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Thursday – 6pm
Sunday – 8am
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If you use an antiperspirant  that contains  aluminum, you could be increasing your risk of breast cancer. Antiperspirants work by clogging, closing, or blocking the pores that release sweat under your arms — with the active ingredient being aluminum. Not only does this block one of your body’s routes for detoxification (releasing toxins via your underarm sweat), but it raises concerns about where these metals are going once you roll them (or spray them) on.

Research, including one study published this year in the Journal of Applied Toxicology, has shown that the aluminum is not only absorbed by your body, but is deposited in your breast tissue and even can be found in nipple aspirate fluid a fluid present in the breast duct tree that mirrors the microenvironment in your breast. Researchers determined that the mean level of aluminum in nipple aspirate fluid was significantly higher in breast cancer-affected women compared to healthy women, which may suggest a role for raised levels of aluminum as a biomarker for identification of women at higher risk of developing breast cancer.

In a 2007 study published in the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, researchers tested breast samples from 17 breast-cancer patients who had undergone mastectomies. The women who used antiperspirants had deposits of aluminum in their outer breast tissue. Concentrations of aluminum were higher in the tissue closest to the underarm than in the central breast.

Aluminum is not normally found in the human body, so this study was a pretty clear sign that the metal was being absorbed from antiperspirant sprays and roll-ons. Please note that aluminum is typically only found in antiperspirants. If you are using a deodorant-only product it is unlikely to contain aluminum but might contain other chemicals that could be a concern.

Aluminum salts can account for 25 percent of the volume of some antiperspirants, and a review of the common sources of aluminum exposure for humans found that antiperspirant use can significantly increase the amount of aluminum absorbed by your body. According to the review, after a single underarm application of antiperspirant, about .012 percent of the aluminum may be absorbed.

This may not sound like much until you multiply it by one or more times a day for a lifetime, which adds up to massive exposure to aluminum — a poison that is not supposed to be in your body, and may be more toxic than mercury. Aluminum salts can mimic the hormone estrogen, and chemicals that imitate that hormone are known to increase breast cancer risk. Animal studies have also found that aluminum can cause cancer. Aside from vaccinations, your antiperspirant may be your largest source of exposure to this poisonous metal!

One Thing that can make You Healthier?

                When somebody comes in my office and they are in a lot of pain I know right away that they are not drinking enough water. I tell 95% of the people coming into the office that they need to drink more water. Drinking more water is very important and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Just 24ozs of water low is considered being dehydrated. I have had some people come in my office as much as 100ozs low in their fluid intake.

The serious problems of dehydration can include disc problems. The discs between each vertebra in your spine are mostly made of water, so if you’re dehydrated the disc shrinks just a little and that can put added pressure on one of your spinal nerves and cause pain. About 99% of the people that come in my office with sciatic pain are dehydrated. The disc shrinks and presses on the sciatic nerve and the person will have excruciating pain. If someone is chronically dehydrated it can lead to herniated discs and bulging discs because their spine is less stable than normal a person.

A person who is dehydrated can have headaches all the time because the blood does not circulate as well to the brain which also can lead to dizziness, heaviness in the head, blurred vision, and hearing loss. When a person feels weakness, fatigue, or energy loss usually they are dehydrated because the blood gets thicker making the heart have to work harder to circulate the blood around the body. That is a waste of energy which leads to energy loss and fatigue. When someone feels tired they are better off drinking a big glass of water than drinking a cup of coffee or some other energy drink. This also leads to a slow metabolism and stubborn weight gain. Most people, if they just make a conscious effort to drinking more water and only water, they will drop some weight off naturally without seemingly doing anything extra physically. Dehydration can cause asthma and sinus problems. If you are not drinking enough water your sinuses and the lining of your lungs become dry, making it hard for you to breathe.

Chronic pains such as back pain, neck pain, and hip pain can be caused by dehydration because the muscle, tendons, and ligaments tend to become tight. This causes lack of flexibility and joint stiffness. People will come in thinking they have arthritis, when they are only dehydrated. They will ask me why their medical doctor doesn’t tell them to drink more water.  I tell them it is because pills are much more profitable than drinking more water. I have had many yoga enthusiasts and instructors come in complaining of, all of a sudden, not being able to get into certain postures. I tell them to drink more and they can now get into postures that they were unable to get into.

Dehydration can actually cause water retention. You wouldn’t think that if you were dehydrated that you would have a problem with water retention. The body releases something called histamines when we are dehydrated. Histamines cause the body to hold on to water because our body is wondering when  the next time we are going to drink water and doesn’t want to release any  water that it already has. Histamines can also cause chronic inflammation of the body, skin to become plump, and can also cause fake allergic reactions. There are a lot of times when someone comes in my office thinking they are allergic to something when all they are is dehydrated.

When someone doesn’t drink enough water their digestion is compromised. If someone is dehydrated they can’t produce enough acid to breakdown the food that they just ate. Most times acid reflux is actually lack of water causing indigestion because food is not being properly digested.

Now, in order to rehydrate properly you should drink room temperature water or warm water because the body can absorb that type of water faster. If someone is severely dehydrated they should add a pinch of sea salt in their water to make it even easier to rehydrate. Avoid distilled water because distilled water has no minerals in it and just goes right through the body without any of it being absorbed. Avoid cold water or ice water because that just shocks the body and you just end up going to the bathroom with very little being absorbed. People that are severely dehydrated from being in the desert they are first given warm water because they know that is the easiest way to quickly rehydrate a person.