Here's my 2 cents worth *LOL* : I have two sons who have both had the problems you are describing to a certain extent. Part of the problem was traced to simple skin sensitivity, but the main culprit was pet allergy and dairy allergy. You might try taking milk, cheese, yogurt, etc out of his diet for 2 weeks and see if the skin problems and constipation ease up. You can purchase soy milk or rice milk that is enriched with calcium, A & D if you need to. My kids have since outgrown their dairy allergy, but do still tend to be dry. I agree with other posters to make sure he is getting enough fats in his diet. Little kids need more fat than adults for proper brain development and all that good stuff :). Here is how we handle bathing: Daily: 15 minute bath in water only. Just wash hair at the very end. Pat dry and immediately slather up with "Vanicream" (a dye free, perfume free, lanolin free, alchohol free...etc etc lotion that is available from the pharmacy, but you don't have to get a prescription for...it is what works for us. A one pound tub is around $12 here in Indy)It helps to seal the moisture in his skin. Laundry: always use "Free & Clear" detergents. We *don't* use any fabric softener, although we do put some white vinegar in a downy ball which helps make sure all the soap gets rinsed out and does have a softening effect on the clothes. Clothing: My kids do best with cotton clothing. Haven't noticed a problem with a little polyester in a blend, but wool does make them itch more than usual. Another question that hasn't been asked is: do you have a cat or dog in the house? You could very well be dealing with a pet dander allergy. We used to have housecats, but we had to give them up for adoption because my older one's eczema got so bad it would crack and bleed and then get infected. It could be dust mite allergy too. Anyway, I hope things are getting better for your little guy. Cheers, Carrie

Sage: Leaves can be strewn in bathwater and in rinse water to enhance dark hair, cleanse oily hair and help prevent falling hair. It can be used as an aftershave and skin lotion. The leaves yield a yellow-beige dye with alum mordant, yellow with chrome mordant and green-grey with iron mordant. Sage repels cabbage moths, carrot fly and ticks. Combined with rosemary, it acts as a preservative, due to its antibacterial property. Use the fresh leaves to rub over teeth and gums - helps prevent build-up of tartar, removes plaque, freshens the breath - beautifully! Because of its antiseptic qualities, sage tea is used as a gargle for sore throat, gum and mouth infections, or as a wash for acne, and as a hair rinse for dandruff. Boosts insulin levels, so may be useful in treating diabetes. Used to regulate menstruation and to treat menopausal symptoms, especially hot flushes. Quickly reduces perspiration. Sprinkle dried leaf powder onto wounds to disinfect. Sage improves the memory, treats liver and gallbladder problems, cleanses the female genitals, relieves flatulence, stimulates cell growth. Helps reduce milk flow when weaning babies. Use the tea as a gargle for bleeding gums, and apply it to cold sores. It is sometimes taken to treat mild diarrhoea, carpal tunnel syndrome, tonsillitis and AlzeimerÂs Disease. The essential oil can be massaged in to ease muscular tension or pain, and to treat cellulite. Warning: Avoid large doses when pregnant. Sage will dry up breast milk. Excessive consumption should be avoided due to the thujone content of the plant which can cause dizziness, convulsion, and rapid heartbeat. Avoid if suffering from high blood pressure or epilepsy. Medicinal doses should not be administered to young children. Oh! and you can eat it too (and the flowers)! There was a thread about sage on either the Cooking or the Recipe Exchange forum quite recently, if you want to browse through.

Hi, I am looking for Echium plantagineum, Salvation Jane, seeds. It is considered by some to be a weed. It is found in the US, Canada, & Australia. The research I have read was by a research doctor who said he used it on his sister who had Multiple Sclorosis MS and she went into remission. It seems to be better than flax seed & salmon oil in one seed. Echium Oil by Ray Sahelian, M.D. Health benefit of echium oil Echium oil is obtained by refining oil extracted from the seeds of Echium plantagineum. Members of the genus Echium from Macaronesia have a very high amount of gamma-linolenic acid. See oil for a full discussion of various oils. Echium oil use may provide healthy long chained fatty acids. Composition of echium oil Echium oil is a vegetable oil rich in omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Food Uses of echium oil Croda Chemicals wants to use its refined echium oil as an ingredient in a range of food products (including milk and yoghurt based drinks, breakfast cereals and nutrition bars) and in food supplements. Echium oil and blood lipids It appears that echium oil could be beneficial in reducing certain blood lipids. Dietary echium oil increases plasma and neutrophil long-chain (n-3) fatty acids and lowers serum triacylglycerols in hypertriglyceridemic humans. J Nutr. 2004. Surette ME, Edens M, Chilton FH, Tramposch KM. Pilot Therapeutics Incorporated, Charleston, SC The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary echium oil, a plant oil containing the 18-carbon (n-3) PUFA stearidonic acid, on tissue fatty acid content and serum triacylglycerol concentrations in hypertriglyceridemic humans. Asymptomatic subjects with mild-to-moderate hypertriglyceridemia were enrolled in an open-labeled study. Subjects underwent a 4-wk lead-in period and were then instructed to follow the National Cholesterol Education Program Step 1 diet. Subjects whose serum triacylglycerol concentrations remained between 300 and 450 mg/dL were instructed to consume 15 g of echium oil daily for 4 wk. During the treatment period, serum triacylglycerol concentrations decreased by 21% compared with baseline. There were no significant changes in any other clinical laboratory variables. Concentrations of long-chain (n-3) PUFA, including EPA, increased in plasma and neutrophils when subjects consumed echium oil. In conclusion, dietary plant oils rich in stearidonic acid are metabolized to longer-chain, more unsaturated (n-3) PUFA. These oils appear to possess hypotriglyceridemic properties typically associated with fish oils. Echium oil reduces plasma lipids and hepatic lipogenic gene expression in apoB100-only LDL receptor knockout mice. J Nutr Biochem. 2007. Section on Lipid Sciences, Department of Pathology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. We tested the hypothesis that dietary supplementation with echium oil, which is enriched in stearidonic acid (SDA; 18:4 n-3), will decrease plasma triglyceride (TG) concentrations and result in conversion of SDA to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in the liver. Mildly hypertriglyceridemic mice were fed a basal diet containing 10% calories as palm oil (PO) and 0.2% cholesterol for 4 weeks, after which they were randomly assigned to experimental diets consisting of the basal diet plus supplementation of 10% of calories as PO, echium oil or fish oil (FO) for 8 weeks. The echium oil and FO experimental diets decreased plasma TG and VLDL lipid concentration, and hepatic TG content compared to PO. Echium oil fed mice had plasma and liver lipid EPA enrichment that was greater than PO-fed mice but less than FO-fed mice. In conclusion, echium oil may provide a botanical alternative to fish oil for reduction of plasma TG concentrations. Echium Oil Research Occurrence and characterization of oils rich in gamma-linolenic acid Part I: Echium seeds from Macaronesia. Phytochemistry. 2000 Feb;53(4):451-6. Departamento de Ingenieria Quimica, Universidad de Almeria, Spain Nineteen species of the genus Echium (Fam. Boraginaceae) collected in Macaronesia were surveyed in a search for new sources of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA, 18:3omega6). High amounts of this acid were found in all of them, ranging from 9% (Echium plantagineum) to 26% (Echium callithyrsum) of total seed fatty acids. The amounts of GLA related to total seed weight were also significant, ranging from 1.7% (Echium sventenii) to 5% (Echium nervosum). In addition, considerable amounts of stearidonic acid (SA, 18:4omega3) were detected, ranging from 3% (Echium auberianum) to 13% (Echium plantagineum) of total fatty acids. Echium oil emails Q. I have just been reading your web page on echium oil and was interested in your comments about "pyrrolizidine alkaloids and their N-oxides." being present in the refined oil. Now, like most members of the Boraginaceae (including borage), echium contains these alkaloids in the plant parts but I wasn't aware that they were present in the oil, and I would anticipate that, even if they were, they would be removed by even a simple refining process. In their Novel Foods application in 2000, Kings wrote: "Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are not lipophillic and, therefore, would not be expected to be present in any substantial quantity in the oil. Tests carried out on several samples of both Super Refined and unrefined Echium oil shows that levels of Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids were either extremely low ( A. Thanks, we removed the reference to pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the section on composition of echium oil. Is it okay to use your name as the person who let us know about this? Q. I'm happy for you to use my name Dr. Peter Lapinskas, www.lapinskas.com

Hi Terri - The recipe I use is one tsp. vitamin c crystals, three tsp. water (they say to use distilled but I always forget to buy it and use plain tap water) and one tsp. glycerine. The only thing is, I have a hard time getting the crystals to completely dissolve. I read if you add a drop of vodka, or even rubbing alcohol, that helps the crystals dissolve. I used gin (tanqueray!) and it worked great in dissolving them. There are many variations of this recipe online, with some using a higher ratio of vitamin c and others using a lower ratio, so I think you can really play around with it and see what works best for you. If you have a amber or dark colored bottle with a dropper to store it in that is best. I use my old Cellex-C bottle. Exposure to light will speed up oxidation.