water soluble, is not a concern.  It may be present in the flesh of fish but it is not contained in fish oils.¹⁹

Why don’t we hear more about cod liver oil?  Per capita cod liver oil consumption is less than one-twentieth that of our parents or grandparents generation.[20]  Cod liver oil has gone out of style, perhaps because we can now purchase vitamin D supplements, and perhaps, too, because we eat food more for pleasure than for health—with broad-based medical coverage, it is easy to leave the rest to doctors and drugs.  Another very important reason that cod liver oil has fallen from favor is that it has no large constituency of support.  Unlike synthetic drugs that can be patented and sold for multiples of their production costs, cod liver oil is a food, with little profit-generating power.

While naturally-produced cod liver oil has no broad constituency, it’s cause has been taken up by the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), a not-for-profit organization to further the pioneering work of Weston Price.  In addition, cod liver oil has devoted people like David Wetzel who, through his non-profit company Green Pastures.org, produce traditional fermented cod liver oil and X-Factor butter oils.  These are nutrient-dense products for optimal health that provide the important vitamin D, A, and Activator-X (vitamin K2) dietary factors discovered by Dr. Weston A. Price in his surveys of healthy, robust traditional cultures around the globe during the 1920s and 1930s (see Nutrition and Physical Degeneration).  It is hard to think of anything that delivers so much for so little.

Important  Summary Points About Vitamin D and Its Partners, Vitamin A and K2.

• Vitamins A and D combine to affect gene expression, which carries important implications for cancer and a host of other chronic diseases.  In the words of Chris Masterjohn, “Vitamins A and D are both precursors to nuclear hormone, which are molecules that bind to receptors, travel into the nucleus, bind to DNA or specific target genes, and control the expression of those genes…turning them on and off, up and down.”
• Vitamins A and K2 are needed to offset vitamin D to protect against bone demineralization and soft tissue calcification.   Kidney stones, calcified joints and arteries, cardiovascular disease…all are tied to deficiencies of vitamin A and K2.
• Vitamins A and K2 protect against vitamin D toxicity.  High levels of vitamin D deplete vitamin A, and must be balanced with compensating amounts of vitamin A and K2 to prevent toxicity.²⁰ 
• Active forms of vitamins A and D together signal cells to make specific, vital proteins for important bodily processes, but once created, these proteins can only function in the presence of vitamin K2.  One example of this relates to proper bone calcification:  Only when vitamins A and D are both present can cells produce osteocalcin, a protein that oversees the deposition of calcium and phosphorus salts in teeth and bones, but osteocalcin can only accumulate when it has been activated by vitamin K2.²¹  Vitamins A and K2 both assure the proper disposition of calcium in the bones and teeth (K2 actually encourages dentin to re-mineralize, helping to reverse tooth decay).²²

In conclusion, taking vitamin D in isolation can create imbalances and health problems:  too much vitamin D without adequate levels of vitamin A and K2 can weaken bones and lead to the calcification of soft tissues, including the heart, kidneys, and arteries.  Too much vitamin D in isolation can cause vitamin A and vitamin K deficiencies.  At the same time, vitamin A and vitamin K work to prevent vitamin D toxicity.   Thus, even small amounts of vitamin D can be detrimental if vitamin A and vitamin K2 are deficient.

Designing a Personal Strategy

As mentioned previously, how we choose to obtain vitamin D is a personal decision. My purpose in writing this newsletter has been to try to help you sort through enough information, both about vitamin D and its necessary complementary cofactors…vitamins A and K …that you may choose a way to obtain these nutrients–one that fits your lifestyle, personal tastes and eating habits. My own personal strategy for obtaining sufficient vitamin D and A involves taking a modest daily serving of naturally fermented cod liver oil (for vitamins A and D), along with X-Factor butter oil (for K2  and saturated fat.  [Saturated fat helps the body assimilate the highly unsaturated fatty acids of cod liver oil.  Cod liver oil is highly unsaturated and cannot be utilized and stored effectively without adequate amounts of saturated fats from grass-fed animals.]  .  For anyone with an aversion to its taste, fermented cod liver oil (not to be confused with well-known commercial, deodorized brands that lack natural vitamins A and D) comes both in flavors and capsule form.

In springtime as the days lengthen and the weather warms, I cut back on cod liver oil and begin to work gradually into the midday sun.  This is a hedge to capture what may be other health benefits from the sun’s photo-nutrients that reach beyond vitamin D as we know it today.  I also take off my glasses for brief periods to let some sun enter my eyes, an approach inspired by the work of John Ott, who discovered in the 1950s-1960s positive hormonal benefits of UVB radiation passing through the iris of the eye to the pineal and pituitary glands.  Of course, the risk of using the sun may involve non-melanoma skin cancer and cataracts.  These are tradeoffs balanced against the potential prevention of more serious chronic diseases.

My research and my own personal experience lead me to believe that the judicious use of traditionally fermented cod liver oil and X-Factor butter oil is an effective, balanced, convenient strategy for acquiring vitamin D and A.  Cod liver oil comes with far-reaching benefits, from the reversal of tooth decay to improved behavior and mood.   I have taken a modest daily serving of fermented cod liver oil along with X-Factor butter oil for several years; I have not had a cavity and I have never felt better.  If you decide to try these, be patient—it may take about six weeks to feel a difference.

Good Sources of Cod Liver Oil and X-Factor Butter Oil 

• Green Pasture (402-858-4818), www.greenpasture.org
• Dr. Ron’s Ultra-Pure, Additive Free Products (877-472-8701), www.drrons.com
• Radiant Life (888-593-8333), www.radiantlifecatalog.com

Reading Resources:

Sunshine, Health, and Vitamin D:

• Michael Holick, Ph.D., M.D., The Vitamin D Solution.
• Chris Masterjohn, “From Seafood to Sunshine:  A New Understanding of Vitamin D Safety,” WAPF.
• John N. Ott, Health and Light; Light, Radiation and You.
• Weston A. Price, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.
• NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, “Vitamin D,” http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD

Vitamin A:

• Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, Ph.D., “Vitamin A Saga,” WAPF.
• Sally Fallon, “Update 2 on Cod Liver Oil/Vitamin A,” WAPF.
• Elson Haas, Staying Healthy with Nutrition.

Vitamin K2 and X-Factor Butter Oil:

• Chris Masterjohn, “On the Trail of the Elusive X-Factor:  A Sixty-Year Mystery and Vitamin K,” WAPF.

Cod Liver Oil:

• Sally Fallon Morell and Mary Enig, Ph.D., “Cod Liver Oil Basics and Recommendations,” WAPF.
• Sally Fallon Morell, “Cod Liver Oil:  Setting the Record Straight,” WAPF.
• Sally Fallon Morell, “A Response to Dr. Joe Mercola on Cod Liver Oil,” WAPF.
• Chris Masterjohn, “Science Validates the Benefits of Our Number One Super Food,” WAPF.
• Krispin Sullivan, “Cod Liver Oil:  Number One Super Food,” WAPF.
• David Wetzel, “Cod Liver Oil Manufacturing,” WAPF.
• David Wetzel, “Update on Cod Liver Oil Manufacture,” WAPF.

Additional Readings:  The voluminous journal articles cited in the WAPF readings listed above.

Copyright 2011, Pathways4Health.org

Appendix:  A Technical Reference to Vitamins D, A, and K

These vitamins work in partnership and must be balanced to achieve the maximum benefit and to avoid vitamin D and/or vitamin A toxicity.

 “Most …[vitamin D] recommendations, like most of the research on vitamin toxicity, fail to take into account the interaction between vitamins A, D and K, which may be the most critical point to address in a discussion of vitamin D’s toxicity…there is compelling evidence to support the premise that vitamin D toxicity results from a relative deficiency of vitamins A and K.”²³ 

 

“Vitamin A is an essential factor in vitamin D’s hormonal function and vitamin K is necessary to activate the proteins made in response to vitamins A and D.  Vitamin D toxicity appears to result from a depletion of vitamin K, and animal evidence suggests that even small amounts of vitamin D increase the need for vitamin A.  Therefore, we must ask a most important question when we consider the various studies on vitamin D requirements and vitamin D toxicity:  what was the dietary context in which the vitamin D was consumed?”²⁴

 

“What is clear is that the protective and synergistic context of a nutrient-rich diet [especially in relation to vitamins A and K2] is not only underappreciated, but is essential to consuming vitamin D in a way that provides optimal benefit and maximum safety.”²⁵

 

Vitamin D

Vitamin D and the Prevention of Disease.  Vitamin D deficiency was originally associated with rickets, since vitamin D is required for proper calcium absorption.  Now we believe that vitamin D plays a vital role not only for strong bones and teeth but also for the prevention of chronic disease.  Vitamin D deficiency is linked to many forms of cancer—breast, prostate, colon, ovarian, lung—and even melanoma; heart disease, hypertension, and stroke; type 1 diabetes; obesity and type 2 diabetes; multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia; kidney disease; asthma and upper-respiratory disease; and neurological function including Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.  Vitamin D levels also affect mood and depression, sleep, and a person’s general mental outlook on life.²⁶

Vitamin D requirements and testing.  Vitamin D recommendations range from the United States’ Institute of Medicine’s 200 IU/day for adults under the age of 50 to as high 4,000 IU/day, a level believed safe by Drs. Vieth and Heaney, two vitamin D authorities.  The official government guidelines call of 400 IUs/day of vitamin D, a level most experts believe is too low for optimum health.   Michael Holick recommends 2,000 IUs for most people, but two to three times this amount for the obese (since fat cells store vitamin D and only reluctantly release it to the blood stream).  At the higher end, Dr. Reinhold Vieth and Dr. Robert Heaney suggest 3,000-4,000 IU daily, levels they believe to be both optimum and safe.²⁷

The preferred vitamin D test measures calcidiol, termed 25 (OH) D, the non-active, storage, circulating form of vitamin D produced by the liver.  This is the precursor to activated vitamin D, known as calcitriol, or 1,25-vitamin D.  Some people question the value of testing, arguing that appropriate levels of vitamin D are difficult to establish because people react to vitamin D differently and because vitamin D levels need to be interpreted in the context of an individual’s overall diet and general nutrition.

Vitamin D toxicity and deficiency symptoms.  While rare, vitamin D toxicity symptoms include nausea, vomiting, constipation, thirst, depression and strange behavior, weight loss, and elevated calcium levels that can lead to calcification of the kidneys and arteries.²⁸   High levels of vitamin D also create problems by consuming vitamin A to then leave less vitamin A for its important functions (see below), including the prevention of soft tissue calcification.  Thus, kidney stones and heart disease are linked to excess vitamin D in relationship to vitamin A.²⁹    Similarly, vitamin D is required to prevent vitamin A toxicity:  Vitamin A is stored in the liver and other organs; vitamin D supports the utilization of vitamin A to prevent vitamin A toxicity.³⁰

Vitamin D deficiency symptoms include many types of chronic pain, including bone and muscle pain, sternum and shin bones tender to the touch, pitted nails, as well as kidney disease, Crohn’s disease, osteoporosis, osteopenia, osteomalacia, and rickets.

Vitamin D and vitamin A as Working Partners.  German scientist F. Thoenes in 1935 discovered that vitamin D does not work alone, but rather in tandem and in a variety of ways with vitamin A.  Thoenes also discovered that a relative deficiency of vitamin A can lead to vitamin D toxicity.  From modern molecular biology, we now understand that select enzymes in the body convert, in a two stage process, vitamin D and A into hormones³¹ that bind to specialized receptors, travel to the nucleus, bind to DNA of specific genes to affect gene expression, thus having broad implications for a person’s health.  Because vitamin A acts as a signaling partner with vitamin D in this process, the presence of vitamin D will increase the turnover of vitamin A to help prevent vitamin A toxicity,³² while sufficient vitamin A also helps to prevent vitamin D toxicity.

Optimum ratio of vitamin D/vitamin A:   There is no ideal ratio.  People react differently to vitamin D.  The ideal ratio varies with the individual, based on skin type, genetics, and the season of the year.³³

Vitamin A

“Only Animal fats contain vitamin A and vitamin A is present in large amounts only when the animals have a source of carotenes or vitamin A in the diet, such as green pasture, insects and fish meal.”³⁴

Vitamin A Contrasted to Beta Carotene.   Like vitamin D, which has two major forms in D3 and D2, there are also two main types of vitamin A.  Preformed vitamin A, or retinol, is the animal-based, active form of vitamin A, which is found in liver and fish liver oil, fish eggs, egg yolks, and milk products/butter from grass-fed cows.  Provitamin A (beta carotene), in contrast, is found in plant-based foods, mostly yellow and orange vegetables and fruits and dark leafy green vegetables of the carotenoid family.

Plant sources of vitamin A are not equivalent to animal sources because the conversion of beta-carotene (the easiest carotene to convert) is inefficient.  This conversion is carried out in the upper intestinal tract and also in liver but the process requires more than five units of beta-carotene to produce one unit of retinol.   And, it is poorly performed by individuals with diabetes, low-thyroid function, liver problems, celiac disease, or those who consume little fat or high amounts of refined vegetable oils.  In addition, other factors such as vigorous exercise, stress, alcohol, drugs, zinc deficiency, and winter weather can hamper the conversion of beta-carotene to vitamin A.   Butterfat works as a helpful offset, not only for its vitamin A content but also because it can stimulate bile salts required for the conversion of beta-carotene to vitamin A.³⁵

Vitamin A and the Prevention of Disease:  Critical to our daily functioning and survival, vitamin A is stored in the liver and other organs to be ready for ready future needs.   Vitamin A is a key fat soluble vitamin that is required for the proper assimilation of minerals and water-soluble vitamins.  Specifically, vitamin A is important for vision; growth and healing; healthy skin, bones, and teeth; protein digestion; immune function, proper cellular function and genetic expression, and the prevention of free-radical damage.

Vitamin A Toxicity and Deficiency.

 

“…over a quarter of Americans consume less than half the RDA [of vitamin A].  If people eating diets low in vitamin A begin supplementing with vitamin D… the danger of such a low intake of vitamin A may be greatly increased.”³⁶

 

Rich sources of vitamin A are present only in animal fats from animals that eat green grass and insects (e.g., eggs from barnyard chickens).  These are not, of course, the kind of foods that are mass produced on today’s huge commercial farms.  As we have traded food quality for quantity, vitamin A deficiency now appears to be a far greater risk than vitamin A toxicity:  the average vitamin A intake of the typical American is one-tenth that of traditional cultures who ate organ meats, eggs from free-ranging hens, and butter from grass-fed animals.

Also, traditional fats which are rich in vitamin A provide their own safeguard for the liver because saturated fats protect against liver damage (why we intuitively pair wine with cheese and pate?).  This antidote action of saturated fat is in stark contrast to refined vegetable oils that actually promote the negative effects of toxins like alcohol and drugs to create damage to the liver.³⁷

Vitamin A toxicity is far more likely from synthetic vitamin A (retinol) than from vitamin A obtained through whole, traditional foods.  Synthetic vitamin A is used in supplements and is also added to fortified foods such as margarine and breakfast cereals.³⁸  As Fallon and Enig note,

“While some forms of synthetic vitamin A found in supplements can be toxic at only moderately high doses, fat-soluble vitamin A naturally found in foods like cod liver oil, liver, and butterfat is safe at up to then times the doses of water-soluble, solidified and emulsified vitamin A found in some supplements that produce toxicity.  The vitamin D found in cod liver oil and butterfat from pasture-raised animals protects against vitamin A toxicity and allows one to consume a much higher amount of vitamin A before it becomes toxic. ”³⁹

 

Beta-carotene and Vitamin A Toxicity.  Beta-carotene (in yellow and orange vegetables and fruits and dark leafy green vegetables) cannot cause vitamin A toxicity because the body converts beta carotene only when vitamin A is needed—a wise choice because the body uses up significant enzyme reserves in its conversion.  When huge amounts of beta carotene are consumed over time (such as drinking great quantities of carrot juice) the skin can turn a orange-yellow color, a condition known as carotenosis.  This carries no medical repercussions and quickly rights itself once beta carotene consumption is reduced to normal levels..⁴⁰

Symptoms of Vitamin A (retinol) Toxicity.  Signs include pressure headaches, a result of a swelling of the brain; nausea and vomiting; irritability; dizziness; hair loss; dry, itchy skin; weight loss; liver enlargement; stunted growth; dry, bleeding lips; and birth defects when high doses are taken in pregnancy.⁴¹

Symptoms of Vitamin A Deficiency.  Night blindness is one of the first signs of deficiency.  Other signs include skin problems, dandruff and lack-luster hair, insomnia, and fatigue.  Vitamin A deficiency also cripple immune function and is linked to a variety of forms of cancers, including breast, cerevical, prostate, lung, and stomach cancers.

Vitamin K

“Vitamin K2 is the substance that makes the vitamin A- and vitamin D-dependent proteins come to life.  While vitamins A and D act as signaling molecules, telling cells to make certain proteins, vitamin K2 activates these proteins by conferring upon them the physical ability to find calcium.  In some cases these proteins directly coordinate the movement or organization of calcium; in other cases the calcium acts as a glue to hold the protein in a certain shape, but in all cases, the proteins are only functional once they have been activated by vitamin K.”⁴²

We now understand that vitamin K2 is the special activating factor that Weston A. Price intuitively knew to be in butter from grass-fed animals.  Price appreciated that what he called “Activator X,” which was found in the butter, organs, and fat of animals grazing on luxurious green grass, was a necessary complement to cod liver oil.  When taken together, they worked synergistically for the treatment of tooth decay, for normal growth and development, reproduction, brain function, and to prevent the calcification of arteries associated with heart disease.

Vitamin K1 Contrasted to K2.   Vitamin K1 is plant-based and is found in green vegetables and oils, particularly olive oil.  Vitamin K2 is produced by animals grazing on vitamin K1 in the form of rapidly growing green plants, and it is also found in lacto-fermented plant foods like sauerkraut.  Vitamin K1, although generally plentiful in the diet, is poorly absorbed; in contrast, the body is able to absorb virtually all the vitamin K2 that is consumed.  Because the typical diet contains about ten times the K1 compared to K2, vitamin K2 has been little researched until recent decades, yet its implications for good health are far reaching.

Sources of vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) are dark green vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli, kale, spinach, and sea vegetables.   Foods high in vitamin K2 include natto, a fermented soy food and by far the highest source of K2 (although lacto-fermented foods do not contain the same form of K2 as animal products—a difference that may or may not be important).  Vitamin K2 is also found in goose liver; hard cheeses; egg yolks; butter; chicken liver; chicken; turkey; ground beef; calves liver; and sauerkraut.

Vitamin K1 and K2 and the Prevention of Disease.  Vitamin K1 is associated with blood coagulation but offers no protection against soft tissue calcification.  Vitamin K2 protects against vitamin D toxicity.  Importantly, too, vitamin K2 directs calcium to the bones and teeth and away from soft tissues where it does not belong.  In so doing, it prevents the calcification of arteries, other soft tissues, and heart disease.   Weston Price found that the combination of traditional cod liver oil and butter oil from animals grazing on rapidly growing grass:

• Reverses tooth decay.  It stopped tooth decay and even encouraged the dentin to develop and remineralize;⁴³
• Reverses bone loss and even increases bone mass with people suffering from osteoporosis;⁴⁴
• Protects against heart disease, with heart disease now linked to vitamin K deficiency.  While it prevents the calcification of arteries, it also protects against inflammation and the buildup of white blood cells and lipids that are also involved with atherosclerosis.⁴⁵
• Protects the brain and nervous system to ward off dementia and prevent seizures.⁴⁶

Vitamin K Toxicity.  Neither vitamin K1 or K2 is toxic.

Vitamin K2 Deficiency.  Deficiency can cause vitamin D toxicity.  Deficiency can also lead to dental cavities, osteoporosis, and the calcification of soft tissues—cardiovascular disease, kidney stones, and joint problems.   A lack of vitamin K2 is also linked to some forms of cancer, seizures, and dementia.

Recognizing the scarcity of traditionally-raised animal foods, I believe that naturally fermented cod liver oil (vitamins A and D) and X-Factor butter oil (vitamin K2) taken together is one of the easiest and best ways to obtain vitamin D with its balanced co-factors.  These, which are sold by nonprofit establishments and backed by research of the nonprofit Weston A. Price Foundation, seem to be sound choices in a world fraught with uncertainties about the best choices for our health and well being.

Copyright 2011, Pathways4Health.org

1. Michael Holick, Ph.D., M.D., The Vitamin D Solution, xviii.
2. F. Thoenes, qtd. in Chris Masterjohn, “From Seafood to Sunshine,” 12, April 08, 2011.
3. Sally Fallon, “No Proof that Vitamin A is Toxic,” Weston A. Price Foundation, June 15, 2010.
4. The skin takes in UVB rays and transforms previtamin D3 via the liver to calcidiol, the storage form of vitamin D which can enter the blood stream to be converted by the kidneys into active vitamin D.  The best test for vitamin D status is to measure 25(OH)D levels, although many experts doubt the validity of any type of vitamin D test.
5. Holick, 219.
6. Nature provides two safeguards related to sunshine and vitamin D toxicity.  Any skin surface produces a limited amount of vitamin D before it begins to degrade at the same rate that it is synthesized.  And, sun exposure leads to the buildup of melanin, which slows the synthesis of vitamin D.   Hollis Adams, “Vitamin D:  Synthesis, Metabolism and Clinical Measurement,” qtd. in Chris Masterjohn, “From Seafood to Sunshine,” WAPF, 2011.
7. It is true that safeguards built into the skin, including melatonin, provide protection against vitamin D toxicity, but this must also be viewed within the context of a nutrient-rich diet with sufficient vitamin A and K2 (see discussion, that follows).
8. Kirchfeld and Boyle, Nature Doctors.
9. John Ott, Health and Light and Light, Radiation, and You.
10. Early sunscreens blocked UVB radiation that causes sunburn, but not UVA rays that affect the deeper layers of skin to cause wrinkles.  These sunscreens lent a false sense of comfort—no sunburn did not mean that the skin was safe.  Today, most sunscreens are “full-spectrum” to also protect against UVA radiation.
11. Fortunately, African Americans appear to have greater genetic protection from osteoporosis and broken bones than those who are more fair-skinned.
12. AA Ginde, MC Liu, and CA Camargo, Jr, “Demographic differences and trends of vitamin D insufficiency in the US population, 1988-2004.”  Archives of Internal Medicine 2009 Mar 23; 169 (6): 626-32.
13. Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., “Vitamin A Saga.”  Weston A. Price Foundation.
14. Holick, 147, 219.
15. Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, “Vitamin A Saga,” 8.
16. Masterjohn, “Seafood to Sunshine,” 9, 10.
17. Krispin Sullivan, “Cod Liver Oil:  Number One Super Food.”  Weston A Price Foundation.org.
18. Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, “Cod Liver Oil Basics and Recommendations.” WAPF.
19. Krispin Sullivan, “Cod Liver Oil:  Number One Super Food.” WAPF.
20. J. Pepping Adams, “Vitamin K in the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis and arterial calcification.” (2005)
21. Chris Masterjohn, “On the Trail of the Elusive X-Factor,” 5.
22. Masterjohn, X-Factor, 6.
23. Masterjohn, “Seafood to Sunshine,” 2.
24. Masterjohn, “Seafood to Sunshine,” 17.
25. Masterjohn, “Seafood to Sunshine,” 25.
26. Michael Holick, Ph.D., M.D., The Vitamin D Solution, for complete discussion of the vitamin D link to these diseases.
27. Robert Vieth, “The Pharmacology of Vitamin D, including Fortification Strategies” and Robert Heaney, “The Vitamin D Requirement in Health and Disease.”
28. Holick, 220.
29. Masterjohn, “Seafood to Sunshine,” 12.
30. Chris Masterjohn, “Science Validates the Benefits of Our Number One Superfood,” 4.
31. Sally Fallon Morell, April 30, 2009, 5.
32. Masterjohn, 3,7.
33. Masterjohn, “Science Validates…,” 6.
34. Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., “Vitamin A Saga,” 4.
35. Fallon and Enig, 4.
36. Masterjohn, “Science Validates…,” 5.
37. Masterjohn, “Seafood to Sunshine,” 9.
38. Fallon and Enig, 8.
39. Fallon and Enig, “Cod Liver Oil Basics and Recommendations,” 2, from Myhre, et al., “Water-miscible, emulsified, and solid forms of retinol supplements are more toxic than oil-based preparations,” American Journal of Clinical  Nutrition, 78 (2003) 1152-9.
40. Elson Haas, Staying Healthy with Nutrition, 97.
41. Haas, 97.
42. Chris Masterjohn, “On the Trail of the Elusive X-Factor,” 5.
43. Masterjohn, “The Elusive X-Factor,” 6.
44. Vermeer C, et al., “Beyond deficiency:  potential benefits of increased intakes of vitamin K for bone and vascular health.” European Journal of Nutrition 2004; 43: 325-335, qtd. in Masterjohn, “The Elusive X-Factor,” 9.
45. Masterjohn, “The Elusive X-Factor,” 9.
46. Masterjohn, “The Elusive X-Factor,” 12.

And every… meat offering shalt thou season with salt;… with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt… Leviticus 2:13

Salt is good… Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another… Mark 9:50

The cure for anything is salt water—sweat, tears, or the seas…Isak Dinesen

This newsletter is a sequel to Gift of the Sea, Sea Vegetables.  Salt and its relationship to health is controversial, which is the main reason for writing.  Salt is also confusing:  There are many new hand-crafted sea salts that are beginning to be produced today, so sorting out sea salts can be a bit like knowing how to choose fine wines—we need to ask where and how they are produced.  For every traditionally-crafted sea salt, there are many industrial salts on the market today that label themselves “sea salt.”

I just read about a couple in Amagansett, Long Island who recently decided to devote their lives to making salt from the waters at their local beaches.¹  Apparently due to the recent and growing appreciation for wholesome, traditional food and as a reaction against standardization that is affecting other aspects of food production, there is an ongoing revival of the art of hand-crafted salt making—on our own shores and in spotty locations around the globe.

Overview.  I gave little thought to salt during my early years in the kitchen.  Table salt filled our shaker and was the staple for all our cooking needs.  Over time, I shifted to sel gris, a Celtic sea salt for cooking and baking.  And, some years ago, I replaced our family’s salt shaker with a salt grinder because I knew that grinding salt exposes fresh surface areas and this enlivens salt and makes it taste saltier, so we use less.  Currently our grinder holds pink crystal Himalayan salt, a salt mined from the Himalayas, but a sea salt nevertheless.

As often happens when researching a simple subject, the journey leads in many directions.  It is the same with salt.  Reading has taken me into the long history of salt through the centuries:  the political power it gave to many, including the Romans, the Mayans, and the Hapsburgs; the growth of cities and trade routes; and, the magical and sacred powers that it held for cultures throughout time.   Early agrarian cultures that did not depend on wild game.  ((Animal flesh is sufficiently salty to sustain life.  The typical person contains the equivalent of three to four salt shakers of salt, which is some indication of the saltiness of animal flesh.  Also, see Table 1 that follows.)) for food knew they needed salt to sustain life—both for themselves and their precious grazing animals.  Thus, most traditional cultures valued salt more highly than gold or silver, and they used it for healing, renewal, and for sacred purposes.

Sea salt is really evaporated sea water, of course.   Subtracting out water’s hydrogen and oxygen molecules, artisanal sea salt mirrors the mineral composition of the seas from which sprang the first forms of early life.  Modern science tells us that sea salt is a rich array of essential and trace minerals which closely and proportionally mirror the mineral salts of the human body.   When mixed with water, sea salt becomes an electrolyte, capable of conducting electricity to support cellular communication and neurological function.

Salt is probably the only natural food (as opposed to synthetic sweeteners and chemical additives) we eat that is not from a plant or animal.   Derived from the oceans, salt is really the mineral product of the weathering of rocks from the continents around the globe.  From its earthly origin, salt has the power to ground us in a harried, hurried world.

Salt, an antidote for radiation, also has the capacity to diffuse “electric smog,” the radiation by-product of our modern lifestyle of cell phones, television and computer screens, and other electronic devices.  As an illustration, salt mines are often used as the holding areas for nuclear waste.  In a related fashion, negative ions generated from churning salt water at the beach help mollify the positive ions that we absorb from our modern electronic/screen-based lifestyle.²  Salt water’s therapeutic effect is one of the reasons that we feel refreshed after a long stroll on the beach.

While not true of fractured refined table salt, hand-harvested artisanal sea salt is a whole food.  Until the last century or so when salt began to be produced in massive quantity by vacuum chambers for de-icing roads and industrial purposes , salt was precious and expensive.  It was mined or manually harvested to sustain the life of domestic animals, to preserve food before electricity and refrigeration, and to aid digestion and accent the flavor of foods.  With its power to build itself into elaborate crystal patterns, artisanal sea salt, like other whole foods, appears to have a life force and “intelligence” all its own.  Sea salt may work in the body in ways very different from common table salt and in ways that we may never fully unravel with a microscope.

Sea Salt, Table Salt, and Salt for Health

Sea salt and table salt.  All the sea salt in the world, whether found deep within mountain ranges, from salt flats, or evaporated by sun and wind in salt marshes, has its origin in the oceans and seas.   Ocean water contains the complete array of earth elements, more than eighty in all.  Water—oxygen and hydrogen—accounts for 95% of the oceans and seas, with minerals explaining the remaining 5%.  Of these, the vast majority is salt, the chemical sodium chloride.

We think of salt as sodium, but it actually contains more chloride:  Excluding sea salt’s moisture content, which generally runs about 5%, natural sea salts are roughly 54% chlorine, 30% sodium, 4% magnesium, 2 ½ % sulfur, and 1% for each calcium and potassium.  The remaining 7%-8% is comprised of 75 or so other minerals and trace minerals.³  As Mark Bitterman notes, nine of the major eleven elements of the body are found in the primary eleven elements of the oceans and seas.    The minerals in sea salt, unlike table salt, not only appear in a similar ratio to be the body, but they are also balanced and in a natural form that is easy to assimilate.

Table salt, in contrast, is highly refined salt; the moisture and complementary minerals are removed and anti-caking agents are added back for easy pouring.  Most mass-produced salt is used for hundreds of industrial purposes.  Only three percent of worldwide industrial salt production goes to food, with a large share simply used for road de-icing as well as industrial and chemical uses.⁴

Table salt, then, is sea salt that has been refined (heated to temperatures as high as 1200F degrees) and bleached to create dehydrated white, uniform crystals of pure sodium chloride.  Table salt, NaCl, is similar to white sugar, C,H2,O :  both are pure chemicals with the trace elements and moisture extracted.  To refi salt, the FDA allows companies such as Morton to add up to 2 percent anti-caking agents, needed to prevent the fine uniform crystals from clumping.   Additives usually include the anti-caking agents, calcium silicate, sodium ferrocyanide, or magnesium carbonate; and, less often, aluminum calcium, ammonium citrate, ferric silicon dioxide, magnesium silicate, propylene glycol, silicate, sodium aluminosilicate, and calcium phosphate.⁵ Other ingredients called humectants may also be added to prevent the anti-caking agents themselves from clumping and caking.

Iodine is a key mineral needed to prevent goiter.  It is naturally present in sea salt, but because it is a highly unstable element, it quickly evaporates away during the industrial refining process.  To prevent goiter, iodine (as potassium iodide, potassium iodate, sodium iodide, or sodium iodate) is often added back to table salt after refining is complete.  Sugar as dextrose and/or other ingredients such as sodium thiosulfate, sodium carbonate, or sodium bicarbonate⁶ are then added to stabilize iodine and make it bind to refined salt’s fine uniform crystals.  The popular Morton brand of table salt, much of which is produced from San Francisco Bay brine, is generally iodine as potassium iodide with the anti-caking agent, calcium silicate.

As mentioned above, sea salt is a whole food that is balanced to meet the body’s general mineral needs and in a form that can be readily assimilated.  After eons when people thrived on natural sea salt, we might wonder how the body is able to adapt in such a short time to modern table salt.  While part of our modern salt cravings may relate to our desire for grounding in a quick-paced, electric smog, stressful world, I suspect another part of our salt cravings may be rooted our body’s search for the essential minerals in sea salt that are refined away.  And, perhaps part of the reason that as a nation our health is suffering from consuming too much salt is that table salt creates imbalances in the body—the body may not be able to handle concentrated sodium chloride that lacks the complementary minerals of natural sea salt.  We can never fully know the implications for the body of eating fractured versus whole foods.  But, before we consider the problems related to salt consumption, let’s take a brief look at the important role that natural sea salt plays to promote good health.

Some important functions of salt in the body.  Using an Eastern lens, Chinese Five-Phase Theory⁷ tells us that salt is associated with the water element; the winter season of the year; the kidneys, bladder, and adrenals; the bones and teeth, and the ears and hearing; and, with will power and vitality and, conversely fear.  Like winter, salt is cooling and contracting, and its direction of energy in the body is inward and downward.   Salt crystals bring clarity and focus to thinking.  Salt moistens and softens; it stimulates the kidneys and adrenals (salty foods can perk us up when we are tired).  Mineral-rich salt strengthens the bones and teeth when used moderately, but in excess salt weakens the bones and the kidneys.⁸

Salt brings balance to the body in many ways.  It is contractive to counter the many expansive foods in our modern diet—refined sugar, refined flour products, sugary drinks, and alcohol.  As a contractive food, it may seem surprising that salt also goes well with other contractive foods like eggs and meat.  The reason is that meat and eggs, as well as grains and beans, are acid-forming foods.  Salt with its rich mineral composition is an alkalizing antidote; it also sharpens the taste of these otherwise bland foods.

So, apart from its ability to preserve food, taste is the obvious reason we put salt on the food we eat.  We are programmed to like the salty taste.   We crave “salty” second only to “sweet.”  Salt enhances “sweet” and tempers the flavors “bitter” and “sour.”  Salting home-cooked food also makes sense because salt aids digestion (chloride and hydrochloric acid), particularly of heavy proteins and starchy foods, potatoes and grains.   Finally, like sea vegetables and when used in cooking or at the table, sea salt can add minerals to vegetables and other home-cooked whole foods.

The Western lens and modern science adds additional perspective about salt:  Chemistry tells us that salt combines with water to create vital electrolytes needed to conduct electricity for cellular communication and brain/neurological function.  Salt helps us focus; it helps us think.

Both the sodium and chloride in salt perform other vital functions in the body.  The three major fluid systems of the body, the blood, lymph, and extracellular systems are salty and require salt for normal functioning.   Sodium is needed for the regulation of many body functions—for the nervous system; muscle contraction and proper heart function; fluid balance; digestion and the absorption of nutrients; the construction of some hormones; and, the regulation of blood pressure, to list a few.

Unlike sodium, chloride, the dominant component in sea salt, cannot be obtained through other foods.⁹ But, like sodium, chloride is an electrolyte supporting nerve and muscle function.  It is needed in a myriad of other body functions:    Chloride helps maintain proper blood pressure, volume and Ph balance; and, it supports digestion and immunity.

The Salt “Problem”

If you have read this far, you know by now that I believe a key problem with salt is the kind we use.  After all, we consume no more salt (in fact less) than a century ago, so why should salt be a problem?¹⁰. Granted, some of our modern health problem with salt may be related to lifestyle factors and to our potassium-deficient dietary habits (see potassium/sodium discussion that follows).  But shouldn’t we also question how the body reacts to pure sodium chloride as a substitute for the mineral-rich sea salts that have always been part of traditional diets?

We are advised today to remove the salt shaker from the table.  Yet, the shaker contributes ever so modestly to our salt consumption.    The problem appears to be not so much the salt shaker but that we purchase so much food that is prepared by others.  These commercial foods are designed to enhance taste and pleasure (blending salt, sugar, and fat) so that we come back for more, again and again.   When we purchase foods prepared by others, whether at the grocery store, restaurants, or fast food establishments, we relinquish our control over our salt intake.  Statistics regarding our modern food habits help to put the salt shaker into perspective:

• About 10%  of our sodium intake comes naturally and directly through the whole foods we eat (largely from meat, poultry, fish, and shellfish; sea vegetables; and high-sodium vegetables like celery, beets, and carrots…see Table 1 that follows);
• A little more than 5% is added through home cooking;
• Roughly 75%-80% of the salt we consume is hidden in processed and restaurant foods.
• Only 5% is added as a condiment at the table, mostly as refined table salt from a shaker ((My blended estimates from figures quoted in The Textbook of Natural Medicine, 1763.))

Salt warnings are generally based on scientific studies that show a link between salt and high blood pressure (salt helps to regulate blood volume, blood pressure, and the flexibility of blood vessels¹¹ ) and, to a lesser degree, a link between salt and cancer.  But these studies do not use sea salt for testing.  We do not know if sea salt would lead to salt sensitivity and hypertension in the same way that table salt appears to.  In defense of this research, I have to allow that, since table salt is what we generally consume, it is the logical choice for research.  But should the finding of scientific studies that use table salt be extrapolated to naturally-harvested sea salts?  And, shouldn’t conclusions about salt intake also be made within the context of a person’s overall diet:  in particular, how much potassium a person consumes relative to sodium?

Sodium in the context of potassium we consume.   If you recall from high school science, the body needs to maintain potassium and sodium (the sodium/potassium pump) in a delicate balance to transport fluids in and out of every cell, to create energy for cellular/neurological communication, and generally to sustain life.  Leaving science aside, it is sufficient here to say simply that the body needs adequate potassium to balance sodium.

Many scientific studies suggest that a diet high in sodium and low in potassium is linked to high blood pressure, cancer, and cardiovascular disease and that a diet high potassium and low in sodium can significantly reduce the risk of these diseases.  While excessive sodium and deficient potassium often lead to high blood pressure, particularly for people who are salt-sensitive,¹² studies also suggest that simply cutting back on sodium does not go far enough.  To lower blood pressure, lowering sodium intake must be coupled with higher levels of potassium.¹³

Unfortunately, for most people the potassium/sodium ratio is out of balance both due to how much salt (hidden in foods) we consume, and to how little potassium (as we skimp on potassium-rich fruits and vegetables) makes it into our diet.  Experts believe that we need about 1 gram of sodium per day, yet the typical American consumes 10 times this amount.¹⁴ Both epidemiological and experimental research suggest that for good health, a person’s potassium-to-sodium (K:Na) ratio should be at least 5:1.  For most Americans (from our reliance upon highly salted prepared products and restaurant foods), this ratio is tipped 10-fold in the opposite direction:  The typical American’s potassium/sodium ratio is 1:2, rather than >5:1 as recommended by health professionals.¹⁵

Table 1 on the following page is my effort to illustrate the favorable potassium/sodium relationship that results naturally from a whole foods diet:  All unprocessed foods—fruits, vegetables, beans, grains, seeds, as well as meat, poultry, and fish that I randomly sampled —have favorable K:Na ratios.  The opposite is true of all processed foods—they all contain far too much sodium relative to potassium.  A bagel, for example, with only 74 milligrams of potassium and 360 milligrams of sodium would have to have >1800 milligrams (360×5) of potassium to bring it to the >5:1 recommended guideline.  Thus, it is easy to see how consuming refined carbohydrates and other processed foods can quickly lead to potassium deficiencies.

Table 1 illustrates several specific ideas:

• Most fruits and vegetables are extremely rich in potassium with potassium/sodium ratios that are many multiples above the K:Na guideline of  >5:1.
• While most fruits have very high K:Na ratios because they have little or no sodium, this is not the case with all vegetables.  Some vegetables like celery and beets are not only rich sources of potassium, but they also have a meaningful sodium component.  This explains the generally lower K:Na ratios of these and other vegetables compared to most fruits.
• Dried fruits like raisins and peaches are particularly high in potassium.  Through a process called biological transmutations, a raisin has 4-5 times the potassium of a fresh grape.  Drying fruits also elevates sodium levels, however, so that the K:Na ratios of raisins and dried peaches are no more favorable than for their fresh counterparts.

Table 1:  Potassium/Sodium Content of Selected Foods

(milligrams per serving)

Source:  Pathways4Health, computed from the  Nutrition Almanac by Lavon Dunne.

• Other plant foods such as whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts and seeds are rich sources of potassium.
• Animal flesh is also a good source of potassium and, while also a good source of sodium, it has a healthy K:Na ratio.  This is also true of most fish, with the exception of tuna.
• The natural sodium in animal-based foods explains why early hunter/nomads did not need to search for salt as did later agrarian cultures…animal flesh provided the salt needed for survival.

Obviously, what Table 1 illustrates is  that the way to boost potassium relative to sodium is to prepare food at home whenever possible.  If you do not cook, try to consume large quantities of fruits and vegetables.  When shopping for packaged foods in the grocery store, read labels for both the sodium and the potassium content.  Become familiar with foods with a favorable potassium/sodium profile.  Many experts believe that boosting potassium relative to sodium can help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cancer.  Potassium is one of the keys reasons that anti-cancer diets stress consuming large quantities of fruits and vegetables  across a color spectrum.

And, a final comment on salt and health:  Recognizing the importance of sodium in the context of potassium intake, it seems logical that to interpret any study about salt and high blood pressure/cardiovascular disease, or salt and cancer, we need to know not only a subject’s salt intake, but also how much potassium a person consumes.

Becoming a Salt Gourmet.

A simple maxim seems to follow from the above:  The more whole foods we buy and prepare ourselves, the more leeway we have to experiment and have fun with artisanal, hand-crafted, mineral-rich salt, both through cooking and at the table.  Because prepared foods explain 70%-80% of the salt consumed by Americans, just cooking meals that emphasize potassium-rich whole foods solves much of the problem.   With the recent, albeit spotty, revival of traditional artisanal salt-making around the globe, there are many gourmet salts to explore and choose from.

An appreciation of fine salt dates back at least to the 15^th Century and Jean, duc de Berry whose bejeweled saltcellars were presented at the table, one to accompany each new course.¹⁶  In this spirit, we are beginning to appreciate that artisanal salts, like a good wine, can richly complement most foods. High quality artisanal salt, like the complexity of a fine wine, comes in many varieties, each with its own nuance of flavor and texture, a product of local environment, climate, and artisanal tradition.  Also, like wine, salts can be confusing.  Let taste be your guide and expect to pay more for quality.  Because salt is used in small quantities, if can be the best investment and complement to any meal.

A Guide to Some Popular Sea Salts.

“After thousands of years of struggle to make salt white and of even grain, affluent people will now pay more for salts that are odd shapes and colors.”…Mark Kurlansky

Hand-harvested French sea salts produced at the mouth of the Loire—from Noirmoutier, Bourgneuf, Guerande, and the Ile de Re—are some of the oldest and still most reliable sources of wind and solar evaporated sea salts.  These salt marshes and supplementary artificial ponds were first developed when the land was controlled by the Vikings, who needed salt to preserve their catch of cod.

In 1972 a small group of surviving French salt makers formed Le Groupement des Producterus de Sel to create quality and production standards and to begin to expand and market Celtic sea salt to global markets.  From these producers come two high-quality, mineral-rich artisanal sea salts, which are the first two listed below:

• Fleur de sel—the finest quality French salt, consisting of delicate flakes that embody a special nuanced aroma derived from organic elements that are incorporated in the evaporation process at the surface of the salt ponds.¹⁷  Fleur de sel crystals form on the pond surface and must be skillfully raked off and harvested before they have time to sink to the gray porcelain clay pond bottom.  Fleur de sel is expensive and its character and crunch should be savored as a condiment.  Like a great wine, its delicate, nuanced character as well as its “crunch” raises it to a level too fine to be used for cooking.

• Sel Gris—like fleur de sel, “gray salt” is an artisanal solar-evaporated, irregular-crystal salt that is full of moisture and trace minerals. It is harvested by raking crystals from the bottom of the clay open-air evaporating ponds soon after they form and sink to the bottom.  Thus, sel gris contains small amounts of porcelain clay that gives it a gray coloration.  In contrast to kosher and mined salts that lack moisture and dry out foods during roasting, baking, and cooking , the high moisture content (13%) means that sel gris can be used in cooking to seal in a food’s flavor and natural juices .  As Mark Bitterman suggests, “Sel gris is the most natural and cost-effective choice for anyone looking to replace artificially refined salts such as table salt, koshering salt, or mass-produced salt.”¹⁸   French fleur de sel and sel gris can be purchased on line,  http://www.celticseasalt.com/. 

• Non-French Sel Gris—other artisanal solar evaporated sel gris sea salts, each with its own character stamped by the land and environmental conditions, are harvested in other parts of the globe.  Mediterranean artisans use salt evaporating pans that are lined with basalt, sand, or concrete, which impart a different quality from the clay pans of Brittany.  In contrast, Philippine producers line their dark mud salt fields with tiles to assure greater purity and ease of harvesting.¹⁹

• Traditional salts—this is a broad catch-all category.  Traditional salts are salts that are allowed to accumulate at the bottom of the evaporating pan for months at a time (in contrast to the daily harvesting of natural-crystals sel gris) so that much more can be harvested.  While rich in minerals, the resulting crystals are large and irregular and are generally ground mechanically to finer crystals.   Sel marin is an example.

• Flake salts—are flat and thin, unlike the dense granules of traditional salts.  While some fine quality flake salts such as Maldon from the south coast of England are from carefully raking salts from the surface of brine and are true artisanal products, many flake salts are produced mechanically by rolling granulated salt.²⁰  Flake salts give a short-lived, bold, intense punch to foods.²¹

• Rock salts—these large, hard-crystal salts are mined from within the earth.  Here, they have been compressed by pressure over millions of years so they lack moisture.   They tend to be less mineral-rich than solar evaporated salts and their mineral complements vary with location. Their low moisture content and the beauty of colored crystals characteristic of many varieties make them an ideal choice for salt grinders.  Himalayan pink salt, which is aggressively marketed by Pakistani producers, is a popular example of rock salt.

• Kosher salt—an industrial salt with a harsh flavor that lacks the natural minerals or moisture of sea salt.  Its course texture is artificially manufactured.  It is not a true sea salt.²²

• “Sea salt”—many salts that claim to be sea salts are really industrial salts from salt water bodies contiguous to dense population areas, such as Morton salt, which is largely mined from San Francisco Bay.  Industrial “sea salts” are washed, ground, and often include anti-caking agents.²³ It is wise to research and read the labels of any sea salt that you buy.

Storing Sea Salt

Moist sea salts like fleur de sel, sel gris, and other hand-harvested moist salts lose some of their quality when they are allowed to dry out.  They should be stored in a glass, air-tight container, with small amounts placed on the table as a condiment and then promptly sealed again after use.  Salts that have lost some moisture can be restored by stirring in 1 teaspoon of water for every 8 ounces of salt.²⁴

Salt Shopping Guide:

Individual Producers/Marketers:

Andes pink salt (714-522-0700)

Celtic sea salt (800-867-7258) and www.

Sea Works unrefined sea salt (800-656-3668)

Tropical Salt Corporation (877-323-6611)

Specialty Salt Retailers (providing a wide spectrum of salts):

The Meadow, www.atthemeadow.com

Saltworks, www.saltworks.com

Salt Traders, www.salttraders.com

Kalustyans, www.kalustyans.com

Reading Resources:

Mark Bitterman, Salted

Mark Kurlansky, Salt:  A World History

Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking

Sally Fallon Morell, “The Salt of the Earth,” http://www.westonaprice.org/vitamins-and-minerals/the-salt-of-the-earth

Paul Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods.

Joseph Pizzorno, Jr. and Michael T. Murray, Textbook of Natural Medicine.

Rebecca Wood, The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia.

Sea Salt Recipe:  Rib Steak in Salt Crust

Sel gris with its high moisture content was the traditional salt used in salt crust cooking.  With heat, the inherent moisture of sel gris forms a crust to seal in a food’s natural moisture.  Unfortunately today, many salt crust recipes call for kosher salt, which is cheap and dehydrates food.   This recipe restores the traditional way of using high-moisture sel gris to seal in the natural juices of steak.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 two-rib bone-in rib steak (about 3 pounds, 2”-3” thick)

1 t. freshly cracked black pepper

2 pounds sel gris, such as sel gris de l’ile de Noirmoutier

2-5 T. water

Leaves from 2 rosemary sprigs

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Heat a heavy iron skillet over high heat for 10 minutes until very hot.  Add the olive oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan.  Pat the surface of the steak dry and season with the cracked pepper.  Brown the steak on both sides, 1-2 minutes per side.

Have ready a baking dish just large enough to hold the steak.  Press the sel gris between your fingers.  It should be moist enough to stick together.  Otherwise, stir in a few tablespoons of water until the salt is moist enough to cling together when firmly pressed.

Spread the sel gris ½ inch thick in the baking dish.  Scatter half the rosemary leaves over the salt.  Place the steak on top and scatter the remaining rosemary leaves over the steak.  Pack the salt around the steak until it is completely encased.  Bake for 30 minutes for rare, or 40 minutes for medium-rare.

Serve with your favorite herb butter.

Source:  Mark Bitterman

Copyright 2011 Pathways4Health.org

1. Amagansett Sea Salt, www.amagansettseasalt.com.
2. See Paul Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods, 202.
3. Calculated from Mark Bitterman, Salted, 33.
4. Bitterman, 25.
5. Bitterman, 191.
6. Bitterman, 191.
7. See http://pathways4health.org/2010/03/01/chinese-5-phase-theory/
8. See Paul Pitchford, 196-204.
9. Sally Fallon Morell, “The Salt of the Earth:  Why Salt is Essential to Health and Happiness,” 31.
10. Fallon, 30
11. Fallon, 31.
12. Salt sensitivity varies with the individual and seems driven by genetic makeup, age, stress, exercise, and the relationship between sodium and potassium in the foods that a person consumes.
13. Adequate levels of calcium, vitamin C, folic acid, vitamin B6, and omega-3 oils also appear to be helpful.  For a discussion and bibliography of journal studies, see Joseph Pizzorno, Jr. and Michael T. Murray,Textbook of Natural Medicine, 1762-1767.
14. Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking, 642.
15. Pizzorno and Murray, 1763.
16. Mark Kurlansky, Salt: A World History, 146-7.
17. McGee, 642.
18. Bitterman, 78.
19. Bitterman, 55.
20. McGee, 641.
21. Bitterman, 77.
22. Bitterman, 185.
23. Bitterman, 189-90.
24. Bitterman, 199.

Throughout much of the year, I enjoy walking some of the same beaches and secluded coves as Anne Morrow Lindberg, author of Gift from the Sea (1955). In doing so, I am touched in many of the same but also different ways by my own connection with the sea. Salt water seems to hold a special magic no matter what our age or in what age we live. Beyond its obvious ability to provide cooling relief from summer’s sweltering heat as well as rhythmic music to soothe away the stresses of urban life, the ocean offers many a special healing balm for body, mind, and spirit.

Apart from its humbling power and majesty, for me its fascination and mystery reaches beyond its expansive beauty. When I walk the ocean’s beaches or bob about in its surf, I feel suspended in time, as if its mineral-rich waters beckon me into a private world where time and space have no meaning.

I have friends who share these feelings—this magic. For it is at the ocean and its shores where we sense a kind of participation with the earliest forms of primordial life, still nourished here by its chilly mineral waters. It is also here that we sense a connection through the soothing salt water to our own beginnings, the saline environment of our mother’s womb. And, another aspect of our affinity for and attunement to the ocean may come from the fact that the blood that feeds and nourishes our every cell is similar in its mineral composition, particularly its sodium/potassium content, to the water of the oceans and seas.

If the ocean seems to suspend time and space, it also serves to unite us in time and space: Through the vast expanse of shared waters, we are joined to distant continents, foreign peoples, and the mineral riches of far-off lands. The ocean is the world’s mineral melting pot and perhaps the largest recycling system anywhere on earth. Eons ago, mineral-rich plates from the ocean floor were heaved through pressure to form the continents that we know today. And, now, through the weathering of rocks, erosion, and water runoff, many minerals and trace minerals from around the globe are continuously returned to the oceans and seas. Here minerals feed the oceans’ unique plant and animal life, while they also bathe our skin in minerals when we swim.

At summer’s end when we may no longer venture to the shores, we can preserve a bit of the oceans’ benefits by consuming mineral-rich sea vegetables. Dried and packaged for a long shelf life, each has its own unique vitamin/mineral profile, woven in harmonious chords to support general health and vitality and offering natural healing balms for a variety of health conditions.

Sun and Salt Water as Warp and Woof for Sea Vegetable Life

When we think of plant life, we generally think of sun and soil and plants rooted in the earth that weave upward against gravity in search of the sun’s heat energy. Sun and earth are the warp and woof of our familiar plant life. We rarely step outside this mindset.
When we limit ourselves in this way, however, we miss the whole world of medicinal, life-nurturing plant life offered by the oceans and the seas. In this world, sun and mineral-rich water together work life into an array of healing ocean plants that thrive in the cold waters of the intertidal zones of our continents. In the words of Rebecca Wood, sea vegetables are “one of the world’s most underutilized foods…[and]…also the world’s most abundant food.”

Growing as they do, weightless, swaying in the currents, and bathed in waters that contain all the one hundred or more minerals and trace minerals in our blood, ocean vegetables have a very different energy (see Signatures of Foods, October 2010), character, and nutritional makeup compared to land-based plants that grow in often-depleted soil and against the force of gravity. Sea vegetables are flexible, yielding, detoxifying, and cleansing—and chocked full of mineral nourishment. When used as modest additions to land-based foods, they enhance the flavor and nutrition of familiar garden fair.

In their unique way, ocean vegetables incorporate minerals into their own plant tissues from their surrounding water environment so that their rich mineral nutrition is easy for the body to assimilate.¹ And, while sea vegetables absorb minerals, they do not absorb toxic metals and pollutants as fish do. They simply do not grow in areas where pollution is high.² Moreover, sea vegetables are actually able to transform many toxic metals in their environment into harmless salts that the body is able to excrete with other waste materials.³

Ocean Vegetables—An Untapped Resource for Health, Longevity and Healing

Ocean vegetables provide ten to twenty times the minerals of land-based plant foods—the complete panoply of 56-64 essential minerals and trace minerals required by the body for its many important functions—all in chelated, colloidal forms that are easy for the body to utilize, and in the ratios found in our blood.⁴ This is significant because while the body requires a host of minerals and trace minerals to support the vast and complex electrical and neurological functions that are the basis of life, the body is not able to make minerals to supply its needs. For minerals the body must rely on food and other outside sources—something that has become more challenging as decades of over-farming have depleted our soil and robbed land-based plant foods of much of their potential nutrition.

While high in protein and fiber and low in fat, seaweeds are a good source of vitamins A, B, C, and E. They are also loaded with minerals, particularly calcium (bones, teeth; heart and muscle regulation); iodine (thyroid function, metabolism, weight loss, and to prevent goiter), phosphorus (bones, teeth, cellular repair; heart; nervous system) , magnesium (bones, teeth; heart, arteries; energy production), sodium (fluid balance; muscle regulation) , iron (blood; stress; immunity), chromium (weight loss, blood sugar regulation), selenium (tissue elasticity), zinc (digestion and metabolism), potassium (high blood pressure and stroke),⁵ and fluorine (immunity; strong bones and teeth).

Sea vegetables are also a rich source of alginic acid, a substance that binds toxins and removes heavy metals and radioactive isotopes from the digestive tract, as well as strontium 90 from the bones.⁶ Their natural antibiotic properties can act against penicillin-resistant bacteria.⁷ Ocean vegetables are also a good source of carrageenan, a stabilizer and emulsifier added to foods, which is used in traditional medicine for respiratory and digestive issues. Because sea vegetables, unlike grains and beans, contain all the essential amino acids, they are a good addition to grains and beans to build plant foods into complete-protein meals. Brown seaweeds like kelp, kombu, and wakame contain natural glutamic acid (its synthetic analog is MSG) that naturally enhances the flavor of foods, tenderizes proteins in beans, and improves their digestibility.⁸

Health Benefits. With sea vegetables’ rich array of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, the list of health benefits associated with them is as impressive as it is extensive. In general, sea vegetables are thought to increase longevity; foster glowing skin and thick, shiny hair; and, support the cardiovascular, endocrine, digestive, and nervous systems.⁹ More specifically, sea vegetables can be used to treat goiter, kidney disease, ulcers, nausea, digestive disorders, obesity, high blood pressure, hypertension, high cholesterol, arteriolosclerosis, hypoglycemia, constipation, bronchitis, metal and radiation toxicity, edema, swollen lymph glands, chronic cough, as well as lumps and tumors and cancer (particularly breast cancer). Traditional Chinese medicine suggests that “there is no swelling that is not relieved by seaweed.”¹⁰ Highly alkalizing due to their high mineral content, sea vegetables help to rebalance the blood from acid-forming foods that characterize the Standard American Diet (SAD). They also dissolve mucous accumulation resulting from the SAD diet centered upon meat, commercial dairy, sugars, refined carbohydrates and vegetable oils, and other rich/ fractured foods. And, as one might expect from their high mineral content, they help us feel centered and grounded.

Using Sea Vegetables. Because they are so very rich in minerals, I like to think of sea vegetables as a supplementary ingredient to add sparingly to foods for color, interest, flavor, and nutrition. Sea vegetables are good complements to add extra nutrition to grains, beans, soups, salads, egg dishes, and sandwiches. I always add kombu or kelp when I cook beans, and I add it to most soups that I make. The glutamic acid in kombu/kelp tenderizes beans, aids in their digestion, and enhances their flavor.

Sea vegetables are whole foods; their minerals synergistically complement each other;¹¹ and, the body is generally able to excrete excessive minerals should they be over-consumed. While sea vegetables offer many benefits, moderation is important, particularly due to the high iodine levels found in many of them, especially varieties of kelp. Some people with sensitive thyroids and mothers who are breast feeding and postmenopausal women, may react to excess iodine.¹² Consumption of iodine at high levels can actually inhibit thyroid function. Iodine can occasionally cause allergic reactions, mostly in the form of skin rashes in some people, and may also worsen acne.¹³

To cook with sea vegetables, rinse them well before using, especially if you prefer to avoid extra salt. Increase your consumption gradually if you think your digestive system may need time to adapt, and keep in mind that soaking sea vegetables for longer times will make them easier to digest. Finall, use them sparingly; sea vegetables are best used as a condiment or a side dish. If you do not like to cook, try a kelp and/or dulse shaker at the table to boost the mineral nutrition of meals. If you do enjoy cooking, a good rule of thumb is to consume a total of about 2 cups of cooked sea vegetables per week.¹⁴

Some Major Types of Sea Vegetables¹⁵

Agar-Agar (Kanten)
Agar is a delightful way to introduce sea vegetables into your cooking, particularly for savory aspics and dessert gelatins and custards. Agar produces a firmer gel than commercial products and it is less inclined to breakdown. A gelatin made from red algaes, it has no taste, no calories, and no smell so it will not interfere with—it actually enhances—the natural taste of fruits and vegetables. It can be used as a thickening medium in cooking and desserts as a healthier alternative to animal-based gelatins.

Health Profile: High in iodine, calcium, iron, and phosphorus along with vitamins A, B-complex, C, D, and K. It reduces inflammation, aids in digestion and weight loss, is a mild laxative, and bonds with toxic and radioactive wastes to help expel them from the body.

Arame
Arame is soft, mild, and sweet in flavor so it adapts to Western tastes. It can be cooked alone, with vegetables or added to salads for color, minerals, and interest.

Health Profile: A rich source of iodine, calcium, and iron, as well as vitamins A and the B-complex. It can support thyroid function, soften cysts and tumors, lower blood pressure, strengthen bones and teeth, support hormonal function and may be helpful with feminine disorders and mouth issues. It also contributes to healthy, wrinkle-free skin and thick, lustrous hair.

Dulse
Dulse is purple-red in color, tender and chewy, with an unusual spicy taste. It goes well with soups, oats and other cooked grains, salads, and vegetables; it also combines well with onions and can be used as a condiment. Rinse dulse well to remove extra salt and the salty flavor.

Health Profile: Of all the sea vegetables, it is the richest in iron, while it also provides iodine, manganese (for enzyme production), phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins A, B-complex, C, E, and trace minerals. Despite its salty taste, it is relatively low in sodium. With its high iron content, dulse is an excellent blood tonic and is used to strengthen the kidneys and adrenals. It is used to treat herpes, seasickness, and sore teeth and gums.

Kombu
Kombu, a member of the kelp family (kelp can be substituted for kombu), is easy to use as a complementary ingredient in cooking, much as one would use herbs and spices. “Considered the most completely mineralized food,”¹⁶ it significantly boosts the nutritional quality of any dish to which it is added. Kombu enhances the flavor of foods because it is high in glutamic acid, the natural version of synthetic MSG. It adds sweetness, derived both from its glutamic acid and from fucose and mannitol, two simple sugars that do not raise blood sugar, which is a boon for diabetics.¹⁷ The glutamic acid in kombu also softens foods so that they cook more quickly and are easier to digest. Kombu is itself softened when cooked alongside other protein-rich foods.

Health Profile: Kombu is high in natural sugars, as well as potassium, iodine, calcium, and vitamins A, B-complex, C, and trace minerals. Kombu (a diuretic) particularly supports the kidneys, hormonal system, and the thyroid. It reduces cysts and tumors; subdues fungal and candida yeasts; treats coughs and asthma while relieving the lungs and throat; and aids in weight loss. Specifically, kombu is used to treat goiter, arthritis, high blood pressure, edema, prostate and ovarian issues, diabetes, and anemia.¹⁸

Besides glutamic acid, kombu is also high in alginic acid, the binding medium that holds sea vegetables together and gives them flexibility to withstand strong ocean currents. Its binding ability and indigestible nature act in the intestine to bind toxins in the colon wall for their natural excretion. Kombu is used in Eastern cultures to prevent and cure colitis.¹⁹

Nori
Due to its mild flavor and multiple uses—especially as the colorful wrap for sushi rolls, nori is the best known and most popular of the sea vegetables. Beyond sushi, nori can be toasted and then torn or crumpled to garnish grains, vegetables, and soup dishes. You do not have to have sushi rice prepared to make a nori roll—anything moist will do. I mix brown rice or quinoa with humus or yogurt; spread it over a nori sheet; add a layer of shredded carrots or other vegetables/fermented vegetables; roll; eat; and enjoy! The combinations are endless; use your imagination with whatever you have on hand.

Health Profile: Nori has the highest protein content (almost 50%) and is the easiest to digest of the sea vegetables. Nori also breaks down fats, so it helps in the digestion of fried, fatty foods. Perhaps most significant, nori is extremely low in iodine. If you want to consume sea vegetables for their many benefits but worry about iodine excess, nori is a wonderful choice. Nori is a good source of calcium, iron, vitamin A, B-complex, C, and D. Like other sea vegetables, nori benefits the kidneys and thyroid, treats goiter, edema, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, coughs, and cysts.²⁰

Wakame
Wakame, the colorful counterpoint of miso soup, is a favorite in Japan, along with nori and kombu. Wakame is mild in flavor, and after soaking, it mixes well with cooling summer vegetables and citrus fruits. In cooking, it combines nicely with onions, other garden vegetables, and boiled or sauted greens. Alaria, another sea vegetable, can be substituted for wakame in many recipes. Like kombu, wakame softens beans and other fibrous foods, enhancing their digestibility and nutrition.

Health Profile: After hijiki, wakame is highest in calcium of the sea vegetables. It is also rich in iodine, iron, and vitamin A, B-complex, C, and trace minerals. Like kombu and other seaweeds, wakame contains alginic acid to bind and help the body expel toxic metals and radiation; it also dispels mucous and phlegm, while it is thought to dissolve masses and tumors.

Reading Resources:
Peter and Montse Bradford, Cooking with Sea Vegetables.
Shep Erhart and Leslie Cerier, Sea Vegetable Celebration.
Jill Gusman, Vegetables from the Sea: Everyday Cooking with Sea Vegetables
Elson Haas, Staying Healthy With Nutrition.
Paul Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods.
Rebecca Wood, The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia.

Recipes: Cooking with Sea Vegetables
Many natural foods cookbooks include recipes using sea vegetables. I have chosen here to use just two sources, Cooking with Sea Vegetables and Sea Vegetable Celebration as a brief introduction to using sea vegetables. Available in simple paperback, these books provide many more interesting and diverse recipes for further cooking adventures.

Agar…

Couscous Apricot Kanten (serves 4-5)
1 ½ cups cooked couscous
2 cups dried apricots (or other dried fruit)
6 cups filtered water
Pinch of sea salt
1 cup agar flakes

1. Spread the cooked couscous evenly in a rinsed shallow dish or mold.
2. Rinse the apricots under cold water to clean, then place in a pot with 5 cups of the water and a pinch of sea salt. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
3. Soak the agar flakes in the remaining cup of water for 10-15 minutes. Add to the apricots and simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until the flakes have completely dissolved.
4. Pour the mix gently over the couscous and leave to cool until firm. Cut into desired shapes.
Variation: Substitute other dried fruits or fresh fruits (these may require a longer cooking time). Sprinkle top with roasted nuts if desired.
Source: Peter and Montse Bradford

Strawberry Kanten (serves 4-5)
½ pound fresh strawberries
Pinch of sea salt
1 cup water
3 cups apple juice
½-3/4 cup agar flakes
4 T. barley malt, or to taste

1. Wash the strawberries carefully and cut in half. Place in a bowl, add a pinch of sea salt and leave for ½ hour to bring out their sweetness.
2. In a pot, add the water, apple juice and agar flakes and allow to soak for 10-15 minutes. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, add the barley malt (taste the mix for sweetness and adjust) and simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until the flakes have completely dissolved.
3. Add the strawberries to the cooked liquid, then place this mixture in a rinsed shallow dish or mold. Allow to cool until firm. Cut into desired shapes and serve, garnished with a fresh berry.
Source: Peter and Montse Bradford

Apple Sesame Custard (serves 4-5)
6 cups organic apple juice
1 cup agar flakes
2 T. natural vanilla extract
3 T. finely grated lemon peel
5 T. tahini
Pinch of sea salt

1. Place the apple juice and agar flakes in a pot and allow to soak for 10-15 minutes. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly until all the flakes have dissolved.
2. With a little hot liquid, mix together the vanilla extract, lemon peel, tahini, and sea salt into a creamy consistency. Add to the hot liquid.
3. Rinse a shallow dish or mold in water and then pour in the hot liquid and leave to cool and firm.
4. Place in a blender and puree until smooth. Serve chilled on its own or as a topping for desserts.
Source: Peter and Montse Bradford

Arame…

Arame Saute (serves 2-3)
½ cup arame
Spring or filtered water
1 t. mirin
1 t. dark sesame oil
2-3 shallots, diced
2 cups button mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 cup match-stick sized carrot pieces
2 or 3 stalks broccoli, florets and stems diced
2 T. sunflower seeds, lightly pan-toasted

1. Rinse the arame well and set aside. It will soften without soaking.
2. Place the arame in a small pan with enough water to cover halfway. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Season lightly with soy sauce and mirin and cook until all the liquid is absorbed.
3. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring until wilted. Add the carrots and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes. Finally, stir in broccoli and season lightly with more soy sauce. Cover and cook over low heat until the broccoli is bright green and crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Stir in the arame and sunflower seeds. Transfer to a bowl and serve warm.
Source: Shep Erhart and Leslie Cerier

Dulse…

Dulse Oatmeal Soup (serves 3-4)
Dulse goes especially well with oats and onions…
5 cups spring or filtered water
½ medium onion sliced in half moons
1 cup rolled oats
½ cup dulse, soaked in ¾ cup water for 5 minutes and finely sliced
Pinch of sea salt
Parsley, scallions or watercress chopped fine to garnish

1. Bring the water to a boil, add the onions and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
2. Add the rolled oats, dulse, soaking water from the dulse and the sea salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the flame and simmer for 20-25 minutes.
3. Garnish with chopped parsley, scallions, watercress, or grated carrots.
Source: Peter and Montse Bradford

Avocado Dulse Dip (serves 2)
1 T. dulse flakes or granules
1 avocado, chopped
3 scallions, diced
1 T. lemon juice
1/8 t. cayenne

Blend all the ingredients and serve with crudités or toasted whole grain pita crisps.
Source: Shep Erhart and Leslie Cerier

Dulse Tahini Dressing (serves 4-6)
An excellent dressing for lettuce-based salads…
½ cup spring or filtered water
2 T. tahini
1 T. umeboshi plum paste
½ cup finely sliced dulse, soaked in water for 10 minutes and drained
3 scallions, finely chopped

1. Warm the water, add the tahini, and stir until creamy.
2. Stir or blend in thoroughly the umeboshi paste.
3. Stir in the dulse and scallions and/or parsley or watercress.
Source: Montse Bradford

Dulse DLT (Dulse, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich)
Small handful of dry dulse, rinsed and dried, or pan fried, or baked at 300 degrees 3-4 minutes until crisp
2 slices whole grain bread; Lettuce; Tomato; Mayonaise
Dulse can also be added to any sandwich for crunch, color, tang, and a mineral infusion.

Kombu/Kelp…

Basic Sea Vegetable Stock (yield 6 cups)
4 to 5 cups spring or filtered water
4- to 5-inch strip kelp or kombu
1/3 cup dried shitake or other mushrooms
1 t. minced fresh ginger
1 T. miso
3 scallions, chopped, for garnish

1. Bring the water to a boil in a 2-quart soup pot.
2. Add the kelp, dried mushrooms, and simmer them for 1 hour.
3. Remove the sea vegetable and mushrooms, dice, and return them to the pot.
4. Add the ginger and simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Stir in the miso and garnish with scallions. Serve or use as stock.
Source: Shep Erhart and Leslie Cerier

Lentil Stew (serves 4-5)
Cooking beans and legumes reduces the cooking time, softens them, and makes them more digestible.
1 cup lentils
1 6-inch strip kombu
3 ¾ cups spring or filtered water
1 cup onions, chopped
½ cup carrots, chopped
½ cup celery, chopped
¼ t. sea salt
Scallions, chopped to garnish
1. Sort and wash lentils
2. Place in a pot with the kombu on the bottom and add the water.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for about one hour or until lentils are almost soft.
4. Add onions and cook uncovered for 5 minutes.
5. Add the carrots, celery and sea salt, cover and cook for a further 10-15 minutes. Check water to be sure it is sufficient, adding more if necessary.
6. Remove the lid, turn the heat up to medium and boil off the excess water.
Source: Peter and Montse Bradford.

Covered Casserole (4 servings)
8 cups of assorted bite-size chunks of 3-7 vegetables…winter squash; carrots; turnip; parsnip; onion; leeks; cabbage; sweet potato; fresh or dried mushrooms
3 or 4 cloves garlic, diced (optional)
One 5- or 6-inch piece of kelp or kombu
One 1- or 2-inch knob ginger, sliced (optional)
One cup filtered water
Scallions, parsley, or edible flowers for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place the cut vegetables and garlic in a large mixing bowl, and mix them together to evenly distribute the garlic.
3. Cut the kelp/kombu with scissors into 1-inch by 2-inch strips and put it at the bottom of the casserole dish.
4. Add the vegetables, ginger, and water.
5. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the vegetables are tender and sweet.
Source: Peter and Montse Bradford
Nori…

Nori Rolls
2 cups cooked rice, hot
2 T. rice or umeboshi vinegar
½ t. kelp powder
4 sheets nori, toasted
Filling:
¼ cup grated cucumber
Dash soy sauce
1 t. sesame seeds, toasted

1. Mix filling and set aside.
2. Mix vinegar and kelp with rice.
3. Place a sheet of nori on a small bamboo mat or heavy cloth napkin.
4. Spread ½ cup of rice over the sheet, leaving a 2-inch edge uncovered at the end of the sheet.
5. Arrange ¼ of the filling in a line across the middle on the rice. Roll the nori in the mat.
6. Place the roll with the seam down to seal.
7. Slice 1-inch thick.

Variations: Use any grain or cooked vegetable combination. Mix umeboshi plum pulp or paste or miso with the grain. Umeboshi plum and vinegar both help preserve the grain, making nori rolls containing either of these an excellent travel food.
Source: Paul Pitchford

Wakame…

Miso Soup (serves 2-3)
½ cup wakame
3 ¾ cups spring or filtered water
1 small onion, sliced into half moons
½ cup broccoli, cut into small florets
1 ½ t. barley miso
Scallion, chopped to garnish

1. Wash the wakame quickly under cold water and soak in a very small amount of water for 3 minutes. Slice in pieces.
2. Bring the water to a boil, add the onions and simmer uncovered for 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the wakame with its soaking water and broccoli and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
4. Puree the miso with a little of the soup liquid in a mortar and pestle.
5. Add to the soup. Reduce the heat to very low and simmer for 2 more minutes.
6. Serve, garnishing each bowl of soup with the chopped spring onions.
Source: Montse Bradford

Split Pea Soup (serves 3-4)
1 cup split peas
6 cups spring or filtered water
½ cup wakame, soaked 3 minutes and sliced into small pieces
1 medium onion, diced
¼ t. sea salt
Whole wheat bread, cut into small cubes and baked, to garnish

1. Wash the split peas and put in a heavy pot with the water and wakame
2. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour (check often, stirring, to ensure that the peas do not stick to the bottom.)
3. Add the diced onions and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes
4. Add the sea salt and simmer for a further 10-15 minutes
5. Serve garnished with the baked bread croutons. The soup can also be garnished with grated carrot of chopped scallions.
Source: Peter and Montse Bradford
Copyright 2011 Pathways4Health.org

1. See Swaha Devi in “Sea Vegetables Are making A Splash,” Alternative Medicine Magazine, January 2001. Colloids retain their molecular identity in liquid suspension and are easily absorbed by the cells of the body. Sea vegetables convert metals which can be toxic into colloids with an inherent negative charge, which work synergistically to boost the actions of other foods and supplements. Chelated minerals are attached to amino acids and other substances to make them easier to assimilate. See Shep Erhart and Leslie Cerier, Sea Vegetable Celebration, 22.
2. Peter and Montse Bradford, Cooking with Sea Vegetables, 12
3. Paul Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods, 581
4. Rebecca Wood, The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia, 306
5. Potassium combines synergistically with sodium, iodine, and calcium to combat hypertension and support the elasticity of arterial walls…Dr Erick Powel, Ph.D., in Kelp, the Health Giver, 16-17.
6. Erhart and Cerier, 30
7. Wood, 305
8. Erhart and Cerier, 23
9. Susun Weed, “Seaweed Is an Everyday Miracle.”
10. Pitchford, 581
11. For numerous examples, see Erhart and Cerier
12. Erhart and Cerier, 23
13. Elson Haas, Staying Healthy with Nutrition
14. Tim Aitken, L.Ac., Eight Branches Healing Arts
15. For more details, see Pitchford, Wood, Erhart and Cerier, Haas, and Bradford
16. Pitchford, 589
17. Bradford, 60
18. Pitchford, 589
19. Bradford, 59
20. Pitchford, 591

What is phytic acid? Most of the phosphorus of plant foods is stored in the outer husk of grains, beans and legumes, nuts, and seeds in the form of phytic acid.  Phytic acid protects the life force (the endosperm) of a seed from germinating until it is planted in soil and watered.  Phytic acid, then, like biological transmutation, is a rather miraculous gift of nature to support our survival:  Phytic acid allows us to store grains and legumes for years and be assured that the inner life force of a seed food will be preserved.  Then, whenever a seed is planted, all that is required are soil and water to break down the phytic acid to allow the endosperm, fed by the starch stored in the seed, to unfold into new plant life.

Phytate as a nutrient and enzyme inhibitor. Phytic acid (phytate) blocks the absorption of calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, and zinc as well as the digestive enzymes pepsin and amylase.  Because some phytate is water soluble, we usually try to diminish its effects by soaking beans and grains before cooking.  Soaking grains and legumes is especially appropriate for modern vegetarians and people in Third World countries where an over-reliance upon phytate-rich grains, beans and seeds can lead to serious vitamin and mineral deficiencies.  Curbing phytic acid for people who rely upon beans, legumes, and grains for protein can prevent serious mineral deficiencies that include  folate (birth defects); iodine (neurological development and growth); iron (brain development and child mortality); vitamin A (immune function); zinc (growth, healing); and vitamin B-12 (neurological development).

Phytate as an antioxidant, a moderator of metabolic stress, and a chelator of heavy metals. Phytic acid’s positive role is not just as the protector of plant life.  While phytic acid presents a problem for mineral absorption and can lead to deficiency, it also performs several positive functions in the body—working  as an antioxidant to offset free-radical damage; lowering the glycemic index of carbohydrates; and binding toxic metals such as uranium and nickel.

Using phytic acid to personal advantage. An understanding of phytic acid and its tradeoffs means we can use or diminish it to fit our own personal health conditions.  If the digestion and absorption of food generally and minerals specifically is an issue, then you will want to soak grains and beans before cooking.

However, if you are worried about blood sugar issues, you might decide not to soak grains and beans in recognition of the inverse relationship between phytic acid and the glycemic index (GI) of foods—lowering phytic acid raises the GI of carbohydrates.  The same non-soaking strategy could be used if you are concerned about heavy metal toxicity.

Interestingly, using probiotics is a way to consume foods high in phytic acid while still benefiting  from much of a food’s mineral nutrition.  This is because probiotics are rich in lactobacilli, a major source of phytase.  Phytase is the enzyme that releases phosphate from phytic acid, thereby altering the structure of micronutrients to enhance mineral absorption.

In contrast to conditions in the less-developed world, most Americans have access to a wide variety of high-quality organic fruits, vegetables, and animal products that can supply rich mineral nutrition.  Today, for many people, more pressing considerations than mineral deficiency may be metabolic stress, insulin resistance, and metal toxicity.   Modern science, by outlining the tradeoffs and choices surrounding phytic acid, enables us to use or to defuse phytic acid in ways that are in keeping with our own unique personal profile to support our health and vitality.

Copyright Pathways4Health.org

I confess that I did not always feel this way. For years, the pages of the “stock-broth” chapter of my cookbooks stayed pristine and unexplored. Why bother? Stocks seemed like such a time-consuming, needless step in meal preparation.

Read this newsletter in its .pdf form (click here) or continue below…

Despite my love of cooking, perhaps I can blame my “Show Me” Missouri roots for why it took so many years…decades really!…for me to get excited about stocks. What ultimately convinced me to begin to make bone stocks was my interest in supporting the bone health of myself and my family. I came to realize that bone stocks are one of the best natural ways to build bone since they are loaded with minerals…calcium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorous, and trace minerals that make bones dense. They also contain collagen to keep bones strong and flexible.² As they say, “You are what you eat.” So, I began to make bone stocks and to use them as the liquid in cooking, especially when preparing soups and grain dishes. Subsequent reading and research on the medicinal value of bone stocks helped me further appreciate stocks’ incredible and natural healing power for other health issues, as well.

Our forebears seemed intuitively to appreciate so much of this. In traditional cultures, bone marrow preparations were often used, especially for children, both as a calcium-rich substitute for milk and as a special dietary supplement.³ And, bone stocks were relied upon by cultures around the globe for nutrition and health. Animals were valued members of a family’s economic system and often slaughtered reluctantly. Bone stocks were a way to convert the tough meat and carcass into something hearty and nourishing and assured that no part of the animal went to waste. Stocks were valued for their tonic, digestive, assimilation powers. They were also used to bolster the immune system and to nourish people with wasting diseases, since the protein-sparing nature of the gelatin in stocks helped to preserve the muscle mass of people who were chronically ill.⁴

It is easy to understand why, over the course of the last century, we have forgotten the ecological and medicinal reasons for making stocks: We have lost much of our connection with farm animals as more and more are now raised far away on isolated commercial factory farms and then sold in conveniently- wrapped supermarket plastic or transformed into fast food innovations. Meanwhile, wonder drugs of the pharmaceutical companies have devalued such preventive, natural remedies.

Interestingly, it seems that some ingredients of our modern 21st century economy and culture point to a budding revival of the homemaking arts, as well as a movement back toward the kitchen. The same seems true for investing time in making stocks…Environmental concerns mean conservation and ecological responsibility are de rigueur as we grow more mindful of waste in all forms, including animals. Disenchantment with the drug industry, combined with an aging population and widespread chronic disease, are leading many back to traditional, natural therapies. Also, as technology, electronic screens, and a “distracted” lifestyle seem to rule so much of our life, investing time to start a 24-hour bone stock in a slow cooker can be an easy, helpful, grounding counter-cultural experience. It sends a “slow-down” message to our family and friends and one that says cooking at home is worthwhile. Stocks allow us to add more intense and pleasurable taste to a dish and to know and control the ingredients in our food. In addition, when we take the time to make stocks, we avoid commercial food additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG) that are so often found in commercial stocks.⁵ Perhaps we also gain a greater appreciation for the animal that feeds and nourishes us, as well as for the food chain in general. Lastly, knowing and appreciating as I do now the diverse medicinal powers of bone stocks, I find the experience of preparing them to be one of the most valuable, natural ways that I can support my health and the health of my family.

Why Bother? Bone Stocks for Health

The nutritional value of bone stocks varies with the type of animal used, and whether you add vegetables, herbs, or other ingredients to the pot. Bone contributes minerals and collagen (with its healing gelatin) to a stock without adding taste; meat adds taste but supplies little medicinal value. For this reason, using both flesh and bones together results in a hearty and delicious bone stock—to be enjoyed on its own or used in cooking. Chicken is a favorite choice of many because it has a rather neutral flavor, but other stocks made from beef, fish, seafood, and vegetables deliver more mineral nutrition (see Table, below). When scanning the Table, pay less attention to numbers and more to appreciating the nutrition offered by different cooking ingredients. Also, precise numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt since the nutritional value of any stock will vary, of course, with the quality of ingredients, as well as your own digestive/absorptive capacity. An implicit message from the table is that any bone stock becomes more nutritious and more mineral-rich with the addition of vegetables…or herbs, and/or kelp.

Mineral Nutritional Value of Stocks
(milligrams per 100 grams)

Source: Food and Our Bones, Annemarie Colbin, PhD

This newsletter cannot cover all these stock types. Bone stocks is a topic that fits perfectly this cold winter season and is more than enough for one newsletter. So, here we will focus on stocks made with bones and the medicinal reasons that make them worth the time and effort that is needed to prepare them. In an upcoming issue, we can turn our attention to fish and vegetable stocks, which require an hour or less to prepare and are more in keeping with the longer days and more outdoor time that comes with spring. Fish stocks are natural medicinal aids for people with thyroid problems (an issue that affects some 40 percent of the population). Vegetable stocks are adaptable to what is available throughout all four major seasons. Vegetable stocks add flavor and minerals to any dish and are a wonderful way, used as liquids in your favorite recipes, to add nutrition and to supplement the diets of picky eaters. But for now…let’s focus on bone stocks…

Bone Stocks for Bones. As noted, bone stocks are one of the best natural ways to grow bone and support bone health. Fortunately, at whatever age, there is much we can do to rebuild bone.⁶ Bones are hardly the rigid, static objects they appear. They are constantly in the process of remodeling—this is a combination of the catabolic/breaking down process called resorption, and the anabolic/building up process called deposition. The important thing to grasp is that bones are dynamic and that they act as storage “closets” where the body hangs extra protein and the minerals calcium, magnesium, sodium, and phosphorus to be readily available, like a winter coat, to meet the body’s needs when called upon. The human body stores in the bones 99 percent of its calcium, roughly 85 percent of is phosphorus, and between 40 and 60 percent of its total sodium and magnesium.⁷ These minerals give bones density, while the collagen matrix, which provides the matrix structure for the deposition of minerals, gives bones strength and flexibility. Bone stocks are an easy source of collagen, to foster strong, flexible bones. To build dense bones requires many factors, but one of the most important is the mineral magnesium, which is found in whole grains, beans, vegetables and fruits. Magnesium is needed for the absorption of calcium into bones—which might otherwise be deposited into joints and organs like the kidney and gallbladder. The magnesium levels of bone stocks, many of which are already high (third column, Table, above), can be enhanced by the addition of vegetables.

Collagen/Gelatin and Health. The potential link between gelatin (derived by simmering bone collagen) and health is fascinating. Gelatin was a popular remedy, especially for digestive issues, before the advent of synthetic drugs. While many of the early studies concerning the health benefits of gelatin have been lost, research by Francis Pottenger (“The Hydrophilic Colloidal Diet,” in Pottenger’s Cats, 1937) and N.R. Gotthoffer (Gelatin in Nutrition and Medicine, 1945) survive to this day and have much to offer us. Both research documents contain evidence of the potential health benefits of gelatin and draw more attention to gelatin’s potential healing power for many ills: digestive issues like Crohn’s, irritable bowel disease, and hyperacidity; bone health; immune issues; wound healing and skin diseases; rheumatoid arthritis and other joint diseases that involve collagen; detoxification; and even cancer. Research on gelatin seems to be reawakening; it is exciting and could fill a whole newsletter. If you enjoy science and are interested in reading further, I highly recommend “Why Broth is Beautiful—‘Essential Roles for Proline, Glycine and Gelatin’” by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD. It is available on line through the Weston A. Price Foundation: http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/brothisbeautiful.html. In addition, while Gotthoffer’s book is out of print and therefore expensive to obtain, a variety of findings from the book–about gelatin’s role in health–are quoted in Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions. This book is not only readily available but also an asset for any cookbook shelf, particularly if you are interested in making stocks.

Our quick overview of gelatin and health would not be complete without saying a few words about the work of Francis Pottenger. Above all, gelatin is acknowledged for the important role it can play in healing digestive issues. For this affirmation, we owe much to the pioneering work of Pottenger. Pottenger realized that, unlike raw food which is “hydrophilic” and attracts digestive juices, cooked food is “hydrophobic,” and repels digestive juices. This causes food to become layered in the stomach, rather than being digested in a uniform mass, creating greater stomach acidity and digestive distress.⁸ Pottenger’s experiments showed that by adding gelatin to a cooked meal, foods were better able to absorb digestive juices (think how Jello works to draw in liquids), thus leading to smoother digestion and reduced stomach acidity. Based on this research, Pottenger successfully used gelatin-rich meat stocks both to treat disease and to support general health.

A Few Background Concepts Related to Bone Stocks, Health, and Cooking Preferences

Collagen. Connective tissue like animal skin, cartilage and bones are rich sources of collagen. In contrast to meat, which is just one percent collagen by weight, bones are about 20 percent collagen, pig skin around 30 percent, and animal knuckles up to 40 percent pure collagen.⁹ And, collagen– tough, resilient, and flexible—is really just gelatin molecules tightly bonded and intertwined as cross-linked triple helixes. Temperatures that create a gentle simmer efficiently break collagen’s triple helix bonds to release gelatin.¹⁰ The older the animal the longer it takes to break these bonds. At the same time, prolonged periods of heat weaken the gelatin molecules that have already been freed, rendering them less able to hold body and thicken liquids…so for jelling, prolonged simmering is not always better. Timing will be a function of your objectives: you can create a firm, gelatinous stock that simmers for less time (2-6 hours), or you can extract every bit of nutrition from the meat and bones and be able to consume the bones and marrow if you simmer your stock for 24 hours. Many professional chefs would advocate that meats should be tasted and stocks strained once meats have lost their flavor.

Gelatin. Gelatin has been criticized because it is not a complete protein and cannot sustain life on its own. This is true. A gelatin molecule is composed of close to 1,000 amino acids, but of the “essential” aminos, it has no tryptophan and lacks adequate amounts of methionine, histidine and tyrosine. Gelatin is really a rich source of only glycine and proline (along with hydroxyproline, its active form). And, to be health-supportive, gelatin, like all amino acids, requires the fat-soluble vitamins A and D in sufficient quantity. Still, with adequate supplemental nutrients, gelatin does deserve a place in health and healing: for digestive conditions; for those who cannot obtain or digest adequate protein (due to its protein-sparing role), and for those with wasting diseases (due to its ability to preserve muscle mass that might otherwise be dismantled in conditions of disease or malnutrition). Finally, as it relates to cooking, gelatin is the easiest, most flexible and most forgiving of all protein thickeners used in the kitchen.¹¹ It can be heated and cooled numerous times, liquefying and re-jelling again and again.

Commercial Gelatin versus Bone Stocks, For Healing See Rebecca Wood ‘s thoughts, below.

Animal skin. Animal skin is made up largely of fat and connective tissue. Skin and fat add flavor to any stock, as well as extra collagen. Important to recall, too, is that fats are essential to allow us to absorb the mineral nutrients in foods. So you may want to cook a chicken, for example, with the skin.

But, some stock recipes call for skinning before beginning to cook… Lost in this process is not only the time required to skin but also the value that fat can add to a stock. So why bother? One reason is that at high temperatures, fat, which might normally remain floating at the top of a simmering pot, can begin at a prolonged boil to be dispersed throughout the liquid, producing a greasy tasting stock. Since you always begin a bone stock with cold water and heat it slowly to allow the flesh to gradually release nutrients into the water, it can be hard to control the heat if you are not watching carefully. What you want is to have the water move slowly to a simmer but without boiling. Obviously, a watchful eye is not always easy with life’s distractions and/or with family about. Also, if you are like me and prepare multiple foods when in the kitchen, it can be hard to devote the attention required to catch the simmer before it breaks into a boil. For this reason, skinning may help you avoid the risk of a greasy stock.

Stock pot or slow cooker? Stock pots are wonderful, especially for vegetable and fish stocks that have a short cooking time. But, considering the long time that bone stocks require and that we may not want to leave our pot on the stove unattended for the long hours of cooking, you may prefer, as I often do, the convenience and security of an effortless slow cooker.

Acidic additives…vinegar or wine? Bone stocks do very well without the addition of vinegar or wine. The result will likely be a more gelatinous stock, since acids can weaken gelatin. At the same time, you may not extract as much nutrition without the addition of an acid. It really depends upon what you are trying to achieve. Should you opt for an acid component to extract more nutrients, a good rule of thumb is to use one tablespoon of vinegar or a half a cup of wine for every two quarts of liquid.

Making Bone Stocks… Equipment and Materials

There are a host of wonderful cookbooks describing how to make bone stocks. Many suggest a large stock pot and organic meats, which you bring to just a boil, reduce the heat, skim off foam that floats to the surface, add vegetables, and keep at a slow simmer for some hours depending on the meat…beef for at least 8 hours so it has time to surrender all its minerals and flavor, and chicken for about half that time. I truly enjoy reading the author/chefs who describe this process and, much like cooking shows on television, I can live the dream along with them–down to imagining the wonderful aromas as well as the delicious tastings from frequent sampling of the stock as it gathers richness and body.

But if you have never cooked stocks, I want to be realistic. I want you to be successful. And, I want it to be easy. I usually use a slow cooker for bone stocks because I cannot stay in the kitchen hour after hour, and I am also not comfortable leaving the house with a pot on the stove. So, for now, since bone stocks cook for very long periods and because our modern world is full of distractions and commitments that pull us out of the kitchen, I recommend a slow cooker, especially if you are just starting out to with bone stocks. A slow cooker is easy, safe, effortless, and rather fail-proof.

Special equipment you will need:

• A slow cooker large enough for your needs (or stock pot, if you choose)Strainers and sieves; perhaps cheese cloth if you desire a clearer stock
• A cooking thermometer is helpful to monitor temperatures with a stock pot

A few guidelines:

• Water should barely cover ingredients. Add more if needed
• Never salt a stock. Bones have sodium and flavors concentrate
• Start with cold water and bring just to a simmer, with bubbles barely breaking the surface of the water. Never boil a stock. High temperatures can integrate the fat with the liquid, resulting in a “greasy” rather than a clean tasting stock. A slow cooker is perfect for a slow simmer: Even“High” is calibrated to be below the boiling point.
• Skim the impurities that rise to the top…most foam will rise in the first hour of cooking
• Taste the meat when you suspect it has surrendered its essence. When tasteless, stop cooking and strain the stock, unless you are making a 24-hour stock and intend to eat the bones
• Cool the stock and allow the fat to rise to the top. Skim off the fat when it congeals
  Stocks keep in the refrigerator for about a week, but should be boiled about every three days to kill bacteria. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Always bring a thawed stock back to the boil to restore its life.

Many bone stocks use both meat and bones. Bones provide collagen and gelatin for health; meat, which has only 1 % collagen, provides taste. Rich, delicious stocks are the result of using both.

Bone Stock Recipes…From the Simple to the More Complex

With no recollection of my own bone stock beginning, I suspect that I started making bone stocks because of Timothy Aitken, L.Ac., a kind and wise healer whom I first met years ago as a teacher at the Natural Gourmet Institute. His recipe for a 24-hour bone stock is below. It uses a slow cooker and is easy and effortless. Next is my own favorite version based on Tim’s, using organic chicken legs–because legs are succulent and economical and because the abundant joint tissue gives a high collagen/gelatin yield. The next recipe is for a very rich bone stock from my good friend Ellen Arian, a professional whole foods chef. This recipe, by adding vegetables, is rich in magnesium and potassium. Last you will find a beef stock recipe from Annemarie Colbin that explains some of the merits of marrow. This recipe could be made richer with the addition of 1-2 pounds of beef short rib.

Eight Branches Organic Chicken Bone Soup

4 pound organic chicken, well-washed and skinned
4 skinned chicken breasts, or other chicken pieces, if there is room in the pot
1-2 large onions, chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
3-5 ribs of celery

Place chicken in large crock pot with enough water to cover plus 2 inches extra and begin cooking on high. When simmering well, turn to low and cook for about 20 hours, adding more water to keep covered, if needed. Add chopped vegetables about 2 hours before you plan to finish. Broth may be strained and used as a tonic when recovering from colds or the flu; it may also be used in soups, bean dishes, or to cook grains (my favorite…I freeze this in 2 cup batches and cook with grains in my rice cooker) Chicken may be eaten, bones and all…alone, in salads, as additions to soups, etc.

Source: Tim Aitken, L.Ac.,Eight Branches Healing Arts

Pathways4Health Chicken/Bone Stock

Three pounds (about 12 legs) of organic chicken, or whatever fits well in your slow cooker
2 Bay leaves
Sprig of Fresh rosemary, or 1 t. dried, if desired (it is a good anti-inflammatory); 1 t. dried thyme
4 quarts boiling water
¼ cup organic apple cider vinegar or ½ cup white wine (to be added later).

Combine all ingredients but the vinegar in a 4-5 quart slow cooker, turned to high. Skim off foam, if it exists. Let legs cook for about 4 hours until meat begins to fall off the bone. Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a large bowl. When cooled a bit, remove the meat from the bones and store it in a covered container in the refrigerator for another use. [Since meat is just 1% collagen, saving it to eat and cooking the bones for gelatin is my preference to avoid waste, unless your goal is to maximize taste.]

Return bones to slow cooker along with all the knuckle, gristle, and skin. Add the apple cider vinegar. Turn slow cooker to low, cover with lid, and let simmer for up to 20 more hours.

Strain the stock, reserving the bones and discarding the other solids. Store the bones in the refrigerator in a covered container.

Cool the stock overnight in a covered container in the refrigerator, then remove the fat from the top and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

If you chose to try eating the bones, the sensation is a bit like eating shoe-string potatoes…slightly crunchy, rich, and satisfying. Marrow is full of bone-building minerals, of course, as well as fat to help with their absorption.

Very, Very Rich Chicken Bone Stock… A bowl or two can make a meal.

3-4 pound chicken, whole or in parts
12 cups cold water
3 or 4 large carrots
2 or 3 celery stalks, with leaves
1 parsnip
1 onion, peeled
½ head garlic
1 leek
2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme
Handful fresh parsley leaves and stems
8 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
Other vegetable scraps, like fennel fronds, chard stems or squash ends
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Fine sea salt to taste

Into a large stock pot, place cleaned chicken and water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes. Skim and discard any foam that appears.

Meanwhile, clean the vegetables and herbs, and cut the vegetables into large pieces so that they will fit inside the pot. Add all the ingredients, except the sea salt, to the soup pot. Bring the soup to a boil again, reduce the heat to very low, and simmer uncovered. After the first hour of simmering, remove the chicken, take the meat off the bone, and set it aside to be added back to the soup when it’s finished cooking (boiled meat is rather spent after 6 hours in a pot). Simmer the soup uncovered for another five hours. Then remove it from the heat, strain, skim the fat if there is an abundance, and serve with the reserved chicken pieces. This serves a family of five, so it can be cut down.

Source: Ellen Arian, www.ellensfoodandsoul.com

Beef Stock

Once you’ve made this stock, don’t be so quick to discard the bones. The marrow that remains within is a rich source of calcium, fat, iron, and zinc. In fact, it has three times more calcium than milk, ounce for ounce. Although it’s fallen out of favor as a food, marrow was an esteemed source of nutrients in the past. If you’d like to give it a try, blow or scrape it out of the bones after the stock is cooked, spread it on whole grain toast, and top with a little
salt and white pepper.

Makes 3 quarts.

2 pounds beef marrow bones
4 quarts cold water
1 large carrot, top ½ inch discarded, chopped
1 medium onion, quartered
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
½ cup parsley stems (no leaves, which add green color)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup red or white wine, or 2 tablespoons wine vinegar

Place the bones in a stockpot with the water, bring to a boil over high heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Skim off as much of the foam as possible.

Add the carrot, onion, celery, garlic, parsley stem, oil, and wine, lower the heat to maintain a very low simmer and cook for 6 to 8 hours with the lid ajar, skimming occasionally.

Strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve without pressing on the solids. Cool the stock before storing in the refrigerator overnight, then remove the fat from the top. It can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Source: Annemarie Colbin

Reading Resources:

• Annemarie Colbin, Food and Our Bones and The Whole-Foods Guide to Strong Bones
• Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking
• The Joy of Cooking
• Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions
• Frances Pottenger, Pottenger Cats
• N.R. Gotthoffer, Gelatin in Nutrition and Medicine
• http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/brothisbeautiful.html
• http://www.westonaprice.org/Bone-Marrow.html
• http://www.rwood.com/Articles/Traditional_Bone_Stock.htm

Rebecca Wood, Award-Winning Julia Child Chef, on… Traditional Bone Stock (Gelatin)

Here’s how the classic energy tonic, bone stock, deliciously soothes whatever ails you. It increases endurance and strengthens the gastro intestinal tract and the immune system. Plus it sublimely increases the flavor and texture of savory dishes.

How does purchased stock compare to home-made? Like cut glass to a diamond. It is stock that ultimately determines the success of a dish. Thus cooks world-wide and through the centuries have regarded silky, gelatinous, marrow bone stock as an essential ingredient for soups, sauces and pilafs.

Because gelatin is concentrated protein, you may regard it as the original–and healthful–protein isolate. These long chained protein molecules may be extracted from animal skins or bones.

Today’s commercial gelatin, however, is derived only from animal skins, it is a protein source, but that’s all. It is not an energy tonic. Whereas, gelatin extracted from bones is a nutritious source of protein as well as collagen, calcium, minerals and the amino acids proline and glycine. Bone stock is a remarkable and healing food.

Thus a traditional chicken stock made of the carcass is fondly dubbed “grandma’s penicillin” for its effectiveness in combating the flu. Stock made from poultry or other bones increases endurance and strengthens the immune system and veins, arteries, muscles, tendons, skin and bones. It also soothes and heals the gastro-intestinal tract and is thus a potent medicine for people suffering from food sensitivities and digestive or bowel problems.

Even vegetarians use this gelatinous tonic medicinally because bones, like leather, are a by-product. Thus, no matter your dietary preferences, health or age, you’ll benefit from bone stock.

The secret to a bone energy tonic is long cooking with a little solvent such as vinegar or wine to extract nutrients. Because bones are dense it takes a long time to draw out all their nutrients. Excessive cooking will break-up the earliest-released gelatin molecule chains and produce (when chilled) a thin—instead of a thickly quivering—gelatin. Therefore, for thick gelatin, you may extract three different batches of stock from one pot of bones.

Stock is a forgiving recipe that easily accommodates your schedule and a little under- or over-cooking. Do try it and soon you’ll gain a sense of mastery and your own stock rhythm.

I make a week’s supply of bone stock and use it liberally in any savory dish that calls for liquid. Or, for a quick pick-me-up, I season it to taste and drink this consommé as an on-the-spot restorative.

A Final Comment…

In doing research for this newsletter, I was fortunate to have a conversation with scientist and practitioner Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, who wrote the “Broths are Beautiful” article referred to on above. I called her to ask where to find a reliable, organic source of dried gelatin for use in cooking. This question turned into a broader discussion about gelatin, bone stocks, and health. My conversation with Kaayla made me aware that many who are interested in stocks for the health benefits they can provide are not comfortable using animal bones. In response to my question about how to improve the gelatinous quality of my own stocks, Kaayla reminded me that one of the very best ways to derive gelatin from bones is to use shanks, knuckles, and marrow bones. Of course this would be the case since they contain up to twice as much collagen as regular bones (page 5). These are delicious slow-simmered with beans for a hearty and nutritious meal. This traditional way of cooking makes so much sense since the gelatin in knuckle-type bones would act as a protein-sparing agent for meals relying simply on the protein of beans. In our next newsletter we plan to expand upon this concept while offering recipes for shank soups, hocks and beans, bone marrow spreads…the perfect antidote to the March damp chill and biting winds.

Kaayla helped me recognize that some of you may not want to cook with bones. Also, organic knuckle- and shank-type bones maybe hard to find. So, I decided to add one last resource section to this newsletter… to provide sources where you can order homemade organic stocks. Some of the providers listed below also sell organic shank, marrow, and knuckle bones. For a more complete listing, see the Weston A. Price Foundation shopping guide, www.westonaprice.org.

Sources for Organic Bone Stocks:

• Bonewerks stocks (800-542-3032)
• Chesapeake Gardens beef, chicken and fish stocks (800-886-0272)
• Grazin’Acres beef and chicken stock (608-727-2904)
• Green Acres Farm beef and chicken stock (717-661-5293)
• Miller’s Organic Farm beef, chicken and fish stock (717-556-0672)
• Perfect Addition frozen stocks (949-640-0220)
• Stock Options stocks and demi glace (503-236-7810)
• US Wellness Meats beef stock (877-383-0051)

As always, readers are invited to join the discussion in our comment section below and share this month’s newsletter with a friend by clicking on the green “ShareThis” link at the top of this page.

Copyright 2010 Pathways4Health.org

1. A stock is a liquid in which foods have been simmered and, when removed, leave behind in the liquid their flavor and mineral nutrition. Stocks are one of the best, easy-to-absorb ways to enrich your body with minerals.
2. To bone-up on bone health, see Annemarie Colbin’s The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones (2009) one of thebest, reader-friendly and thorough books on this topic.
3. Weston A. Price, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 260.
4. Carl Voit, qtd. in N.R. Gotthoffer, Gelatin in Nutrition and Medicine, 7.
5. See October08 Newsletter: Excitotoxins.
6. See Colbin, The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones.
7. Colbin, Food and Our Bones (1998), 17.
8. Francis Pottenger, Pottenger’s Cats, p. 102.
9. Harold McGee, 598.
10. McGee, 597.
11. McGee, 603.

Traditionally at this time of the year, our forebears gladly left behind the warm hearth of the “keeping room” and moved to the “summer kitchen.” The summer kitchen was an addition added to the back of the house for hot-weather meal preparation and dining. Facing north,¹ this segment was positioned to escape the intense rays of the summer sun. The summer kitchen provided an informal lifestyle, with meals centered upon food picked fresh from the garden, using minimal application of heat for cooking.

Today, the warmer, extended days of summer invite us also to shift to a less-formal way of living. Summer can encourage us to change the pace, to lighten up, to adventure, and to try out new experiences. In view of the glorious fresh produce that summer gifts to us, I cannot think of a better concept to fit these seasonal themes than to ferment fruits and vegetables from our own backyards, orchards, or our local farmers’ market.

Fermenting invites exploration, experimentation and innovation because any fruit or vegetable can be fermented. It is an age-old technique that relies on the natural abundance of lactobacillus and other beneficial bacteria (that are associated with all plant foods and raw milk), as well as their ability to convert carbohydrates into lactic acid, other organic acids, and carbon dioxide. It is a different process from alcoholic fermentation, which involves yeast working on carbohydrates to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide, so fermented foods can be enjoyed by people who are yeast-sensitive.²

Fermenting fits the spirit of the summer kitchen because it requires no heat source and no fancy equipment. It is a living, dynamic process. Results will vary with temperature, humidity, and the ingredients used. Even with the same ingredients, every fermenting experiment can be unique, since fruits and vegetables vary in their degree of ripeness and nutrient density. And, ferments will also be unique because they incorporate on any given occasion a kaleidoscope of fermenting microorganisms from within your local environment. Of the millions of microbial cultures, no exact set will ever be replicated again in quite the same way. It is an endlessly interesting experience.

Why Ferment?
In the modern world of refrigeration/freezing we no longer must rely upon fermentation to preserve our food. But with the convenience of cooling appliances, have we lost sight of the health-enhancing qualities inherent in fermented foods? These were benefits that our ancestors seemed to appreciate so well. In the past, fermentation helped make foods more digestible and more nutritious and served to boost their immunity in times before antibiotics.

Because the lactobacillus is so prevalent, it quickly destroys toxins and makes foods more digestible and nutritious as it creates new vitamins, enzymes, and antioxidants. It enhances the taste of fruits and vegetables, especially as a condiment, and as you gradually acclimatize to the refreshing “zip.” And, fermenting foods is another way to “eat local” since preparing foods in this way helps incorporate beneficial local microbial organisms into meals.

Fermented Foods and Immunity…Probiotics. Fermented foods are “pro-biotics.” Unlike “anti-biotics” which kill off good intestinal flora, fermented foods are a natural source of “friendly” bacteria for the digestive system. They help to preserve and restore the balance of good bacteria in the intestinal tract to keep harmful bacteria and yeast in check. Establishing good intestinal flora is like providing and supporting the proper soil nutrients in an organic garden. A commercially-raised carrot will not have the same nutrient density as one grown organically. And, similarly, an organic carrot will not be digested and absorbed unless the “soil” of the digestive system is enriched by adequate friendly bacteria to allow for its proper assimilation. As fermentation guru Sandor Katz suggests:

By eating a variety of live fermented foods, you promote diversity among microbial cultures in your body…Your body is an ecosystem that can function most effectively when populated by diverse species of microorganisms.³

Our digestive system is the seat of our immunity. Having a healthy intestinal environment is the cornerstone of a strong immune system because it is here that the lymphoid tissue of the intestine creates lymphocytes and immunoglobulins. Friendly bacteria in the intestinal tract are also essential for the proper functioning of disease/cancer fighters like neutropils, macrophages, interferons, and cytokines.⁴ It is for these reasons that more than 80 percent of our immune system resides in the “gut.”⁵

Prebiotics. As mentioned above, almost anything can be fermented, and in infinite combinations. Fermentation can help put diversity back into our diet. Our Palaeolithic ancestors ate from an estimated 500 plant species, which provided a wide array of “prebiotic” foods. Prebiotics are non-digestible foods that foster the growth of friendly bacteria. Key prebiotics are foods with soluble-fiber such as tempeh (fermented soybeans), raw oats, whole wheat and barley, as well as inulin-containing foods like onions, garlic, chicory, jicama, and Jerusalem artichokes. Manufactured and prepared foods in the modern diet leave many people deficient both with respect to probiotics and prebiotics:

It may or may not be a coincidence that increases in inflammatory conditions in general, allergic conditions, obesity, coronary heart disease, and cancers in the western world have paralleled the decreased consumption of probiotics and prebiotics, but also a reduced variation in the prebiotics consumed.⁶

Fermentation Opens the Door to Possibility, To the Wonders of the “Whole” Beyond the Analysis of the Microscope. In the “magical” process of fermentation, microflora working on foods produce alcohol, lactic acid, and acetic acid. These substances work as “bio-preservatives” to retain nutrients, prevent spoilage, and make food more digestible. Sandor Katz defines fermentation as “the action of life upon death” whereby living organisms consume food matter and transform it, freeing nutrients for the further sustenance of life.⁷ Indeed, fermentation brings a bit of alchemy right into our own homes. It can open any kitchen to the worlds of innovation, exploration, and experimentation, and it can awaken the imagination:

The deeper we go into the facts of life, the more mysteries we encounter. Analyzing living systems, we often have to pull them to pieces, decompose complex biological happening into simple reactions. The smaller and simpler the system we study, the more it will satisfy the rules of physics and chemistry, the more we will understand it, but also the less ‘alive’ it will be. So when we have broken down living systems to molecules and analyzed their behavior, we may kid ourselves into believing that we know what life is, forgetting that molecules have no life at all.(( Nobel laureate Albert Von Szent-Gyorgyi.))

Fermenting Foods…A Simple Beginning Using Quality Vegetables and Salt
This newsletter is meant to simply whet your appetite for fermenting foods. Reading Sandor Katz’ and Nancy Lee Bentley’s books (see resource list, page 5) may inspire you to think of fermenting some of your favorite foods, particularly since this process is so closely tied to digestive-immune health and a mainstay defense against chronic disease.

Fermenting Basics

How Does It Work?
The lactobacilli culture is on the surface of all plants—grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables. As mentioned above, lactobacilli work on carbohydrates in fresh produce, producing lactic-acid.⁸ As long as you have a preponderance of lactobacilli to start, they will destroy the pathogenic bacteria and dominate a fermenting culture.⁹ Salt is needed in the first several days to check putrefying bacteria until sufficient lactic acid builds up to take on the preservation role. Lactic acid increases the vitamin and enzyme content of foods, while it also supports good gut flora, neutralizes anti-nutrients, and improves digestibility.

What Do You Need?
All that is required… fresh organic vegetables, a sharp knife and vegetable grater, sea salt,¹⁰ filtered water, wide-mouth jars or glass/ceramic nesting bowls, and a tamper.

Containers: Glass jars or ceramic bowls work best. Avoid metal since fermenting acids and salt will corrode metal.

If using a bowl, a cylindrical shape is best because this shape is easiest to cover and weight ingredients to extract juices and to assure that all food is submerged. A round bowl requires only a plate to cover and then a weight placed on top. The weight can simply be a jar filled with water, or anything you have on hand. Once ingredients are weighted, the salt will continue to extract liquids from the foods, which usually results in ingredients that are submerged in their own juices by the following day.

If using wide-mouthed jars, be sure to pack ingredients tightly, using a tamper or your hands. If necessary, weight by nesting another jar filled with water on top of salted ingredients until enough liquid has been extracted to cover ingredients. You may need to add a bit of brine. Allow an inch or two at the top of the jar since foods and juices will expand during fermentation.

Salt: Salt not only pulls water from foods, but it also discourages the growth of “bad” bacteria, while allowing lactobacilli (which can survive in a salty environment) to set to work. After 2-3 days of fermentation, vegetables begin to soften and acidify. If you prefer to ferment without salt, you might try celery juice as a substitute.¹¹ A good rule of thumb is to use 2-3 tablespoons of salt for every 5 pounds of vegetables. Use only a quality sea salt, since supermarket salts have added aluminum and anti-caking agents.

Brine: Brine, which is simply sea salt diluted in filtered water, helps to protect against the growth of undesirable microorganisms, and it also helps enhance the flavor of the fermentation. How much salt you use is a matter of taste. The saltier the brine, the slower your foods will ferment, and the more sour (acidic) the final product. Ultimately, with too much salt, no microbacteria can survive.

Fresh and Pure Produce: Make sure that your foods, utensils, and jars are cleaned well. Fresh, local, organic foods not only are the most nutrient-dense, but also will have the most water, which is something that aids fermenting when the goal is to assure that all ingredients are submerged. Vegetables lose water with time and do not ferment as easily.

Steps to Follow:
Preparing foods for fermentation: Fresh vegetables are usually chopped or grated. I find grating works best if you are using wide-mouthed quart jars, where food is a little trickier to pack and to weight since the jar is not a perfect cylinder. Grating allows you to pack foods like shredded cabbage or carrots tightly into a wide-mouthed jar, which can be done with your hands or a tamper

Grating or finely chopping foods creates more surface area for the salt to work. Salt pulls out juices and pectins from vegetables, giving them more “crunch.” Pounding, packing, and weighting foods breaks down cellular walls and helps draw liquids. (You may want to chop rather than to grate beets, since beet sugar can ferment rapidly, favoring alcohol over lactobacilli…unless, of course, this is your intention!)

Fermenting whole vegetables: To ferment whole vegetables, such as cucumbers, zucchini, string beans, green onions, garlic, etc, mix a brine to taste and be sure vegetables are completely submerged.

Submerging ingredients: The key principle to assuring a good fermentation is to have all ingredients submerged in liquid so they are not exposed to air. Fermentation is a biochemical anaerobic (without air) process that involves the oxidation of sugars and starches. Should there not be enough liquid to submerge ingredients, simply mix a bit of filtered water with sea salt to create a brine and cover to insure that all ingredients are submerged. If ingredients are allowed to come in contact with air, they may mold. This mold is harmless…just scrape it off since all the foods below are perfectly fine. You may want to add a bit more brine to insure in the future that liquid is sufficient to block oxygen.

Time and Temperature: At a room temperature of 70-75 degrees, foods should ferment in two to four days. They should then be moved to the refrigerator or a cool, dark place.

Reading Resources:
Sandor Katz, Wild Fermentation
Nancy Lee Bentley, Truly Cultured
Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions

Simple Fermenting in Your Summer Kitchen:

Starter Recipe: Master Vegetable Ferment in a Quart Jar:
One wide-mouth quart jar
Grated clean, fresh, organic vegetables
Mix in 1-2 tablespoons of sea salt
Pack firmly into the jar, in layers as you go, either with your hands or a tamper
Use filtered water to fill to the cover ingredients, leaving an inch at the top because both ingredients and liquid will expand during fermenting.
Cover with a lid and leave at room temperature for three days, assuming a room temperature around 70 degrees. Warmer temperatures require less time, and cooler will require more.
Vegetables that work well when grated: Cabbage, carrots, turnips, daikon radish, zucchini, garlic.

Pickled Zucchini
Young zucchini with tender skin, grated
2 teaspoons of sea salt for every 2 pounds of zucchini
Filtered water

Pack grated zucchini into a quart jar. Mix sea salt with filtered water and add. Place on counter top for 3 days and then move the jar to the refrigerator. This is good with a salad of fresh tomatoes, onion, and zucchini.

Of all the vegetables man can conserve through lacto-fermentation, cabbage has been man’s preferred choice”…Annelies Schoneck.

Simple Sauerkraut

One head of organic fresh cabbage, shredded
2 Tablespoons Celtic or sea salt
Filtered water

Mix cabbage and salt. Pound cabbage with a rubber or wooden mallet or a meat tenderizer to bruise cabbage to help release juices. Pack cabbage into a quart jar with a tamper or your hands, leaving about 2” of space at the top. Add filtered water until cabbage is fully submerged. Cover the jar with a lid and leave at room temperature for 3-7 days. Taste everyday after the third day and place in the refrigerator when you are satisfied with the taste. The kraut will keep in the refrigerator for two to three months.

Variations: I like to mix in some grated apple or carrot, or try some seasonings like caraway seed or juniper berries.

Ginger Carrots (yield: 1 quart)
4 cups grated carrots, tightly packed
1 T. freshly grated ginger
1 T. sea salt

In a bowl, mix all ingredients and pound with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer to release juices. Place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar and press down firmly with a pounder until juices cover the carrots. The top of the carrots should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and leave at room temperature about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.
Source: Sally Fallon

A Final Comment…The Art of Fermenting Varies With the Lens of the Artist…Just as in our June 2009 newsletter discussion of natural sweeteners, it seems even the experts do not agree. Fermenting is truly an art and you are welcome to indulge in your own “writer’s license.” It seems that fermenting is generally more predictable when you seal off oxygen and when you add whey for the acidity that it adds, but neither is essential. You can see what fits best for you and how much experimentation and variation you are willing to tolerate. There are many workable variations…

Is whey necessary to ferment fruit?

• “Whey is essential in the recipes calling for fruit.”…Sally Fallon

• “We ferment with a mix of vegetables and fruits, but you can ferment fruit alone…If you have extra whey, use it, but it is not necessary.”…Richard Pooley, M.D.

• Sandor Katz also ferments fruits without whey (See recipe below).

Recognizing that produce needs to be submerged in brine, must you also cover with a lid thought the fementing process?

• “Ferment “until ripe. Taste your ferments as often as you like for the taste that you find most pleasing to you.”…Sandor Katz

• “Leave a 1 inch space at the top of the jar…and close the lid tightly…the presence of oxygen, once fermentation has begun, will ruin the final product.”…Sally Fallon

Fruit Kimchi
¼ pineapple 1 small bunch of grapes, stemmed
2 pitted plums ½ cup cashews, or other nuts
2 cored pears 1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
1 cored apple 1-2 fresh jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
2 teaspoons sea salt 1-2 hot chilies or red hot pepper in any form, fresh or dried
Juice of one lemon 1 leek or onion, finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped 3 T. grated ginger

Chop fruit into bite-sized pieces. Leave grapes whole. Add in any other fruit you want to try. Add nuts and mix together. Add salt, lemon juice, and spices and mix well. Stuff kimchi mixture into a clean quart-size jar. Pack tightly into the jar, pressing down until the brine rises. If necessary, add a little water. Weight down with a smaller jar, filled with water, nested at the top. As this sweet kimchi ages, it will develop an increasingly alcoholic flavor. Let age on the countertop about a week. Shift it to the refrigerator.
Source: Sandor Katz, Wild Fermentation

Copyright 2009 Pathways4Health

1. The front door and living spaces faced south to catch the sun’s warmth during frigid winter months.
2. I owe Richard W. Pooley, M.D., much for sharing many of these ideas and inspiring me to incorporate fermentation into my own kitchen.
3. Sandor Katz, Wild Fermentation.
4. Natasha Campbell-McBride, M.D.
5. This newsletter is not meant as an exhaustive study of the relationship of the good intestinal flora, the immune system, and physical and psychological health. I leave this for a future newsletter.
6. University College of London, Liver Institute. PubMed UI: 11706296.
7. Wild Fermentation, 33.
8. When it comes to limiting the action of bacteria that spoil foods, lactic acid is more powerful than any other organic acid and, unlike alcohol and acetic acid which must be broken down by the body and eliminated, lactic acid can be used constructively to enhance health…Annelies Schoneck.
9. Richard W. Pooley, M.D.
10. Not to be confused with supermarket table salt, with contains anti-caking “fillers.”
11. A favorite technique of Sandor Katz.

• Summary and Conclusions
• Overview
• The Sun and Sunscreen Facts
• The Sun and Sunscreen Safety
• Sunshine, Vitamin D, and Health
• Hormones and Full-Spectrum Light

July Recipes:  Blueberries… July is National Blueberry Month

July and August are the classic vacation months when we question how to be safe in the sun.   We are told to protect ourselves from the sun’s damaging UV rays.  But, the sun can also be an ally, particularly as we age, since moderate exposure can provide health benefits for the prevention of a variety of chronic diseases.

Most people experience 50% to 80% of their lifetime exposure to the sun before the age of 18.  Also, melanoma-type skin cancers are associated with severe sunburn experienced before the age of 20.¹ But as we age, we especially require vitamin D to support health:  Vitamin D partners with calcium to support healthy bones and works as an ally in the prevention of depression, osteoporosis, cancers (since vitamin D regulates cell growth), diabetes, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, and other inflammatory and chronic diseases.  The most natural, non-toxic form of vitamin D comes from the sun, because the body makes vitamin D from sunshine only in amounts that are needed. “…sunlight destroys any excess vitamin D that your body makes, so you could never become vitamin D intoxicated from sun exposure.”²

Obviously, balancing the risks and the benefits of exposure to the sun, particularly with the erosion of the ozone layer, is challenging.  This newsletter covers sunscreen safety, as well as the role of sunshine and vitamin D in supporting health.  Since interests vary, I have summarized and placed first  the key ideas of this newsletter to allow you to read selectively:

Summary…Sunshine Safety and Measures for Health?

• Children and teens can err on the side of less sun and more sunscreens.  With children generally, we do not need to think too much about the sun as a healer of chronic disease.  These are the years to be sensible in order to avoid melanoma cancers in later life.  At the same time, through gradually building up to the sun, sunshine can be very helpful in reducing childhood asthma and wheezing disorders while it enhances growth, bone formation, energy, and mood.
• For adults, sunlight is a major agent that can help prevent a host of chronic diseases. These are the years when the risk/reward appears to tip toward seeking moderate exposure to the sun…particularly since the seeds of melanoma skin cancer were already laid down during childhood.  On the positive side, moderate doses of sunshine can help protect against internal cancers and chronic, inflammatory diseases perhaps to outweigh the risks of skin cancers, many of which can be managed by periodic visits to the dermatologist, and through prudent year-round exposure to the sun and adequate antioxidant nutrition.  So, you may want to get 15-30 minutes of sun exposure and then apply sunscreen.  Since the face and head account for less than 10% of your total skin surface, applying a sunscreen to your face (especially in the summer) before going out in the sun can help prevent aging, while you absorb for a time helpful rays on exposed areas of other parts of your body before applying sunscreen.
• No matter your age, build up with gradual exposure to the sun. Begin in the spring with 5-15 minutes, progressing to 30 minutes a day, exposing face and arms, when possible.  Darker skinned people with more melanin in their skin can handle more sun than those who are fair.
• Eat nutrient-dense, antioxidant-rich organic fruits and vegetables to boost your internal defenses to the sun’s free radical effects. Some experts believe that the sun’s rays work as a catalyst for the body to release internal toxins through the skin and that sunburn is exacerbated by nutritional deficiencies that leave the skin vulnerable to DNA mutations from radiation.³ So avoid foods with a heavy pesticide load, choosing instead fruits and vegetables that provide a rich array of antioxidants, as well as foods and supplements that provide high-quality oils.
• Skin cancer versus chronic disease. While it is true that excessive exposure to the sun (you should never expose your skin to the point of burning or blistering) does increase your risk of basal and squamous cell skin cancer and can prematurely age the skin, sensible and frequent mild exposure, combined with an antioxidant-rich diet, may be the best strategy to avoid serious chronic diseases.
• The most effective sunscreens contain zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. These two ingredients “create a physical barrier that sits on the skin’s surface and are not absorbed into the body.  They reflect light away from the skin, the way a mirror would.”  Try to look for a sunscreen that contains antioxidant vitamins like vitamins C and alpha-lipoic acid, which can be helpful in parrying any stray free-radical damage to the skin.⁴
• To derive the most health benefits, frequent, short exposure to sunshine is best.  There are no set rules about how much sun is optimal, since this will vary with your age (vitamin D deficiency increases as we age), skin color (longer exposure for darker skin)⁵, with where you are located on the globe (less is needed at the equator and more toward the poles), and your state of health (sunshine can be helpful for depression, inflammation, high blood sugar, fragility fractures, chronic pain, PMS, psoriasis, and diabetes and obesity, to name just a few.
• Light rays absorbed through the eyes stimulate the pineal gland (called the “third eye” because of its link to hormone function).  You might consider wearing glasses that allow UV light to pass through, and sunglasses tinted a neutral grey in order to decrease uniformly the amount of light across the broad spectrum.⁶
• Scientific studies suggest that sunshine exposure both through the iris of the eye and on unprotected skin is important for general health.  For anyone with a chronic disease, sunshine can be used medicinally, often with very positive results.

Overview

It is vacation time again when the prior months of short-winter and rainy-spring days have depleted us of vitamin D, so we naturally crave the sun.  Weekends and vacations tempt us to stretch out to feel the sun’s energy penetrate our being.  Every cell of out body is equipped with vitamin D receptors, and perhaps this explains why we broadly sense its deeply restorative power.

Traditional cultures worshipped the sun.  Without building temples, we do too, in our own informal ways.  But what distinguished traditional cultures was their respect for the sun’s power:  Each spring, they adapted gradually to the sun, building up protective melanin in their skin⁷ to be able to tolerate its power well before the strongest days of summer.  They planned outdoor work to avoid the sun at its most intense hours.   Work started early in the day, with a break for a long noon meal and rest, before resuming again in mid-afternoon.  And, they ate whole foods rich in antioxidant protections.  To expose our “virgin” skin to the vacation sun lying flat on a reflective sandy beach or on a float in a pool while consuming the Standard American Diet is a modern phenomenon.

Today, while our need for vitamin D is as great as ever (we are more deficient in vitamin D than any other vitamin—some  80 percent of Americans, 90 percent of Hispanics, and 97 percent of African Americans are vitamin D deficient) we must worry about our exposure to the sun.  It is not only the erosion of the ozone layer, but also our modern indoor lifestyle that make us ill-suited for the quick shift to long vacation days in the sun, especially at a beach or pool.  The best strategy is to begin in the spring to work into the sun, if possible, by exposing your skin to the sun for 15-30 minutes a day, before or after the hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.   This will help build your resilience and also your vitamin D levels.

The Sun and Sunscreen Facts:

Sunlight’s three rays, UVA, UVB, and UVC:

UVA radiation is a major concern because it easily travels through the ozone layer, with few sunscreens offering UVA protection.  UVA rays cause wrinkles and aging; damage the immune system; and foster skin cancers.

UVB rays appear less lethal than UVA rays since the ozone layer absorbs the majority and sunscreens provide protection.  Excessive UVB radiation that does get through causes sunburn, damage to the immune system, and can lead to cataracts and skin cancer.  But we do need some UVB exposure (which sunscreens parry) since it is UVB rays hitting unprotected skin that enables the body to create vitamin D.

UVC rays, the shortest wave length, can damage tissue, but they are largely screened out by the ozone layer.  We do need trace amounts for good health.  UVC rays perform a positive role in science and industry through their ability to kill bacteria.

Melanin in our skin helps to protect us against the sun.  Sunlight stimulates the body to make melanin, its effort to protect skin cells from ultraviolet radiation. The darker your skin, the more protection you have from the sun.  With increasing exposure to the sun, melanin builds up for many people, so the risk of sunburn often decreases as the summer season progresses:   Sun exposure that would burn us on Memorial Day or in June may be easy to handle in August, at least from the standpoint of sunburn.  People with a lighter natural skin color have less melanin and need to take more care.  The same is true of adults and children who have a lot of moles and/or a family history of skin cancers.

Babies and the Sun. Sunscreen should not be applied to babies under 6 months of age.  Babies need to be kept out of the sun.  Their skin is very thin, they are not able to fend off toxins in sunscreens, and melanin has not built up in their skin to offer sun protection.

SPF (sun protection factor), a measure only of UVB protection. What is SPF?  If you would normally begin to burn after 10 minutes in the sun, then an SPF of 30 would theoretically allow you to be in the sun 300 minutes (10×30) before burning.  This calculation is an estimate and is influenced by whether you perspire, or engage in water sports, and by the strength of the sunlight.  There is little need to pay for higher than SPF 30, since higher levels add little additional protection.  (An SPF of 8 is enough to block out 93% of UVB radiation, while an SPF of 15 blocks 99%, so either would be sufficient to blunt the potential vitamin D benefits.)⁸

There is no such thing as a “sun block.”  The FDA plans to ban this label.  Also, tanning lotions and suntan products do not generally provide protection from UV rays.

The Sun and Sunscreen Safety

Activities that take you to the sun for prolonged periods of time are best handled by covering up with a hat and clothing, or seeking shade.  If you are engaged in sports that do not allow for cover, you will want  a good sunscreen that effectively blocks out damaging UVA and UVB rays AND does not breakdown in the sun.  Sunburn and skin damage are not the same issue…

Sunburn is caused by UVB rays, but skin is especially damaged by UVA rays that SPF ratings do not speak to.  Sunlight is made up of three types of radiation, so just because we use a sunscreen to prevent a tan or burn does not mean our skin is safe from the sun. (See discussion above.)

Unlike UVB, UVA rays leave no overt footprint.  But, UVA rays damage the skin and the immune system by intense exposure.   Few sunscreens protect against UVA.  The best protection is offered by zinc oxide and titanium dioxide.  (Avobenzone and Merxoryl SX, two UVA-screening ingredients approved by the FDA, break down in the sun.)

A sunscreen’s “sun protection factor” (SPF) can be misleading:  It does indicate its protection against UVB tanning/burning rays, but little about its screening of UVA radiation.  Sunscreens that do protect against both are normally denoted as “UVA/UVB” or “broad spectrum” sunscreens, but the SPF number applies only to UVB radiation. There is no numerical rating system of UVA protection.

The United States is behind Europe in analyzing and authorizing sunscreen ingredients.⁹ With few effective agents, every year new ingredients appear, some of which break down in the sun and pose the risk of free radical damage, both to the skin and to the environment.  For every active sunscreen ingredient, there are 100 non-sunscreen “fillers.”  (Especially, BEWARE OF PARABEN.  It is a carcinogenic agent that is put in many skin creams and lotions for creamy smoothness.)  Some added ingredients react with each other.  Some are absorbed through the skin and enter the blood stream and can cause toxic effects, create allergic reactions, or disrupt hormone function.¹⁰ Testing is left to the manufacturer:  the government does not require companies to test their sunscreens for safety before they are allowed to be marketed on store shelves.

Without government sunscreen regulations, we are fortunate that in 2004, the non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) stepped in to begin to test sunscreen ingredients and to offer advice and help.  In its 2010 update, only 39, or 8 percent of the 500 products tested were approved for use.  EWG bases its ratings on three criteria:

1. Effectiveness at blocking both UVA and UVB radiation;
2. Stability of the active ingredients when exposed to the heat and light of the sun; and
3. Safety of the active and inactive ingredients with respect to the health risks of children and adults, alike.

Of the 500 major sunscreens tested by the non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG), only 39, or eight percent of the total, tested well.  The following list includes the makers of some of the top brands of approved sunscreens:

[Note that Banana Boat, Neutrogena, and Hawaiian Tropic are not on the approved list.]

Look for a sunscreen that provides protection at a 30+ SPF level (higher brings little additional advantage) and with the stability to stand up to the sun’s rays…the ones that contain zinc or titanium dioxide. Avoid oxybenzone (a synthetic estrogen) and retinyle palmitate. Retinyle palmitate (vitamin A) appears in some 40 percent of all sunscreens on the market this year and is believed to foster skin cancer when applied to skin that is then exposed to the sun.  To find the rating of your current sunscreen see http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen .

Sunshine, Vitamin D, and Health

What is vitamin D? Vitamin D in its active form is actually a hormone.  Our body makes vitamin D in a multi-step process that involves the liver and kidney, but it all starts with unprotected skin absorbing the sun’s UVB rays.  Interestingly, vitamin D is the only vitamin that we can make all on our own,¹¹ and virtually all the cells and tissues of the body [as well as the kidneys] have the capability to activate vitamin D.¹²

Vitamin D is important, particularly in infancy and childhood but also throughout life, for healthy bone formation, for mood, for a vibrant nervous system, for thyroid function and fertility, for normal blood clotting, for healthy skin and teeth, and even for the prevention of some forms of internal cancers.  Vitamin D also enhances vitamin A and vitamin C, as well as a host of minerals, especially calcium, phosphorus, and choline.  Since vitamin D is fat-soluble, it is stored and retained by the body over a prolonged period, even up to a year.  Vitamin D synthesis declines 80% between the winter and summer, but most people can gain enough sun exposure from spring, summer, and fall to store vitamin D in body fat for release during the winter months. ¹³ So while we may enjoy warmth and the feeling of sunshine on our skin, it is not critical to experience the sun every day in order to be healthy.  The amount of sunshine on unprotected skin that is in keeping with good health depends on a person’s age and skin color, the time of year, the geographic latitude, as well as the person’s state of health (since the sun can be used medicinally for chronic illness).

Since vitamin D appears in only a few foods (cod liver oil, egg yolks, liver, and oily fish like salmon and sardines¹⁴ ), for all practical purposes, and unlike vitamins A, C, and E, it is hard to find adequate amounts of vitamin D through food.¹⁵ Also, vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, which means, when taken orally, it could accumulate to potentially toxic levels.¹⁶. Thankfully, this does not happen with sunshine, since our body is able to self-regulate to stop making vitamin D when it is no longer needed.  So, the very best source is from sunshine, and it is the only source that assures that vitamin D cannot build to toxic levels.

Vitamin D and Cancer.

Vitamin D helps the body utilize calcium to grow bone and support the normal functioning of the heart and nervous system.  Vitamin D also partners with calcium in its role to support cell differentiation when the body makes new ones.¹⁷ This explains vitamin D’s important role in the prevention and remission of internal cancers, particularly colon, breast, prostate, and ovary.¹⁸

In 1979, the DeLuca Group reported that “essentially every tissue in your body appeared to recognize the active form of vitamin D.” (Holick, 66.) This led to an understanding that “because every tissue and cell in your body has a vitamin D receptor, we think that vitamin D acts as a sentinel for your health in that it will control cell growth.  If the cell growth becomes malignant, it will either return the cell to normal or induce apoptosis, cell death.” (Holick, 69.)

As early as the 1940s, it was reported that it was easy to find and treat non-melanoma skin cancers and that this might be a reasonable risk/benefit strategy to seek some sun exposed in view of the danger of undetected internal cancers developing due to lack of exposure to sunshine.¹⁹ Research suggests that most people who develop skin cancer are not as inclined to develop deadly internal cancers.  And, even most melanomas occur in areas that receive virtually no sun exposure.²⁰ In addition, most cancer patients are deficient in vitamin D and a vitamin D deficiency increases the risk by “30%-50% of developing some of the most deadly cancers.”²¹

Hormones and Full-Spectrum Light Through the Eye?

Full spectrum light through the iris of our eye stimulates the pineal and pituitary glands for proper hormone and brain function.  John Nash Ott was an early pioneer who explored more than 40 years ago the benefits of full-spectrum light.  He concluded that, “There are neuro-chemical channels from the retina to the pineal and pituitary glands, the master glands of the whole endocrine system that control the production and release of hormones. This regulates your body chemistry and its growth, all organs of your body, including your brain, and how they function.”²²

Ott derived his conclusions from observing changes in reproduction in plants and animals when they were deprived of full-spectrum light.  He also discovered that his arthritis disappeared when he broke his glasses so his eyes were exposed to direct sunlight.  (UVB rays do not pass through glass.)  In 1959, Dr. Jane C. Wright, working at the Bellevue Memorial Medical Center in New York City, picked up on Ott’s work.  In her cancer research work, she instructed 15 women with cancer to be out in the sun as much as possible, without wearing sunglasses. At the end of the summer, 14 women experienced no growth of their tumors, some of which improved.  The one woman, who did not get better, misunderstood the instructions and wore her regular glasses in the place of sunglasses.

Whether the exposure of the eye to full spectrum light is a positive for health may be a function of a person’s diet and general nutrition.  It is possible that nutrient-dense, antioxidant-rich whole foods equip the body to deal with the oxidative stress and free-radical effects of the sun’s rays, enabling the positive benefits of full-spectrum light to outweigh the negatives for people with a superior diet. There is much still to be explored in this field to better understand the potential health benefits of sunlight.

For some stimulating reading on this under-researched topic, see John Nash Ott’s, Health and Light (1973) and Light, Radiation and You:  How to Stay Healthy (1990).  For more information on vitamin D and cancer and chronic disease, see The UA Advantage and The Vitamin D Solution by Dr. Michael Holick, as well as his interview article in the May/June 2008 issue of Alternative Therapies.   Holick, a pioneer in vitamin D research, discovered the mechanisms for its synthesis in the body.  Continuing on the forefront of vitamin D/health research today, he is a voice worth listening to.

July Recipes:  Blueberries, a Truly National Fruit

Blueberries are a fitting way to greet the July 4^th Holiday since blueberries are a true national treasure, a fruit native only to North America.

Blueberries are loaded with iron and provide a variety of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, including vitamins A and C and a host of health-supporting phytochemicals.  Nutrient dense, they are thought to play a role in the prevention of a variety of chronic disease, from cancer to Alzheimer’s.  Blueberries’ role in brain health is associated with its anthocyanin, which gives blueberries their deep color and appears to protect the signaling neurons in the brain from oxidative stress, aiding neurological function and memory.  See  http://pathways4health.org/2010/04/09/blueberries/

Copyright 2011 Pathways4Health.org

1. www.kidshealth.org
2. Alternative Therapies, May/June 2008.
3. The Gigantic Sunscreen Hoax.
4. Ralph W. Moss, PhD, “New Evidence that Vitamin D Fights Cancer.”
5. Archives of Internal Medicine
6. www.healingcancernatually.com
7. Nature also designed humanity to accommodate to the sun’s rays.  People living at the equator had more melanin and therefore darker skin to provide greater protection than lighter-skinned peoples living in northern latitudes.  The same phenomenon applies to eye color, with people living at the equator having a naturally deep-brown/black iris, compared to light-blue tones of Scandinavians.  www.second-opinion.co.uk/full_spectrum_sunlight
8. Holick,70.
9. The FDA has approved just 17 sunscreen ingredients, compared to 29 that are authorized in Europe.  We also permit just 4 UVA-screening chemicals.  The only two viable and effective UVA ingredients are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, two stable components that do not penetrate healthy skin.
10. The EWG comments:  “ …consumers who use sunscreens without zinc and titanium are likely exposed to more UV radiation and greater numbers of hazardous ingredients than consumers relying on zinc and titanium-based products.  Sunscreens without these two ingredients contain four times as many high-hazard ingredients known or strongly suspected to cause cancer or birth defects, disrupt human reproduction, or damage the growing brain of a child.
11. Jeremy Laurance, www.healingcancernaturally.com.
12. Holick, 73.
13. Holick, 67.
14. Farm-raised salmon, fed a diet of pellets, has only 10%-25% of the vitamin D levels of wild salmon….Holick.
15. There is essentially no vitamin D from any dietary source.  It’s principally found in oily fish or in sun-dried mushrooms and in fortified foods, like milk and orange juice.  But there are only 100 international units (IU) in a glass of milk or vitamin D-fortified orange juice.  We now recognize that for every hundred IU you ingest, you raise your blood level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [a precursor of the active hormone form] by 1 nonogram per milliliter (ng/mL).”…Holick.
16. This is a widely-recognized view.  However, Holick believes the risks are exaggerated, “Vitamin D intoxication is one of the most rare medical conditions worldwide.” 72.  Holick recommends “at least 400 IU for adults over the age of 50, and 600 IU for people aged 70 and older.  But now many experts agree that both children and adults need a minimum of 100 IU of vitamin D a day to maintain a blood level of 25-dydroxyvitamin D that we consider to be healthful, which is above 30 ng/mL.”
17. Suzanne VanDeGrift, “Calcium and Vitamin D:  Partners in Health.”
18. Laurance, www.healingcancernaturally.com.
19. Holick, 68.
20. Holick, 74.
21. Holick, 73.
22. www.second-opinions.co.uk/full_spectrum_sunlight

• Balancing the Inflammatory Response: A Few Simple Steps You Can Take
• Dietary Ways to Manage Inflammation
• Lifestyle Approaches to Manage Inflammation
• Balancing Anti-Inflammatory Omega-3 and Pro-Inflammatory Omega-6 Essential Fatty Acids
• Refined Flour, Blood Sugar, and Insulin
• A Segue to Science…For a Few Underlying Concepts and “Why’s”
• Glossary of Terms
• Summary Guidelines
• Reading Resources
• Omega-3 Recipes

This article aims to outline specific strategies to address pain, inflammation, and chronic disease.  But the greater question remains: why is inflammation so pervasive today?  Why, in a time of great affluence and food abundance should inflammation and chronic disease be so widespread?  The answer lies largely in our modern lifestyle and diet, particularly in the postwar shift away from healthy fats to denatured vegetable oils that foster inflammation while they disrupt the body’s natural metabolism.  I will leave this for next month’s newsletter—for now my focus will be limited to  natural ways to control inflammation.

If you are concerned about inflammation, the overarching idea is to try to eliminate inflammatory foods—refined vegetable oils, trans fats, refined flour, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup.  These are not whole foods and they are not in keeping with tradition.  They are fractured, empty-calorie foods that  fuel the fires of inflammation and chronic disease.

If you take time to read this newsletter, please keep several things in mind.  First, that we do need omega-6 oils, but the goal should be to bring these back in better alignment respect to omega-3s, in a ratio of about 3:1 compared to the 20:1 ratio of today:

“…our balance of omega-6 to omega-3 affects our health as much as any other aspect of dietary fat…Because the ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s helps determine the flexibility of cell membranes, nearly all chemical communication throughout the body depends at least in part on the correct balance between omega-6s and omega-3s.  Within this context, it is difficult to imagine any health problem that isn’t partly related to the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3.” ¹

 

A second idea to remember is that we need both stable saturated fats like butter and coconut oil for the structural integrity of cell walls, as well as omega-3s and omega-6 fats for the flexibility of cell membranes.  Unsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fats are needed for cells to carry out highly sophisticated neurological and electrical communication functions.

Finally, I mention in this newsletter fish oils and the role that they can play to help cool inflammation, but a supplement like this works best against a supportive diet.  The most important step we can take is to shift away from inflammatory foods.  By doing so, we remove logs from inflammation’s burning fire.  A fish oil supplement is like placing our trust upon a candle snuffer to put out the flames.  Far more important is to stop feeding the fire with inflammatory foods.

Realistically, to eliminate inflammatory foods means that we need to know where our food comes from.  This is the very best way to eliminate pro-inflammatory vegetable oils and trans fats that are hidden in prepared foods—as well as inflammatory refined sugars and white flour products.

When we shop for and cook with whole foods that are in keeping with tradition, we naturally incorporate plant foods’  vital force energy, as well as their antioxidants, phytonutrients, and fiber (July08 newsletter).   Plant foods help prevent oxidation and inflammation as they regulate the immune system and assist its proper functioning.  Whole foods, sunshine, fresh air, moderate exercise, meaningful life work, and a sense of gratitude are all natural nutrients to build a fertile terrain for our proper genetic expression.

The body’s inflammatory response is vital for survival.  It is always on guard and comes to our defense against foreign bacteria, viruses, and other invaders.  It also goes to work immediately to help us recover from injury and traumas.  Through natural selection, we are genetically prone to inflammation since before the days of antibiotics and modern medicine a strong inflammatory response was necessary in order to survive.

Even though inflammation safeguards our health and wellbeing, in modern times it has acquired a bad reputation.  Science tells us to blame inflammation anytime we feel pain, since pain is a sign of inflammation.  And,  we also know that inflammation, the subtle ongoing “silent” kind that we do not feel, plays an important role in most, if not all chronic disease—heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s, arthritis and joint pain, auto-immune disorders, and allergic diseases—to name a few.

If inflammation helped our forebears to survive in a hostile world, why is it now seen as such a health threat?  The answer again comes from the science lab.  Research tells us that our modern diet and inactive lifestyle are the two factors most to blame for silent inflammation and chronic disease.

In my mind, the diet part of the inflammation story has two sides:

1. The shift that has happened in just a few decades away from grass-fed animal products and other foods with healthy omega-3 fats toward processed foods rich in inflammatory omega-6 refined vegetable oils:  Today, we consume 25 times more pro-inflammatory refined liquid vegetable oils than a century ago, but only a third as much stable, nutrient-dense butter.
2. The transition over the same period away from whole grains and other antioxidant-rich whole foods toward sugars and refined flour products that provide calories but are stripped of vital nutrients.  It is really the simple matter of refined products…oils, sugars, and grains…both “crowding out” the traditional whole foods that we are genetically programmed to eat, as well as the massive quantities of fractured products in the modern diet that overwhelm the modest levels of good nutrition that we still take in.

Like diet, our lack of exercise also plays a role in the inflammation/chronic disease story.  This is because exercise is necessary to moderate insulin, contain abdominal fat,² and control the body’s natural inflammatory response.  Moderate daily exercise and a healthy diet are two of the most powerful anti-inflammatory strategies of all.

Just think.  There is so much that we alone can do to manage and even reverse pain and inflammation without having to rely upon medications.  Medications, while sometimes required, work by interfering with the body’s normal processes and their synthetic nature makes them foreign and, to varying degrees, toxic.  In contrast, whole foods, with their vital force energy intact, are ideally suited to nourish the human body, cleanse it, and restore it to health.

Because I see inflammation as an underlying factor in many people’s health concerns, I want to use this newsletter to share some thoughts on inflammation.   My goal is to keep things simple.  Then for those of you who are interested in science, to support these ideas with some underlying concepts related to insulin, “belly” fat, cortisol, and oxidative stress—and the role they play in the inflammatory process (found below).

Balancing the Inflammatory Response: A Few Simple Steps You Can Take

It is true that inflammation is a complex topic, but we do not have to understand it and its underlying dynamics to take actions to overcome its dark side.  As mentioned, many scientists have been at work to unravel its mysteries and then guide us in what we should do.  Perhaps none is more famous than Dr. Barry Sears.   I am indebted to him, as well as to the pioneering work of Mary Enig, Paul Pitchford, Mark Hyman, and a host of others for helping me shape my own thoughts into the following list.  While I do not intend to tell you what to eat (we each need different foods), if you are concerned about inflammation, the following measures can be helpful. [Supporting reasons found below.]

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Dietary Ways to Manage Inflammation

• Cut out inflammatory foods.  These include processed refined sugars, grains, and flours; high fructose corn syrup (HFCS); products from grain-fed animals; trans fats; and refined “white” vegetable oils—especially those derived from corn, soybean, and cottonseed.  These and other “cheap, stripped” oils are often found in commercial salad dressings and processed foods and are loaded with omega-6 inflammatory fatty acids (Tables 1 and 2, below).  Limit consumption of the nightshade vegetables—potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, tobacco—which have an alkaloid, solanine, which can exacerbate pain caused by inflammation.
• Eat whole foods, especially colorful, nutrient-dense plant-based foods rich in anti-oxidant phytonutrients (to contain oxidative stress) and with a low glycemic index (to control insulin).   Or, combine higher glycemic color-rich personal favorites with good fats and proteins, which also work to control blood sugar and insulin. [October '07 Newsletter]
• When possible, choose grass-fed animal products, which have an ideal 1:1 ratio of omega-3/ omega-6 fatty acids.  This healthy balance of omega-3 and -6 fatty acids means that grass-fed animal products are “neutral” with respect to inflammation.  [September '09 Newsletter]
• Use good fats and oils.  For the dinner table choose extra-virgin olive oil—low in omega-6 fatty acids, it is essentially “neutral” concerning inflammation.  Also at the table consider flax oil and flax meal [See recipes, below].  For cooking, try stable fats like butter or ghee from grass-fed animals, as well as unrefined coconut oil.  Coconut oil is high in lauric acid, an anti-microbial that fights bacteria and viruses that can lead to inflammation.³ ( Table 2, below)
• Consider a daily fish oil supplement.  Fish oil is the most powerful and efficient way to reduce inflammation.  Supplementing with fish oil is important because you cannot get enough by eating fish.  This is because most beneficial fish oil is in the skin and is lost in cooking; and, of course, the skin is often not eaten.  I prefer fermented cod liver oil⁴ as a rich source of vitamin A, vitamin D, EPA and DHA.  EPA inhibits enzymes that foster inflammation, while DHA is vital for brain function.  Fish oil is the only direct source of EPA and DHA.  For specific tips on using fish oil, see below. [Flax oil is not a comparable substitute for fish oil since it must be converted to EPA.  This requires healthy functioning cells and adequate levels of vitamins B3, B6, and C, and magnesium and zinc—which cannot be counted on.]
• Cook with anti-inflammatory herbs, and spices such as turmeric and ginger.  These inhibit the enzyme that makes arachidonic acid (AA), the precursor for inflammatory hormones.  Turmeric, ginger, and rosemary are also powerful antioxidants.
• Eliminate any potential food allergens (e.g., wheat, corn, soy, egg whites, gluten, dairy, yeast, peanuts) in order to support and restore both intestinal health and immunity (see Probiotics, below).
• Try to buy organic produce, especially when purchasing fruits and vegetables with very high pesticide levels (See Table 3, below).   Pesticides and toxins disrupt good intestinal flora and weaken the immune system.  Both of these factors create inflammation.
• Consider probiotics (e.g., fermented foods [July '09] or a high-grade probiotic supplement) to maintain and/or to restore good intestinal bacteria.  Inflammation is tied to “gut” health in several ways:   First, because “good” intestinal bacteria are the backbone of the immune system;⁵ and a healthy immune system is important to manage the inflammatory response.    And second, because good bacteria are essential to protect the delicate intestinal wall. The intestine works as a sentry—no food enters the blood stream without passing through the mucosal lining of the digestive system.  Nothing “gets into” the body without passing through this barrier.  But, this lining is fragile; it is only one cell in depth, and stretched out, spans the size of a tennis court.  If the barrier is damaged, toxins and undigested foods can enter the blood stream (“leaky-gut syndrome”) ⁶ to create allergic reactions and autoimmune disorders.
• Eat adequate protein with each meal to balance blood sugar. The concept of a Barry Sear’s “Zone Diet” is to have every meal include moderate portions of protein, carbohydrate, and fat, where a protein serving is defined as 3-4 ounces.   This balance curbs insulin (the nutrient/fat storage hormone that responds to blood sugar spikes from carbohydrates) and stimulates the secretion of glucagon (the hormone that assures the flow of glucose for the brain by causing the release of glycogen from the liver).

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Lifestyle Approaches to Manage Inflammation

• Moderate aerobic exercise 5-6 days a week helps prevent insulin resistance. A brisk 45-60 minute walk is perfect. [Excessive exercise, no matter how good the diet, is inflammatory and does more harm than good.⁷ ]  Moderate aerobic exercise raises your heart rate and stress level, which forces your cells to become more responsive to taking up glucose from the bloodstream.  When this happens, it relieves the pancreas, allowing it to secrete less insulin into the bloodstream.  It is important to keep insulin at bay, because insulin boosts arachidonic acid (AA), a precursor of inflammatory hormones.⁸
• Weight trainingseveral days a weekcan help reduce insulin levels and strengthen immunity.  Unlike aerobic exercise which burns fat, strength training burns glucose so it does not directly melt away fat stores.  But, by building muscle, what it does do is to make it easier for the body to gobble up glucose from the bloodstream, so less insulin is required.  Greater muscle mass also boosts immunity because the body stores amino acids in the muscles, including glutamine, which is a major building block of specialized immune cells.⁹
• Avoiding “visceral” (belly) fatcurbs chronic inflammation. This is because the body uses visceral fat as a place to store excess AA (a precursor of inflammatory hormones) in order to prevent high AA levels and inflammation from affecting vital cells.  Visceral fat is metabolically active and allows for the steady release of stored AA into the bloodstream, where it can then be taken up by the cells.”¹⁰ In short, belly fat fosters inflammation, which leads to more fat deposits, which creates more inflammation.
• A regular relaxation strategy helps  lower cortisol levels. Cortisol is an anti-stress hormone whose job it is to turn off the inflammatory response, but constant stress and chronic inflammation keep it elevated.   Mediation, yoga, deep breathing or any quiet relaxation for 20-30 minutes a day can help normalize cortisol.  And, deep breathing helps to expel toxins, free radicals, and inflammatory agents from the body.
• An early bedtime and enough sleep honors the body’s natural biorhythms. The hours before midnight are the most efficient for restoring the body.  Sleep is the body’s own form of natural mediation.   Sufficient nighttime sleep allows cortisol to follow its natural cyclical ebb and flow, dropping off around midnight and peaking about sunrise.¹¹

Balancing Anti-Inflammatory Omega-3 and Pro-Inflammatory Omega-6 Essential Fatty Acids

If you are a regular reader of this newsletter, you may recall that our forebears consumed a diet that was balanced with respect to omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids., something around 1:1 or 2:1.   But today, for the typical American, this ratio is now is around 20:1, weighted toward inflammatory omega-6 oils.  Our modern diet of processed, convenience foods is one factor that explains this shift, since food companies rely upon refined, white vegetable oils like corn, soy, and cottonseed because they are cheap and have a long shelf life (there is nothing left to go rancid).  Another aspect is that many modern households have grown to fear healthy saturated fats like butter and unrefined coconut oil and have switched to inexpensive vegetable oils, often believing that they are a healthier choice, and perhaps, too, because they have a long shelf life.   Looking at the table below, which outlines the omega-6/omega-3 ratios of a variety of oils, we can easily see how this omega-6/-3 ratio could soar to 20:1.  Corn, safflower, and cottonseed oils are frequent ingredients in salad dressings and other prepared foods, and their omega-6/-3 ratios range from 72:1 for corn to 234:1 for cottonseed oil (Table 1, below).

Table 1: Competition of Omega-6s “Crowding Out” Omega-3s in a Variety of Cooking and Salad Oils

Source: Pathways4Health, Derived from Mary Enig’s Know Your Fats

Note:  These simply reflect omega-6 versus omega-3s.  For a more complete picture and overview, see Table 2 that follows.

Table 2 provides a broader profile of nut and seed oils.  It shows omega-3s and -6s fatty acids within the context of other fat components.  Note that most oils are a composite of a variety of types of fatty acids.  Try to avoid those where the majority of the oil is pro-inflammatory omega-6 such as safflower, sunflower, corn, and soybean—between half to three-quarters of these oils are inflammatory omega-6s, with little to no anti-inflammatory omega-3 offset.  Olive oil and saturated fats such as butter and coconut oil have very little omega-6s, and are therefore thought to be “neutral” with respect to inflammation.  [Most experts believe saturated fats like butter from grass-fed animals and unrefined coconut oil are good choices unless chronic inflammatory conditions are deeply rooted.¹² ]

Table 2:  Composition of Nut and Seed Oils; A Guide to Choosing Oils to Fight Inflammation

Source:  Udo Eramus and Pathways4Health

Refined Flour, Blood Sugar, and Insulin

The chart above suggests that whole grains are a better choice than refined flour products for controlling blood sugar.  Fracturing a grain raises it blood sugar impact: for example, instant oatmeal (a fractured product) has a glycemic index (GI) of 82 about twice that of steel cut oats (42).   If we do choose to eat refined flour products like white bread we can reduce the insulin effect by combining these with low-glycemic proteins/fats (e.g., turkey, eggs, and nut butter).  Refined flour is, of course, not eaten alone.  It is often baked with ingredients such as eggs, fats, nuts, which lower its GI—a sweetened whole-grain muffin can have less impact on blood sugar than a serving of soaked, whole grain brown rice!  This may sound strange but I learned this from research on grains and blood sugar by my friend Ellen Arian, a teacher, consultant, and professional whole foods chef.

Table 3:  Produce to Buy Organic to Avoid Pesticide/Herbicides

The Test: The data used to construct the list considered how people normally wash, peel, and prepare the specific produce before eating.  The results are compiled from some 42,000 tests for pesticides on produce gathered between 2000 and 2004.

A Segue to Science…For a Few Underlying Concepts and “Why’s”

Insulin’s Tie to Inflammation: Insulin controls the metabolism and uptake of nutrients by the cells—so it is really a storage hormone, both for fat and for nutrients. A high carbohydrate diet of refined grains/flours and sugars forces the pancreas to speed up insulin production to contain blood sugar levels.  Also, with the aging process, people tend to become more resistant to insulin, so the pancreas must produce more insulin to assure that nutrients are taken up by vital cells.  When chronically elevated, insulin increases AA levels¹³, and AA is a building block of pro-inflammatory hormones. [High insulin levels do not allow the burning of fat since insulin (a storage hormone) prevents the release of fat into the bloodstream.  Eating sufficient protein can be helpful for weight loss, both by controlling blood sugar and by stimulating the production of glucagon (See glossary, below).

Abdominal Fat’s Role in Inflammation: Through natural selection, we are genetically prone to produce large quantities of insulin—a necessary trait for survival when the efficient storage of calories was critical in times of food scarcity.  Now, of course, we live in an environment with readily available refined carbohydrates and sugars and where this traditional fat-storage survival mechanism can easily work against good health, through the accumulation of excess, active fat.

Inflammation and belly fat are closely related because insulin increases AA levels.  When this happens, abdominal fat cells are programmed to sequester AA in order to protect vital cells from excessive AA, the precursor of pro-inflammatory hormones.  But, when AA accumulates and becomes heavily concentrated in “belly fat” (the body’s dumping ground for AA), this visceral fat can begin to actively produce pro-inflammatory hormones, which then leads to the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which can enter the blood stream and fuel inflammation. As Barry Sears explains:  “Fat cells can work like immune cells, releasing cytokines as you gain weight.  Cytokines make cells resistant to insulin, so the body pumps out more and more insulin, which increases the production of more and more cytokines.”¹⁴

Cortisol’s Tie to Inflammation:  Cortisol leads to insulin resistance and lowered immune function. Cortisol is the major anti-inflammatory/anti-stress hormone assigned to turn off excess inflammation and the “fight-to-flight” response.  But, under the conditions of chronic inflammation or chronic stress—either emotional or physical—quite the opposite happens.  Stress causes cells to produce pro-inflammatory hormones—and, in response, the adrenals pump out more cortisol to try to extinguish the fire.  The constant fires that result from chronic stress (stress can stem from excessive exercise, overeating, missing meals, caffeine and other stimulants, excessive weight, etc.) forces the body to counter with more and more cortisol.  Thus, chronic stress leads to persistent high cortisol levels—and as your body adapts, you become more cortisol resistant and you need more cortisol.  More cortisol leads to more abdominal fat (since high cortisol fosters insulin resistance), as well as a depressed immune system (since cortisol’s job is to shut off the immune system).  Persistently elevated cortisol levels pose a variety of risks, including muscle and bone loss, fat gain, elevated blood sugar, high blood pressure, weakened immune function, loss of memory, and mood swings.¹⁵ Mediation and other forms of relaxation help to reduce cortisol levels and give the body some breathing time to normalize.  A helpful tip when you are unavoidably stressed is to increase your intake of fish oil, as a natural way to help cool and curb inflammation.

Oxidative Stress and Inflammation.  Diet is a key underlying factor of oxidative stress and weight gain.  A diet centered on sugars and refined carbohydrates and without sufficient antioxidants from whole vegetables and fruits allows free radical damage, known as “oxidative stress.”  Oxidation is a normal process:  an apple slice browns when exposed to oxygen, but if dipped in lemon juice, its antioxidants keep an apple slice looking fresh.  Oxidation like this also happens inside the body if antioxidants are not sufficient. Oxidation disrupts metabolism, making it less efficient, setting the stage for weight gain. Weight gain and inflammation are, thus, set in motion (see comments about abdominal fat, above).

Plant Foods for Inflammation. Plants are the leading adaptagens.  Plants are at the forefront of nutritional innovation, adapting to new environmental conditions and creating the anti-oxidants and phyto-nutrients to survive change.  Eating plant foods, especially from our local area, helps us to adapt to the seasons and to longer-term climate shifts.  Choosing a wide variety of plant foods across the color spectrum also helps prevent free-radical damage and inflammation. (Table 4, below; and July '08 Newsletter for complete discussion.)

Glossary of Terms

EPA… eicosapentaenoic acid, a prominent ingredient of fish oil, it inhibits the enzyme that converts by-products of omega-6 oils into arachidonic acid (AA), a precursor of inflammation.

DHA… dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid, found in fish oil, is vital for normal brain function and can be converted to EPA, so it also plays a role in fighting inflammation.

AA… arachidonic acid, is a building block of inflammatory hormones.  Excessive dietary levels of omega-6 oils (linoleic acid) relative to EPA and GLA (found in evening primrose oil) fosters AA and inflammation.

ALA… alpha-linolenic acid…in flaxseed oil, which inhibits the delta-6-desaturase enzymes that decreases both anti-and pro-inflammatory hormones but does little to disarm AA.

Insulin…the nutrient/fat storage hormone that responds to spikes in blood sugar. It has an indirect affect on inflammation by increasing AA levels.

Cortisol… an anti-stress, anti-inflammation hormone produced by the adrenals.  Its job is to turn off the inflammatory response (the immune system) when it is no longer needed.

Glucagon… the major hormone that controls the flow of glucose energy to the brain by signaling the liver to release glycogen.

For a comprehensive scientific explanation of these terms and a thorough discussion of inflammation dynamics, see Barry Sear’s The Anti-Inflammation Zone.

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Table 4:  A Color Spectrum of Fruits and Vegetables

Source: Textbook of Natural Medicine, J. Pizzorno Jr. and Michael T. Murray

Summary Guidelines

The most important step you can take is to know where your food comes from.  This is the best way to avoid excessive pro-inflammatory omega-6 oils and trans fats—and to limit the consumption of refined flours, sugars, and high fructose corn syrup. More specifically:

1. Eat good protein (e.g., from grass-fed land animals) with meals to help control blood sugar and insulin;
2. Know the “good” fats and oils. Consider a high-quality fish oil supplement.  Use omega-3s and omega-9s (at the table) and saturated fats (for cooking) while you limit pro-inflammatory omega-6s fatty acids.
3. Rely on whole grains and fruits and vegetables  as carbohydrate sources, rather than sugars and refined flour products, to control blood sugar and insulin as well as oxidative stress.
4. Get Moderate Daily Exercise: Do aerobics 5-6 times and strength training 3 times a week, to control insulin and inflammation.
5. Get enough sleep to synchronize cortisol and to curb cravings for sugar and refined carbohydrates.  The most efficient sleep hours are those before midnight.
6. If you take a fish oil supplement, quality matters. Fish oil is best absorbed when taken with other foods.  Orange juice or sucking an orange slice helps to dissipate the taste.  I believe reliable sources of cod liver oil to be Green Pastures and Radiant Life;  and for fish oil, Vital Choice, Omax3, and Pharmax (orange flavored).  You may want to research these and others on your own.

If you are concerned about inflammation, ask your doctor for a C-reactive protein (CRP) blood test.

Reading Resources

• Natasha Campbell-McBride, Gut and Psychology Syndrome
• Mary Enig, Know Your Fats
• Udo Erasmus, Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill
• Mark Hyman, UltraMetabolism
• Bruce McEwen, The End of Stress As We Know It
• Paul Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods
• Joseph Pizzorno, Jr. and Michael T. Murray, Textbook of Natural Medicine
• Barry Sears, The Anti-Inflammation Zone
• Shawn Talbott, The Cortisol Connection

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Omega-3 Recipes¹⁶

Flax is the richest source of omega-3 fatty acids, but its conversion to EPA and anti-inflammatory prostaglandins requires the presence of vitamins B3, B6, and C, as well as zinc and magnesium.  It is useful for the treatment of a variety of issues including inflammatory conditions, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, immunity, and weight loss (since supports energy metabolism).¹⁷

Omega Pesto Sauce

[Omega3: Omega-6 Ratio  1.0 to 0.8 ]

3 cloves garlic
3 T. chopped walnuts
3 T. flaxseed oil
1 T. flax meal
2 T. balsamic vinegar
2 cups fresh basil leaves
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a food processor or blender, add ingredient on at a time, blending after each addition until smooth.  Pesto can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for use within a couple of days.

Can be served as a garnish with fish.

Flax-Olive Oil Vinaigrette

[Omega-3 to -6 ratio  1.0 to 0.4 ]

2 T. flaxseed oil
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
2 T. extra-virgin olive oil

Whisk together.  Use on salads and steamed vegetables.

Omega Mixed Green Salad

[Omega-3 to -6 ratio  1.0 to 1.5 ]

8 cups romaine lettuce
2 medium cucumbers
4 cups baby spinach
½ cup grated carrots
1 cup chopped fresh basil
2 T. chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 T. flax meal

In a large bowl, toss together the romaine, spinach, basil, parsley, cucumbers, and carrots.  Scatter walnuts and flax meal over the salad.

Copyright 2010 Pathways4Health.org

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1. Haas, Staying Healthy With Nutrition, 68.
2. “Inflammation and abdominal fat accumulation are inextricably linked,” Shawn Talbot, The Cortisol Connection, 35.
3. Enig
4. Available from Green Pastures and Radiant Life. See January 2010 Shopping Guide.
5. See Natasha Campbell-McBride, Gut and Psychology Syndrome, 25-30.
6. Primary causes of “leaky-gut” syndrome include low-fiber, high-sugar, refined-flour, and processed foods; overuse of medications, such as NSAIS, antibiotics, acid blockers, hormones, steroids, and birth control pills; toxins such as mercury and molds; low-grade imbalances, such as yeasts, parasites, and bad bacteria; and stress…Mark Hyman.
7. Dr. Barry Sears, The Anti-Inflammation Zone.
8. Sears, 24.
9. Sears, 106.
10. Sears, 238.
11. See Bruce McEwen, The End of Stress as We Know It.
12. Art Akers, PhD, “Cooling Inflammation;” and Mary Enig.
13. Sears, 24.
14. Sears, 18.
15. Talbott, 41.
16. Source:  Evelyn Tribole, The Ultimate Omega-3 Diet
17. Udo Eramus, Fats the Heal, Fats that Kill, 282-3.