Kimberly Key

Dangers of Ashwagandha and Other Supplements

If you are a supplement junkie like me, then you will be as startled as I was by the latest research that revealed liver damage from ashwagandha.  Lubarska et al. published findings in March of this year in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health about risks of ashwagandha on the liver, which included a description of young 23 year old being hospitalized with jaundice from liver damage. (Jaundice is the yellowing side effect from excess bilirubin that can occur when the liver is not properly functioning). His liver damage was caused by ashwagandha, a popular Ayurvedic supplement that promotes calmness and has been used to treat anxiety, Parkinson's disease, arthritis, and other neurological conditions. 

The authors cited other research that revealed the risks of other popular supplements like Kava, Garcinia Cambogia, and green tea extracts. Meanwhile other researchers discussed toxicity from camphor, eucalyptus, valerian root, "G-herbs" (ginger, garlic, gingko), licorice, willow bark, pennyroyal oil, and others (Phua et al., 2009). Moreover, they pointed out that many vitamins and supplements can contain dangerous heavy metals, pesticides, and other contaminants.

Please remember, toxins can be digested but can also be absorbed into the skin and through inhalation. Thus, check the ingredients and quality of your topicals, essential oils and vaporizors.  In our modern society that overly focuses on looks and youth, it is easy to fall prey to the lure of supplements and herbs that promise weight loss, longevity, and even wellness. While we do fare better on a whole foods diet with proper nutritional supplementation, we need to advocate for ourselves and be cautious consumers. Please also share what nutritional supplements you are taking with your healthcare team and pharmacist to ensure that your supplements do not have adverse reactions with your medications and/or health conditions.

References

Lubarska, M., Hałasiński, P., Hryhorowicz, S., Mahadea, D. S., Łykowska-Szuber, L., Eder, P., Dobrowolska, A., & Krela-Kaźmierczak, I. (2023). Liver Dangers of Herbal Products: A Case Report of Ashwagandha-Induced Liver Injury. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(5), 3921. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20053921

 

Phua, D. H., Zosel, A., & Heard, K. (2009). Dietary supplements and herbal medicine toxicities—When to anticipate them and how to manage them. International Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2(2), 69–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12245-009-0105-z

 

Cancer and Stress (the Sixth Vital Sign of Cancer Diagnoses)

I am stunned to discover that I have neglected my personal blog for over a year, so I am rectifying that immediately with this post about cancer and stress. (Note-I have continued posting on Psychology Today, so please feel free to check out those articles. Some include toxic stress, depression, bullying, sleep, betrayal, and staying in love. Full list of articles can be found here.) Now back to this post about cancer.

I have lost a number of friends and family to cancer—and have as many (or more) that are cancer survivors. Cancer is pervasive and can be frightening as it is one the leading causes of death worldwide (2020 saw around 19.3 million new cancer cases and 9.9 cancer related deaths). For those who don’t know, cancer is not a specific disease but a cluster of over 200 diseases typified by dysfunctional cell growth that is rapidly replicated. The challenge is that the body’s immune system often misses detecting the stealth cell growth and then has difficulty eliminating it. Additionally, cancer stem cells that produce tumors have a sneaky way of taking a rest during cancer treatment and then re-awakening at a later date.

While there are various pathways and adaptations that are involved based on cancer type, progression, treatment(s), age, and gender, there are some epigenetic influences that can be managed. Or put another way, there are some lifestyle habits and ways of viewing life and coping with stress that can exacerbate conditions that make cancer cells thrive or remain inactive. One obvious solution is to eliminate smoking, alcohol, drugs, and exposure to toxic chemicals as they create havoc on the body and lead to ripe conditions for multiple diseases, including cancer.

Cancer and Stress

But there’s still more you can do to protect yourself. Distress has been cited at the sixth vital sign in diagnosing cancer, so managing stress can be critical for cancer prevention and cancer recovery. This makes sense when you understand that stress can increase the pro-inflammatory cytokines that feed cancer while simultaneously disrupting protective immune responses. In fact, people with a history of child maltreatment and trauma have been shown to have higher rates of depression, anxiety, fatigue, and stress. Moreover, they also tend to have more internalized shame and cognitive distortions (seeing things in more negative ways and ruminating on negativity). Thus, working with someone to overcome the negative perceptions and treat the underlying trauma, anxiety, and depression can be powerful for healing. Meditation, self-compassion, positive self-soothing, realistic appraisal, and employing healthy boundaries can enhance resilience and coping while reducing inflammation.

Nutritional Support

Dietary changes can also help. While it has been cited that sugar feeds cancer and processed foods may introduce unsafe chemicals into the body, there are foods that are more cancer-fighting. Beresford-Kroeger, author of The Sweetness of a Simple Life, provides a broader environmental systemic look at cancer and health and points out that the diversity of the human diet has gone from 85,000 different plant species to approximately eight main versions. She recommends rosemary and reishi mushrooms because they decrease free radicals by 50% while shiitake mushrooms decrease proliferation of cancer cells. Burdock root, onions, and garlic contain alliin—and hanging the onions and garlic in the kitchen allows you to breathe in the alliin, which helps to break down pre-cancerous cells and stimulates the immune system while decreasing blood pressure. Strawberries have ellagic acid which reduces the mutagenicity of toxins entering the cell that can lead to cancer. Additionally, keeping a ratio of one omega-3 for every six omega-6’s is recommended.

These are a few suggestions. Always speak with your doctor to ensure changes you are making are beneficial for your medical condition as people vary. For instance, you could be allergic strawberries, so avoid them and other things that do not work for you. The important takeaways are to manage your stress, find support, eat healthy and avoid toxins, get sleep so your body can heal, and try to increase more joy and gratitude in your life while decreasing fear and anxiety.

Finally, I will close with this quote by Anita Moorjani, the author of Dying to Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing:  “I could feel my attachment to the scene receding as I began to realize that everything was perfect and going according to plan in the greater tapestry.”

Discover Your Personal Vitamin Rx

It’s difficult to write about natural remedies without addressing a core issue that leads to so many health problems—improper nutrition.

 

Much of the popular American fare (i.e., processed sugary snacks in a box like meal replacement bars, cereal, pop tarts, etc., and fast food burgers and fries) is lacking in necessary vitamins and minerals. Consequently, people tend to eat more in the body’s desperation to obtain nutrients.

 

The problem: More food equals more calorie consumption which can lead to weight gain, which in turn increases the body’s need for nutrition. The resulting vicious cycle can create obesity and starvation because the body’s real nutritional needs aren’t met—in spite of food consumption.

 

Hunger and cravings attack and emotional helplessness and self-flagellation set in. It’s a debilitating process that many can’t understand. Shaming someone for their hunger doesn’t work; it simply exacerbates the problem because the cortisol that comes from the stress of feeling shamed saps the body’s last nutritional stores and whips the adrenals into fatigue. It is like being a lone soldier on the battlefront—without a team to cover one’s back. Isolation leads to more stress and the emotional comfort of food masks the real instigator—nutritional starvation.

 

A billion-dollar diet industry has blossomed and is filled with experts telling people how to eat and what to eat; yet the problem persists. In an earlier post, I share that there is not a perfect diet solution for everyone because our bodies metabolize food differently. While a raw food diet works great for some people, another person may thrive on a protein-based, lower carbohydrate diet. There is a simple metabolic test I recommend in order to find out how your body processes food. I’d beware of any diet or nutrition expert that only advocates one kind of diet plan and that doesn’t give you a metabolic assessment first. See my previous post to learn more: http://kimberlykey.typepad.com/kimberlykey/2014/07/let-your-body-tell-you-what-to-feed-it-understanding-your-personal-metabolism-.html

 

Like the metabolic test that addresses how your body processes food, I have discovered a test that can assess your personal nutrition needs. What really excites me about this test is that it takes any existing medical conditions into consideration and provides nutritional needs based on your current health while giving vitamin & supplement solutions THAT DON’T INTERFERE WITH ANY OF YOUR MEDICATIONS. This is so huge. Even with training in toxicology, I personally get lured into wanting to take additional supplements to fix all of my ailments (or to prevent them) and I can seriously risk taking over the counter ‘natural’ supplements that dangerously interact with each other or with my prescriptions. It’s so difficult because many of the nutrition sales agents (and doctors) can’t keep track of simple contraindications of vitamins and supplements—AND MEDS. This test has a fantastic database with all of this knowledge and can recommend what you need without any dangerous consequences. It’s all HIPPAA compliant and the vitamins and supplements they supply are all top of the line pharmaceutical-grade quality. Best news is the test is for free. After a year of scrutinizing the company, I finally signed up as a distributor, so you can take the free test on my site: KimberlyKey.IDLife.com

 

There’s a 30-day money back guarantee, so try a 29-day challenge…take the test and try the nutritional supplements they recommend for 29 days. See how you feel and notice if cravings have diminished. Take note how your joints feel. Has energy increased? Is skin more supple and are wounds healing faster? Do you find you’re actually eating less and feeling more sated? Have stomachaches and headaches decreased? Has your mood improved? Does the world seem just a little bit better than it did before? That’s what meeting your nutritional needs feels like.:)

 

 Please let me know if you have any questions at Kimberly AT EncompassWF dot com.

Take Two Potassiums and Call Me in the Morning

There’s nothing more anticlimactic to a romantic date over an indulgent dinner than getting swollen feet and legs from too much salt in the meal. Water retention. Not cute. Not comfortable. Not healthy. 

Before you give in to a ruined night and try to seclude yourself from your partner, try taking a potassium chloride supplement and guzzling a large glass of water. In 20 minutes you’ll be restored and the swelling will be gone. You can then resume cuddling  comfortably with your partner and enjoying the rest of your evening.

Potassium is a powerful need that often gets overlooked. Many have heard to eat a banana when dehydrated because the banana has potassium in it. Most people don't drink enough water and suffer from a chronic state of dehydration - and therefore low potassium.

In addition, the downside and danger of low-carb diets is that potassium gets even more depleted in the body. Because the body is in ketosis (fat-burning lypolysis mode instead glucosis), glycogen stores in the muscles are diminished along with the body’s electrolyte balance of potassium, magnesium and chloride. Therefore, low-carb dieters need extra supplementation to restore the balance.

Suffer from high blood pressure? The American Heart Association points out the need for potassium in the diet due to its ability to decrease unhealthy sodium and its powerful ability to relax blood vessel walls, which thereby reduces blood pressure. Nice!

So, while old school docs used to say, “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning,” perhaps the 21^st century dictum is to take two potassiums.

Here are the FDA recommendations for Potassium:

Category	Adequate Intake (AI)
CHILDREN
0-6 months	400 mg/day
7-12 months	700 mg/day
1-3 years	3,000 mg/day
4-8 years	3,800 mg/day
9-13 years	4,500 mg/day
14 years and up	4,700 mg/day
ADULTS
18 years and up	4,700 mg/day
Pregnant women	4,700 mg/day
Breastfeeding women	5,100 mg/day

 

While I have heard that potassium is generally low in most people’s diets and that overdose from it can be rare, it can happen - especially in people with kidney disease or heart patients on certain common medications. In such cases, potassium overdose can be life threatening due to potential for fatal heart rhythms. Please consult your doctor to determine your needs and if any of your medications and supplements have any contraindications with each other. 

Resolving the Gluten & Grain Controversy

You may have heard of gluten. It seems everyone is sensitive to gluten these days. I’ve heard some people question the legitimacy of gluten intolerance and have suggested it’s just a fad. Maybe. But what if I told you that gluten and its cousins, other grains (which are abundant in “gluten-free” products), might be harming you—whether you feel the consequences or not.

That’s part of the basis of the growing paleo movement. What I like about paleo are the dozens of paleo bloggers that share their personal stories of overcoming illness and weight issues by switching to paleo (check out slimpalate, thepaleomom, or thedomesticman to name a few). While they are truly inspiring, I find that people get totally overwhelmed by the topic, don’t know what to eat or not eat, and just give up.  This post is an attempt to simplify the issue so that you can decide whether you want to eat grains or not.

First, here are a few definitions…

• Gluten—a protein in grains that gives dough its elastic texture. You may have seen gluten in a bag next to the flour at the grocery store. It’s used for binding and enhancing elasticity in doughs. And gluten can be found in more than just wheat. It is in other cereal grains. Gluten is widely used and in some medications, vitamins, soy sauce, and other condiments, so it’s a stealthy ingredient that can cause a lot of distress for people trying to avoid it.

 

• Celiac and other diseases that cannot tolerate gluten—people with celiac have an autoimmune disease in their small intestine and it flares up with the introduction of gluten. Other people with digestive disorders like IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), leaky gut syndrome, Crohn’s disease, endometriosis, and other diseases and digestive disorders can have similar indigestive allergic type reactions to gluten.

 

• Grains—while there are grains of sand, the grains for this topic are cereal grains such as wheat, rice, corn, millet, oats, rye, barley…and yes, legumes (beans, pulses)…and soy.

 

Paleo stays away from all grains. Knowing that gluten can be in other grains may seem like the reason, but it’s not. Paleo stays away from grains because of the phytic acid contained in grains. Here’s why—phytic acid competes with mineral absorption in the body. Let me explain that in a different way. Ladies, you might be taking fancy calcium supplements to avoid osteoporosis. Men, same thing. Perhaps you’re taking magnesium (a post to come on this essential mineral!) or you’re just taking a plain old multivitamin/mineral supplement. Well, you can just throw those away when you’re ingesting grains because that’s what your body is doing. Yep, like a magnet it attracts that phytic acid to the mineral and flushes those healthy and much needed minerals right out of your body.

Some doctors point to research that vitamin & mineral supplementation passes directly into our urine, so they claim supplements are a waste of money. In fact, it’s a common joke that middle class have the most expensive urine on the planet. I believe that supplementation works and can does get absorbed—when its not competing with other elements in the body like toxins, metals, and phytic acid in grains.

What can you do? Well, the good news is that you have two options. Or three…(the third being that you just keep doing what you’re already doing.)

In my last post, I recommended the book, The Metabolic Typing Diet. The test reveals if your personal metabolism needs a low-carb/high purine protein diet or a high carb/low protein diet or a balanced mix of both. If you are a low-carb/high purine protein type, the paleo no grains approach will work for you. More meats and veggies.

BUT if you are the high carb/low protein type, your solution requires a little bit of work and may explain why all the sage advice in the leading vegan books urge you to soak your grains. Soaking depletes the phytic acid in grains. Eating sprouted foods does the same. See, you can have your cake and eat it too—as long as you soak.

If you’re not still sure what to do, try limiting grains for a couple of weeks and then see how you feel after you reintroduce them. I discovered all kinds of problems when I tried to eat even sprouted grains (I’m also a low carb/high purine protein type though). The pain I experienced keeps me from craving it as much. I have also found a lot of great healthy substitutes. You can check out those paleo sites for ideas.

I hope this helps explain the controversy of gluten and grains. It’s a daily process of discovery. Good wishes and happy healthy eating. You can share any questions or comments in the comments section.