Questions and Answers on Natural Health

All questions will be answered within a "general advice" format in the column only. As health problems require the personal advice of a health care professional, we are unable to answer questions personally.

Karima Burns, MH, ND has a Doctorate in Naturopathy and a Masters in Herbal Healing. She has studied natural healing for 12 years, published a natural healing newsletter for 4 years, and writes extensively on natural healing and herbs. Sister Karima became interested in natural healing after ending her personal lifelong struggle with asthma, allergies, chronic ear infections, depression, hypoglycemia, fatigue and panic attacks with herbs and natural therapies.

Karima offers natural healing consultations, aromatherapy and reflexology treatments, iridology readings, and nutritional and herbal programs from her home in Saudi Arabia. She believes that healing occurs more rapidly when her clients can work on the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of their illnesses.

Dear Editor,

I was told I am at risk for osteoporosis, but I am allergic to milk and I really hate the idea of taking unnatural substances. Is there anything else I can do to get more Calcium into my bones?

N.J., Illinois

Dear N.J.,

We have all been made aware lately of how important calcium is in developing our bones and preventing osteoporosis. However, although our awareness is recent, calcium has been performing this role for thousands of years in many different ways.

Not everyone has milk available to drink yet Allah, in His wisdom, has created many sources for all the vitamins and minerals we need. Those marketing dairy products would like us all to believe that unless we consume milk, cheese, etc., we will lack calcium in our bones, but this is simply not true.

What is true is that there are many things we are not told. Calcium can be found in many sources other than milk; however, it can also be depleted by many things, and we need to consume a kind of calcium that our body can absorb.

As Muslims, we may think of milk first as a main source of calcium because it was so highly respected by the prophet. The Qur'an (16:66) says, "In cattle, there is a lesson for you: We give you the drink they carry in their glands that issues betwixt a secreting mucus and blood." In the Hadith Abu Daud, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) supported this by adding, " I do not know anything that can rival milk or be a substitute, for it is simultaneously both food and drink."

However, it has long been realized by traditional Muslim healers that milk quickly loses its properties unless it is consumed fresh (Medicine of the Prophet, p. 292), and modern science has confirmed this as well as the fact that pasteurization alters the quality of calcium in the milk, oftentimes making it hard to absorb. Furthermore, cows that are fed hormones and proteins produce a different quality of milk than the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) used to consume.

One of our biggest problems concerning our calcium intake is not its quantity, but the canceling out of the calcium we do take in by eating devitalized foods and products. A recent study done on college students showed that the meals they ate contained well over the USRDA (U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance) of calcium, but the majority of the subjects showed a calcium deficiency in their bodies. The study correlated this to the fact that the college students also consumed a large amount of phosphoric sodas, coffee, pizza, hamburger and French fries that was depleting them of the calcium they had consumed by either leeching it out of their system or by creating an imbalance in the alkaline environment of their bodies (thus forcing the body to release calcium to balance this).

In fact, there are many substances that leech calcium reserves from the body. Excess protein consumption is one way so when we eat cheeseburgers, the meat most likely cancels out the calcium in the cheese. The Jewish religion does not even allowed the combination of milk and certain other foods.

The second problem we have is that we may not be absorbing the calcium we do consume. This is a big problem with milk since many people are allergic to it. When you are allergic to a food, your body does not assimilate it as well into the body; it rejects it instead. The body of a person who is allergic to milk sends out antibodies to attack it, instead of absorbing its calcium.

Some of the people that appeared in the "Drink Milk" advertisements, such as President Clinton, were actually allergic to milk. Despite the fact that his medical records show a milk allergy, he still posed for an ad supporting milk as a source of calcium in the body.

Another source of calcium that is often rejected is vitamin and mineral supplements. Many of them, even the ones used by hospitals, are made from non-organic substances or contain allergenic coatings such as corn or wheat. The best calcium supplements contain bone marrow or oyster.

Some of the best alternative sources of calcium will come as a surprise. A tablespoon of sesame seeds (even in the form of tahini) supplies as much calcium as an eight-ounce glass of milk. Ten figs supply 270mg of calcium; one tablespoon of blackstrap molasses contains 140mg; salmon contains 208mg; and only three and a half ounces of kelp contains 1,093mg.

A good well-rounded meal can also supply a lot of calcium. A dinner of brown rice, broccoli, carrots, and shrimp with a few almonds, for example, contains as much calcium as a glass of milk (310mg). The USRDA for calcium is 800 to 1000mg.

Another wonderful way to supplement our calcium levels is through herbal teas. It is absorbed readily from comfrey and mint. Rosemary Gladstar, in her book Herbal Healing for Women, offers the following formula for a calcium tea: 2 parts oat straw, 1 part alfalfa, 2 parts nettle and one-half part horsetail herb.

You can also make your own calcium supplement using a lemon and eggshells. The following recipe is from Ted Morter's book, Your Health, Your Choice:

LEMON EGG

1. Place a whole, clean, uncooked egg into a clean, wide-mouth jar.

2. Cover the egg with freshly squeezed lemon.

3. Cover the jar loosely and place it in the refrigerator.

4. A few times a day, gently agitate the jar.

5. After 48 hours, when the bubbling has stopped, carefully remove the egg.

6. Take one-half teaspoon of this mixture each day as you simultaneously concentrate on re-building your calcium from other sources.

Dear Editor,

I am new to the natural living lifestyle, and have just started using natural remedies around my house. I find that a lot of these remedies are working, but I am not sure why and I would like to know. For instance, Echinacea actually works better than most of the antibiotics I used to take. Why is that?

K.L., Montana

Dear KL,

A Hadith states, "For every malady Allah has created, He also created its cure." Echinacea is one example of the truth in this Hadith. Many people, as you have indicated, have found that it is superior to any pharmaceutical. This is because Allah's pharmacy is created from His supreme knowledge of the way all things work, while our pharmacies are created from our limited range of knowledge.

Although antibiotics are a wonderful tool for many major viruses and have saved many lives, antibiotics have been largely abused. In fact, the main problem with the use of antibiotics is not so much the drugs themselves, but rather, the abuse of them. They were created to treat serious illnesses; however, many people are using them today for illnesses such as colds and the flu.

Many patients feel, when they go to the doctor, that they need to take something home other than general advice, and many doctors feel this pressure to prescribe their patients something.

The majority of people recover from colds, flu, coughs, stomachaches, fevers, and even ear infections with no intervention whatsoever. However, providing some comfort and support to an ailing body will usually at least make it easier to deal with illness, and perhaps help them recover more quickly. The problem with antibiotics is that they do not support the natural process of recovery, but instead, they "take over" the job, killing as much bacteria as they can in the body - the good with the bad. Their overuse then creates an environment where good bacteria are weakened, which if they are not replenished, will cause the body to become even more susceptible to illness over time. Also, in a society where antibiotics are overused, the bacteria they are fighting start to adapt to them in their efforts to resist their attack and eventually become completely resistant.

Last Week's Questions and Answers on Natural Health

Karima Burns, MH, ND has a Doctorate in Naturopathy and a Masters in Herbal Healing. She has studied natural healing for 12 years, published a natural healing newsletter for 4 years, and writes extensively on natural healing and herbs. Sister Karima became interested in natural healing after ending her personal lifelong struggle with asthma, allergies, chronic ear infections, depression, hypoglycemia, fatigue and panic attacks with herbs and natural therapies.