Acne skin care

Acne is defined as a diseased condition of the skin that involves the hair and oil glands. It is characterised by pimples, black/white heads, reddishness and cysts. Face acne can spoil your appearance to a great extent and body acne can really ruin your day by making you very uncomfortable. Considering acne as a minor problem, some people tend to totally discard the topic of ‘Acne skin care’. However, the importance of ‘Acne skin care’ cannot be undermined in any way.

Acne skin care should really start much before the acne actually appears. ‘Acne skin care’ is more about being proactive than reactive. Acne skin care is about being aware of preventive measures. Acne skin care is - following daily skin care routines with complete discipline. So let’s have a look at how ‘acne skin care’ can be applied to our daily routine.

‘Acne skin care’ starts with the most basic thing - cleanliness. So morning showers are the most basic way of keeping the skin clean. In fact, a lot of people take night showers too (that not only helps in keeping your skin clean but also provides relaxation to your body and enables a good sleep). If you are living in a hot and/or humid place, a night shower becomes a must. In fact, a shower is recommended after any activity that causes high levels of sweat to develop. It’s a very effective ‘acne skin care’ technique.

However, acne skin care is not about just showers. Acne skin care is also about wearing clean clothes and sleeping on clean pillows. Moreover, too tight clothes can cause sweat to accumulate quickly; so soft and comfortable cotton clothes are recommended, especially if you already have acne. In the same sense, ‘acne skin care’ also advocates regular cleaning of your make-up brush and any equipment that you use on your body.

Besides that, you should also use a mild, water-soluble, oil-free and soap-free cleanser for keeping your face, neck and arms clean. Cleansing is the most important part of any acne skin care routine. Cleaners are the easiest and the most effective way of removing dirt, grease, pollutants and excess oil from your skin; thus reducing the probability of acne occurrence. Acne skin care also recommends removing your make up using a make up remover, and this should happen before you go to bed (not in the morning).

If you already have acne, do not try to touch them or squeeze them; it can lead to permanent scars. ‘Acne skin care’ advocates gentle cleansing and cleaning of the affected area using an over-the-counter medication and a clean/soft cotton pad. There are various acne skin care creams and lotions available over-the-counter (a lot of these acne skin care products are actually cleansers). However, if these ‘acne skin care’ measures don’t give you the desired results, contact a dermatologist for ‘acne skin care’ advice and treatment.

Omega 6 fatty acid and skin cancer

Here is another important fact regarding polyunsaturated fat in particular omega-6 acid. As per my previous blog discussion on the link between acne and Omega 6 fatty acid (refer to my blog article on Omega 6 link to acne), there is now mounting medical evidence associating skin cancer to high consumption of food containing Omega 6 fats.

Polyunsaturated fats such as Omega 6 fatty acids makes its way into our body through certain types of foods that we consume such as raised meats, vegetable and seed oils. In today's heavily polluted environment, it is estimated that the our body contains Omega 6 fatty acid five times more the amount as that of the Omega 3 fats and this out of proportion of almost 2 to 1 ratio extremely detrimental to our health.

Many people mistakenly assume that exposure to the sun is the leading cause of skin cancer. On the contrary, the sun is just a co factor which together with unfavorable skin condition and cell degradation triggers the formation of skin cancer.

In a nutshell, the presence of high omega 6 fatty acids in the body cause oxidation and inflammation to the cell membrane. The fatty acids prevents blood and nutrients flow to the cells thus impairing and impacting cell to cell communication. Once the body cell membrane is damaged or compromised, the body ability to remove toxin is severely compromised and eventually leads to cell DNA damaged resulting in formation of cancer cells.

Thus it is not surprising that there is increased skin cancer among the population. The skin being the largest human organ is exposed to external environment and increase oxidation and exposure to UV light triggers the onset of skin cancer.

The solution to reducing risk of skin cancer is simply by avoiding over consumption of foods that are high in polyunsaturated omega 6 fatty acids. Increase intake of Omega 3 fats to boost your body natural protection against inflammation and thus reduce aging effects.

Click here for more info on ways to protect your skin

Does certain food contribute to worsening acne condition?

Multiple factors contribute to acne problem. Acne is not just caused by hormone imbalance. (Think about adolescent teens or those reaching menopause that results in the uncontrolled secretion of sebaceous glands leading to clogged skin pores.)

New research studies have shown that accumulation of high Omega 6 fatty acid compounds may cause skin inflammation and this indirectly leads to worsening acne problem.

The key enzymes such 5-LOX or COX in the body are known to turn the omega 6 fatty acid into certain group of potent inflammatory compound (leukotrienes) and this contributes to skin inflammation. Thus the presence of the 5-LOX enzyme together with excessive omega 6 is a recipe for worsening acne condition.

Some people are prone to acne because of the increase key enzymes in their body. As a matter of fact, scientists now believe such findings explain why acne problem could be hereditary in nature due to the fact that increase of such enzymes in the body can be hereditary in nature and this results in higher probability and frequency of skin inflammation.

One solution to solving acne problem is by preventing omega 6 fatty compound acids from interacting with such key enzymes to produce inflammatory compounds. Some topical acne medications containing salicylic acid is quite effective in treating acne by inhibiting and blocking COX enzymes from interacting with omega 6 fatty compounds to generate inflammatory compounds.

Thus based on the above facts, you should restrict or limit consumption of Omega 6 rich content food such as margarine, mayonnaise, salad dressings and processed food. Many of these types of foods are prepared using vegetable oil, corn oil, soybean oil and cottonseed oil all of which laden with high omega 6 fatty acid.

The key to an acne free and good complexion is by understanding what’s triggering acne and making necessary lifestyle changes to minimize skin inflammation. A holistic treatment and prevention measure would help to keep acne at bay.

In summary does certain food contributes to worsening acne condition? The answer is obvious. Anyone who tells you food has got nothing to do with acne does not understand the complex interaction between our body enzymes and external environment that triggers acne.

Too much sugar harmful to the brain

Too much sugar intake not only caused obesity or diabetes. Well now it seems that high sugar intake could also cause dementia and increase cognitive problems. I have to admit though taking sweets or chocolates helps to keep me wide awake during office hours, more so especially amidst mental taxing situation whereby I have sort out complex software problems.

By all means enjoy some of those sweet stuffs and as in all cases, always remember to enjoy intake of high sugar content food in moderation. Sugar is converted to energy by the cells in our body thus sugar is vital to proper regulation of our health. Too much unregulated intake of sugar though would flip the internal switch in our body system and post serious health risks.

Checkout the following report on sugar effect on dementia.

Danger of over exercise

Gyms and health workout centers are quite popular with younger generations nowadays.
Gone are the days where young people practice qigong, taichi or other form of breathing exercise. Instead, what we are seeing today is modern repetitive aerobic strenuous exercise such as jogging, weight lighting and other high intensity workouts.

Quite often, health conscious people spend on the average like half an hour or more daily in the gym workout and there are some who go to the extreme of spending almost 3 hours and beyond in daily in the gym workout.

No doubt exercise is good for health, one has to be cautious though so as not to over do it due to the fact that over exercise could just be as harmful as not exercising at all. Know your body limits and don't push nor exert yourself beyond what your body is able to take. If you experience dizziness, abnormal fast heart beat or difficulty in catching your breath or vomiting after strenuous exercise stop the workout immediately.

There has been quite a number of cases whereby healthy people otherwise supposedly in excellent health suddenly collapsed and died while exercising on treadmills or other high intensity workouts. Certainly not all deaths were attributed directly due to exercise, however it is evident that strenuous exercise in one form or another is able to trigger dangerous and harmful body reactions.

A well balance and progressively adjusted exercise is good for the heart. Excessive exercise could increase blood pressure and this may lead to uncontrollable heart palpitation and heart failure. There are contradiction findings as to whether exercise is good for heart problematic patients.
As a safety guide, light exercised lasting 15 minutes or less daily is recommended to begin with. Generally most doctors agree that strenuous and high intensity workout is harmful to those with heart complications, high blood pressure, diabetic and other

Repetitive strenuous exercise may cause stiffness and soreness of neck,shoulder, arm, joint,upper and lower back. Repetitive strenuous over exercise causes chronic muscle strain and pull. The muscle becomes stronger,tighten and pull 2 or more bones closer together and this may result in stress and strains or tears to soft tissue.

Exercise stimulate the body hormone response and reduce insulin. High intensity and over exercise can cause enormous oxidative stress and result in antioxidant insufficiency. Some of the antioxidant that are affected by over exercise are coenyzyme Q10, magnesium and vitamin E.

Severe iron deficiencies can also be noted on female that over exercise. Over exercise can cause oxidation of LDL (good cholesterol) and set a person up for cardiac events and sudden death. Supercharged sympathetic nervous system can lead to cardiac arrest and sudden death.

In summary exercise is certainly good for health when carry out in moderation and progressively adjusted to suit one's body ability and tolerance. If possible try to get a fitness instructor or doctor to advice on appropriate form of exercise that is best suited to your health condition. Over exercise and strenuous exercise is harmful and should be avoided for those who have health complications.

Peanut contamination

It's just been few months since China’s melamine milk product contamination scandal rock the nation,caused the lose of at least five children's life within the country and leads to global criticism of the country's daily industry and food health safety standards.

The chairman of Sanlu, the country's largest milk powder producer has been sentenced to life imprisonment and along two others, brothers were sentenced to death for their part in mixing melamine into the milk powder.

It is difficult to pinpoint and persecute all those involved in the melamine contamination scandal due to the way dairy food products are manufactured in China. Official corruptions further complicates and impedes the effort to maintain dairy and food industry safety standards.

China's dairy manufacturing process involved long chains of sub contractors that forms part of the manufacturing pipeline, from the front end processing preparation of the raw ingredients and materials to final packaging.

Anywhere along the dairy food manufacturing pipeline chain, some of these sub contractors could potentially cut corners so as to cut cost and thus compromise the product safety, mostly through various unscrupulous means such as mixing with dangerous toxic industry chemicals, compromised hygiene requirement standard and etc.


Sanlu officials in particular the chairwoman 'Tian WenHua' knew about the Melamine contamination as early as April last year but regrettably only choose to act on recalling the contaminated milk products several months later.

Apart from trying to avoid milk product recalls that may results in huge loses to the company, one main reason cited by her was the concern of such impact to the Beijing Olympic. There were even rumors that some of the high rank government officials were as much guilty as Sanlu officials and in some way influence the delay of recalling of the products to avoid bad publicity during the Olympic.

It is not surprising though since the Sanlu melamine contamination court hearing was a close door event much to the dismay of even the local Chinese, chances are that high level government corruptions charges are either toss out of the window or sweep under the carpet so to speak.


Now it seems that now the table has turn around with US made peanut butter by Peanut Corp contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. To date at least eight deaths associated with Salmonella bacteria were being reported throughout the nation.

Press reports indicates that the salmonella outbreak has been tied to Peanut Corp.'s peanut processing facility in Georgia. The most shocking news though is that just like Sanlu milk powder contamination scandal whereby officials knew about it months before disclosing it to the public, the FDA knew about unsanitary condition of the Peanut Corp's facility for well about nine months prior to publicly disclosing and warning consumers!.


Back in April 2008, around the time as Sanlu officials discovered their milk powder contaminated with Melamine, Peanut Corp try to ship some peanuts to Canada. The shipment was rejected by Canada health authorities after spot check indicates the presence of putrid, filthy and decomposed substance. The FDA was alerted of this but did nothing to contain the situation nor issue a public warning. Instead, Peanut Corp decides to continue to ship the contaminated peanuts to other countries including US itself.

All too often we start to put the finger at China for its gross violation of food health standard but what about other countries such as the US or Europe? Would anyone be found guilty for Peanut Corps mishandling of the contaminated peanuts , would the guilty parties be tried in the court, charge and thereafter sentence to death or life imprisonment for the death of well over eight consumers?

You be the judge, cause as for me it seems more like the kettle calling the pot black!

Stress reduction with meditation

Reducing your Stress Using Meditation


Many people have stress these days. We have it due to school, work or home issues. There are some people that can leave it all behind while others are facing the burden everyday.

The Art of Stress

With General Adaptation Syndrome, the model designed by Hans Selye, identified the three stages that people will go through when they are stressed out.

With the first part, the body will go on a kind of alarm system that will help it to realize a threat. With this state, Cortisol is released through the body.

The second stage is when the body will become unable to deal with the stress until it is deleted.

The last stage will help the body break down and this will cause exhaustion in the immune system. This can make it hard for the body to fight off illnesses and many people will get sick.

How does Meditation Relieve Stress?

Meditation can be a great method to help reduce stress in a person’s body. With the calming mind that it gives you, a person will feel more in control and be able to deal with certain things better.

With the reduction of stress this does mean that you are done with meditation. The stress that your body goes through will make your immune system prone to getting sick easier. With reducing your stress in the body, you will be better able to stay healthy.

Practicing meditation will help to improve your health and give you a better shot at fighting off illnesses.
Medical research has shown that meditation is effective and practical and convenient technique for managing stress. Meditation helps to divert the mind away from problems that are causing stress. It provides the body the required time to relax and recuperate and clear away stress hormones such as cortisol that may have built up

The next time you are stressed out, you need to think about calming the body down. Your problems may no always go away, but you will be able to better emotionally deal with them.

Contaminated weight loss products

I have been down with flu the past few days Anyway, as usual, many people said that I don’t look ill at all despite the fact that I was having a fever of 38 degree C. Thank goodness, I recovered fully just in time for the Chinese New Year festive celebration.

Heads up for those who wish to consider the ‘easy way out’ on getting rid of excess fats. Of recent, about 30 or more of the so called fat buster products from China were being black listed by the US FDA for presence of dangerous substances which may cause cancer and other health risks. To make matter worst, most of the dangerous and even ban substances are not listed as part of the ingredients of the products.

One of the key dangerous ingredients is sibutramine and is used in many anti obesity prescription. In high dosage it post serious health risk and were found to be 3 times the maximum recommended dosage in many of these China made products.
Some of the pills also contain certain ingredients to induce laxative effect such as Phenolphthalein. Phenolphthalein is now a ban substance as it has been proven to cause cancer.

For further information, check it out the weight loss products

Improve quality of sleep

It is quite common to have television, radio, hifi set or even computer notebooks in bedrooms. Generally speaking it is usually not a good idea to have any items in the bedroom that may distract you from sleep. You may not even realize that some of the usual habits and stuffs that you do may actually cause you to lose quality sleep.


I have the habit of turning on the TV when I go to bed. It just comes naturally since the TV cabinet and the DVD player is just situated right in front of the bed and the TV remote controller is usually placed beside the pillow. What is supposed to be short TV movie watching turn into a two or three hour bedtime TV and by the time when I realize it and decided to turn it off, it’s closed pass midnight or beyond.


When I finally switch off the TV and call it off a day, well the bad thing is that I usually ended getting up once or twice each night, either to relief myself or it just so happen that I just can’t sleep properly due to whatever reasons such as drinking too much caffeine laden drinks such coffee or tea perhaps. When I get back to bed, my fingers automatically does its ugly job, press the TV remote control and there goes my mind wondering aimlessly watching TV programmes no matter how boring it is.


Watching TV just before you go to bed may be too stimulating for the brain. The pineal gland which is responsible for regulating sleep pattern may be disrupted by watching TV just before bedtime. Thus if possible, try to move the TV away from your bedroom of otherwise, make it point to disconnect the TV power socket from the main just before you sleep.


Getting adequate sleep is extremely important to our health. Lack of sleep could result in obesity, lost of mental focus, hardening of the artery walls, high blood pressure and imbalance hormone to name a few. Our body repairs itself most effectively while we are asleep.


PS: I have to admit though at times said is easier than done. My TV in the master bedroom has broken down for over a month and I am very much tempted to replace it with a small LCD TV (it is almost impossible to buy normal CRT TV nowadays). For now, I am in no hurry to get a replacement TV , well I am hoping to get a big sale bargain later.

On a footnote, here's an article on calcified fetus found in 90 year old woman. It is not something new though, but the fact that its found in a 90 year old woman is something that's not usual though.

Blame it on the hormone

Now here’s an interesting topic on hormone. Medical science now has more data to associate aging with hormone imbalance but what about infidelity?
Check this out on my sex hormone did it.not me.
Now it seems that some ‘smart’ researches claim the human sex hormone is to be blame when a woman cheats on you. Incredulous isn’t it? So next time if a woman cheats on her husband and play hanky panky behind his back, blame it on her hormone.

I wonder what’s next after this? Someone robs you of your money, punch you and even commit murder, blame it on the DNA and hormone? What has this world becomes?

Mind reader

Ever wonder what it would be like if people can read your thoughts and observed what your brain visualize on a giant screen? This is no longer science fiction. Japanese scientist reported that they had created the technology that is capable of displaying on the computer screen what’s on a person’s mind.

See http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hjZBkNJ5qofmg0Qw3vHSfpNdKPfQ

Thus Hollywood science fiction movies on capturing or recording a person’s dream on a computer system for subsequent digital playback and interpretation are neither far fetch nor a possibility of the distant future. It is going to be reality sooner than we think.

Come to think of it, it is kind of scary isn’t it? Certainly I would not want my personal thoughts and dreams to be a public viewing content. Such technology would prove invaluable to solving crimes along the breakthrough technology such as the like of DNA identification and lie detector test though.

No one knows for sure the consequences of such a technology on human social impact. On one hand, this technology brings along with it a whole plethora of new exciting applications and challenges. For instance, a teacher could immediately know if a student understood the subject being taught or the student is day dreaming. A pastor or preacher would know if any church member attendee is asleep or day dreaming during the sermon.

In another 10 years or so, such technology might probably become mature enough to be economically deployed in cheap portable gadgets. Everyone can read anyone’s mind via such and such miniature mind reader gadgets. I wonder what the world is going to become when that time comes. Perhaps there could be some form of regulation to restrict deployment of such technology but as usual, there will always been some smart Alex around who is able to go around hacking and cracking security protection around such devices.

What is going to become of the world by then with such technology within the reach of the common mass? Well, no one knows for sure, it is such an exciting technology and at the same time worrying too.

Calorie restriction

One of the theories of aging suggests that the human cell has a limited number of times it can divide. Cells split to help repair and regenerate themselves. The cell’s ability to divide is limited and eventually stops dividing and hence dies. Some research done indicates on the average a cell is able to divide at most fifty times. As cell divides, there is possibility it loses some of its genetic DNA blueprint information until eventually there is simply not enough DNA information left to complete the any sort of division.

Thus one of the key aspects of slowing down aging is by delaying the division of cells. It was observed that nutrition has a great effect on cells and notably overfed cells divide much faster than underfed cells. Lab experiments indicates that underfed animals live longer thus calorie restriction in some way does plays a part to contributing to reduce cellular damage.

The exact cause is not known, it is postulated that underfed animals are subjected less to inflammation caused by insulin and glucose damage or that less radical activity takes place when the body is underfed. It is possible that calorie restriction helps to reduce metabolic rate and this helps the body to reduce the generation of free radicals which are harmful to the cells.

Thus it is easy to understand by fasting is good for health. Fasting helps to restrict calorie intake which in turn cause the body cells to slow down its division and in other ways helps to lower cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure.
Calorie restriction with adequate nutrition enables the body to boost up immunity. The human hormone DHEA level is found to increase when the body is subjected to calorie restriction and thus the increased of DHEA due to calorie restriction would help to contributes to reduce incidences of kidney disease and other possible cancer risks. Check out my earlier post on DHEA effect on aging.

In summary, reduce intake of calories by means of eating in moderation might be one of the answers to attaining the fountain of youth.

Acupuncture

A nice video on Chinese Acupuncture and Chinese TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine).

Positive mindset

A holistic medical treatment approach is required for a person to recover from illness. Medicine alone can only go as far as providing the necessary jumpstart to help the body initiate the healing process. A patient who is optimistic about recovery often takes shorter time to fully recover as compare to a person who is less optimistic. Cancer patients who don’t easily gives up and having positive mindset and optimistic of the treatment usually has higher chances of survival and recovery.

One good example is the placebo effects. If a person feels good about medicine they have to take, the more likely they are to be healed by said medication. This occurs even when the medicine is a sugar pill or a scientific formula used to cure or aid illnesses. Our mind and thoughts may impact our body response to disease.

Most of us do not realize or rather underestimate the power of mental and emotional healing has on our health and personal life. Having a positive mindset has tremendous bearing on the outcome in life. It important for us to adopt a positive attitude and discard any negative thoughts that may prevent us from getting what we want in life and this include the ability of our body to repair itself and restoring health.

Always remember to dwell on the happiness and positive side of life and surround yourself with positive thinking and a positive atmosphere. When we are cheerful and optimistic about outlook of life, when we adopt a positive mindset, our body is able to regulate and maintain positive energy balance. What is positive energy balance? Well stay tune for my next article on energy balance.

Low blood pressure

There are a lot of different effects that blood pressure can have on a body. Most think about hypertension otherwise known as high blood pressure. However having low blood pressure can cause problems as well. Hypotension can be serious and it should be taken care of immediately. Having low blood pressure can affect the bran and could as a result cause more problems that can not be fixed or even fatal.

The most known reason for having hypotension is having decreased blood volume that is known as hypovolemia. There are many reasons why this is a problem that can occur in this way. Most of them have to do with problem with the nervous system in the brain. There are other causes that will include some medicines that can have hypovolemia as a side effect. Because low blood pressure has these affects and is a result of problems with such an important part of the body, it makes hypotension even more serious than having high blood pressure.

One type of problem related to hypotension that should be considered is orthostatic hypotension. This is also known as postural hypotension and is one of the more common forms of low blood pressure. It can occur because of a change in the body’s position. An example would be standing up from a sitting or lying down position can briefly lower the blood flow in the body. Because of this, you can become dizzy, and can be noticed on a regular basis by many. Another more serious type of the syndrome can be brought on by medications of the physical and the psychiatric topic.

There is another form of hypotension that is less common than orthostatic hypotension. It is known as postprandial hypotension and will occur 30-75 minutes after you have eaten. Digestion of food can send a large dose of the blood to the digestive system and due to this the autonomic nervous system must compensate to increase the body’s heart rate and find make more blood pump. Orthostatic hypotension can affect the autonomic nervous system, making it even weaker than it already is. It is also a sign of a failing autonomic nervous system maybe because of age or something else completely.

Hypotension is just as severe as hypertension. Even though the two may sound the same, their affects on the body are very different. However they are both cause for concern and should be checked out immediately especially since having low blood pressure could affect the brain and this is the most important part of the body.

Help for anxiety disorder

Anxiety disorder can be very difficult to understand and treat. However, with a bit of help, you can truly overcome any type of anxiety disorder you may have. While it might be impossible for you to fully “cure” anxiety disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or phobias, you can learn how to deal with these medical conditions in order to live a fully normal and productive life. The key to living with anxiety disorders is finding help. There are three main types of help you should get, and luckily this help is readily available to everyone!

First, find help from medical professionals. A doctor will be able to diagnose your problem, suggest treatment options, and help you learn to be safe and happy. You may also work with a therapist to talk about your problems and learn behaviors that can help you through the day. Overall, this is the most important type of help you can get because an anxiety disorder can physically be dangerous. Only a medical professional can make sure you get the best care possible.

Another crucial kind of support can be found in the form of support groups. Hospitals, religious organizations, and community centers often sponsor support groups, which can be led by professionals are self-led. In both cases, this type of support system allows you to be in contact with others dealing with the same disorders, so you can see that you are not alone. Together, you can also help one another learn tips and tricks to dealing with anxiety. A good support group can really become a second family.

However, the third group is your actually family, as well as close friends. When you develop an anxiety disorder, it may be difficult for some people to help you through this rough period of your life. Your true friends will be there, though, to help you through the recovery process and to support your decisions. If you do not find this type of support within your group of friends, they are probably not the friends you should have. When you know someone with an anxiety disorder, your life may be more complicated, but sticking by his or her side can make all the difference when it comes to recovery.

Asking for help is a key step in dealing with anxiety disorder. If a disorder is ruining your life, you truly need to find people who can help you overcome the disease and live a happy and healthy life instead.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone Merry Christmas.
Enjoy and take time to spend quality time with your loved ones and take care

Vitamin D and life expectancy

Checkout the interesting acticle pertaining to Vitamin D on life expectancy. Vitamin D is free!, just go and get some healthy sunshine!

Aging and DHEA hormone

What causes aging?

The effect of aging is quite apparent in human, in particular our physical outlook. Hair loss, increased grey hair, weaken eyes resulting in difficulty in reading, muscle and bone loss and weakened immune system are but some of the symptoms of aging.

There are several theories about what causes aging. Some of the theories make sense whereas some do not. One of the generated accepted theories by all is that aging process and all diseases that comes along with aging is caused by damaged to our body cells.

Cells function properly by communicating with each other through electrons. Electrons could only move in the body with the help of hydrogen. Cells must have oxygen to survive and function properly. The multiplication and growing of cells requires hydrogen. Hydrogen is regarded the fuel of life. The fabric of life namely the DNA of cells is held together through hydrogen bonds.

As we grow older, the hydrogen pool in our body becomes depleted. Free radicals seek out other chemical structure from which they can acquire an electron. Free radicals are a group of compound s with an electron missing from their chemical structure and this makes them unstable. One part of the cell which is most susceptible to free radical damage is its membrane. The cell membrane is composed mainly of fat and proteins. The fats or lipids in the cell membrane easily interact with free radicals to produce a dangerous chemical that harms tissues and damaged the DNA of cells.

As we grow older, chances are that more and more of our cells are damaged by free radicals and this result in chronic inflammation, hormone imbalance and thus accelerate the aging process.

Anti ageing hormone
Hormones in our body undergo changes as we age. One of the major hormones that get affected as we age is DHEA. DHEA stands for ‘De-Hydro-Epi-Androsterone’. As we grew older and aged, our body hormone tends to become imbalance thus this leads to triggering of chain reaction that impact our body metabolism, stress, weaken our immune system and other emotional and psychological health.

What is hormone?
Hormones are chemicals excreted by glands of the endocrine system for instance the thyroid, pancreas, ovaries, testes, adrenal and pituitary to name a few. The hormones are released directly to the blood stream and it affects the way we think and feel.
DHEA hormone is produced by the adrenal glands (small organs smuggled up near the kidneys) and is created by chemical reaction involving cholesterol molecules. Thus cholesterol which we often associates with bad health

What is DHEA ?
This hormone is essential and responsible for triggering the production of other hormones such as the oestrogen (female hormone) and progesterone (the male hormone). DHEA is usually inactive circulates in the blood as DHEA-Sulphate. It is activated and converted into DHEA by the cells in our body.

As we age, DHEA hormone levels in our body drops from as early as the late twenties and continues through middle ages and beyond. By the time we reach 40-50, the DHEA level in our body might just left to 30% level compare to our youthful level.

Facts about DHEA.
Laboratory experiments with animal such as rabbit indicates DHEA increases anti oxidant activity and thus possibly for human as well.

It activates and triggers the process of bone-forming cells, better known as osteoblast.
It reduces heart disease by protecting the body against bad cholesterol (LDL)
DHEA helps to reduce interleukin 6 (IL6), a chemical frequently found in immune diseases. IL6 level increases with age and can be used as a guide to determine how quickly the body ages. As such experiments indicate DHEA helps to keep chronic inflammation under control.

Alzheimer disease patient’s DHEA level is found to be drastically lower compare to normal healthy person (at least by 50%). Some experts believe that damage to the brain nerves occur at faster rate if the DHEA level is low. Laboratory experiments indicate DHEA is able to make nerve cells stronger and able to withstand toxic and chemical assault.
DHEA is also known to help to boost our immune response and fight infections.

Facts and fallacies of organic food

When you head to the grocery store, shopping for products like eggs, meat, fish, milk, and produce can be very tricky. Signs are posted everywhere labeling food as natural, organic, and a number of other things—but what’s the difference, really? Learning what specific names mean can help you decide if you should shell out extra money on a product of it is simply a marketing ploy.

Natural is a turn associated with a number of fruit and vegetable product. Typically, this is simple a marketing ploy to convince you to buy the product. After all, all fruits and vegetables are natural, right? Unless it’s a new kind of food that has been developed and processed, the product is natural. What you really probably want is organic. Organic foods are grown without chemical pesticides and fertilizers. There are two main benefits to organic foods. First, you are helping the environment because those chemicals are not being introduced into nature. Secondly, you are avoiding ingesting chemicals and are therefore healthy more healthy foods. However, organic products are usually more expensive. If you’re on a budget, skip over organic fruits and vegetables that you can peel, like oranges and bananas. After all, once you’ve discarded the peel, you’ve also discarded the chemicals. Instead, opt for organic items like apples, where you eat the peel. No matter what you buy, however, make sure that you rinse off the food when you get home.

Another tricky label you will see is “no hormones.” This is usually in regards to milk or meat products and is false, since all animals naturally produce hormones. Hormones are what helps an animal (even a human) regulate body organs, have young, and otherwise function. All meat products have hormones. What the labels really mean is that no hormones were unnaturally given to the animal, which is sometimes done to increase milk production. Regardless of hormones, however, the milk and meat is safe for a person and not a violation of an animal’s rights.

Lastly, a label on eggs and meat can indicate if the animal was caged or penned. This does not make a difference in the quality or nutritional value of the meat, but is simply a matter of animal rights. These products may be a bit more expensive, but if you want to make human decisions, that is the way to go. Reading the label and making healthy choices can sometimes be difficult, but learning how to do so can help you make the best choices for you diet.

On the other side of the coin, there is always the big question mark as to whether are we really better off with organic food?

Proponents of organic food claim that the world would have lesser problem with mad cow disease if the cows were fed with real organic food. Surprisingly though, it was reported that quite a high number of these cows that contracted mad cow disease were bred in organic farms! Organic food business is big industry and there are signs that what used to be really organic and beneficial to health no longer seems to be the case.
I won’t be surprised if one of these days, those so-called organic foods are found to be in actual fact produced in China’s hazardous chemical and environmental polluted farms.

Organic farming used to be small-localized business that is confined to small markets. Many years way back organic farming is more of a family kind of business whereby residents plant and grow crops and breed domestic animals on their backyard gardens endow with natural futile soils. No dangerous chemical based pesticides or herbicides were ever used on crops. Most of the organic foods were meant for internal or self-consumption.

With demands for organic food on the rise, big food industries are cashing into this lucrative market segment and finding ways to mass-produce organic food on large scale basis. Excessive natural herbicides and insecticides were used on so-called organic crops. Natural herbicides, fungicides and insecticides are usually made from plant extracts and can be quite dangerous and harmful if ingest in large amount. As validated in the lab, artificial herbicides and insecticides biodegrades much faster than its natural counterpart.
Organic crops are usually grown in manure fields. Chemical fertilizers are replaced with urine and animal waste. There have been reported cases whereby the bacteria E-Coli were detected in organic vegetables. Thus organic food does not necessary equates to more safer and hygienic food. So next time if you chance to buy organic food in particular vegetables, make sure you clean and rinse it thoroughly!.