Glucosamine, a sugar produced in the body and found in small amounts in foods, plays an important role in maintaining cartilage, the gel-like material that cushions joints. When taken as a dietary supplement, glucosamine may help to relieve the pain, stiffness, and swelling of osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disorder that affects 12% of the population, in which cartilage has worn down. Rheumatoid arthritis sufferers report improvements with glucosamine supplements as well, as do individuals with other types of joint injuries. Some 70 countries around the world sanction glucosamine as a treatment for individuals with mild to moderately severe osteoarthritis.
Category: G
Ginkgo Biloba
This popular herbal medicine is extracted from the fan-shaped leaves of the ancient ginkgo biloba tree, a species that has survived in China for more than 200 million years and now grows throughout the world. (The leaves are double, or bi-lobed; hence the name biloba.) Long used in traditional Chinese medicine, it is only in the last few decades that the medicinal uses for the herb have been studied in the West.
Ginger
Revered around the world for its pungent taste, ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a natural spice that is also widely prized for its medicinal properties. Since ancient times, traditional healers in a diverse array of cultures have used this plant primarily to help settle upset stomachs. Chinese herbalists have relied on ginger as a medicine and flavoring for more than 2,500 years. The early Greeks mixed it into breads (hence the first gingerbread), and North American colonists sipped nausea-quelling ginger beer, the precursor of modern ginger ale. Today, many cultures continue to rely on ginger for controlling nausea and also for reducing inflammation.
Garlic
Along with its well-earned reputation for discouraging friends and repelling potential lovers, this powerful herb has a storied culinary and medical history. Egyptian pyramid builders took it for strength and endurance. Medieval healers recommended it as protection against supernatural forces–vampires in particular. The French scientist Louis Pasteur investigated its antibacterial properties, and doctors in the two World Wars treated battle wounds with garlic juice when other drugs were unavailable. Most recently, garlic has been touted for heart health as well.
Garcinia Cambogia
The herb Garcinia cambogia, a diminutive purple fruit native to India and southeast Asia, has garnered a lot of attention as a popular natural weight loss aid. The reason is that the rind of the pumpkinlike fruit is rich in a substance called hydroxycitric acid, or HCA, closely related to the citric acid found in grapefruits and oranges.
Gamma-Oryzanol
Although it appears in grains such as barley and corn, gamma-oryzanol is extracted from rice bran oil for commercial purposes. In Japan, this concentrated mixture of ferulic acid and other compounds is commonly added to foods and beverages. The bulk of research on gamma-oryzanol’s health benefits has been done in Japan, although supplements are now available in the United States as well.
Crystal and Gem Therapy
Crystal and gem therapy is the use of semiprecious and precious stones to enhance mental, spiritual, and physical healing. It is based on the belief that certain crystals and gems possess a powerful energy that can positively affect imbalances in human energy fields and thus promote health and well-being. Practitioners believe that some stones direct their energy toward emotional states, while others affect certain organs through contact with the body’s related energy centers (known as meridians in traditional Chinese medicine and chakras in Indian Ayurveda).
Gum Disease
If you’re ever sitting in the dentist’s chair, bracing yourself for an procedure called “scaling,” which cleans out the bacteria in your infected gums, just say to yourself, “This could have been avoided. I did not have to be here.” Some Americans must be getting the message and finally are brushing and flossing more efficiently, because serious gum problems are on the decline. Nevertheless, gum disease continues to cause more tooth loss than cavities, and is second only to the common cold in terms of prevalence (98% of people over age 60 have some degree of gum disease). And now, researchers have linked severe gum disease to an increased risk of both heart disease and strokes
Gout
You don’t forget your first gout attack. Pain wakes you up in the middle of the night. Of all things, it’s your big toe that hurts. You try to go back to sleep, but the pain keeps getting worse and by morning, your poor toe can’t even stand the pressure from the bed sheet. Gout, which affects mainly middle-aged men, begins with unusually high blood levels of a waste product called uric acid. Normally uric acid is excreted in the urine, but in a gout-prone person, it precipitates as crystals in certain joints (the big toe, knees, elbows, fingers). The result is a local (and painful) inflammation. The crystals can also accumulate in the skin and in the kidneys (where they can cause kidney stones or even kidney failure).
Gallstones
Having a gallstone or two (or even more) is very common: A third of all women (it’s mainly a female condition) will have them by age 60. Fortunately, most people live peaceably with their gallstones without any symptoms whatsoever. It’s when gallstones act up that you need to do something. A painful “gallbladder attack” may occur when a stone decides to move, or simply may follow bouts of indigestion, especially after a meal rich in fatty foods. A double bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a shake should simply be renamed a “Gallbladder Special.”
Natural Remedy for Gum Disease (Gingivitis)
Click here for the Health Tip link. There are few words in health care that make my toes curl more than “gum scaling.” They’re like a fingernail drawn slowly across the blackboard of life. When patients come in for a check-up with me, they get their gums checked, a quick effort to save them from […]
Are You Reluctant to Get Well?
It’s very possible that your immediate response to this question is anger, resentment, or hurt feelings. You might think to yourself, “I don’t need to hear this. I thought he was empathetic.” You may even be tempted to move your cursor to “unsubscribe” and click hard.
Less Stress: Guided Imagery
When you use guided imagery, you deliberately and consciously use the power of your imagination to create positive images (called healing visualizations) that will trigger healthful changes within. The whole concept of guided imagery works because in terms of the physiology inside your brain, picturing something and actually experiencing it are very similar. Let’s pretend […]
Glandular Therapies
Click here for the original post. A surprising number of so-called alternative therapies actually have their roots in conventional medicine. For example, reflexology, originally called Zone Therapy, was first discovered by an ear, nose, and throat specialist who used pressure from rubber bands applied to the fingers and toes for surgical anesthesia. “Bach” of Bach […]
Gratitude
In the spirit of the holiday, consider starting a gratitude journal. Use a pretty notebook or a plain one–it doesn’t matter.
Title the first page something meaningful, such as “Good Things That Happened Today” or “What I’m Thankful For Today.”
Gratitude
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Ginkgo Biloba
Ginkgo biloba has the longest life span of any tree, with some ginkgo trees
estimated to be more than 1,000 years old. Even more astonishing is that
ginkgo, as a survivor of the Ice Age, has been around for more than 200
million years.
Ginkgo Biloba
A lot of my patients ask me about taking ginkgo for memory. Here’s my answer, with a little extra detail: Ginkgo biloba has the longest life span of any tree, with some ginkgo trees estimated to be more than 1,000 years old. Even more astonishing is that ginkgo, as a survivor of the Ice Age, […]
Green Tea and Ovarian Cancer
I know that a daily cup or two of tea–especially green tea–is astonishingly good for you. Unfortunately, I never developed a liking for the stuff, black or green. Probably this stems from when I had to drink black tea as a kid whenever I had a cold or the flu.