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Molybdenum

MOLYBDENUM
Molybdenum is found in several digestive enzymes: sulfite oxidase, xanthine oxidase and aldehyde oxidase.
Sulfite oxidase is used in the body to help detoxify sulfites which are found in protein foods.
All three enzymes are utilized in the body to process protein foods.
Xanthine oxidase aids the body in its production of uric acid.

The chemical Sulphite oxidase is used as a preservative in some foods and medicines. However, there are side effects:
When used as a food additive, sulphite oxidase can cause some people to develop asthma and other breathing difficulties
Supplementation is not thought to be necessary, as people rarely become deficient in Molybdenum.
The average daily intake from foods is 180 mcg.
500 mcg daily have been given to trial patients with no adverse effect, however, this is not advised: the time frame
of this experiment was not revealed in my source, but since it is known that Molybdenum can deplete the body’s
Copper resources. taking extra Molydenum over long periods could end up making you Copper and Iron deficient, and this would lead to anaemia. Supplements should contain no more than 250 mcgs. Between 75 and 250 mcgs is considered safe.
People with high uric acid levels in the blood, which gives rise to gout, should not take Molybdenum unless your health professional advises you to do so.

Iodine is essential for healthy hair, nails, skin and teeth. A deficiency in iodine will affect your hair growth for sure. Poor mental function, poor eye-sight, lack of energy, and slow growth in children are other symptoms likely to be suffered by people who are deficient in iodine. Because two thirds of the body’s iodine is stored in the thyroid gland, a deficiency of iodine directly affects the thyroid function, and this disturbance can result in your putting on a lot of weight.It can also lead to goitre and hypothyroidism. Adults need somewhere between 80-150mcg daily, the guideline being 1 mcg for every kilogram of your body weight. Pregnant women and breast-feeding mums need to keep their intake on the high side of average. You can over-do iodine if you take supplements, however, you cannot over-dose on iodine if you rely on food to give you your daily requirement of the mineral. It pays to remember, also, that iodine is often destroyed in the processing of foods which would normally hold iodine, and that over-worked soils are often deficient themselves in iodine, so that foods produced on these soils are also deficient in iodine and other minerals, like zinc. Liquid iodine can be used on the scalp to supplement your iodine intake, and help your hair to regrow: see my posts on ‘Iodine Hair Growth’, ‘Iodine Scalp Hair Remedy’, and ‘Iodine’. Foods high in iodine are all those which come from the sea. Sea-water has high amounts of iodine in it, and this is absorbed by all sea life – all sea-water fish, shellfish, and sea-weeds. You absorb a little iodine as you swim in sea-water, and lie on the sand at the beach. Living by the sea will increase your iodine levels minimally, as the salt spray will be breathed in and settle on the skin where it will be absorbed: this is one reason why sailors generally have excellent eye-sight. Lobster, shrimp, crayfish, crab,oysters, mussels, abalone, sardines, mackerel and tuna are foods which are all extremely high in iodine. Sea-salt also contains iodine. This is a more preferable way to take iodine than using iodized salt, which has sodium iodide added to it. The iodine in sea-salt is natural, elemental iodine, and is more easily assimilated than sodium iodide. There is much written on the subject of iodized salt which suggests this could actually be harmful, compounded by the fact that free-flowing agents, like aluminium, are also added to iodized table salt. Kelp is a valuable source of iodine. Kelp could be substituted for table salt. It should be added to meals to ensure that enough iodine is acquired for the body, especially considering that many vegetables do not have the expected amount of iodine due to being grown on impoverished soils. Onions, garlic, leeks, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussels sprouts are normally good sources of iodine. Root vegetables such as beetroot and carrots, turnips, swede, parsnips, dandelions and salsify, and other vegetables which are deep-rooted, like comfrey, and jerusalem artichokes, are normally high in iodine. The globe artichoke, which belongs to the thistle family, is a rich source of iodine and other minerals and vitamins. The common nettle, which can be boiled as a vegetable or made into a tea, also contains reasonable amounts of iodine. Milk, butter, yogurt and eggs all contain some iodine. But kelp is the king of all iodine providers. Just half a teaspoonful of kelp powder provides you with about 1700 mcg of iodine, which well exceeds the dietary standard.
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Iodine is essential for healthy hair, nails, skin and teeth. A deficiency in iodine will affect your hair growth for sure. Poor mental function, poor eye-sight, lack of energy, and slow growth in children are other symptoms likely to be suffered by people who are deficient in iodine. Because two thirds of the body’s iodine is stored in the thyroid gland, a deficiency of iodine directly affects the thyroid function, and this disturbance can result in your putting on a lot of weight.It can also lead to goitre and hypothyroidism. Adults need somewhere between 80-150mcg daily, the guideline being 1 mcg for every kilogram of your body weight. Pregnant women and breast-feeding mums need to keep their intake on the high side of average. You can over-do iodine if you take supplements, however, you cannot over-dose on iodine if you rely on food to give you your daily requirement of the mineral. It pays to remember, also, that iodine is often destroyed in the processing of foods which would normally hold iodine, and that over-worked soils are often deficient themselves in iodine, so that foods produced on these soils are also deficient in iodine and other minerals, like zinc. Liquid iodine can be used on the scalp to supplement your iodine intake, and help your hair to regrow: see my posts on ‘Iodine Hair Growth’, ‘Iodine Scalp Hair Remedy’, and ‘Iodine’. Foods high in iodine are all those which come from the sea. Sea-water has high amounts of iodine in it, and this is absorbed by all sea life – all sea-water fish, shellfish, and sea-weeds. You absorb a little iodine as you swim in sea-water, and lie on the sand at the beach. Living by the sea will increase your iodine levels minimally, as the salt spray will be breathed in and settle on the skin where it will be absorbed: this is one reason why sailors generally have excellent eye-sight. Lobster, shrimp, crayfish, crab,oysters, mussels, abalone, sardines, mackerel and tuna are foods which are all extremely high in iodine. Sea-salt also contains iodine. This is a more preferable way to take iodine than using iodized salt, which has sodium iodide added to it. The iodine in sea-salt is natural, elemental iodine, and is more easily assimilated than sodium iodide. There is much written on the subject of iodized salt which suggests this could actually be harmful, compounded by the fact that free-flowing agents, like aluminium, are also added to iodized table salt. Kelp is a valuable source of iodine. Kelp could be substituted for table salt. It should be added to meals to ensure that enough iodine is acquired for the body, especially considering that many vegetables do not have the expected amount of iodine due to being grown on impoverished soils. Onions, garlic, leeks, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussels sprouts are normally good sources of iodine. Root vegetables such as beetroot and carrots, turnips, swede, parsnips, dandelions and salsify, and other vegetables which are deep-rooted, like comfrey, and jerusalem artichokes, are normally high in iodine. The globe artichoke, which belongs to the thistle family, is a rich source of iodine and other minerals and vitamins. The common nettle, which can be boiled as a vegetable or made into a tea, also contains reasonable amounts of iodine. Milk, butter, yogurt and eggs all contain some iodine. But kelp is the king of all iodine providers. Just half a teaspoonful of kelp powder provides you with about 1700 mcg of iodine, which well exceeds the dietary standard.

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Revisions

Date Created	Author	Actions
4 November, 2010 @ 23:47 [Current Revision]	Merrilyn
29 June, 2010 @ 2:26 [Autosave]	Merrilyn	Restore
5 June, 2010 @ 11:38	Merrilyn	Restore
3 June, 2010 @ 2:59	Merrilyn	Restore
1 June, 2010 @ 22:45	Merrilyn	Restore
1 June, 2010 @ 22:45	Merrilyn	Restore

SOURCES
The best source of Molybdenum is in the dark green leafy vegetables: Spinach, silver beet, kale, comfrey
All beans, haricot, red kidney, green string beans, broad beans, are high in Molybdenum.
Whole grains, bran, wheatgerm, cereals and dairy products conatin Molybdenum.

Help Your Eyesight

How to Help Your Eyesight:

As is the case in treating any degenerative disease, the most important things to consider are detoxification and nutrition, with appropriate exercise and a stress-free life-style if you can get it.

Many people who have degeneration of the eye-sight simply give up hope of restoring their eye-sight, believing that they have to live with the condition as it gradually worsens with each passing year. But there is much that can be done to prevent and treat eye conditions such as macular degeneration, cataracts and glaucoma , especially if you can recognize the warning signs early in the piece.

Early signs might be that you have lost clear focus, or the vision has become distorted. There might be a black, empty spot in your field of vision, or several small black dots.

Raw Food: Raw foods should form the bulk of the diet, as these help the detoxification process, whilst providing plenty of essential enzymes, vitamin C, and other nutrients which are needed for the reparation of the eye cells. If you cannot stomach too much raw food, then eat your vegetables lightly steamed.

Detoxification : There are many different techniques for detoxification. I recommend castor oil, taken in a two tablespoon dose every second day to help with the cleansing process. Castor oil also has remarkable healing properties which will help your eye-sight to restore itself, even when taken internally, as in a cleansing technique. It helps carry the nutrients throughout the body, which ensures that your eyes, too, will get benefit from them.

An Ayurvedic remedy for the eyes is to put just one drop of castor oil into each eye last thing at night, before you shut your eyes to sleep. This remedy is reputed to be helpful in preventing cataracts of the eye, and also in treating them, if you catch the cataract at the early stage.

Castor oil acts as a pathway, bridgeing the gaps where cells have been damaged so that nutrients can be carried across the damaged cells, to assist their recovery. Taking a dose of castor oil once a week or so can help your eyesight.

Nutrition : Diet is all-important in treating and preventing macular degeneration and other disease. As we shall see, green vegetables and carrots top the list of vegetables for nourishing the eyes.

Lutein is thought to be the most valuable nutrient to prevent macular degeneration. It is found in leafy green vegetables such as kale, spinach, silver beet and comfrey.

Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, green peas, celery and broad beans are also high in lutein. Ideally, we need to include a good helping of one or two of these greens with at least one meal a day for enough cell-repairing lutein to reach the eyes and work its healing.

Comfrey is especially high in lutein, silica and other cell-enhancing elements which are valuable in restoring eye- sight. If you can get some, take a cup of comfrey tea daily. The weak, cooled tea can be used as an eye wash and the mushed, cooked and cooled leaves used as a poultice on the eyes for five minutes several times a week. If you cannot get comfrey, try using borage leaves instead, and prepare and use as a tea in the same way as for comfrey, only do not use borage as an eye poultice. Cucumber slices placed over the eyes for five minutes have a healing effect on the eye tissues.

The other essential ingredient for eye health is carotene. The greens mentioned above all contain carotene as well as other essential minerals and vitamins. However, you just can’t beat carrots for improving the eye-sight, and this is why carrots were fed to the fighter pilots during the second world war. Eating carrots daily improved the night vision of the pilots. Follow suit and eat carrots every day to experience the optimum in vision which your eyes offer you.

Fish oils and proteins are essential for the maintenance of good eye-sight. You really need those Omega 3 fatty acids to keep your eyes and brain healthy. The eyes respond well to a protein-rich diet, especially when high fibre and lutein-rich greens accompany the meal.

Nuts and fish are some of the best nutritive protetins for the eyes and brain. Small fish such as sardines in oil, and mackerel, are very good because you get additional calcium from eating the bones. Iodine is important for eye health: eating fish and fish oils will give you an iodine boost as well. Olive oil, grapeseed oil and avocado- oil or fruit, all contain fats which benefit the eyes.

Two raw egg yolks taken daily with your meal, or in a smoothie, will help the eye tissues to restore themselves. Egg yolk contains lecithin, which is needed to process fats and oils. Do not use the egg white raw. This dietary supplement is very good for people who do not eat meat, or who are on limited diets to treat serious conditions. Walter Last recommended raw egg yolk for people as part of a diet to treat cancer and other degenerative disease. Raw foods formed the basis of this diet, with the addition of calf liver juice. If you were keen to follow a strict regime such as this, you would need to have the support and advice of a trained naturopath or health professional. I would recommend the castor oil regime, taken every second day, with raw food, raw egg yolk, and almonds forming the basis of the diet. If it is done carefully and faithfully, this diet, I believe, will cure even macular degeneration. Read Dr.Max Gerson’s book to get some nitty gritty on the success of this type of treatment.

Eating garlic with meals helps to clear the sinuses which thus has a beneficial effect on the eyesight. Any of the allium family, that is, garlic, leeks, onions, spring onions, or chives, help to keep bacteria at bay and stimulate not only the digestion but also the brain and the eye nerves.

Vitamin B 12 has been found to be of major importance in treating eye disease. It can halt the worsening of an eye trouble. Glaucoma patients, especially, have benefited from a standard dosage of a B 12 supplement. The B vitamins are essential because they help you lower stress experience.

Take Vitamin C in a non-acidic form daily: Two divided doses of 500 mg to 1000 mg each. Vitamin C has the added benefit, apart from its healing properties, of acting as a mild tranquilizer and stress reliever. Stress hinders recovery, so allow yourself time for everything, including meditation, or yoga, so that you do not become stressed.

Too much coffee, or alcohol, and medicinal drugs, can cause macular degeneration or a general weakening of the eye-sight. Caffeine should be avoided or reduced to a minimum to protect your vision from becoming impaired. If you already have sight deterioration, then you are best to completely eliminate caffeine and alcohol, and medicinal drugs if your doctor allows it, from your diet.

Coffee and alcohol have the effect of dehydrating the body, which affects the eyes and the brain. Make sure you drink adequate amounts of good water each day, instead of going for the stimulants. Your eye-sight will reward you.

You can become a tea tippler rather than a coffee drinker: Polyphenols which are found in tea work as anti-oxidants and have been proven to have anti-cancer properties. Regular tea which contains tannin, is more healthy than de-caffeinated tea, as the polphenol content is higher in the untreated product. Cold, used tea bags of either green tea, or ceylon tea, also have a healing effect on the eyes when used as a pack for five minutes. You can do this several times a week, or even daily, to help regenerate eye tissue and revitalize the nerve functions.

Green Tea helps eyesight: Green tea is a general tonic for the nervous system. Building and maintaining a healthy nervous system benefits your eyesight. You can take anything from two to ten cups a day. Personally, I think that two cups a day is enough, but research done in New Zealand has shown that ten cups of green tea a day provides enough epigallocatechin-3-gallate, or EGCG to be effective in the regulating of the glucose mechanism, and so we can assume that ten cups a day of green tea is O.K.

Rose hip tea, if you can get it in tea bags, is another very good thing to use (cooled) over the eyes once you have enjoyed your cup of herb tea. Rose hips contain high amounts of vitamin C. Even when dried and infused, the dregs still contain traces of vitamin C and other agents which aid healing.

Castor Oil and Ghee Oil: These oils have a healing effect on the eyes. They can be applied as a pack and left over the eyes for a period; or one drop of either oil can be put into the eyes at night-time. Both these oils are used in ayurvedic medicine and have been used to prevent cataracts and stop them from worsening. Castor oil and ghee oil have a lubricating and soothing effect on the eye tissues.

Vitamins for Hair Growth

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements are very useful in helping to maintain, or to regain, good health. We are fortunate that we can buy these at most supermarkets and health food stores, and we pray that this situation may long continue. The best vitamins for hair growth are outlined below, with that king of minerals, zinc, and his trusty retainers, magnesium and silica.

Vitamin B Complex

Vitamin B is important for good digestion. It is important to have enough of this in the diet for us to be able to deal with stress. If we are deficient in Vitamin B, then stress related conditions like eczema and hypoglycemia can result, with a lowering of normal stress levels. This can, of course, result in the hair falling or thinning.

Falling hair is a sure sign that your diet and your life style need adjustment. While you are working on improving the state of these things, it is a good idea to take a Vitamin B complex supplement to give your health a boost so that you may recover both your health and your hair more quickly.

Vitamin B is a priority for hair growth. Take the maximum dose on a daily basis to improve the health of your hair.

Vitamin C

This is needed especially if you are not eating enough fresh fruit, but Vitamin C is good for overall health as it helps in the assimilation of other vitamins and works as an antioxidant. It also helps in maintaining good skin tone. The scalp is skin, and so it benefits by having an adequate supply of Vitamin C in the diet.

Vitamin C helps enormously in our ability to cope with stress. Take ester C, or calcium ascorbate at night to help you sleep well.

If your health is below par and your hair is showing signs of falling out, then taking 1000 mgs morning and night will help. Start with just 1000 mg in the morning. After a few days, build up the dosage by taking again at night. Cut back to just the evening dose if your bowel motions remain disturbed.

Vitamin C also aids digestion. Good digestion means you will absorb more of the nutrients which you are eating in your food, which, in turn, helps to build up good health and strengthen the immune system.

Vitamin C works as an antiseptic and a healer. It is also a mild sedative, so this should help you to sleep well if you take a dose at night-time. Loose bowel motions can occur initially, but do not worry. This is just your insides clearing themselves of debris. Drink extra water to help with the cleansing process.

Halibut Liver Oil

This contains high amounts of Vitamins A and D. Both these vitamins, taken in the fish oil, help the growth of nice, healthy, shiny hair. Take the maximum dose each day if you are working on hair which is thinning.

I took slightly more than the stated dose when I needed the benefit of Halibut Liver Oil Vitamins, but I cannot recommend this practice to people reading my article. Especially when any of the family had a chest infection, I doubled the dose, but for one or two doses only, as that was all that was needed to beat most infections. After that, I would return to a maintenance dose about twice weekly.

Best to take this in the morning, as Halibut Liver Oil might interfere with your sleep if taken too late in the day.

Zinc and Magnesium

The above list of Vitamins for Hair Growth should be helpful to all those who are building their health in order to have better hair.

But the supplements Zinc and Magnesium must be mentioned in this article. These two minerals are highly important for recovering your health and your hair. It is best if you take the full set of recommended vitamins, rather than just buying these, but if you are on a budget and can only afford ONE vitamin, then get the combination which has both of these.

Zinc helps you cope with stress. A deficiency of zinc and magnesium could result in your having thin hair, or hair which is falling rapidly.

Zinc helps in the digestion of carbohydrates, so it is especially important for anyone with allergies, or anyone who suffers from hypoglycaemia.These conditions can cause the hair to fall out. A diet low in sugar is needed. It is best to avoid wheat and dairy products if you think you might be sensitive to these. Upping your zinc intake is sometimes all that is needed to improve digestion of these foods.

Zinc is low in New Zealand soils, so most N Zers need an extra boost of zinc with magnesium at least once a week. If your hair is thinning, then you should take a daily amount of the recommended dose. Do not ever take more than the stated dose.

Because our food is lacking in these minerals which creates a need for NZers to buy these supplements , it seems a crime that drug companies are driving to get the monopoly on sales.

Zinc with Magnesium should be the first mineral supplement to the diet if one has thinning hair.

Silica is an essential mineral for the health of the hair. You can buy homeopathic silica in what are known as ‘cell salts’. But the easiest way which you can help your hair in its requirements of silica is to eat a bowl of oatmeal porridge every day. OR you can drink oat straw tea, which is especially high in silica. Comfrey tea is also high in silica……….

Comfrey Tea – for internal and external use

A good natural way to get a high count of minerals and vitamins into the body to benefit the hair is to take comfrey tea on a regular basis. Two leaves simmered in a pint of water will give you a tea which is high in silica. This helps the growth of hair, nails, teeth and bones. It helps heal liver and intestines and skin conditions like ezcema. Take a small cupful morning and night. Keep the remainder in the fridge for up to two days, then make a fresh lot if you haven’t finished the first brew.

Comfrey Hair Rinse: The same brew can be used, once it has cooled, to put through the hair after washing. If you are making a special brew for use on the hair, then you could make the mixture slightly stronger by adding a 3rd leaf to the pot. The silica in the sliminess of the leaf really makes the hair shine beautifully. It also helps heal the scalp to prevent dandruff.

Comfrey supplements in tablet form, if you can get them, and shampoos and soaps with added comfrey, are a good idea. But nothing beats the effects of the fresh herb, brewed up for 5 or 10 minutes, taken as a tea and/or applied as a hair rinse.

Apple Cider Vinegar: This is great for promoting hair growth. If you apply it after using soap or shampoo, then the alkaline effect from these products is negated. Apple cider vinegar is rich in potassium and other minerals and vitamins which nourish the scalp. It is best not to use iodine on the scalp right away if you have rubbed apple cider vinegar into it. The two do not combine well. Wait for the following day after the application of cider vinegar to apply any iodine to the scalp.

It is best not to take apple cider vinegar internally on a regular basis if you have falling or thinning hair. This is because candida albicans is a problem with many people, and this condition can contribute to hair loss. Putting the apple cider vinegar onto the hair when it is still wet will feed the hair follicles directly. This shouldn’t cause problems with candida unless you are in the early stages of recovery. Use about a dessertspoonful of apple cider vinegar for one treatment. Don’t wash it off.

If you found this article informative you may also be interested merrilyn’s update: Best Vitamins For Hair Growth. The posts entitled Regrow Hair; and Iodine scalp/Hair Remedy have more ideas for improving hair growth.

Living Without Vitamins

We are going to have to become a lot more creative and inventive in our healing methods if the government and the ” powers that be” manage to ban the counter-sales of vitamins and minerals, herbs and homeopathic medicines.

We are told that this is for the benefit of our health, that these things can be dangerous if taken without consultation, that safe dosage may be exceeded, and so we need an intermediary, if we are to use these things at all. This intermediary, a doctor or a qualified health practitioner then will be paid to prescribe for us, sell us expensive equivalents of the relatively cheap herbs and vitamins we use already, and tell us what to do with them.

It is hard to believe that our safety is the main cause of concern by either the government or the drug companies.

Alcohol and tobacco and party drugs cause more ill health and deaths than do the taking of vitamin and mineral supplements. But we don’t have to go to the doctor or any other accountable body to get prescriptions for these potentially dangerous items.

Comfrey, or “Knit-bone” was banned several years ago. This was a famous and well-tried healing herb, used from olden times unto the present day. Its name “knit-bone” impies its healing nature, which derives from its high silica content, its high content of minerals, vitamins, and a cell proliferant which speeds up the growth of new cells in the body, including bone tissue.

Comfrey tea is soothing to the digestion, and because of its high silica, is good for hair, bones and teeth when used as a herbal tea.

We usually add some peppermint or chamomile herb to the tea, as it is fairly tasteless on its own. It puts a wonderful shine to the hair if used as a rinse. (The next best thing to compare to comfrey for hair, bones, teeth and nails is oat-straw tea.) I used to add comfrey to silverbeet, so that we could benefit from its nutrients. The alkaline quality of comfrey counteracts the acid from the silverbeet.

Its silica-sliminess makes a fantastic dressing for burns and wounds. I once cured a scald on my child’s arm by placing cooked, cold, wet comfrey dressings continually over the wound. This took about five days or so to heal, but when it did, there was barely a trace of a scar.

An article came out in our New Zealand papers which suggested eating comfrey could cause cancer in pigs. That was the end of it, basically. The herb was taken off the shelves of the health stores, and, furthermore, the plant itself was made illegal here in New Zealand.

I never knew anyone who ate comfrey in quantities. It was unpalatable to eat on its own, so there was never any danger of eating too much of the stuff. I never knew anyone who had “O-Deed” or died from eating comfrey. My opinion is that the green outside skin of a potato would be more potentially hazardous to the health, as this contains a poison, saponin, which does affect the liver badly, and could contribute to a cancerous condition if you ate enough of it: yet potatoes have not been banned.

The idea of banning potatoes on the grounds that the saponin contained within the green of the skin , known to be a carcenogen, is hazardous to health, is as ridiculous as it was to ban comfrey on the grounds it could cause cancer in pigs.

I doubt that comfrey has accumulative effects of a negative nature. So few people used the herb, but the people I knew who did use it, used it moderately. They were generally health-conscious people who avoided the use of toxic chemicals and the ingestion of allopathic medecines, and generally were very fit and strong.

I have never found out who engineered the comfrey ban, but I can guess. Comfrey saved us on many an occasion from having to go to a doctor and from using prescriiption medecines.

Drug companies have already successfully won over the rights to produce iodine and gentian violet. These medecines were taken, respectively, off the market in New Zealand at precisecly the same time they were taken off the shelves in Australia, between 5 and 10 years ago. This shows that, even then, drug companies were working globally toward gaining control over pharmaceuticals. The reason that both these medecines were hated by drug companies is that they were cheap and lasted for many a long year, as opposed to the concocted products which drug companies sell for the treatment of the same conditions and for about three times the price.

It is a pity that iodine had to go: apart from preventing infection when painted onto a wound or graze, a weekly daub of a small part of the sole of the foot gave us enough iodine to help our immune systems, keep the endocrine system in balance, prevent thyroid problems, help form healthy teeth, bones, nails, and grow healthy hair.

In the days when I still had iodine to use, I found its effects remarkable in encouraging hair growth.

I found this out after using iodine to treat eczema-like patches on the scalp. I had allowed this condition to developed mainly because of using milk which I was allergic to. After several weeks, on the spots where I had been dabbing iodine every two or three days, thicker hair began to grow.

Cider vinegar, which you still can buy, is the next best thing in maintaining a healthy scalp and in promoting hair growth. I just rub the neat vinegar into the scalp after washing, which neutralizes the alkaline effect of soap or shampoo, and feeds the scalp with potassium and other mineral salts.

Since the writing of this article several years ago, iodine has been reintroduced, but it is an extremely diluted form, and you have to buy it from the chemist, or drugstore if you live in U.S.A. Previously, you could buy it in supermarkets, and it was, of course, a very cheap option for an iodine source.

The thing which we will probably all feel compelled to do before long, is to grow our own vegetables in soil which we ourselves have enrichened with the nutrients it is lacking. The best way to do this is to collect sea-weed from the beach after a storm and to bury this well underneath the top-soil layer.

Sea-weed is extremely high in iodine, and contains all the other trace elements which we need, and we therefore need to put this into our soils for our vegetables to be a rich source of these things.

Then, we would have no need for buying iodine or for buying health supplements such as the minerals and vitamins which are now under threat by a change in legislation.

Of course, this will result in a radical change of life-style for all of us: hopefully, more shared, communal gardens will evolve in the cities and towns, with the land mass breaking up into smaller, more manually manageable farm plots being developed to feed and maintain the health of their local communities.