A few months ago I wrote about e-cigarettes, which seemed like the safer option when compared to real cigarettes. However, I was sceptical about the toxins within an e-cigarette.
The device contains propylene glycol, which produces the smoke and is hazardous when inhaled. E-cigarettes are unregulated products and contain at least 19 harmful chemicals. A scientist has warned that several of these chemicals could cause cancer.
Studies have never been carried out to ascertain what damage smoke does to the lungs. However, concerns about fake cigarettes have been voiced by Philip McAndrew, a doctor at the Loyola University Health System, who said people think fake cigarettes are a safer alternative to real ones, but the truth is we really don’t know.
One American city isn’t waiting to find out. Chicago has decided to apply the same regulations to e-cigarettes it already applies to real ones. They are kept behind the counter and proof of age has to be produced when purchasing them. McAndrew, who helps people who are trying to quit smoking, says there are better ways of replacing cigarettes, especially as e-cigarettes still send high quantities of nicotine to the body.
Have you ever fallen ill after a long-haul flight? Some people reckon it is due to the poor quality of air circulating in the plane. However, researchers are offering a new theory.
Their belief is that anything that interferes with our body clock, such as jet lag or shift work, can disrupt certain molecules associated with the immune system. With our immune responses temporarily malfunctioning, we are more likely to catch any viruses going around at the time.
When our body is out of sync, there may be a sixfold reduction in the ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules, which help regulate the immune system and many other biological processes.
Researchers from the University of Guildford made the discovery when they deprived 22 volunteers of their normal sleep pattern. Their usual sleep/wake cycle was delayed by four hours daily, until the normal time for sleep was out of sync by 12 hours.
When blood samples were taken, the researchers found a massive reduction in the RNA molecules attuned to a circadian (24-hour) rhythm (Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 2014).
Chicago has decided to apply the same regulations to e-cigarettes it already applies to real ones
People with deep spiritual and religious beliefs are far less likely to be depressed. Such beliefs together with spiritual practices, such as meditation, appear to thicken the brain’s cortex in the areas associated with feelings of depression and anxiety, a new study has found. People who are more likely to be depressed have thinner cortices in the regions of the brain associated with the condition.
However, after analysing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans of 103 people, researchers from Columbia University in New York City discovered that those who were religious or spiritual or who meditated had cortical thickening in the parietal lobes that may have helped them avoid bouts of depression.
Previous studies had already found something similar. People with religious beliefs were far less likely to suffer from depression even when they were the offspring of parents who were depressed (JAMA Psychiatry, 2014).
During the past winter months, if you found yourself feeling tired and lethargic, there might be a way to avoid it next year. Researchers have found that switching on a blue light will make you more awake and alert. So, working under a blue light for six hours a day can boost your alertness, improve your reaction time and generally make you feel less sleepy. Researchers from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston say the changes can be seen in the brain, where EEG monitoring has picked up brain activity reflecting a greater state of alertness.
Short wavelength (blue) light makes people alert at night too and can interfere with sleep patterns. However, it works equally well during the day when people need to be more awake.
To test the theory, researchers monitored 16 volunteers as they worked for more than six hours a day under blue light and then compared their results with those exposed to green light.
Blue light bulbs are commercially available, as well as sheaths which cover an ordinary light bulb to make it blue (Sleep, 2014).
We are told that blueberries are among the list of superfoods, as are many berries. The berries are rich in health-giving polyphenols and the best way to eat them is fresh and raw.
However, some people don’t like the taste and cook them or juice them or (more popularly) bake them in a muffin.
But what happens to the polyphenols when you bake the blueberry?
Researchers have found that although juicing or canning reduce polyphenol levels by 20 per cent, when baked or eaten in a muffin only 10 per cent is lost. Researchers have admitted they do not understand why there is this difference.
However, they believe that yeast acts as a stabilising agent and protects the actual polyphenols. Good news for those who love blueberry muffins (J. Aric. Food Chem., 2013).
kathryn@maltanet.net