Do sunscreens cause skin cancer?

The question of whether sunscreen prevents skin cancer is an ambiguous one. Many epidemiological studies show an increased risk of skin cancer to the sunscreen user. Similarly, a review of studies on skin cancer and sunscreens by Science News, vol 153 1998, found that people who used sunscreen are more likely to develop basal cell cancer than people who did not. Science News also examined ten studies of melanoma, five of them concluded that people who used sunscreen were more likely than non users to develop melanoma. Three of the studies found no association between melano...

Do plants really clean the office air?

Here is a little paper I wrote many years ago showing that plants are not effective at cleaning the indoor air. Formaldehyde is a toxic substance with adverse health effects detectable at low concentrations. Formaldehyde causes irritation of the eyes, skin and respiratory tract, wheezing, nausea, coughing, diarrhoea, vomiting, dizziness and lethargy at levels as low as 50 parts per billion (ppb) (0.05 ppm). Formaldehyde has also been associated with aggravation of asthma, emphysema, hayfever and allergy problems at low levels (EPA, 1987). Formaldehyde is currently consider...

Probiotics can reduce pain

Treatments for obesity have been shown to reduce pain secondary to weight loss. Intestinal microbiota has been shown to influence obesity and pain sensitivity. Physiological pain plays a life-essential protective role, while acute or chronic pathological pain indicates a medical problem that needs treatment and imposes a medical challenge. Neurotransmitters, immune cells, and hormones have been demonstrated to contribute in pathogenesis of chronic pain. Pain threshold is influenced by several factors, including obesity, which alters adipose tissue metabolic and endocrine ...

Mothers milk mycobiome (fungi) – not microbiome

Compared to bacterial communities, the human gut mycobiome (fungi) is low in diversity and dominated by yeast including Saccharomyces, Malassezia, and Candida.Studies show they also vary substantially over time and even mice in the same or different cages in the same facility receiving the same feed and treatment also varied in their dominant fungal lineage. Similar results have been shown with humans. During the last years, human breast milk has been documented as a potential source of bacteria for the newborn. Recently, we have reported the presence of fungi in breas...

Our Acid Stomach

The intestinal microbiome is a plastic ecosystem that is shaped by environmental and genetic factors, interacting with virtually all of our organs, tissues and cells. One of the most important factors in regulating and controlling our microbiome is the pH or acid level. While often mentioned in terms of the stomach the pH has a controlling role to play in the health of the whole GI tract from the mouth to the anus and changes in the “normal” pH anywhere in the gut can have large implications on the rest of the GI tract. The pH scale goes from 1 being very acidic to...

A brief history of Gut Health

Research into the gut microbiome has ramped up over the past decade thanks to high investments over 100 million dollars by the US Governments in the Human Microbiome Project in 2007 as well as large sums from companies and private sources not wanting to be left behind as its importance for our health has become more widely recognised and understood by the mainstream. There is now a tsunami wave of information coming through on the gut microbiome, literally thousands of new studies and increasing each year. Until recently the positive effects of the gut microbiome on our ...

Sunscreens

Over the last 40 to 50 years we have increased the number of synthetic sunscreen chemicals we use with virtually no extra thought as to how vulnerable we are to these chemicals or how little we know about their subtle and accumulative toxic effects. We assume that because these chemicals are so easily purchased off the supermarket shelf, they must be safe to use. Wrong! Many of these chemicals are known to be toxic and few of them are extensively studied before they are put on the shelf, freely available to the general public. In fact, many of these chemicals have been used...

The Mediterranean Diet and RA

The Mediterranean Diet (MD) is one of the healthiest dietary pattern existing and consists in the high consumption of products like fruits, vegetables, legumes, unrefined cereals and nuts, the moderate consumption of fish, poultry and dairy products as cheese and yoghurt, and the low consumption of red meat products. Olive oil is used as the main edible-fat source and wine is consumed in a regular, but moderate, basis with a meal. The reduction in overall mortality and morbidity has been linked to a greater adherence to the MD and this food pattern is highly proposed as a b...

The Benefits of CoQ10

Randomised controlled clinical trials have shown supplementation with CoQ10 or CoQ10 plus selenium reduces mortality by approximately 50% in patients with cardiovascular disease, or in the normal elderly population, respectively. Similarly, CoQ10 supplementation improves glycaemic control and vascular dysfunction in type II diabetes, improves renal function in patients with chronic kidney disease, and reduces liver inflammation in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The beneficial role of supplemental CoQ10 in the above disorders is considered to result from a ...

The Health Benefits of Green Spaces

Growing up as a child in the 60’s there was lots of space to play on the street, in the big back yards, nearby parks, creeks, the beach and lots of green spaces. While we we have lost a lot of these spaces research is showing that the more “green” we are surrounded with the the healthier it is for us. We exhibit more than just a preference for natural scenes and settings; we suffer health problems when we lose contact with our green surrounds. Increasing evidence indicates that nature provides restorative experiences that directly affect people's physical, social and ...