Healthy Lifestyle Blog

Phytosterols are a grouping of plant-derived sterols and stanols. According to the Nation's Institutes of Health (NIH) there are higher than 2 hundred phytosterols occurring in the plant kingdom found in such foods as nuts, vegetable oils and beans. They are phytochemicals that are like cholesterol in their function and structure. Cholesterol has gotten a bad rap in the current day's press. We have a tendency to think about cholesterol as something bad that we don't need in our system. But that couldn't be further from the actual facts. Cholesterol is a critical element of our bodies and we couldn't live without it. Cholesterol is the main structural part of cell surfaces, and when it comes to peel tissue cholesterol makes up about 25% of it. The quantity of cholesterol in a type of tissue establishes how permeable they are. The skin plays a twin role in our bodies in that it must keep the bad stuff out (like bacteria and viruses) but also permit the good stuff in (like fatty acids and sunlight). But plants do not generally have cholesterol in their structure. Instead they have phytosterols and these phytosterols play an analogous role in plant surfaces that cholesterol plays in ours. Phytosterols and skin are closely linked.

What does cholesterol do in our skin?

As well as making twenty five percent to the structural component of our skin, cholesterol has a crucial function in helping us to supply Vitamin D. We will get some of our vitamin D from foods like cod liver oil, egg yolks and herring, and it is no coincidence that these foods are also high in cholesterol. We will also manufacture Vitamin D in our bodies as a consequence of the interaction between the sun and the cholesterol in our skin. What happens is that the UV-B radiation from the sun hits our skin and turns 7-dehydrocholesterol (a kind of cholesterol) into Vitamin D3. Vitamin D is crucial to plenty of body’s systems including:

1. Bone health and calcium metabolism
2. Cancer prevention
3. Immune system working
4. Blood sugar regulation

And so maybe you can see the conundrum- we need cholesterol and the sun in order to produce Vitamin D and be healthy, but the sun may also be dangerous to the skin. What to do?

What do phytosterols do for our skin?

In comes phytosterols to the rescue. According to research carried out in Germany, topical application of phytosterols essentially excited new collagen production in skin. This can help to counter the aging aftermath of the sun. The phytosterols from plants essentially penetrate into our skin and help our skin in much the same way that cholesterol does. So why not just put cholesterol on skin? Unfortunately it's not that straightforward becaues when cholesterol is applied to the skin, it generally causes acne and swelling. Conveniently applying phytoserols to the skin results in the opposite and really decreases redness and increases flexibility. The phytosterols help our skin’s barrier mechanisms by reducing transepidermal water loss (TEWL). This helps keep the moisture and plumpness in our skin so it does not dry out. It may also help fix skin that has sustained damage by sun burn or sun damage.

This is totally right, it was in line with the physician’s instructions which the Raleigh Corporation got started.

Frank Bowden was told by a doctor to cycle a bicycle for the sake of his fitness; his doctor had allowed him half a year to live, following a gravely illness gotten overseas. Well-timed guidance as riding a bicycle was developing into the “in thing.” 1987: Bowden acquired a bicycle from a firm which produced three bicycles every week. He became so excited such that he made it to the Raleigh Street, Nottingham, address of the firm and later moved to acquire it.

Riding bikes being the current fad, production obviously ascended and bigger sites were wanted and these were found in a different - Russell - Street. Bowden nonetheless, called his firm, Raleigh Cycles, in respect of the original place.

All the way to 1896, Raleigh turned out to be the biggest bicycle producer worldwide and after the development took up 7.5 acres at Faraday Road.

Motor cyclists were not left out and in 1903, Raleigh produced the Raleighette, a three-wheeled that was driven by a belt. Its driver occupied the back and the passenger, occupied a seat in the middle of the two front tires. Monetary losses instigated the Raleighette’s shutting down in 1908;

1915: the baronet emerged and turned out to be Sir Frank Bowden.

The very word, Raleigh is common with bikes worldwide and in the mid 20th century, was practically the top in this field.

Around the late 30s and 40s, Raleigh was manufacturing in the vicinity of 12,000 bicycles per week - six hundred thousand every year. The idiosyncratic Heron Head and “Made in Nottingham” became a common eyesight and proved to all this was a Raleigh bike.

A paper ad of the period exalted the virtues of the Raleigh as being: “easy running ands proving its worth on the highways and byways of every continent” - yes, even in war ravaged Europe.

In the early 60s and later years, the easier availability of cheaper cars saw the reduction of the former faithful bike, but Raleigh still kept producing the machines and even had factories abroad. Ireland and Canada.

Nowadays, anyone rolling around on a Raleigh has a excellent machine with a standing out and honored name.

Hoodia gordonii is an herb found in the Kalahari Desert. Though reported to be used by the San Bushmen of Southern Africa for a variety of uses as a medicinal plant, its use as an appetite suppressant became popular in recent years. Hoodia is able to make you feel that you are not hungry by imitating the effect of glucose on the nerve cells in the brain. It makes you feel that you are full. You lose your urge to eat. In fact, the hoodia effect is much more powerful than glucose. The San Bushmen removes the stem of hoodia, the flowers, roots and spines, and peel away the outer skin before consuming hoodia when they went for a hunt which last for about a week. This is to stifle the urge to eat and drink.

The national research laboratory of South Africa, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), was able to identify the bioactive compound. They isolated the compound along with the scientists of Phytopharm, a British firm. They called the molecule p57. Further studies and clinical trial confirmed its appetite suppressing feature, something that the San Bushmen knew and used for generations. These studies also reported that there were no side effects. This corroborated also with the fact that the Bushmen have been using hoodia for thousands of years without any problems. Obesity is a rapidly increasing problem in many countries with a higher standard of affluence. Lifestyle and food practices were the major causes for obesity. The market for products for tackling the looming obesity problem is very large. Hoodia seemed to be just the right thing for the problem. Interest in p57 suddenly skyrocketed.

Hoodia gordonii was marketed as an appetite suppressant as capsule and liquid. Combined with the extracts of green tea with its natural caffeine, niacin in the form of nicotinic acid, chromium and coca extract, hoodia is promoted as tru hoodia diet. The major hitch in meeting the demand was that hoodia gordonii was found only in the wild in Southern Africa. This was not sufficient to meet the demand of the market. With limited availability, the cost was very high. Its supply too was limited and diminishing.

There were attempts to produce p57 synthetically in the lab so that this can be produced sufficiently and cheaply. This did not succeed. Hoodia had to be from the naturally collection or cultivated. This led to over exploitation that led CITES to list it as a plant that will soon have to be declared as a threatened species. With this, hoodia became a plant that came under control and restriction with regard to its trade.

Health is an important aspect of human life. Thus, you should take care of your health.