If you are pregnant, this is a must read. You want to give birth to a healthy child and you eat the healthiest of foods but there may be other things you are doing unknowingly that could be harming your child.

This is unlike any precautions your mother or grandmother has told you about. Scientists have found that the most commonly used and seemingly harmless things can prove to be dangerous for your unborn kid.

The quintessential hairspray! Can you believe that a simple hairspray can cause defects in your unborn male child?

Scientists revealed that they found there to be a link between hairspray and a genital defect in boys. Women who are exposed to the hair product during the first trimester of pregnancy have more chances of giving birth to a child (son) with a genital deformity called hypospadias.

What is Hypospadias?

When the penis of a fetus is forming normally, the urethra extends from the bladder to the tip of the penis. In hypospadias, the urethra does not develop properly as it should and may end along the shaft, with the urinary opening being on the underside of the penis. In some severe cases, this opening is also seen near the rectum or the scrotum. Imagine how horrible it would be for a male baby to pass urine from below the penis.

In the UK, this defect is supposed to affect more than 250 boys, causing the urinary opening to be shifted to beneath the penis. It may be corrected in the baby’s first year but in severe cases, it leads to urinary problems, sexual and fertility issues. (more…)

The high alert raised by the World Health Organization (WHO), placing the current incidence of swine flu one level below Pandemic, may sound scary but it could be because the H1N1 virus seems very similar to the deadly Spanish flu virus that let almost 50 million people dead in 1918. But then experts believe there can be no comparison, as understanding of diseases, their transmission and the checks that are put in place is completely different now than it was a century ago. Our public health disaster response – screening, quarantine and awareness campaigns are all far advanced.

So far, 15 countries have reported human infections of the multi-strain swine flu and a little more than 100 people have died from the infection, mostly in Mexico, which is where the outbreak of swine flu started.

What Is Swine Flu?

Swine Flu or swine influenza is a respiratory disease that causes influenza in pigs. Although, these viruses may be present among swine all around the year, the outbreaks usually occur during the fall and winter months just like influenza strikes humans during these months.

Are Pig Farms Responsible For This Outbreak Of Swine Flu?

While swine flu viruses are not generally said to infect humans, there have been a few human infections here and there. These infections have mostly occurred in people who are directly exposed to pigs. Even in the past, there have been a few cases where one person spread swine flu to other people. There was supposedly an outbreak of swine flu in 1988 in pigs and it lead to human infections. It was also documented that health care workers taking care of the patients with swine flu suffered from the transmission of the virus. However, there has never before been a community outbreak.

In this outbreak, Edgar Hernandez from Mexico is the first confirmed case of swine flu. He is said to have been infected from a gigantic pig farm in Mexico, which is one of the chain of pig farms that are controlled by Smithfield, one of the world’s biggest pig breeders and pork processors. Each of these pig farms has about 50,000 pigs. (more…)

Heath Ledger’s cause of death was “prescription drug toxicity.” We all know of it because he is famous but what about thousands of others that die from taking prescription drugs. Who is to blame? The prescription drug manufacturers? The FDA for having approved the drugs? OR the consumers for having taken the medicines?

Before we blame anyone for this, let us delve deeper into why this happens. If we take the example of Heath Ledger, he was killed by a deadly combination of OxyContin, a painkiller; Xanax, an antidepressant, Valium, Unisom, Vicodin and Restoril – all FDA-approved pharmaceuticals prescribed legally by doctors.

His is not an isolated case nor is it rare. This problem is far more serious than you could ever imagine; with at least 100,000 Americans dying from FDA-approved medicines each year. This fact is known since the 1960s, with studies revealing that more than 5% of hospitalizations are due to drug toxicity and one of every 20 drugs administered in hospitals results in some adverse reaction, with 10% of the reactions being life-threatening.

The problem here is the toxicity of the chemicals prescribed and the fact that consumers consider all FDA-approved medicines to be completely harmless and use them without any apprehensions – as and when they like. They are completely safe, right? Wrong – if you are one of those people who pops the “safe” pill for everything, you may be putting yourself at risk.

Are consumers ignorant? What makes them believe that prescription drugs can be harmless? OR if drugs are harmful, they why are they approved by the FDA? (more…)

What is the world coming to? For me, emotions have always been something not in our control. Wonder what to think now!

These scientists are surely God-sent. They can take nature into their hands and successfully mould things the way they want. We all experience various emotions; happiness, sadness, grief and a million others every day of our lives. Bad memories bring on negative emotions, and we suffer the pain of recollecting the events.

Did you know that illnesses of the mind are the worst culprits for our general health? They can show their impact on us physically, leading to high blood pressure, diabetes, dementia and many other health issues. From ancient times, we have been told that the miracle drug to cure all diseases is “happiness.” But frankly, how many of us can say that we have complete control over our mind or emotions?

I remember seeing a friend frequently wake up in the middle of the night and cry. The reason – this friend was unfortunate enough to have undergone some traumatic events in the past, and those thoughts used to play on the mind at night. Each one of us has a tale to tell but not all of us are strong enough to take in our stride what fate has in store for us. (more…)

Once a diabetic always a diabetic may be true to a large extent. But blood sugars can be kept in check through dietary and lifestyle modifications, and this can be achieved through regular monitoring.

Why Should We Monitor Blood Sugars?

Most people tend to delay monitoring as they feel it doesn’t matter, but it does. The high and lows in blood sugar levels can lead to a series of complications in both types of diabetics; Type 1 diabetes and Type 2.

In the short term, diabetes can cause:

• Weakness
• Tiredness
• Thirst
• Excessive urination
• Blurry vision
• and increased susceptibility to infections.
(more…)

You would be surprised to know that the “tasty and scrumptious” foods we eat can prove to be dangerous and fatal too in certain circumstances.

While most of the foods we consume are safe, there are a few foods that can prove to be potentially dangerous and even fatal at times if not cleaned, cooked or stored in a certain way. Understanding this helps us practice safe eating habits.

Let’s take a look at some of the very common but potentially dangerous foods we eat on a daily basis:

Blowfish (Fugu)

In Japan, there was an incident recently where blow fish testicles prepared by an unauthorized chef made diners ill and they developed limb paralysis and breathing problems, and had to be hospitalized. The owner of the restaurant did not have the license to serve Blowfish, which is extremely poisonous if not prepared properly. Fugu is considered a delicacy in Japan and Hong Kong. According to a Health Association in Japan, Blowfish poison, called tetrodotoxin is about 1,200 times more poisonous than potassium cyanide. It has the capacity to cause death within one hour after eating. Statistics reveal that more than 100 people die of Fugu poisoning each year. The most poisonous parts of Fugu are the muscles, liver, ovaries and the skin. The chefs need to have a special licence to prepare Blowfish and getting the licence is a long process, and after the training, the chef has to prepare a Fugu meal and eat it himself. So, the next time you are in Japan, you know which food you should not be tempted to try. (more…)

Here are two of the most dreaded diseases that nobody would want happening to them or their loved ones. It helps to understand them better in order to deal with them more efficiently.

Aids

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a disease that you can get infected with because of a weakness in the body’s immune system that fights diseases. AIDS is caused by a virus called Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

When a person acquires HIV, the body naturally makes “antibodies,” which are special molecules, to fight this infection. The detection of HIV in a person is done by a blood test which looks for these antibodies. If antibodies are found in the person’s blood, it means the person has HIV infection. People with HIV antibodies are called “HIV-positive,”

It is a misconception that people who are HIV-positive all have AIDS. Hundreds of people who are HIV-positive do not get sick for years. As this HIV-infection progresses, it slowly collapses the body’s immune system. When this happens, all the viruses, fungi, bacteria and parasites that usually are harmless to normal people, make people sick, causing “opportunistic infections.” (more…)

Let’s see who can stare the longest without blinking! Scientists have just taken away all the fun out of playing the stare game.

We think we are gazing at some object fixedly without moving our eyes. But scientists say there is nothing like a steady stare, as the eyes continue to move even when we try and fix a gaze on a stationary object.

We may not be able to notice the eye movements, but our eyes are making flickering movements unconsciously thousands of times.

These movements are called microsaccades and are a type of fixational eye movements and occur when we gaze at something fixedly for at least many seconds. This is not only common to humans but also happens in animals with foveal vision.

Fovea is a part of the eye that is located at the center of the retina and is responsible for sharp central vision (foveal vision). This vision is important for reading, watching movies, driving and all activities that require visual detail. (more…)

Help! I’m balding. For ages, mankind has been searching for a solution to this problem – for the elusive elixir that grows back hair.

A frequent occurrence is claims made by people to have found a solution for balding, but most have been found to be of no use. Believe me, desperate men try everything from herbal oils to snake oils; from rubbing their nails to standing on their heads.

The sad truth of the matter is totally different and all the before and after photographs you are shown are misleading. It is scientifically proven that there is not much of chance for re-growth of hair in Male Pattern Thinning (MPT).

Now! This surely is not intended to disappoint all those looking for options to do something about their baldness.

Before we go ahead and look at what can be done; let us look at why and how this baldness occurs in men. (more…)

Global hair loss problems are growing. The crowning glory that is a measure of our confidence and self-image is also a barometer that indicates good or bad health. Hair problems are many a time the first signs that something is wrong with our health.

The science of hair and scalp that deals with their health and disease is known as trichology. It was first developed in London in 1902. When there is a severe hair problem, a trichologist is the person you should be consulting. They will conduct a tricho analysis of the hair and the scalp to determine the problem.

It is important to understand how hair functions to ensure it is kept healthy.

How Hair Functions

Apart from giving us beautiful looks, hair has more important functions. It is a protective shield and protects the area from where it grows out. Our eyes are protected by the eye lashes; our eyebrows prevent rain and sweat from entering our eyes. Hair in the nostrils protects the nasal passages from dust particles. The skull and brain are protected by the hair on the head. Hair on the body keeps us warm. (more…)