Altitude sickness can be partially prevented with careful preparation and supplementation.
Anyone who has experienced a layover in Denver can attest to the fact that altitude sickness is real, uncomfortable, and potentially debilitating until you can acclimate. The culprit is the air’s lower oxygen than you are used to and your body having yet to compensate for the change. Fortunately, you can help to prevent altitude sickness with changes in habits, food, nutrition, and supplements that will prepare your body to make some adjustments.
In the following excerpt from the book The Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods by James A. Duke and Bill Gottlieb, CHC the authors explain how to prepare for an ascent, and how to prevent altitude sickness with food.
I once became ill with soroche during a trip to Peru. It sounds like an exotic disease, but it’s actually the name the Andean people have for altitude sickness. After ascending to Machu Picchu, the famous high-altitude city ruins in Peru, I found myself short of breath, dizzy, and weak. When I returned a few months later, I was determined to avoid altitude sickness with the help of a remedy that’s been used by Peruvian mountain hikers for thousands of years—the coca leaf. And it worked!
My companions and I munched on a few leaves before our excursion, and our bodies were then able to withstand the disabling effects of the high altitude. Not only that, we felt energized (one of my companions told me I tackled those climbs like a mountain goat). I celebrated my 65th birthday hugging the rock face of sister peak Huayna Picchu and singing “Rock of Ages.”
The coca plant is commonly found in Peru and Bolivia, where the Andeans use it to brew tea. Often, though, you see Andean peasants whose jaws appear to be swollen. They’ve actually got a big chaw of coca—often mixed with plant ashes to facilitate the extraction of alkaloids—stuffed in there.
Coca is also the source of cocaine, so it’s out of legal reach here in the States. This doesn’t mean that the streets of Peru are a narcotic free-for-all. There’s very little cocaine in coca tea—just enough to act as a stimulant, to about the same degree as coffee. Of course, I would never recommend trying to import the leaves to the United States, but if you’re planning to visit a country where coca is legal, try sipping some coca leaf tea before any high-altitude adventure. Or take a chew. Or do both. If your climbing expeditions are more domestic, don’t despair. Fortunately, other remedies are plentiful in the United States.
As we all know, gravitational forces bring even the mightiest to their knees. It’s this force that keeps air molecules close to the Earth’s surface. The farther you are from Earth, the less dense the air is, and the more likely you are to experience altitude sickness. At high elevations, your body struggles to adapt to decreased levels of oxygen. Fluid leaks into the tissues and begins to build up in the lungs and brain, and the body begins to dehydrate. Most people can climb to elevations of 8,000 feet above sea level without any ill effects. Higher elevations, however, can cause even the fittest bodies to experience something akin to a terrible hangover: headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting.
The best thing you can do to prevent altitude sickness is ascend at a sensible rate to give your body a chance to adapt to the changing atmospheric pressure. According to experts at Apex, a team of high-altitude medical researchers, limiting your ascents to 1,000 feet a day should keep altitude sickness at bay.
There are other steps you can take to alleviate symptoms or even avoid falling ill at high altitudes. Here are my favorites.
Clove. Clove oil is extremely rich in eugenol, a compound that thins the blood to al[1]low for more efficient distribution of nutrients in the body. For this reason, I’ve created a recipe appropriately called Altitude Adjustment Tea that includes clove oil as a key ingredient. I also mix in some of these other high-eugenol herbs that I usually have on hand: allspice, bay rum leaf, galangal, carrot seed, shrubby cinnamon, bay leaf, and marjoram.
Here’s my personal concoction: Steep cloves in very hot but not boiling water (boiling dissipates too much of the eugenol). Add allspice, bay leaf, cinnamon, and marjoram to taste. For an added boost of protection (and flavor), mix in these mints, as available, which contain thymol, another compound that thins the blood: balm, basil (also rich in eugenol), dittany, savory, and thyme.
FOODS TO WATCH
I would recommend avoiding foods that contribute to inflammation. Some of the worst offenders are refined foods, which contain high amounts of added fat, sugar, salt, additives, and preservatives. Snack foods, in particular, are likely to contain large amounts of pro-inflammatory trans[1]fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids, and high-fructose corn syrup, which also is a major player in our nation’s obesity epidemic.
Garlic. The scientific community has firmly established that garlic compounds afford the heart many protective benefits. A study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that garlic helps the blood produce hydrogen sulfide, which allows the blood vessels to relax. It also contains more than a dozen blood-thinning compounds. The ability to keep the vessels relaxed and the blood fluid is a valuable asset for bodies that are exposed to high altitudes. Finally, garlic clears the lungs and bronchial passages. Those are just some of the reasons that garlic is one of my preferred remedies for altitude sickness.
Other plants with blood-thinning properties include tomatoes, dill, fennel, onions, hot peppers, soybeans, celery, carrots, and parsley. All of these ingredients are ideal for what I call my Anti-Aggregant soup. Just cook as many of these as you have available in a big pot of water.
One caution though: Be sure to cook the vegetables thoroughly, as raw veggies will challenge the intestinal fortitude of any mountain climber!
Thyme. When I was still with the government, they made me take a pharmaceutical diuretic, acetazolamide (Diamox), and they would have pronounced me insane if I’d said that I’d rather take oil of thyme, as Japanese mountain climbers do. Thyme can contain at least a dozen blood thinners and nine diuretics. I suspect many of the aromatic mints at Machu Picchu contain even more of these phytochemcials that are useful in treating soroche, but thyme works well.
Water. One of the most important defenses against altitude sickness is hydration. As your body takes in larger volumes of dry air, it loses fluids. The blood thickens and dehydration sets in, affecting the distribution of nutrients and oxygen. Replacing fluids may lessen the severity of altitude sickness or even prevent it altogether. Researchers from Spain, studying the effects of fluid intake on mountaineers staying at high altitudes, found that aggressive hydration had a protective effect against acute altitude sickness. So drink plenty of liquids before and during your climb, even if you don’t feel thirsty. Aim for at least three to four quarts of water a day. You’ll know you’re properly hydrated when your urine is clear.
High-carbohydrate foods. As triathletes, cross-country skiers, and other endurance athletes know, foods high in carbohydrates help to fuel the muscles. The body uses carbohydrates to create a reserve of glycogen, an acid your muscles need for energy. But carbohydrates have an added benefit at high altitudes: They process oxygen efficiently. Carbohydrates require less oxygen to metabolize than proteins and fats, an important distinction when oxygen is at a premium. Many mountaineers find that small meals of high-carb, low-fat foods prior to and during the first three or four days of an expedition work best to combat altitude sickness.
Reishi. I rarely push mushrooms because I know so little about them, but this one I have seen growing on the wood steps in my Green Farmacy Garden in Maryland and in the ReNuPeRu Garden in Peru. It’s fairly easy to recognize and not very likely to be confused with poisonous mushrooms. Almost all my Amazonian tours start out in the lowlands below Iquitos, Peru. The steps between the garden and the Canopy Walkway at the Explonapo Camp are constantly being “consumed” by the reishi. As my shaman puts it, singing his eerie jicaro (chant) of the mushroom, it is sucking the last power from the fallen tree of which these steps are constructed. He’s right. The mushroom that he calls generically cayampa (or cajampa) is taking its nutrients from the dead tree. But apparently cayampa mau have the power to control soroche. Nowhere have I heard Andean Indians profess to have used reishi for soroche, but their Himalayan counterparts use reishi much as the Andeans use their coca, as an energizer, especially at high altitudes. I’d certainly give it a try if I couldn’t get coca, or maybe even with coca.
From the Herbal Medicine Chest
Some studies show that ginkgo increases blood flow through the body, particularly the brain. This may be why mountain climbers have found that it helps stave off the effects of altitude sickness. In one study, researchers transported participants from sea level in northern Chile to an elevation of over 12,000 feet. A third of them received 80 milli[1]grams of ginkgo, another third were given an altitude sickness medication, and the rest took a placebo 24 hours before their ascent and during their three-day stay. The group that received ginkgo had significantly fewer incidents of severe altitude sickness than did the other two groups. And in a meta-analysis of six studies on altitude sickness, involving more than 400 people, researchers found the herb reduced the risk of altitude sickness by 25 percent. When trying ginkgo, limit yourself to 60 to 240 milligrams of standardized extract a day. Any more than that could result in diarrhea, irritability, and restlessness.
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