The Common Mistake People Make When Applying Antiperspirant

The Mistake People Make When Applying Antiperspirant

We all know that antiperspirants work differently than deodorants, but there's another big distinction between the two that you may not be aware of -- and it could make all the difference.
Dr. Dee Anna Glaser, president and founding member of the International Hyperhidrosis Society, says timing is everything when it comes to controlling sweat. Unlike deodorant, the best time to apply your antiperspirant is before bed.
While we sleep, we have "just the right amount of baseline sweating coming to the skin," Glaser explains in the above video from #OWNSHOW. "That helps to grab onto the active ingredient, bring it down into the sweat duct, and make a little plug."

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Sit Less, Protect Your DNA and Live Longer?

Finding may help explain why sitting a lot has been linked to poor health

 

Spending less time sitting might increase your lifespan by keeping your DNA young, Swedish researchers say.
More time spent on your feet appears to lengthen bits of DNA called telomeres. Telomeres, which protect the end of chromosomes (like the tips that keep shoelaces from fraying), tend to get shorter and shorter until they can't shorten any more, causing cells to die.
"Our data indicate that lengthening of our telomeres may be one mechanism that induces health benefits after lowering sitting time in elderly people," said lead researcher Per Sjogren, an associate professor in the department of public health and caring sciences at Uppsala University.
"One should, of course, be careful with the conclusions, since our study is rather small and needs to be confirmed in larger trials," Sjogren said.
However, this is the first study describing a possible relationship between physical activity and lengthening of telomeres, according to Sjogren.
"Telomeres have attracted a lot of interest in the last few years because they are situated at the end of our chromosomes and have shown to be important for DNA replication and cell survival. The interest of whether telomeres may affect health and longevity has increased," Sjogren said.
Telomeres stop chromosomes from fraying or clumping together and scrambling the genetic codes they contain, the researchers noted.
Why spending less time sitting might lengthen telomeres isn't known. "That is a valid question that remains to be resolved," Sjogren said.
Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, said, "There has long been evidence that the more hours we spend sitting every day, the fewer days we are likely to have to spend sitting, or doing anything else for that matter. Hours per day on our backsides correlate with reductions in life expectancy."
There has also long been evidence that healthy living, including routine activity, can add years to life, he said.
Compelling evidence has already shown that lifestyle changes can alter genes and affect telomere length, said Katz, who was not involved with the study.
"This study adds a missing snippet to that tale by noting a direct correlation between reduced time sitting each day and increased telomere length," he said.
"Long telomeres are good -- long hours sitting, not so much," Katz added.
For the study, researchers analyzed the length of telomeres in the blood cells of 49 sedentary and overweight people in their late 60s. Blood samples were taken two times, six months apart.
All of the participants took part in an earlier study where they were randomly assigned to an exercise program or asked to keep their usual routine.
Although the exercise intervention wasn't linked to longer telomeres, less time sitting was associated with increased telomere length, the researchers found.

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Farm Antibiotics May Be Linked to Food Allergies

Girl's severe reaction traced to streptomycin-treated blueberries

Allergic reactions to food are a concern for millions of Americans, and now a study suggests there's a potential new player on the immunology front: Some people may be allergic to the antibiotics used to keep pests away from fruits and vegetables.
The study profiles the case of a 10-year-old girl who had a severe allergic reaction after eating blueberry pie. She suffered from asthma, seasonal allergies and allergies to milk and penicillin, but nothing in the pie seemed like a likely culprit.
The researchers determined that the problem was a blueberry that had been treated with streptomycin, an antibiotic that's used in people to fight off germs and in plants to keep bacteria, fungi and algae at bay.
"As far as we know, this is the first report that links an allergic reaction to fruits treated with antibiotic pesticides," said allergist Dr. Anne Des Roches, the lead author of the study published in the September issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
"Certain European countries ban the use of antibiotics for growing foods, but the United States and Canada still allow them for agricultural purposes," Des Roches said in a journal news release.
New federal rules could reduce the level of antibiotics in food, making this kind of incident less likely.
"This is a very rare allergic reaction," said allergist Dr. James Sublett, president-elect of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. "Nevertheless, it's something allergists need to be aware of and that emergency room personnel may need to know about in order to help determine where anaphylactic reactions may arise. Anyone who is at risk for a life-threatening allergic reaction should always carry epinephrine. They also need to know how to use their epinephrine in an emergency situation."

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E-cigarettes and Secondhand Smoke

 

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How dangerous is secondhand vapor from electronic cigarettes compared to secondhand smoke from regular cigarettes?
Researchers analyzed particles produced by both products to try to find out. The experiments were conducted in offices and rooms, with the atmosphere and smoking procedure designed to simulate real-life conditions. The volunteer subjects smoked regular cigarettes and e-cigarettes, and the researchers collected particles in the indoor air and studied the chemical content and sources of the samples.
After analyzing all of the data, the researchers found a 10-fold decrease in exposure to harmful particles from e-cigarettes compared to normal cigarettes with close-to-zero exposure to certain organic carcinogens.
But the news was not all positive. E-cigarette smoke produced significantly higher levels of specific metals including nickel. The researchers say overall their findings show electronic cigarettes appear to be less harmful, but the spike in toxic metals is a concern and should be considered during the debate over regulating the devices.
The study has been published in the Journal of Environmental Science, Processes and Impacts.
I'm Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV with news you can use for healthier living.

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