Health benefits of coconut water
- The juice is packed with simple sugar, electrolytes, and minerals to replenish hydration levels in the body.
- Cytokinins in coconut water showed significant anti-ageing, anti-carcinogenic, and anti-thrombotic effects.
- Its water has much better composition of minerals like calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, and zinc than some of fruits like oranges.
- Its water is also a very good source of B-complex vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, pyridoxine, and folates.
- These vitamins are essential to replenish.
- Coconut water contains a very good amount of electrolyte potassium.
- 100 ml of water has 250 mg of potassium and 105 mg of sodium.
- Together, these electrolytes help replenish electrolytes deficiency in the body due to diarrhea (loose stools).
- Fresh coconut water has small amount of vitamin-C (ascorbic acid); provides about 2.4 mcg or 4% of RDA. Vitamin C is a water-soluble ant-oxidant.

Health benefits in traditional medicine
Coconut is used to treat a wide variety of health problems including
- abscesses,
- asthma,
- baldness,
- bronchitis,
- bruises,
- burns,
- colds,
- constipation,
- cough,
- dropsy,
- dysentery,
- earache,
- fever,
- flu,
- gingivitis,
- gonorrhea,
- irregular or painful menstruation,
- jaundice,
- kidney stones,
- lice,
- malnutrition,
- nausea,
- rash,
- scabies,
- scurvy,
- skin infections,
- sore throat,
- swelling,
- syphilis,
- toothache,
- tuberculosis,
- tumors,
- typhoid,
- ulcers,
- upset stomach,
- weakness,
- wounds

Health benefits in modern medicine
- Kills viruses that cause influenza, herpes, measles, hepatitis C, SARS, AIDS, and other illnesses.
- Kills bacteria that cause ulcers, throat infections, urinary tract infections, gum disease and cavities, pneumonia, and gonorrhea, and other diseases.
- Kills fungi and yeasts that cause candidiasis, ringworm, athlete’s foot, thrush, diaper rash, and other infections.
- Expels or kills tapeworms, lice, giardia, and other parasites.
- Provides a nutritional source of quick energy.
- Boosts energy and endurance, enhancing physical and athletic performance.
- Improves digestion and absorption of other nutrients including vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.

- Nail plate
This is what you see as the fingernail.
- Nail bed
This lies below the nail plate; the two are attached. The capillaries in the nail bed nourish the nail and give it its pinkish color.
- Nail matrix
It’s below the cuticle at the base of the nail. Cells in the matrix produce the fingernail. If the matrix gets damaged, your nail will be not in shape or may even stop growing completely.
- Lunula
This is the part of the matrix that you can see. It’s the half-moon-shaped portion at the bottom of your nail.
- Cuticle
This fold of skin, made of dead cells, keeps foreign substances, such as infection-causing bacteria, out.
- Nail fold
This is the ridge of skin around the nail.

Facts about Nails:
- Nails can become brittle during the summer months in the sun and swimming.
- Sun and chlorine can make your nails brittle.
- To protect your fingernails while washing dishes, gardening, or cleaning with any type of harsh chemicals, wear gloves.
- If your nails are brittle, do not use perfumed lotions that have alcohol.
- This will cause the nails to become brittle.
- Do not bite your nails.
- Quit using your nails to scrape stuff off the counter top, or off of the dishes.
- Do not use them to open letters.
- Soaps and cleaners will dry out your hands and nails.
- Always use a hand lotion or cream after washing your hands.

Some of the causes of nail problem are:
- Iron deficiency will cause your nails to become spoon shaped.
- Your nails may become clubbed.
- Swelling around the ends of your fingers.
- Sometimes your toes are swollen.
- It might be if you have a respiratory or heart problem.
- If you have psoriasis your nails may become pitted.
- The biggest nail problem seen in toe nails is ingrown.
- Another nail problem is discoloration.
- As you get older your nails develop vertical ridges.

Main Home Remedies
- Avoid the culprits like the detergents and cleansers.
- Keep your nails short.
- Be careful of nail bangers in place of a screwdriver, a scraper, or other tool.
- Moisturize your nails. Your nails contain no fat, so they can’t naturally hold in moisture.
- Complex 15, Aquaderm, and Moisturel are some of the phosphates which can be tried.
- Avoid moisture when your nail becomes infected, particularly with a yeast organism.
- Care for your cuticles and don’t cut them with a mechanical instrument, which breaks down the cuticle’s natural protection from bacteria and moisture.
- Don’t pick or tear at hangnails by making a break in the skin where bacteria can enter and can cause infection.
- Realize the risk with nail cosmetics.
- Forget formaldehyde.
- Cut down on polish remover. Nail polish remover contains acetone, which dries nails.
- Don’t eat gelatin in a hope to build strong nails.
- Use of calcium. It helps build bones but has little or nothing to do with the hardness of your nails.

Home Remedies from the Cupboard
- Baking soda. Clean your nails and soften cuticles by scrubbing them with a nailbrush dipped in baking soda.
- Use Vinyl gloves, Cotton gloves
- Use Biotin
- Soaking painful ingrown nails in a warm saltwater solution will help ease the pain and relieve swelling.
- Add 1 tablespoon salt per quart of water and soak for 30 minutes.
- A saltwater soak can also make tough nails easier to trim.
- Try soaking nails in the same solution for five to ten minutes before trimming.

What are nails made of?
- They are made of a hard protein called keratin.
- Our nails protect our fingers from injury
- It takes around 90 days for our fingernail and toenails to grow from the base to the tip.

Some of the causes are:
- Iron deficiency will cause your nails to become spoon shaped.
- Your nails may become clubbed.
- Swelling around the ends of your fingers.
- Sometimes your toes are swollen.
- It might be if you have a respiratory or heart problem.
- If you have psoriasis your nails may become pitted.
- The biggest nail problem seen in toe nails is ingrown.
- Another nail problem is discoloration.
- As you get older your nails develop vertical ridges.

The cause is the mal absorption of:
- Vitamins A
- B complex
- Vitamin C
- Calcium
- Magnesium
- Zinc
- Other essential fatty acids

Reasons for discolored nails can include:
- Anemia -very pale nails.
- Liver Problems-nails turn kind of whitish.
- Bacterial- your nails will have dark spots in them that resemble splinters.
- Fungi infections- your nails can turn whitish and soft or even crumble.
- White spots can be caused from a deficiency of zinc or Vitamin A.

There are preventive measures like:
- Keep your finger nails short.
- Wear gloves when working outdoors in your garden.
- Wear rubber gloves if you are always immersing your hands in water.
- Remember to wash your hands and nails when they come in contact with any type of chemicals like cleaning products.
- The best prevention for ingrown nails is to trim your toe nails straight across.
- Wear shoes that do press on your toenails.

What do you do to keep your nails healthy?
- Nail care is as important as keeping your body and hair clean.
- Eat foods that have calcium, iron, vitamin B and potassium.
- Foods like seafood, dairy products, celery, soy should be included.
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day to keep your body from dehydrating.
- Your nails need water just like your hair and body.
- If your nails are splitting or are weak it could be from not drinking enough water.

There are some natural home treatments which should be taken 4 times a day for up to 3 weeks for the following nail problems:

- In the case of brittle nails, try Antimonium 6c.
- If your nails become deformed with white spots, try Silicea 6c.
- If your nails start to get thick, deformed, start to crumble and are swollen and painful, try Graphites 6c.
- If your nails are brittle with red and swollen skin at the base you should, try Thuja 6c.
- For any finger nail problem you can always soak your nails two times a day in Calendula solution, or apply Calendula ointment.

Treatment for Ingrown Nails
- Put a very small piece of cloth between the side of the nail and the skin.
- Completely bathe your toe with Hypericum and Calendula solution – 5 drops of each to ½ pint of boiled water that has cooled.

Other home remedies for nail problems that involve your toe nails are:

- Magnetic austr. 30c.
- Brittle toe nail problems us Thuja 30c.

Vitamin C is found naturally in:
- vegetables
- oranges
- other citrus fruits.

This key vitamin is also available as a natural dietary supplement in the form of vitamin C pills and vitamin C chew able tablets.

Vitamin C and Common Cold
- The common cold is caused by several strains of viruses which includes the rhinovirus and the coronavirus.
- However, vitamin C does not prevent the common cold or decrease the severity of symptoms.
- In the 1970s, Linus Pauling argued that vitamin C could significantly decrease the incidence of the common cold.
- Vitamin C for the common cold is such a widely accepted treatment.
- We seek it in fortified juices, cough drops, and tea.
- Vitamin C was first touted for the common cold in the 1970s.

Other facts found are
- The average adult who suffers with a cold for 12 days a year would still suffer for 11 days a year if that person took a high dose of vitamin C every day during that year.
- For the average child who suffers about 28 days of cold illness a year, taking daily high-dose vitamin C would still mean 24 days of cold illness.
- When vitamin C was tested for treatment of colds in 7 separate studies, vitamin C was no more effective than placebo at shortening the duration of cold symptoms.

A prospective, controlled study focuses on:
- 715 students in a technical training facility found that vitamin C in mega doses administered before or after the appearance of cold and flu symptoms relieved and prevented the symptoms in the test population compared with the control group.
- More than 30 clinical trials with over 10,000 participants have examined the effects of taking daily vitamin C in doses up to 2 g/day.
- A review of Cochrane, PubMed, Natural Standard, and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine databases found that regular vitamin C intake may reduce the duration of cold symptoms in both adults and children.
- It does not decrease the severity of cold symptoms.
- However, in a subgroup of marathon runners, skiers, and soldiers training in the Arctic doses ranging from 250 mg/day to 1 g/day decreased the incidence of colds by 50%.
- Researchers concluded that vitamin C does not prevent or treat the common cold.
- It is better to consume natural foods such as red peppers, oranges, strawberries and grapefruit.
- It is acceptable to consume vitamin C from a supplement and still maintain adequate intake levels.

Daily Dosage
- The recommended daily allowance for vitamin C in the United States is 75 mg per day for women and 90 mg per day for men
- Taking doses above the RDA may have healthful benefits.
- Typically 70-90% of vitamin C is absorbed in the body but when taken in doses higher than 1 g, absorption decreases to 75%
- Further, it decreases to merely 16% after a 12 g dose.
- Popular vitamin C supplementation products, such as Airborne or Emergen-C, contain much higher doses of vitamins than necessary.

Overdose of vitamin C
- Taking vitamin C supplements in the recommended amounts is safe.
- The RDA or recommended daily allowance is 90 mg for men and 75 mg for women.
- High doses of vitamin C (greater than 2000 milligrams per day for adults) may cause kidney stones, nausea and diarrhea.

The health benefits of salmon include:
- proper cardio vascular health
- muscle and tissue development
- eye care
- effective body metabolism
- cardiovascular benefits
- improved mood and cognition
- joint protection
- eye benefits
- decreased cancer risk
- reduces the risk of leukemia, multiple myeloma, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
- benefits Related to Protein and Amino Acid Content
- benefits Related to Vitamin D
- benefits Related to Selenium

It helps in good growth of:
- Muscles
- Tissues
- Enzymes
- Hormones

Vital points regarding health benefits of salmon:
- The proteins from salmon (and most other fishes) are easy digestible.
- They are easily absorbed into the body.
- They have no adverse side effects nor contain carcinogenic compounds.
- Selenium, which is very necessary for building up of tissues, hair, nails etc.
- The Omega-3 Fatty Acids maintain flexibility of arteries and veins.
- It also strengthens cardiac muscles.
- The essential amino acids repair damages to the cardio-vascular tissues.
- They help reduce the blood pressure.
- They lower cholesterol level.
- They prevent hardening of walls of arteries and veins.
- They reduce the chances of heart attack.
- The Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin-D and selenium, together help increase influence of insulin.
- This facilitates absorption of sugar and consequent lowering of blood sugar level.
- The Omega-3 fatty acids and amino acids help prevent macular degeneration, dryness, loss of vision and fatigue of eyes.
- The Omega-3 fatty acids increase efficiency of the brain.
- It improves memory and keeps it wide awake during long working hours.
- This protects nervous system from damages from aging.
- It acts as an anti depressant.
- It relaxes the brain and are also helpful in treating Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
- Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation of the arteries and digestive system.
- It reduces chances of cancer of colon,prostrate and kidneys.
- It improves the skin texture, add shining to eyes, skin, hair and nails.

Health benefits of Vitamin D
1. Maintains Your Calcium Balance.
- Narrow range is vital for normal functioning of the nervous system.
- Vitamin D is required for bone growth, and maintenance of bone density.
- Vitamin D is essential for absorption of calcium by the body.
2. Aids Your Cell Differentiation
- Differentiation of cells leads to a decrease in proliferation.
- Cellular proliferation is essential for growth and wound healing.
- Uncontrolled proliferation of cells causes diseases like cancer.
- Proliferation inhibition and stimulation of the differentiation of cells is done by Vitamin D.
3. Boosts Your Immunity
- Active vitamin D is a potent immune system booster.
4. Has a Role in Insulin Secretion
- Insufficient vitamin D levels may have an adverse effect on insulin secretion.
- It also effects glucose tolerance in type 2 diabetes.
5. Blood Pressure Regulation
- Adequate vitamin D levels is important for decreasing the risk of high blood pressure.

Vitamin D and Diseases
- Osteoporosis
- Cancer
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Hypertension (High Blood Pressure)

Autoimmune Diseases
- Diabetes
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Rheumatoid Arthritis

Vitamin D overdose
- Hypercalcemia
- Bone loss
- Kidney stones
- Calcification of organs like the heart and kidneys
- Primary hyperparathyroidism
- Sarcoidosis
- Tuberculosis
- Lymphoma

Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for Vitamin D
- Infants 0-12 months- 1000 IU
- Children 1-18 years- 2000 IU
- Adults 19 years and older- 2000 IU

Vitamin D Deficiency
- Rickets
- Osteomalacia
- Peripheral vascular disease
- Certain cancers
- Multiple sclerosis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Juvenile diabetes
- Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease

How do you get Vitamin D?
- Sunshine (natural)
- Foods are artificially fortified with vitamin D
- Vitamin Supplements

Dietary sources of vitamin D
- Fatty fish species, such as:
- Catfish, 85 g (3 oz) provides 425 IU (5 IU/g)
- Salmon, cooked, 100 g (3.5 oz) provides 360 IU (3.6 IU/g)
- Mackerel, cooked, 100 g (3.5 oz), 345 IU (3.45 IU/g)
- Sardines, canned in oil, drained, 50 g (1.75 oz), 250 IU (5 IU/g)
- Tuna, canned in oil, 100 g (3.5 oz), 235 IU (2.35 IU/g)
- Eel, cooked, 100 g (3.5 oz), 200 IU (2.00 IU/g)
- A whole egg provides 20 IU if egg weighs 60 g (0.33 IU/g)
- Beef liver, cooked, 100 g (3.5 oz), provides 15 IU (0.15 IU/g)
- Fish liver oils, such as cod liver oil, 1 Tbs. (15 ml) provides 1360 IU (90.6 IU/ml)
- UV-irradiated mushrooms and yeast are the only known vegan significant sources of vitamin D
- Exposure of portabella mushrooms to UV provides an increase of vitamin D

- One of the major problem that a person face now-a-days is falling hair. Protein is very essential for maintaining good hair. To reduce hair fall, including good quality protein like soyabean or egg whites in the daily diet is very important. Also, taking vitamin B12 and consuming Brewer yeast tablets can help in reducing hair fall.

- Diabetes is getting so common now-a-days. Every second person is suffering from this disease. There are some simple tips that one can do at home to treat diabetes. One teaspoon of jamun powder or fenugreek seeds(methi) in the morning helps to reduce diabetes. Maintaining a good and healthy lifestyle is the most important measure that needs to be taken if one wants to get rid of this disease. Consumption of excess fat from your diet will improve the body’s insulin resistance.

- Constipation is another problem that people are facing now-a-days. To a greater extent, today’s lifestyle is responsible for an irregular bowel functioning. Consumption of junk food is increasing and also the stress level of the human being. Some simple tips to control constipation is to drink plenty of water daily and reduce the caffeine intake. Daily exercise which included walking for at least 45 min to 60 min is important. Also, include fresh vegetable juice in your diet.

- Dull skin can be a fairly common issue now-a-days. Some simple ways to address this issue is by ensuring that you drink enough water and fluids during the day to keep your skin hydrated. Drinking fresh vegetable juice and eating multiple servings of green vegetables and fruits during the day is also required. This needs to be supplemented with adequate amount of proteins, vitamin E and omega 3 supplements.

- To improve cardio vascular health, daily exercise which may include walking for atleast 45 min to 60 min at least 4-5 times a week is very important. In addition to walking, yoga and some breathing exercises three times a week reduces any kind of stress. In your diet, include one or two tbsp of roasted flaxseeds as it helps to increase the good cholesterol levels in the body.

- To improve metabolism, the most important tip that can be followed is eating during the first hour of having woken up. Walking is also very important to improve metabolism. Protein digestion asks the body to burn more calories and hence increasing the metabolism. So, include protein in your diet.

- To increase energy and immunity, instead of taking three big meals like breakfast, lunch, dinner, eat small frequent meals. It improves the digestion and keeps your body energetic. Include vitamin B12 supplements and wheat grass juice at least three to four times in a week.

- Discomfort during menopause is very common. To reduce it, include soya supplement in your diet as it mimics the estrogen function in the body. Also, include vitamin B6 as it prevents bloating.

- Sleep
Getting a good night’s sleep keeps you healthy and may keep colds away. Research suggests that a person sleeping for less than seven hours were almost three times as likely to get infected as compared to a person who is getting eight or more hours of sleep.

- Exercise
A moderate regular exercise or physical activity strengthens the immunological defenses. A study suggests people who have exercised five days a week had 43% fewer respiratory symptoms as compared to people who exercise one day a week or less.

- Zinc
Studies suggest that there is no benefit from zinc lozenges or zinc nasal spray but results of using zinc gel are better but these gels have also been linked to the loss of the sense of smell.

- Empathy
Doctors have varying standards on the level of empathy to be exhibited towards patients so in a study at the University of Wisconsion, two clinics were trained to exhibit different levels of empathy. These patients were studied over a period of 14 days. Results indicated that empathy does make a difference in getting over with the cold.

- Echinacea
Studies suggest that a preparation based on aerial parts of Echinacea plant might be an effective early treatment of colds in adults but prevention and treatment trials of echinacea have not been too encouraging.
Tests of nasal fluids showed that an empathic encounter seem to boost the immune system.

- Vitamins
It is a common belief that Vitamin C, when ingested in high enough levels, will prevent common cold. Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling had written a classic work in 1970 called Vitamin C in common cold; this book further added to this belief. But, medical research has not supported this belief; this was not shown in studies where large doses of thousand to two thousand milligrams per day did not prove effective. Another area of prevention of the common cold is being somewhat substantiated by studies – this is doing hard exercising in cold weather.