Lactose Intolerance Test: How To Know If You Are Lactose Intolerant

There are 3 kinds of lactose intolerance tests. These tests discover if our bodies can adequately break down the lactose.

Blood sugar lactose tolerance test.

- In the hours leading up to a lactose intolerance test the individual must not consume any foods or liquids, this is usually only for the 12 hours prior to the test.

- Now you will have a small amount of blood taken, this is usually a finger prick test. This is usually very quick and does not hurt. This measures the blood sugar level, as you have not eaten or drank any thing this will give an accurate reading of blood sugar levels.

- The individual is then asked to drink a sugary drink, this is most often milk with some sugar and a bit of lemon juice. You are then asked to wait 1 hour.

- Another small amount of blood will be taken from the tip of your finger. If the blood sugar level does not change from what it previously was this may indicate a lactose intolerance.

Lactose intolerance happens because of the body's inability to produce lactase. Lactase is needed to break down the lactose.

If the blood sugar lactose tolerance test was inconclusive you may then be offered a hydrogen breath test.

Hydrogen Breath Test.

- As with the blood sugar test no foods or liquids are to be consumed in the 12 hours prior to the test.

- After this time a sample of breath is then measured to see what the levels of hydrogen are. This provides them with a baseline so they can then do the rest of the test. Then you will again be asked to drink a sugary drink.

- After the consumption of this sugary drink breath samples will be taken over 2 hours, usually every 15 minutes.

- If the body is unable to process the sugar, metabolism takes over and the lactose is turn into hydrogen gas in the stomach. This gas is then released when you breath out.

This test can also be used in the detection of other illnesses.

Another test which may be carried out is a stool test. This stool test measures acidity, this is more commonly given to children under the age of 5. This requires the parent to collect a stool sample from the child, this is particularly easy if the child is wearing a nappy/diaper. If this is not the case then you will need a container for an older child to use when the go to produce the sample.

Once the stool sample has been collected it will be sent to the lab for diagnosis.

The bowel will produce lactic acid amongst others, this in turn is found in the stools. You will be advised to give your child the sugary drink (milk, sugar, lemon juice) before you collect the stool sample. If acids are found to be present in the sample this may mean that you are lactose intolerant.

A lactose intolerance test may only be carried out if the symptoms of the intolerance are constant. In a child this can be hard as they can often have sickness and diarrhea. If you require more information on lactose intolerance your doctor or other health professional will be happy to help.

Home Remedies That Getting Rid Of Eczema

Were you aware that you can actually cure your eczema using all natural methods of treatment? It's very true. In fact, many people have already cured their eczema, using natural treatments that not only saved them money, but kept the eczema away for good!

Avoid scratching. Keep your nails trimmed or wear gloves to help resist the temptation. Wear cool, smooth-textured clothing to prevent irritating your skin.

Another natural remedy consists of a mixture of comfrey root, slippery elm bark and white bark. For this, you have to mix a teaspoon of white bark, two teaspoonful of slippery elm bark, one and half teaspoons of comfrey root, along with three cups of water in a bowl. Now, boil this mixture for around half an hour. Cool it and use this mixture for washing the affected skin.

Gotu kola's active ingredients include saponins, plant chemicals that include asiaticoside, madecassoside and madasiatic acid. These quicken infected wounds' healing time, which helps with a condition like eczema, where without treatment, the skin stays broken and inflamed. Petroleum Jelly: To keep the skin in a well moisturized condition, petroleum jelly is the best option available with you. Most of the body lotions that are available in the market contain fragrance and other irritants which are not suitable for your child. Apply the jelly soon after the bath when the skin is still not completely dry. You should apply it thrice a day for best results.

The Healthy Prostate

First of all, what is the prostate gland? The prostate gland is an organ that secretes a substance. To be specific, it is an endocrine gland because it excretes the substance that it excretes into a duct. As to its location, it basically surrounds the urethra and is situated just below the bladder. It usually doesn't weigh much, about seven to sixteen grams. Its main responsibility is to secrete an alkaline, milky-white fluid that composes semen. That's the very basic of what the prostate gland is.

What is a healthy prostate like? Basically, a healthy prostate is a prostate that functions well and does what is expected of it to do. The prostate gland grows during puberty and continues to grow until about the time when a person reaches the ages of forty or fifty.

When is the prostate not healthy? Given that the prostate is healthy when it does function well and its size is okay, it can be said that the prostate is not healthy when it does more that what is expected of it, it doesn't function well, its size is far different from the normal and, basically in general, it does harm the human being.

There are known medical conditions in relation to a person with a bad prostate. The medical terms would be Prostatitis, Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, and Prostate Cancer.

Prostatitis is the medical term for the inflammation of the prostate gland. This is one of the body's ways to response to infection. When a prostate gland is inflamed, a person will have signs and symptoms of inconveniences. Since the prostate gland is located just below the bladder and as it surrounds the urethra, it can be said that - when inflamed - the prostate gland increases in size, thereby blocking the passage of urine making it quite difficult and painful to void. The case to point out when one has Prostatitis is infection due to inflammation. This is, then, treated by either antibiotics that kills and slows down the growth of bacteria due to accumulated urine, psychotherapy to at least suggest to the mind that the brain can alter the size of the inflamed prostate, or with other means necessary.

When the prostate is gets really huge, it can further progress into Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or BPH, which also includes Prostatitis with it. With BPH, there would be either an uncontrollable voiding or hesitancy. Sometimes, even, the prostate gland might be so big that it is impossible to urinate. This usually happens to older men with ages ranging from forty to seventy. BPH is such an inconvenience that it is bothersome to take note when there is randomness in storage and voiding, interfering with the activities of daily living. Treatment would usually range from oral to other forms of medication to invasive surgery to correct the functioning of the organ or to completely remove it instead.

Likewise, there is Prostate Cancer which almost always includes the aforementioned signs and symptoms of Prostatitis and BPH. It is not conclusive, however, that the signs and symptoms of both Prostatitis and BPH can be seen in people who have Prostate Cancer. Some people even don't have any symptoms, later to be discovered that they have this disease. As any cancer, the abnormal cells tend to metastasize or spread elsewhere in the body to cause further damage.

Clearly, a healthy prostate is nothing like the how the unhealthy prostate is described to be.

How can you keep a healthy prostate? To keep the prostate healthy, one must consider the overall wellness of a person. In general, the sense of it would be having diet and lifestyle modification. Plus, of course, supplements to add benefit. The best approach would be preventive and, of course, second would be curative and supportive.

Having said that the best approach would be preventive, this is where diet and lifestyle modification come in. With food intake, study has shown that a high calorie intake increased the risk of a person in getting prostate disease. Moreover, men who had high protein in their diet increased furthered the risk. So it is imperative to take note that meat intake should be on the average; that you don't eat too much of it. Low-caffeine diet has shown that to have slowed down the growth of the prostate gland. Saw palmetto can also be taken into consideration, having been found to be effective.

For your prostate gland, you have to eat your vegetables, reduce fat intake and lessen or avoid caffeine and alcohol as much as possible. Daily exercise lowers a person's fat level which can also help.