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Another Fish Oil Tale Of Gray Hair Gone

Posting Date: 08/04/2003

Q. I have been taking fish oil concentrate for heart health. After reading other readers' comments on fish oil restoring their hair to its original color, I checked mine in the bright sunlight. Lo and behold, a lot of my gray is gone. I have bleached my hair for years, but the new root growth, which was mostly gray, is now brown. Amazing!

A. We agree with you that these tales are amazing. We don?t know quite what to make of them. We wouldn?t suggest someone start taking fish oil with the expectation that it would reverse the graying process. But as you point out, there may be other reasons to take fish oil. If gray hair changes back to its original color as a side effect, so much the better.

Q. My heels are very dry and sometimes crack, which is extremely painful. I love to walk and these wounds can really interfere with my favorite exercise. I?ve tried a lot of different hand creams, with very little success. Do you have any suggestions?

A. We?ve heard from several readers that lanolin-containing products can be extremely helpful for dry, cracked skin on the feet. Some include Udder Cream (800) 345-7339, Bag Balm (800) 232-3610 or the nipple cream for breastfeeding mothers, Lansinoh, distributed to pharmacies by Hollister (800) 323-4060.

Other readers are enthusiastic about a different barnyard moisturizer called Hoofmaker (800) 827-9815. It is used by horse groomers and can be found at pet stores and/or feed stores.

Q. I take Coumadin to prevent blood clots. Sometimes my INR swings from below 2.0 to over 3.0 in as little as two weeks. How much does eating a salad or some broccoli affect the clotting factor? And what other variations in my habits could alter the INR?

A. The INR, or international normalizing ratio, is a measure of how fast blood is clotting, and thus of how well the anticoagulant Coumadin is working. It?s a bit like Goldilocks? porridge: too little Coumadin action exposes you to a possibly life-threatening blood clot. But with too much Coumadin activity, you may be in danger of hemorrhage.