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The human body is made up of nutrients, not drugs or man-made chemicals. Without minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and other important nutritional building blocks, life as we know it would be impossible.

Scientists have concluded that every disease can be linked to a mineral or nutritional deficiency. Cultures with people who enjoy youthful, disease-free lives and live to be over 100 years of age are getting a diet rich in vitamins and minerals. When our bodies become nutrient-deficient, disease is the inevitable result.

It was once believed that all we had to do to maintain adequate levels of nutrients was to eat a variety of foods - including fruits and vegetables. However, times have changed and food is not what it used to be.

Our farmlands are seriously over-farmed and their soils are nutrient depleted. At best, farmers will replace a narrow spectrum of minerals back into the soil. These minerals do little to enhance the nutritional quality of the crop and merely affect appearance (marketability). Many farmers make an effort to replace nutrients by growing a crop that is not harvested but tilled back into the soil. However, if the minerals are not in the soil to begin with, they won't be in the crop that is being worked back into the soil.

Furthermore, plants rely on soil organisms to pre-digest minerals for them. These helpful microbes are often absent, due to the condition of the soil and the destructive chemicals used in farming.

Beside the harsh chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides that our foods are contaminated with, there is a wide range of processing techniques that further alter their value as safe, healthy foods. They are subjected to high heat which destroys essential vitamins and enzymes, additives are used to help change their otherwise suspect appearance, and preservatives are added to embalm them for their long transport and potentially lengthy stay on store shelves.

A tomato grown in organic, nutrient-rich soil has a deep red to burgundy appearance on the inside, and it has a delightfully strong and pleasing flavor. A farmed, store-bought tomato often has a pink to clear appearance when cut open and lacks the rich flavor of the homegrown tomato. Even farmers understand this, and avoid foods from their fields and opt for those grown in their own personal, organic garden.

Medical doctors are now catching up with science and understanding the need to supplement with dietary supplements, due to nutritional deficiencies. A recent article in the Journal of American Medicine (JAMA) announced that a vitamin supplement should be taken to help prevent chronic disease.

If nutritional deficiencies did not exist, neither would the problems associated with them. Nutritional supplements are an excellent way to ensure that you are getting the nutrients that are necessary for your health and longevity. [ Copyright © 2005 World Image Naturals, Inc. www.worldimagenaturals.com ]

Chlorine is a toxic chemical that has been used to disinfect drinking water supplies for nearly 100 years. It is economical and kills many bacteria including those which cause typhoid, cholera, and dysentery.

Unfortunately, it is also a poison that has many adverse affects on the human body. Chlorine reacts with naturally occurring substances, such as decomposing plant and animal materials, normally present in the water to create trihalomethanes (THMs). These THMs trigger free radical production in the body, are highly carcinogenic, and cause cellular damage.

Drinking chlorinated tap water may cause scarring of the arteries. Once the arteries are scared, LDL cholesterol can attach itself to the artery walls leading to arteriosclerosis and heart disease.

Cancer of the kidney, bladder, and urinary tract are more common in certain cities, because chlorine in excess of government standards is added due to the water supplies are so polluted.

For instance, Mississippi drinking water (taken from the highly polluted Mississippi River) contains approximately 63 carcinogenic compounds that are created when chlorine combines with pollutants such as methanol and carbon disulphide present in the water.

It is not uncommon for municipal water supplies to have chlorine levels higher than those recommended as safe for a swimming pool.

Drinking chlorinated tap water is only part of the problem. More chlorine is absorbed through the skin, and inhaled in the steam from one bath or shower than is taken in from drinking five glasses of tap water. The heat and steam from the shower opens the pores allowing a high rate of absorption of chlorine and other chemicals. Steam from a hot shower can contain up to 20 times the concentration of chlorine as tap water.

The inhalation of chlorine and other chemical vapors are a suspected cause of bronchitis and asthma. A report in the American Journal of Public Health links chlorine to increases in certain types of cancer, skin irritations and asthma and stated that "up to 2/3 of the harmful exposure was due to skin absorption and inhalation of chlorine in shower water."

The U.S. EPA recently stated, "Due to chlorine and showering, virtually every home in America has a detectable level of chloroform gas in the air". Chloroform is strong respiratory irritant.

Chlorine strips the natural protective oils from hair and skin, casing drying and aging. Skin can dry out and become itchy and flaky. Chlorine is also the biggest trigger of eczema - a group of skin conditions that vary from mild forms characterized by dry, hot, itchy skin to more severe forms where the skin becomes broken, raw and bleeds.

Other forms of water disinfection such as ozone and UV radiation are considered too costly for most large municipal water supplies. The good news is that just because chlorine is in the water coming from your tap, you don't have to drink it or bath in it! Affordable, high quality drinking water and shower filters are available.

Using quality water filters to remove the chlorine from your drinking and shower water makes good sense, and will protect you from potential health problems. [ Copyright © 2005 World Image Naturals™, Inc. www.worldimagenaturals.com ]

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