The irony is rich. The term "snake oil" has come to mean everything that is fraudulent. The reference is to the infamous "snake oil salesman" who pitched and sold his wares out of the back of a wagon to the unsuspecting villagers of the American west.

Snake oil has real medicinal value. It was used as medicine before the North American continent was on the map. Centuries ago the Chinese used an oil made from a cold water snake called Enhydris chinensis to treat joint pain and bursitis. It was introduced to the US by Chinese laborers who worked on the Transcontinental Railroad in the mid 1800's. There's evidence that the ancient Egyptians used it too. In the early 1700's the English had a patent medicine made from snake oil. Snake oil was sold here as a panacea in the early 1900's, but the products sold were probably more filler and adulterant than they were actual snake oil.

So what's in it that's good for you? Snake oil, depending on the snakes used to derive it, can be a rich source of an fatty acid known as EPA, eicosapentanoic acid. EPA is used by the body to synthesize series 3 prostaglandins, which are anti-inflammatory and pain relieving. You can know EPA is important because it's in human breast milk.  EPA is effective for treating depression, improving cognitive function, autoimmune diseases including rheumatism, high cholesterol, hypertension, and more. 

EPA can be derived in the body from other fatty acids, but it's much easier to eat in your food. The richest sources are fish: herring, mackerel, salmon, trout, pilchards, menhaden and sardines. Fish do not make their own EPA. They get it from eating algae like spirulina, which we also can eat. Plant foods don't contain any EPA at all.

Part of the reason it's easier to eat EPA than to make it in your body has to do with human genetics. Some people have the gene to make the enzyme which lets them convert ALA (alpha linolenic acid) into EPA. Other people have mutations in their genes that limit their ability to do the conversion. Diabetes and some allergies also limit a person's ability to convert ALA to EPA. ALA is an essential fatty acid, meaning that no humans can make it; we have to get it from the diet.

If we don't make it very well, and we don't eat much fish, we need to get our EPA some other way to keep our cell membranes happy.  Many healthcare professionals recommend that we take fish oil.  Fish oil contains 12-18% EPA.  Salmon oil tops the list at ~18%.  Chinese water snake oil contains ~ 20% EPA, whereas rattlesnake oil is said to contain 8.5%. Cod liver oil has more DHA than EPA and is best reserved for specific uses, like building baby brains or healing brain injuries.

The reason why some snakes have more EPA than others has to do with the temperatures that they live in. Snakes and fish are both cold blooded, so they have to function with their bodies at the same temperature as their environments. Omega 3 fats like EPA don't harden in cold temperatures like omega 6s do. They help keep cell membranes flexible. Flexible membranes don't get injured as easily, and are able to function better. Cold water fish, or cold water snakes, will have more EPA than those that live in warm sunshine, like rattlesnakes.

The next time someone tells you that a treatment is "snake oil", remember this. Public attitudes and language reflect our history, not our future. Science continues to give us reason to revise belief systems, erase myths, and sometimes to welcome old treatments back into the fold.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) releases a list of best products each year, and it has come out.  Look here before you buy another bottle!

The Key Points about Sunscreen:

1)    SEEK sunscreen that contains zinc oxide or avobenzone to protect against UVA.

2)    SEEK sunscreen with an SPF between 15 and 50.

3)    REAPPLY your sunscreen often, no matter the SPF.

4)    AVOID any type of application other than rubbing cream onto your skin.  No powders, sprays or towelettes.

5)    AVOID Super high SPF (over 50).  SPF only refers to protection against UVB (the burning rays); they may not protect against UVA which can accelerate aging and cause cancer.

6)    AVOID:
           a. Oxybenzone.  It’s estrogenic and linked to endometriosis.
           b. Retinyl Palmitate in sunscreen.  It might make lesions grow faster.
           c. Bug Repellant in your sunscreen.

SOURCE
http://www.ewg.org/2013sunscreen/what-not-to-bring-on-vacation/

Because of the nuclear meltdown threat in Japan, lots of people are talking about taking iodine.  The point is to top off your body's stores of healthy iodine so that if there is any radioactive iodine in the atmosphere, your body doesn't take it up.  But there is risk in taking iodine, and there is a lot of conflicting information out there.  So here's just a tiny primer on what to do--or rather, what NOT to do.

The US RDA for iodine is 250 micrograms per day.  Notice: MICROgrams, not MILLIgrams or mg.  The RDA is based on preventing goiters, not on optimal health, so don't assume (ever) that the RDA is actually how much of anything you want to get.  There's more to it than that.  The Japanese RDA is 800 micrograms.  The actual Japanese daily intake of iodine is more like 25-50 MILLIgrams per day, because they eat so much fish and seaweed.  And the Japanese have lots less cancer than Americans.

It turns out that breast cancer is associated with low iodine levels, especially during a woman's teens and twenties.  This is not about radiation, it's just about not getting enough of a nutrient that the breasts need.  Breast cancer is terribly common.  The thyroid uses the most iodine in the body, and here in the US there is an epidemic of hypothyroidism.  It could be argued that we would be well served by taking in more iodine, like the Japanese do.  And obviously we're not getting enough from our iodized salt.  Some argue that we don't absorb iodine very well when it's mixed with salt.

The CDC and other sources are recommending that people who are exposed to radiation take 150 MILLIgrams of iodine a day.  But 300 milligrams of iodine has the potential to suppress the thyroid gland, to shock it, if you will.  And not all of us are directly exposed to radiation levels that high.  So we probably don't need to take that much.

If you decide to supplement iodine, make sure you look at all your supplements and add up the amounts in each.  There is iodine in my multi, and in my thyroid support supplement.  The cheap and easy way to just get more iodine is the liquids in dropper bottles that you can find at the health food store.   One drop is usually all you need for a day.  You do not want to overdose!!  There could be iodine in lots of supplements, so check!

Personally, I have been taking somewhere close to 1 milligram (mg) of iodine a day, and at that level, I think that my receptors are full of good iodine, and I am at a low risk of uptaking radioactive iodine.  I'm paying attention to all the information that comes my way about it, and I will give you an update if there's anything that convinces me that for my own health, I want to take more or less.