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A Doctor Who Escaped from Diseases Surprises Colleagues
Aleksandras Vaitoska, a long-term doctor living in the Kupiskis district, is an actual walking encyclopedia who is happy to share his experience of a healthy lifestyle, various health measures, and procedures. The youthful and energetic man surprises by saying that he will soon be 72 years old.
My health has declined
A. Vaitoška, who lives in Kupiškis district, is a third-generation doctor. His maternal grandfather worked as a paramedic in the Tsarist Russian army during World War I. Vaitoška's father is a doctor of internal medicine, gynaecologist and surgeon. Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Vaitoška graduated from the then Kaunas Medical Institute and became a surgeon and a doctor of internal medicine.
Ironically, after a lifetime of caring for other people's health, less than a decade ago Vaitoshka himself became a total patient. "I couldn't walk across the room anymore - I was tired. My whole body was numb, I was coughing all the time, my joints ached, I broke out in a cold sweat, even though it was 30 degrees in the yard. What's more, the cardiologists found that his heart valves were damaged and he was having terrible heart murmurs," recalls the verdict of his fellow doctors.
After searching for information about his ailments, Vaitoška began to suspect that his body might be infected with mould, i.e. he had systemic mycosis. "Mould is insidious. It does not overcome a strong, healthy body, but when immunity is weakened, it attacks actively. Joint pains, heart damage - these are the complications caused by mould," the Kupiškis resident is convinced. He admits that he was really weak before these diseases struck, and that he had to go through a great deal of suffering because of the loss of people close to him.
Increasingly convinced that he was suffering from systemic mycosis, Vaitoška started taking strong antifungal drugs. He began to feel better, the drugs were killing the fungus, but were damaging his liver and kidneys.
Ionised water instead of medicines
According to Vaitoška, it was at that time that he came across a book by Telesfurs Laucevičius, "Ionised Water. Life without diseases". When he realised that ionised water could help him fight the mould that was poisoning his body, he immediately bought a water ioniser. This is a machine that produces alkaline and acidic water by electrolysis in a special container.
"Ionised water is still often viewed with scepticism in Lithuania, but it is highly valued abroad. The health benefits of ionised water have been recognised by scientists in the United States, Germany and Japan. In the latter countries, there are even clinics that treat with ionised water alone," said the Kupiškė resident.
Drinking alkaline water every day
Alkaline water is Vaitoska's daily drink. It is not only pure, but is also used daily to make soup and tea.
According to Vaitoshko, the great advantage of alkaline water is that it has half the surface tension coefficient of ordinary drinking water. As a result, ionised alkaline water is much more permeable, reaching every cell and providing it with oxygen. According to Mr Vaitoshko, alkaline water could be called the elixir of youth, as it has very strong antioxidant properties, neutralising free radicals, i.e. stopping the ageing process.
Drinking alkaline water is recommended for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and dementia in old age - the literature shows that the development of these diseases is slowed down several times.
According to Vaitoska, people who play sports should also be interested in alkaline water. Drinking it neutralises lactic acid (the burning muscle pain after heavy exercise disappears) and provides the body with oxygen and energy. The doctor says he has felt this effect himself - he can now stay under water without breathing for much longer than in his youth - almost one and a half minutes. In addition, sleepiness has disappeared, concentration is better and memory has improved.
"Drinking alkaline water provides the brain with better oxygen and flushes out toxins," explains Kupiškės, explaining the positive changes in his mood.
Extensive customisation possibilities
According to Vaitoshko, people could be much healthier if they knew how to use ionised water.
A Kupiškė resident noticed that rinsing his sore throat with dead water relieves the pain, and spraying it into his nose helps get rid of a runny nose faster. Acidic water can be a great help for psoriasis (scaly skin), nail and skin fungus. A. Vaitoška recommends using acid water compresses for pressure sores, disinfecting wounds that are difficult to heal and trophic ulcers.
The doctor recommends rinsing your nose, throat and washing your hands with dead water when you get home - it's a great preventative measure against flu.
Acidic (dead) water has also been useful to Vaitoška in solving his eye problems. "I was diagnosed with viral inflammation of the cornea. There is no cure for it, there are always exacerbations. So I started applying dead water compresses to my eyes, which turned out to be helpful," said the long-standing physician.
Vaitoška stresses that acidic water cannot be drunk continuously, but is ideal for surface use.
Surprising your course mates
Every time he hears of people suffering a stroke, Vaitoška regrets that he missed the opportunity to prevent it. "Most strokes are caused by blocked blood vessels. Drinking alkaline water prevents red blood cells from sticking together, so blood vessels do not become blocked. Meanwhile, blood pressure medication only dilates the large blood vessels, but they continue to clog," the doctor believes.
According to Vaitoshko, being healthy and feeling well requires a fundamental change in your mindset and lifestyle. Over the past few years, he has read mountains of literature on healthy living and non-traditional medicine. Not only has he read, but he has also put his knowledge into practice.
"Clean thoughts, healthy diet and ionised water" is the doctor's main rule, which he has been following for the last few years.
According to Vaitoshko, his health has changed beyond recognition in that time. "When I go to a meeting with my course mates, they are always amazed at my health and energy. When I compare my current state of health with my previous one, I realise that I have turned my biological clock back," says the long-standing doctor.
The sceptics' doubts are removed when the Kupiškis man shows his passport, which contains a photo from several years ago. The sickly-looking man in the photo looks nothing like the energetic and youthful A. Vaitoškas.
Instead of a Handful of Medicines, a Glass of Water is Enough Sometimes
"Water is not a cure for all diseases, but it can really help with some health disorders, help to heal faster, or even cure some diseases," says Kaunas surgeon Gintautas Laurinavicius. He has been immersed in research on the properties of water for many years. The doctors' and his foreign colleague scientists collected the information about water in a book that would soon see the light of day.
Dr Laurinavičius did not come up with the idea of writing a book about water and its benefits for the human body by accident. Laurinavičius, who devotes most of his free time to this hobby, believes that he also wants to make other people interested in water and its positive properties.
Water has always been close to G.Laurinavičius since he was born - he grew up and still lives in Panemune district, just a short distance from the Nemunas River. Since childhood, he has known what a pleasure it is to plunge into the cool river on a hot summer day.
But the doctor from Kaunas is convinced that water is not only good for bathing. He believes that knowing how much, how much and when to drink water can help people avoid many illnesses, or help them recover faster, improve their health and live longer.
Laurinavičius was prompted to take a more active interest in water and its application in medicine by reading a book by a well-known Iranian scientist, Professor Fereydoon Batmanghelidjo. Later, he read a couple of books by the well-known chemist Telesfras Laucevic and became fascinated by his insights and approach to human health.
"The formula for water may seem familiar from school, but let's try making it. Then we will realise that everything is not so simple," said Laurinavičius. He is pleased that the knowledge he has gained about water is also useful in his direct work treating patients. And many interesting, unexpected and sometimes hard-to-explain facts about water will also be available in the forthcoming book.
The body becomes drier and more acidic
According to Dr Laurinavičius, water is unique because it is everywhere - not only in all living organisms, but even in plaster or granite. Human beings are no exception. Even our teeth and bones contain water. A baby's body contains about 90 per cent water, while an old person's body contains only 55-70 per cent.
"Over the years, the human body becomes drier," explains the doctor. Another natural process that occurs as a person ages is acidification. "The less water we drink, the faster the body becomes both dry and acidic. The waste products of the metabolism - the acidifying substances that cause oxidative stress - should be flushed out with water. But when we don't drink enough of it, the waste builds up and pollutes the body," said Laurinavičius.
According to the doctor, you don't have to look far to find examples - if not eliminated, the body accumulates salts and bone growths, "bad" cholesterol builds up and clogs blood vessels, and you can develop stones, diabetes and other diseases.
According to the doctor, acidification of the body is the cause of many diseases and ageing, so it is very important to maintain the right balance of acids and alkalis.
Regulating the body's acidity - the balance between acids and alkalis - can be achieved through careful food choices. However, many foods are acidic, such as meat, eggs, white-flour baked goods, sweets, alcoholic and carbonated drinks, and sweetened beverages. They make the body more and more acidic.
Even a headache is a sign of water shortage
It will be difficult to maintain the body's acidity by food choices alone, but there is a simple solution - drink plenty of water, and this should be done before you feel thirsty. Experts estimate that at least 30 millilitres of water per kilogram of body mass per day is needed.
According to G.Laurinavičius, if the urine of a person who does not take medication and eats a healthy diet is dark yellow or orange, then his/her body is lacking at least a litre of water. Around the same amount of water is already missing if a person feels thirsty. Sometimes a lack of water in the body is also signalled by certain ailments, such as a headache.
According to the doctor, the Lithuanian population is lucky because the quality of borehole water in our country is very good. "The borehole water used in Lithuania comes from aquifers that date back 20,000 years and is very clean," says Mr Laurinavičius.
Lithuanians can drink even ordinary tap water, but even better is ionised alkaline water.
Scientists praise ionised water
According to Dr Laurinavičius, research by scientists in Japan, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland and the USA revealed the benefits of ionised water some time ago, and alkaline, and sometimes acidic, water often replaces expensive chemical drugs in medical institutions in these countries. In Japan, a country renowned for its long life expectancy, one in four families drink ionised water.
Scientific studies have shown that alkaline water is a natural antioxidant, just like vitamins C and E. Antioxidants, whether produced in the body or from the environment, have been shown by science to protect against many diseases. They reduce the damaging effects on the body of acidic free radicals that are produced during the metabolic process.
The example of the apple shows what free radicals and antioxidants can do. When an apple is cut open, it begins the process of oxidation. After a while, the apple turns brown. This is due to the action of free radicals. If we put a few drops of lemon juice on the apple or immerse it in ionised alkaline water, the oxidation process is stopped. Similar processes occur in the human body.
According to the doctor, a normal tap water barrel contains 11-12 molecules, while the number of molecules in the human body's water barrel is half that. This means that the body still has to restructure the tap water before it can absorb it. Alkaline water, on the other hand, has a lattice of 5-6 molecules, so the body absorbs it immediately, without having to use energy to process it.
Almost the entire human body (blood, cerebrospinal fluid, lymph, etc.) is an alkaline medium, so alkaline water (pH 7-14) is preferable. This is all the more so as alkaline water is also needed due to the body's constant acidification processes.
Another advantage of alkaline water is that it has half the surface tension coefficient of non-ionised water. Ionised alkaline water is more permeable, easier to penetrate and better able to flush the body.
According to Laurinavičius, drinking alkaline water adds oxygen to the body, which is life and energy. When there is a lack of oxygen in the body, carbohydrates are not fully broken down, and the process of fermentation takes place.
Suitable for people who play a lot of sport
Dr Laurinavičius is convinced that ionised alkaline water is beneficial for the prevention of diseases in both healthy and sick people of all ages. It is very useful for those suffering from cardiovascular diseases, heart attacks, strokes and thrombosis.
Ionised alkaline water thins the blood, makes it more fluid, prevents red blood cells from clumping together, has a positive effect on the skin, and slows down the ageing process in the body.
Studies abroad have shown that alkaline water has a positive effect on the immune system and helps treat asthma and other allergic diseases. It also helps with depression, constipation, cataracts, degenerative rheumatoid joint disease, gout, osteochondrosis of the spine, disc pathology and many other conditions.
Scientists have shown that this water also has an anti-cancer effect, as cancer only develops in acidic, low-oxygen environments. And for diabetics, drinking alkaline ionised water significantly reduces the need for insulin.
According to a doctor in Kaunas, drinking alkaline water makes it easier to lose weight. Not only because drinking more water, especially before meals, fills the stomach and prevents overeating. Drinking ionised alkaline water stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, releasing adrenaline, which activates the hormone-sensitive lipase in fat, which helps break down triglycerides into fatty acids and triglycerol. This speeds up the metabolism and burns more fat stores.
It's not for nothing that some sports clubs already have water ionisers. The lactic acid produced in the bodies of people who exercise intensively causes muscle pain, but is successfully neutralised by alkaline water.
G.Laurinavičius recommends drinking ionised alkaline water also for those who are often troubled by heartburn. "There is not too much acidity in the stomach, but too little alkalinity. If there is enough alkali in the body, over-acidity is impossible. Drinking enough alkaline water will prevent heartburn from recurring," the doctor advises.
Researchers Are Optimistic: Aging Can Be Halted
Statistics are worrying - Lithuanian men have the lowest life expectancy in the EU. Lithuanian women also live shorter lives than statistical Europeans. Leonardas Lukoševičius, PhD, biochemist, is convinced that people would live longer and be healthier if they took more interest in scientific advances and applied them to their lives. Especially since the recipes for a healthy and long life are available to everyone.
L. Lukoševičius, a 78-year-old scientist living in Kaunas, can use his example to prove to sceptics the benefits of a healthy and active lifestyle. The elderly doctor still regularly lectures on healthy lifestyle and nutrition all over Lithuania, and is interested in the research and results of his colleagues from all over the world.
"I was actively involved in the creation of the Nutrition and Weight Management Centre in Kaunas city Šilainiai polyclinic. Communication with patients has shown that people lack a lot of knowledge about healthy lifestyle issues, which they would like to have. Medicine has done a lot to treat patients, but most of all, health depends on lifestyle and diet (50%), environment (20%), heredity (20%) and improvements in medical technology (10%). However, most people, even some health policy organisers, do not realise this", says Professor Lukoševičius.
Free radicals act aggressively
According to L. Lukoševičius, the most popular theory of ageing and death among the world's scientists at the moment is the theory of damage by free radicals (LR). Studies have shown that exposure to free radicals can lead to the most dangerous diseases - ischaemic heart disease, atherosclerosis, arterial hypertension, oncological diseases, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, asthma, Alzheimer's disease.
What are free radicals? While organic molecules, which make up the human body, have pairs of electrons in their outer shell, free radicals have one or more unpaired electrons in their outer shell. Free radical molecules seek to recover the missing electron by stripping it from the surrounding molecules, i.e. even disrupting the body's cellular structures.
According to Professor Lukoševičius, free radicals are very active and even aggressive. They usually attack DNA, the nucleic acid that protects and carries the cell's genetic programme. As he vividly compared, DNA is a compact complex in which the record of all the organism's data is encoded. The DNA molecule contains information about a person's height, body weight, eye colour, blood pressure and diseases or predispositions.
Attacks various cells
When free radicals attack DNA cells, their genetic code is disrupted. This damage prevents the cell from carrying out its functions and, in the worst case scenario, the cells mutate and transform into cancerous cells. It is to DNA cells damaged by free radicals that scientists are now linking the development of cancer.
When free radicals attack the body's fats and lipids, unsaturated fatty acids and proteins, they disrupt and destabilise the barrier functions of membranes. This is thought to contribute to the development of arthritis, cataracts, ischaemia and microcirculatory disorders in brain tissue.
According to biochemist L. Lukoševičius, brain cells are particularly sensitive to the effects of free radicals. Free radicals lead to an oxidation process that produces an excess of the wear pigment lipofuscin, which accelerates ageing.
To fight free radicals, the body uses antioxidants that can neutralise them and prevent cell damage. Antioxidants synthesised by the body itself are called enzymes. Those obtained from food are called non-enzymatic antioxidants. The latter, natural antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, flavanoids and carotenes, act as free radical scavengers and at the same time help the body to grow, fight infections, detoxify and protect the body against disease.
Water is one of the most powerful antioxidants
According to biochemist L. Lukoševičius, water plays an important role in human life. Water is vital for every living organism. After all, it is not for nothing that a person can survive for about 40 days without food, but only 7-8 days without water. According to Professor L. Lukoševičius, a person cannot store water in his or her own body, so he or she needs to get about 30 ml of water per kilogram of weight every day. And we are not talking about all liquids, but pure, clean water.
In the eyes of a chemist, the human body is a bioelectrolyte, containing almost the entire Mendeleev table. Water is an active substance that is involved in many biochemical reactions. It dissolves and actively carries nutrients around the body. Water cleanses the body of internal and external toxins. It liquefies the blood, cushions the joints by entering the cartilage. It strengthens the immune system, fights infections and enables immunocytes to attack cancer cells. And that's just a small part of the work that water does in our bodies.
"No other liquid can replace water because they contain dehydrating additives. Neither milk nor juice can replace it. Water is a carrier of hydrogen, which is the main biofuel of cells", says Professor L. Lukoševičius, Chairman of the Board of the association AQUA EST VITA (Latin for "Water is Life").
Reduced, or ionised, water is increasingly cited by scientists around the world as one of the most powerful modern antioxidants.
According to L. Lukoševičius, scientific and later clinical studies have shown that ionised water is an antioxidant, stimulates the immune system and cleanses the body. Alkaline (living) water prepared in special ionising machines has an immunostimulating and regenerating effect. Acidic (dead) water has a disinfecting effect, killing bacteria, viruses and fungi.
Around the world - not new
Scientists in different countries began studying the effects of ionised water on the human body decades ago. Japan is the undisputed leader. After ten years of research, the Japanese Ministry of Health and Population Welfare recognised the water ioniser as a medical device for improving health as early as 1966. In 1970, water ionisers were introduced in South Korea and later also approved as medical devices.
Japanese researchers H. Hayashi of the Water Institute and M. Kawamura of the Kyowa Medical Clinic carried out research from 1985 to 2000 and reported on the multiple beneficial effects of alkaline water on a wide range of conditions.
Later, interest in ionised water grew in other countries. Scientists in Germany, the USA, Korea, China and other countries have recognised the beneficial effects of ionised water.
Contributing to Japanese longevity?
Since water is involved in all the body's vital processes, its antioxidant effect is maximised by neutralising the destructive effects of free radicals. This is a very important characteristic of the use of ionised water for disease prevention.
In 1997, S. Shirahata, a biologist at the world-renowned Kyushu University in Japan, and his colleagues wrote one of the first scientific papers on the antioxidant properties of ionised water. Also of great interest was the publication by Japanese and German scientists of research data on the effects of ionised alkaline water in stimulating the body's immune system, inhibiting the development of malignant tumours and the spread of metastases. Research papers by Korean and German scientists have provided detailed material on the antidiabetic effects of ionised alkaline water.
According to Lukoševičius, ionised water has been used as an antioxidant in Japan for around 50 years. There are even specialised clinics in the country where patients are treated only with ionised water.
According to Professor Lukoševičius, ionised water not only acts as an antioxidant itself, but also enhances the effect of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants many times over. Clinical data presented by scientists and confirmed by experiments show that ionised water not only helps to restore the balance of alkalis and acids in the body's internal environment, but also controls the metabolism of free radicals and reduces their harmful effects. Consuming this type of water creates a natural rejuvenation of the body's internal environment. This is believed to be one of the factors that contribute to the longevity of the Japanese.
Burning Heartburn Bypasses Lovers of Alkaline Water
In these times of perpetual rush and stress, many people complain of various digestive disorders. One common problem is heartburn.
People who drink ionised alkaline water on a regular basis are happy to have successfully got rid of heartburn, even though it had been plaguing them for years, and no longer need the stomach acidity-reducing drugs that had become a constant companion.
The fact that ionised alkaline water helps to overcome heartburn and reflux is no surprise to Igor Strupeikis, a gastroenterologist from Šiauliai.
According to a gastroenterologist with many years of experience, the positive effect of ionised water in normalising stomach acidity is clear.
"Sceptics argue that alkaline water in the stomach is of no benefit because the stomach acids neutralise the alkali. However, the human body is a complex system with many processes going on at the same time," says Strupeikis.
Scientists have long established that the stomach is an acidic environment, where food is digested and then passed into the duodenum. Normally, the 'gateway' between the stomach and the duodenum, the so-called sphincter, functions in such a way that digested food passes into the duodenum, while bile from the duodenum into the stomach does not. However, in the case of inflammation, the sphincter does not perform its function and the bile, a strong alkali, passes into the stomach. The stomach tries to isolate the bile by defending itself against the alkaline medium and brings up hydrochloric acid. When this enters the oesophagus, there is an unpleasant burning sensation and heartburn.
Heartburn doesn't just cause unpleasant sensations. If the gastric epithelium is adapted to constant exposure to hydrochloric acid, it often enters the oesophagus and ulcerates the epithelium, causing long-lasting, non-healing ulcers, which can lead to the development of cancerous cells.
According to Dr Strupeikis, ionised alkaline water in the stomach reduces acidity by increasing the pH of the stomach. When the stomach becomes less acidic, the body immediately reacts by producing more stomach acid, but the production of stomach acid results in the formation of sodium bicarbonate, a salt that alkalises the body. When it enters the bloodstream, it alkalinises the entire body. And that's very important - scientists see alkalinising the body as a great way to delay the ageing process. "Our diets are full of acidifying foods, from roast meat to a cup of coffee. These foods require less stomach acid to digest, so the mechanism of acid excretion becomes disrupted and 'stagnant'. Soon we feel the consequences - heartburn. Drinking ionised alkaline water regularly promotes a steady release of stomach acids, ensures the digestive system is working well and heartburn is no longer a problem," explains I. Strupeikis.
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