Tag Archives: Health

Know Yourself Before Drinking Alcohol

Posted on November 20, 2017 by | 2 comments

Why after drinking, some people’s faces will turn red, while some of the others turn white?

Red face after drinking Alcohol   Source: Pixabay

Let’s talk about the reason for blushing first. Many people think this is caused by alcohol. But, it is instead caused by acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde has the function of expanding the capillaries, and the dilation of the capillary of the face is the reason of blushing. So if some people drink and blush, it means that they can quickly convert ethanol into acetaldehyde, which indicates that they have efficient ethanol dehydrogenase to complete this conversion. Relatively, there is another enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase. People who drink with red face are because they only contain ethanol dehydrogenase enzyme, but not aldehyde dehydrogenase. Therefore, the body rapidly accumulates acetaldehyde and cannot metabolize. As a result, the red face may last for a long time. Generally, the red colour will disappear after one or two hours. This process depends on the cytochrome P450 in the liver that slowly converts acetaldehyde into acetic acid, and then goes into the Krebs cycle and be metabolized.

What about people who can drink a lot? Usually, for this kind people, the more they drink, the whiter their face are. For one thing, they will suddenly fall into a blind drunk degree. That is because the highly active ethanol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase are not presented simultaneously, mainly due to the slow oxidation of P450 in the liver. So, why are such kind people able to give others a feeling of they are “wine tanks” ? The reason is: they rely on inner body fluid to dilute alcohol. It suggests that the bigger they are, the more they can drink. Until alcohol levels exceed 0.1 percent, under normal circumstances, they will fall into a coma.

What happens if a person has a highly active alcohol dehydrogenase and a highly reactive acetaldehyde dehydrogenase? Then we can say that he/she is a “wine tank”! We can judge if a person is a wine tank or not by seeing if they will sweat profusely while drinking. Because if both enzymes are highly active, alcohol quickly becomes acetic acid into the Krebs cycle, then turn to heat and sweat in a very short time.

Alcohol conversion  Source: Wikimedia Commons

People who have a white face after drinking are more likely to injure their liver. They lack the signal of drinking baseline, so it is easy to drink beyond their ability, which makes them drunk. What’s more, the alcohol in their bodies accumulates in the absence of highly active enzymes, leading to liver damage.

Depending on the introduced after-drinking characteristics, it can help you understand your own drinking system. Drinking according to your physical condition is a good method to protect your personal health when enjoying alcohols.

-Olivia Yang-

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Salmons near Seattle found high with drugs, and should you be concerned?

Posted on November 13, 2017 by | 2 comments

Assuming you are a sushi or seafood lover, will you be shocked if I tell you the salmons near Seattle has found to have of multiple drugs, including cocaine in their tissues? Although you actually don’t need to worry about your health this time, some other effects may still worth concerning.

Salmon. credit: Pexels

A study lasted from 2014 to 2016 has examined the contaminants in three estuaries in Puget Sound near Seattle by collecting both water sample and juvenile Chinook Salmon samples. The scientists found that the juvenile Chinook Salmon’s tissue contains many drugs and other chemicals, including Prozac, Advil, Benadryl, Lipitor, BPA, even cocaine. The estuaries’ water also contains 81 types of drugs, cosmetic products, which are higher than the expected concentrations.

Salmon and water bodies contain the chemical products. Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749116300884

The variety of the compounds inside salmon and water is from multiple factories in the regions producing a wide range of products, including pharmaceutical, personal care products, and current use pesticides. Multiple chemicals then are ejected into the water bodies and the organisms from the discharged water from the factories’ wastewater treatment plants.

Fortunately for us, the concentration of individual compounds in the organisms and water would be too low to affect human health. Also, there are multiple other salmon species to choose, like sockeye salmon, so that people would not need to eat juvenile Chinook salmon.

However, it is estimated that the salmons’ survival rate would be decreased by around 50%. The drugs could inhibit the salmons’ immunity, and make them more susceptible getting diseases and/or make them become less fit. This could also give them a hard time feeling from their predators, and thus increase the salmon population’s death rate.

Also, most of the compounds and products found in salmon tissues are in fact approved to use, or considered as non-toxic, it is quite common for them to be discharged from a wastewater treatment plant. Thus, only a small proportion of the chemicals are monitored or regulated in the estuary environment, while there could be hundreds of other chemicals/products presenting the water and organisms. Therefore, the toxicity effects might have been underestimated, as the “non-toxic compounds” could interact with each other, and increase their overall toxicity to be harmful to humans.

In a word, even though we are being lucky enough not to be affected by the drug-contained salmons this time this time, it is yet unclear about the overall effects of the multi-products-contaminated waterbodies. If we don’t work on to improve the wastewater monitoring and regulation system, maybe the water contamination will eventually affect ourselves.

 

-Lilo Wang

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Do you see in black and white?

Posted on November 13, 2017 by | 1 comment

“What does Red look like to you?”, and “Are you like a dog then?” are some of the many questions people suffering from colour blindness get once their genetic deficiency is uncovered. Not only are these questions woefully ignorant, but they are grossly exaggerated from the implications of the term “blindness”. This occurs since people normally attribute blindness as a condition in which an individual cannot see whatsoever, however in reality even individuals who are considered “blind” have some visual perception. In accord with this, colour-blind people are not absolutely blind to colour, with many simply having difficulty differentiating between shades of colours such as green or red. This is why colour-blindness is identified in the spectrum of Colour Vision Deficiency, or CVD for short.

Most people understand that we see things because of our eyes, but don’t actually understand how this happens, and as a result they also have difficulty understanding how CVD occurs, so a short description is provided here. In the eye, the retina is the component which receives incoming light and transmits the corresponding information to the brain resulting in colour perception. This is done by the approximately 6 million cone cells, which are categorized into the red, green, and blue types, and all individually respond to different wavelengths of light. Colour vision deficiency occurs when an individual’s eyes are unable to sense certain wavelengths of light under normal conditions due to some issue with their cone cells.

With this description, it is still difficult to visualize what it really means to be colour vision deficient, since you can’t simply switch off your cones to experience this, whereas you could close your eyes to simulate blindness. To put it simply, people with CVD, such as myself can’t see quite as wide a range of colours that a person with normal colour vision can (a great description of this can be found at this website). The outcome of this is mainly confusion for the CVD individual, with common interactions such as “Do my shoes and dress match?”, “Can you pass me the red backpack?”, or “The red line shows X, while the green line shows Y” leading to misunderstanding. Granted that such interactions can be quite humorous, the individual is often left feeling oblivious and naïve. So next time you meet someone who is colour-blind, just saying “Your eyes are pretty” will probably make their day.

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Daily products, how safe are they?

Posted on November 5, 2017 by | 4 comments

As we live our daily life, there are some products we need to use on a daily bases. One of the products we cannot leave out is shampoo. Even though we use shampoo everyday, we may have to pay close attention to what it is made of.

(CC0 Creative Commons, From Pixabay)

Shampoo contains many chemical substances. There are many people who try to avoid chemical substances and it is not difficult to find those who make their own shampoo or choose products that are made of organic sources. Why do we need to care about the product which so many people on earth use daily without questions?

Many shampoo products contain 1,4-deoxane and diethanolamine, which are used to make bubbles and make the shampoo more efficient in cleansing. These substances can be hazardous to us, damaging nervous system and even causing cancer if exposed for a long time.

structure of 1,4-dioxane (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

structure of diethanolamine (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

1,4-dioxane is not used as a material to make a shampoo, but rather, it is produced during the process of making shampoo, depending on the substances used. Therefore, it is very difficult to avoid 1,4-dioxane completely. Researches have found that 1,4-dioxane can be absorbed through skin or be inhaled to cause serious damage. If we are exposed to 1,4-dioxane, it can cause irritation on mucous membranes of eyes and nose, and dizziness. If with great exposure for a long time, it can even cause death.

Diethanolamine, on the other hand, is widely used as a surfactant to make shampoo. It can be absorbed through skin as well, causing irritations to skin and eyes, and further damage kidney.

To avoid these hazards, it is best to use products that does not contain 1,4-dioxane and diethanolamine if possible. Also, minimizing the time of use and amount of shampoo will help preventing them from being absorbed into skin. Even though everyday products are used by many people for a long time and seem safe, we would need to think more about what exactly we are using.

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Dangers of Artificial Food Colouring

Posted on November 4, 2017 by | 3 comments

Artificial food dyes are additives that are used to enhance the colour of various foods. The food industry has used food colouring as a tactic for many centuries to make food look more appealing to consumers. Would you rather eat a colourless lollipop, or a rainbow coloured lollipop? Although artificial colouring is widely used, it is linked to a number of health problems such as cancer in animals and increased hyperactivity in children.

Lollipop (By Graham and Sheila)

For many of us, it is almost impossible to go a day without consumption of artificial colouring. Colouring agents are found in beverages, candies, cereals, and in most processed foods. Health Canada has permitted 13 colouring agents that are considered safe, including Brilliant Blue (or Blue #1), Allura Red (or Red #40) and Tartrazine (or Yellow #5), the 3 most common colouring agents.

In “Food Dyes: a Rainbow of Risks”, CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) revealed health issues linked to nine food dyes. For instance, Citrus Red 2, which is used for colouring the skins of oranges, is toxic to rodents and is linked to bladder tumor. Yellow 5, which is used in beverages, cereals, and yogurts, may be contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals and is linked to hypersensitivity reactions in children.

A study published in 2007 also found that artificial colours increased hyperactivity in children. The results were achieved from 267 studies in 3 year old and 8/9 year old children. The children were given a placebo drink, or a drink containing artificial colouring equivalent to the amount of colouring found in two bags of sweets. The children consumed the drink everyday for a total of 6 weeks. During the study period, three measures of behaviour, the ADHD rating scale, the hyperactivity scale and the classroom observation code were used to study the hyperactivity in children. The researchers found that the results were consistent with those from other studies.

Top: Chocolates coloured with Brilliant Blue. Bottom: Chocolates coloured with natural spirulina (By John Penton)

Although there are potential health effects linked to artificial food colouring, I still want my M&M’s chocolate and Jell-O to be coloured. Thankfully, more companies are looking for natural alternatives to replace artificial colours and meet the public’s desire for natural products. Natural colour sources such as cyanobacteria Spirulina can replace Brilliant Blue, curcumin from turmeric can replace yellow, and chlorophyllin from chlorella can replace green. Furthermore, Health Canada has set many restrictions to limit the amount of food colours that can be used, and the types of food the colours can be added to. However, if you are concerned and want to limit artificial colours in your diet, look for food labels that say, “no artificial colours”, or shop at grocery chains that do not sell food with artificial colouring, like Whole Foods Market.

An interesting video that talks more about the potential health effects of artificial food colours is shared below.

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Carmen Chu

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WAKE UP. Take a coffee nap.

It’s late afternoon now. You had your perfect cup of coffee in the morning, but the day has taken its toll on you. Shall you go for another cup? Or perhaps a nap to wake you up?

I recommend to you not either or, but both! Yes, the best of both worlds: the coffee nap.

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Coffee Nap: a cup of coffee then a nap (see, I google “coffee nap” and I get sleeping animals). 

Left: Wikimedia Commons – Julius Schorzman.  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG

Right: Pixabay – Scheeze. https://pixabay.com/en/cat-sleeping-nap-bed-portrait-pet-2092451/

Why aren’t coffee naps a trend? Scientists discovered two decades ago that drinking a cup of coffee, then napping for 20 minutes will boost your energy way more than a regular nap or coffee. Sleepy people who took a 15-minute coffee nap before being tested in a driving simulator scored higher. Research also says that coffee naps wake you up more than face washing, bright light, taking breaks, and coffee or napping separately.

So how do coffee naps work? First let’s learn how caffeine wakes you up.

Caffeine, a chemical in coffee, enters your bloodstream about twenty minutes after you drink it. It makes it way to your brain where it fills receptors which are normally filled by adenosine, another chemical. This happens because caffeine is similarly shaped to adenosine.

The chemical structures of caffeine and adenosine. Note how similar they are: they both have N (Nitrogen), O (Oxygen), and ring structures in their chemistry.

Wikimedia Commons: Edgar181. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caffeine_and_adenosine.png

What does adenosine do? Adenosine builds up in your brain with each moment you are awake, and when it fills receptors it makes you sleepy. But when caffeine blocks adenosine, you don’t become sleepy.

A nap works in a similar way. Sleep doesn’t block, but removes adenosine from the brain. But if you sleep for more than twenty minutes, you fall into a deep sleep and become less alert when you wake up. So short, power naps are actually effective!

Now let’s put caffeine and napping together. First your nap removes adenosine from your brain so the receptors are less filled. Then, at twenty minutes, caffeine comes in and blocks more receptors than it could have without the help of adenosine. The result? Your afternoon rescue.

So take that coffee nap! Even half-sleeping for twenty minutes will be helpful, and you can also drink other caffeine beverages.

As for me, even though I still don’t drink coffee, and can’t nap either, I will give it a shot. Let me know how it goes for you!

Cheers,

Ivy Wu

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Posted on November 2, 2017 by in Admin

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Got milk? It may not be as good for you as you think. Why is it such a common drink, and what’s in it?

Posted on October 23, 2017 by | 1 comment

Got milk? It may not be as good for you as you think. Why is it such a common drink, and what’s in it?

Indicated by the famous “milk mustache”, milk has been advertised by many famous athletes as the perfect beverage. Recognized as part of a balanced and nutritious diet, it is believed to strengthen bones and decrease the likelihood of developing osteoporosis in aging women. Contrary to what most people think with regards to milk being good for their bones, high milk consumption is not necessarily associated with lower rates of fracture incidence in adults. In fact, it way have the opposite effect of potentially weakening bones with time and excess consumption. A 20 year cohort study in three counties in central Sweden discovered that high milk consumption is associated with increased fracture rates in women aged 39-74. Of the 32793 female participants, 17252(52.6%) of women were found to have experienced a fracture, in which 4259(13%) of those fractures were of the hip. There was no negative association between the amount of milk women drink per day and fracture incidences. Instead, there was a positive correlation between milk consumption and fracture rates.  

 

The Canada Food Guide indicates that men and women should consume up to 2-4 servings of milk a day. Why?

Dr. Walter Willet, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, states that the “Dairy industry has become a very powerful economic force”. During WW1, the American government shipped large amounts of canned and powdered milk overseas to combat soldier malnutrition. This large demand for milk caused farmers to focus primarily on the production of milk, and to focus less on their other crops (chickens, wheat, etc.). When WW1 ended, and the demand for milk decreased, milk supply in america was at an all-time high. So, what did America do in response to this? Well, they promoted drinking milk as part of a nutritious diet. Unfortunate to most, they developed a liking for milk, which is why the milk industry has become so powerful today.

 

Below, an informative video on government relationships with dairy industries:     

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So now, one may ask: What’s in milk?  Milk is composed of mostly water, fat, protein, carbohydrates and trace vitamins/minerals. Within those categories, casein protein, Insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1), and lactose are examples of milk components that have been linked to adverse impacts on health: increased rates of colon cancer, acne and bloating/gas, respectively (See attached link in bottom for these studies).


Considering that  65% of the human population is unable to digest milk, I am skeptical on the Canadian Food Guide’s warranting it an entire dietary category. With regards to personal nutrition planning, I suggest folks do more research on milk and its components in order to make the best decision on its prominence in their diet.

 

For more information, please watch the following video:
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Links to studies:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2715202/ – IGF-1, acne, cancer

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4166373/ – Casein – cancer

https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/lactose-intolerance – lactose – bloating and gas

-Sina Alavi

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Protect Yourself From Nonsense

Posted on October 23, 2017 by | 1 comment

Since the dawn of civilization, humans have considered protection to be a vital aspect of their lives. From hunter-gatherers trading berries for spears, to serfs selling their goods to a lord for his knights, protection from harm has always been something of value to us. In modern society, scientific advances lead to new threats to our safety and way of living, such as the atomic bomb or climate change. From this progress will always rise those who try to take advantage of others due to their lack of understanding, such as the extortion of taxes from illiterate farmers. An example of this is the wonderful Vybe Energy Pendant, which claims to “Protect you from what the eye cannot see”.

This pendant claims the following benefits (taken from the Protect Your Vybes website):

  1. We are surrounded by things like cell phones, laptops, television, electrical appliances, and so on. These devices emit Electromagnetic Radiation (EMF) which is a known human carcinogen and negatively effects our thoughts, memory, focus, and bodily functions.
  2. Energy Pendants eliminate EMF effects, giving you a protected mind, body, and soul.
  3. This is a 100% natural and Earth-made product.
  4. The benefits of the Energy Pendant have been known for hundreds of years and kept secret due to it’s complexity.
  5. There are multiple studies and tests that have been performed throughout the years that show that the Energy Pendants do much more than just protect you from EMF.

For those who are interested, I would recommend checking out the website and the associated video, both of which are a good laugh if you find this kind of stuff funny. I for one, do not. This company uses blatant pseudoscience to sell their product to a target audience clearly defined as those who are ignorant to rudimentary science. My main issue with this product isn’t that it exists, but rather that it claims to be “Backed by Scientific Evidence that proves the benefits of this product”. First off, experimental evidence can never prove something; it can only lend weight to the validity of a hypothesis. Second, the “scientific evidence” they cite is never explained.

“This photo shows shows the enhanced blood flow after wearing the pendant through thermal tests and photos.” Photo Credit

The images provided on the website just show useless values without any information to back why it is important or valid. For the target audience however, simply having these “scientific images” likely provides proof of the pendant’s function.

To be frank, there is so much wrong with this advertising that it would take an essay to point out all of it. The main point of this blog is to simply identify that much of this pseudoscience exists and is being used to exploit those who are not scientifically literate. This will unfortunately continue though, because “People fear what they cannot understand and what they cannot control.” -Andrew Smith. But hey, if you want to buy one they’re $35.

Jake Medeiros

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Air Pollution Also Causes Stress: Should You Worry?

Posted on October 16, 2017 by | 1 comment

Two months ago, there was a large scare as Chinese researchers found that a common air pollutant, PM2.5, not only causes lung and heart disease but increases stress as well.

Kan and Chen modified the air purifiers in select dormitories in Shanghai so that half of them could reduce PM2.5 levels and half couldn’t. Then they monitored the level of homones in the students’ bloodstream after nine days. Surprisingly, they discovered an increase in stress hormones such as cortisol for students who lived without air-purification.

Chemical structure of cortisol. Wikimedia Commons: Foobar. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cortisol.png

This study was conducted on students in Shanghai, but PM2.5 is the most dangerous air pollutant to us in BC as well. PM2.5 are particulate matter (solid and liquid particles in the air) smaller than 2.5 micrometres. Their small size allows easy access into our lungs to cause chronic lung and heart disease along with increasing stress as mentioned above.

Should we worry though? While Chinese cities largely exceed the World Health Organization limit for PM2.5 at 10 micrograms per cubic metre, Canadian cities are all under this limit.

Figure 1. Comparison of PM2.5 levels in Vancouver, Toronto, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Note that the Canadian cities have PM2.5 levels below the WHO limit of 10 micrograms per cubic metre. For clearer image, see BP 2

In this graph above, it shows that Vancouver is below this limit and busier cities such as Shanghai are five times this limit. Toronto is nearing the limit, but there was a decreasing trend for Toronto in 2015 and no trend for BC.

Unfortunately, this means that your stress isn’t caused by this air pollutant.

Fortunately though, the PM2.5 levels in BC are still safe. But you still need to take personal steps to reduce the impact of air pollution on yourself and others.

Simple steps to stop producing PM2.5 are to stop driving, smoking, and burning wood as these are the highest sources of PM2.5 in BC. Take alternative transport, use alternative fuel to warm your homes, and just don’t smoke. In fact, smoking will increase your chances of lung and heart disease way more than breathing in PM2.5 will. Others will be also be harmed more by breathing in your tobacco smoke than by breathing in PM2.5.

And if you don’t smoke, exercise outside! Open the windows when you’re studying, and take in the clean air that you are gifted to have.

-Ivy Wu

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Perfumes: Invisible Hazards

Posted on October 15, 2017 by | 4 comments

How often do you use air fresheners, candles, or perfumes at home? A lot of people love using perfumes when they go out, and air fresheners and candles to get rid of unpleasant smell in their homes. But, have you ever thought about where those chemical substances go?

The researchers from The York University in UK have discovered that level of limonene, which is the main source of citrus scent in perfumes and air fresheners, was significantly high in homes that use perfumes. Limonene is a common substance that also exist in foods we eat, and is not harmful to our health. However, the problem occurs when limonene reacts with ozone, which is part of the air we breath in. The limonene reacts with ozone to produce formaldehyde.

Limonene react with ozone to form formaldehyde copyright-created by Diana Kim

Formaldehyde is named as a known human carcinogen. Ozone is also present indoors, with higher level when we use electronic devices. Therefore, when we use perfumes at home, it is likely that the limonene will turn into hazardous carcinogen in the air. The research also has mentioned that higher concentration of limonene in the air means there are more possibilities that it is going to turn into formaldehyde. It is better to use perfumes in an open space, with windows opened to let the substances out.

To minimize the exposure to formaldehyde in your home, it is the best to ventilate home regularly. Also, having air-filtering plants at home helps getting rid of formaldehyde in the air. The air-filtering plants, such as garden mum, spider plant, dracaena, ficus, and peace lily, absorb formaldehyde in the air.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APeace_Lily.JPG

Although scents can help stabilize our emotions and therefore can be good for our mind and gets rid of unpleasant smell immediately, we would have to think more about how it can harm our health directly.

 

-Diana Kim-

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