Mengatasi Sakit Kepala dengan Obat Alami

Cara Mengatasi Sakit Kepala - Sakit kepala (cephalalgia atau dilafalkan cephalgia) adalah suatu kondisi terdapatnya rasa sakit di dalam kepala. Rasa sakit tersebut kadang terjadi di belakang leher atau punggung bagian atas. (wikipedia)
Penyebab dan Jenis-jenis Sakit kepala memang banyak macamnya, diantaranya Sakit kepala karena tegang, Sakit kepala migren, Sakit kepala pasca-trauma, Sakit kepala

Potatoes and Human Health, Part II

Glycoalkaloids in Commonly Eaten Potatoes

Like many edible plants, potatoes contain substances designed to protect them from marauding creatures. The main two substances we're concerned with are alpha-solanine and alpha-chaconine, because they are the most toxic and abundant. Here is a graph of the combined concentration of these two glycoalkaloids in common potato varieties (1):

We can immediately determine three things from this graph:

• Different varieties contain different amounts of glycoalkaloids.
• Common commercial varieties such as russet and white potatoes are low in glycoalkaloids. This is no accident. The glycoalkaloid content of potatoes is monitored in the US.
  
• Most of the glycoalkaloid content is in the skin (within 1 mm of the surface). That way, predators have to eat through poison to get to the flesh. Fortunately, humans have peelers.

I'll jump the gun and tell you that the generally accepted safe level of potato glycoalkaloids is 200 mcg/g fresh weight (1). You can see that all but one variety are well below this level when peeled. Personally, I've never seen the Snowden variety in the store or at the farmer's market. It appears to be used mostly for potato chips.

Glycoalkaloid Toxicity in Animals

Potato glycoalkaloids are undoubtedly toxic at high doses. They have caused many harmful effects in animals and humans, including (1, 2):

• Death (humans and animals)
  
• Weight loss, diarrhea (humans and animals)
  
• Anemia (rabbits)
• Liver damage (rats)
  
• Lower birth weight (mice)
  
• Birth defects (in animals injected with glycoalkaloids)
  
• Increased intestinal permeability (mice)

However, it's important to remember the old saying "the dose makes the poison". The human body is designed to handle a certain amount of plant toxins with no ill effects. Virtually every plant food, and a few animal foods, contains some kind of toxic substance. We're constantly bombarded by gamma rays, ultra violet rays, bacterial toxins, free radicals, and many other potentially harmful substances. In excess, they can be deadly, but we are adapted to dealing with small amounts of them, and the right dose can even be beneficial in some cases.

All of the studies I mentioned above, except one, involved doses of glycoalkaloids that exceed what one could get from eating typical potatoes. They used green or blemished potatoes, isolated potato skins, potato sprouts or isolated glycoalkaloids (more on this later). The single exception is the last study, showing that normal doses of glycoalkaloids can aggravate inflammatory bowel disease in transgenic mice that are genetically predisposed to it (3)*.

What happens when you feed normal animals normal potatoes? Not much. Many studies have shown that they suffer no ill effects whatsoever, even at high intakes (1, 2). This has been shown in primates as well (4, 5, 6). In fact, potato-based diets appear to be generally superior to grain-based diets in animal feed. As early as 1938, Dr. Edward Mellanby showed that grains, but not potatoes, aggravate vitamin A deficiency in rats and dogs (7). This followed his research showing that whole grains, but not potatoes, aggravate vitamin D deficiency due to their high phytic acid content (Mellanby. Nutrition and Disease. 1934). Potatoes were also a prominent part of Mellanby's highly effective tooth decay reversal studies in humans, published in the British Medical Journal in 1932 (8, 9).

Potatoes partially protect rats against the harmful effects of excessive cholesterol feeding, when compared to wheat starch-based feed (10). Potato feeding leads to a better lipid profile and intestinal short-chain fatty acid production than wheat starch or sugar in rats (11). I wasn't able to find a single study showing any adverse effect of normal potato feeding in any normal animal. That's despite reading two long review articles on potato glycoalkaloids and specifically searching PubMed for studies showing a harmful effect. If you know of one, please post it in the comments section.

In the next post, I'll write about the effects of potatoes in the human diet, including data on the health of traditional potato-eating cultures... and a curious experiment by the Washington State Potato Commission that will begin on October 1.


*Interleukin-10 knockout mice. IL-10 is a cytokine involved in the resolution of inflammation and these mice develop inflammatory bowel disease (regardless of diet) due to a reduced capacity to resolve inflammation.

Potatoes and Human Health, Part I

Potatoes: an Introduction

Over 10,000 years ago, on the shores of lake Titicaca in what is now Peru, a culture began to cultivate a species of wild potato, Solanum tuberosum. They gradually transformed it into a plant that efficiently produces roundish starchy tubers, in a variety of strains that suited the climactic and gastronomic needs of various populations. These early farmers could not have understood at the time that the plant they were selecting would become the most productive crop in the world*, and eventually feed billions of people around the globe.

Wild potatoes, which were likely consumed by hunter-gatherers before domestication, are higher in toxic glycoalkaloids. These are defensive compounds that protect against insects, infections and... hungry animals. Early farmers selected varieties that are low in bitter glycoalkaloids, which are the ancestors of most modern potatoes, however they didn't abandon the high-glycoalkaloid varieties. These were hardier and more tolerant of high altitudes, cold temperatures and pests. Cultures living high in the Andes developed a method to take advantage of these hardy but toxic potatoes, as well as their own harsh climate: they invented chuños. These are made by leaving potatoes out in the open, where they are frozen at night, stomped underfoot and dried in the sun for many days**. What results is a dried potato with a low glycoalkaloid content that can be stored for a year or more.

Nutritional Qualities

From a nutritional standpoint, potatoes are a mixed bag. On one hand, if I had to pick a single food to eat exclusively for a while, potatoes would be high on the list. One reason is that they contain an adequate amount of complete protein, meaning they don't have to be mixed with another protein source as with grains and legumes. Another reason is that a number of cultures throughout history have successfully relied on the potato as their principal source of calories, and several continue to do so. A third reason is that they're eaten in an unrefined, fresh state.

Potatoes contain an adequate amount of many essential minerals, and due to their low phytic acid content (1), the minerals they contain are well absorbed. They're rich in magnesium and copper, two minerals that are important for insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular health (2, 3). They're also high in potassium and vitamin C. Overall, they have a micronutrient content that compares favorably with other starchy root vegetables such as taro and cassava (4, 5, 6). Due to their very low fat content, potatoes contain virtually no omega-6, and thus do not contribute to an excess of these essential fatty acids.

On the other hand, I don't have to eat potatoes exclusively, so what do they have to offer a mixed diet? They have a high glycemic index, which means they raise blood sugar more than an equivalent serving of most carbohydrate foods, although I'm not convinced that's a problem in people with good blood sugar control (7, 8). They're low-ish in fiber, which could hypothetically lead to a reduction in the number and diversity of gut bacteria in the absence of other fiber sources. Sweet potatoes, an unrelated species, contain more micronutrients and fiber, and have been a central food source for healthy cultures (9). However, the main reasons temperate-climate cultures throughout the world eat potatoes is they yield well, they're easily digested, they fill you up and they taste good.

In the next post, I'll delve into the biology and toxicology of potato glycoalkaloids, and review some animal data. In further posts, I'll address the most important question of all: what happens when a person eats mostly potatoes... for months, years, and generations?


* In terms of calories produced per acre.

** A simplified description. The process can actually be rather involved, with several different drying, stomping and leaching steps.

Kumpulan SMS Cinta Terbaru (Bag.3)

Melengkapi koleksi SMS cinta yang sudah saya posting sebelumnya dengan judul Kumpulan Kata-Kata Romantis Terbaru . Kali ini Blog Tips Cinta akan membagikan lagi kumpulan SMS Cinta Terbaru yang super romantis dan gombal abizz. 
SMS Love ini bisa anda gunakan untuk SMS ke gebetan anda, atau sebagai status di facebook. Silakan disimak.Di atas langit masih ada langit. Di bawah langit masih ada aku

Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1 Syawal 1431 H

Saya Sekeluarga Mengucapkan Selamat Idul Fitri 1 Syawal 1431 Hijriyah. Minal Aidin Wal Faidzin Mohon Maaf Lahir dan Batin.
Bagi semua Pembaca Setia blog ini, Maafkanlah atas semua kesalahan dalam tutur kata dan semua khilaf, baik yang disengaja maupun yang tidak disengaja. Semoga Allah menerima ibadah dan mengampuni dosa-dosa kita semua selama ini. AMIN.
Wassalam,Taopik Kurrohman

Cara Mengatasi Nyeri Haid

Pada kesempatan kali ini, Blog Tips Kesehatan Wanita akan membahas mengenai cara mengatasi nyeri haid, mulai dari penyebab nyeri haid, gejala nyeri haid dan pengobatan nyeri haid.
Nyeri haid (dismenorrhea) adalah rasa nyeri/ sakit yang timbul sewaktu akan haid atau selama haid (menstruasi), dengan gejala seperti mulas pada perut bagian bawah sampai ke pinggang dan paha.
Penyebab nyeri haid

PPL Terbaru - Dibayar $0,5/ Daftar (Hanya 5 Hari)

Pagi-pagi saya membawa kabar menarik ni! bukan tentang kesehatan, tapi tentang dollar. Yup kali ini ada program penghasil dollar (Pay Per Lead) dimana kita akan dibayar sebanyak $0,5/ 1 orang yang daftar dari link kita.

Tentu semua pebisnis online masih ingat Paypal wishlist dari paypal di akhir tahun 2009? Paypal bagi-bagi dollar ke kita kalau kita dapat refferal, nah seperti biasa affairs

Cara Mengatasi Biang Keringat

Diawal September ini, Blog Tips Kesehatan akan berbagi mengenai Cara Mengatasi Biang Keringat / Tips Mengobati Biang Keringat, baik pada bayi ataupun pada orang dewasa.
Biang Keringat adalah ruam kulit yang disebabkan tersumbatnya kelenjar-kelenjar peluh pada dada, ketiak, lilitan pinggang, lipatan paha, dan punggung.
Gejala biang keringat adalah dengan timbulnya bintik-bintik putih atau merah