Life, Aging and ...

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Orange juice is worse for your teeth than standard teeth whitening kits! A new microscopic technique that can examine the surface of teeth showed that orange juice was more damaging.

Teeth whitening kits, both home and professional, contain 6% hydrogen peroxide. It has been suggested that this strength of hydrogen peroxide is quite damaging to the surface of teeth.

The new technique looked at the surface of the teeth and estimated changes to the surface and hardness.

The researchers found that teeth whitening had little impact on the surface of the teeth, whereas orange juice slowly ate away at teeth. Therefore, over time regular drinking of orange juice could weaken teeth.

Sodas are also acidic and so may be having the same effect. Ditto for sports drinks and wine.

The length of time that teeth are in contact with acidic drinks is important. Sipping a drink exposes teeth to acid longer. So chug that drink!

A straw also helps protect teeth, since much of the drink bypasses the teeth.

Drinking water or eating cheese after an acidic drink helps reduce the acidic environment in the mouth. Anything that means I can eat more cheese is fine with me.

photo credit: chiszeo

Technorati Tags: orange juice, teeth whitening, teeth, acid drinks, cheese

Aging

This is from the New York Times. Made me think, plus I am tiling my kitchen and way behind schedule so it is quoted verbatim.

How old do you feel? And how old will you be when you reach old age?

The public’s views on age and aging are explored in a new national survey on aging from the Pew Research Center, explained in a story by my colleague Sarah Arnquist.

Most adults over age 50 feel at least 10 years younger than their actual age, the survey found. One-third of those between 65 and 74 said they felt 10 to 19 years younger, and one-sixth of people 75 and older said they felt 20 years younger.

And at what age does old age begin? Most people in the survey said old age starts at age 68. Are they kidding? That seems way too young to me. Not surprisingly, most people over 65 have a different idea about old age. Among those getting the senior citizen discount, most say old age begins at 75.

Now consider the answer given by people under 30. Most of them think you’re old by the time you hit 60, Ms. Arnquist reports.

Read the full story, “How Old Do You Feel? It Depends on Your Age.” Be sure to listen to the audio to the left that features people of various ages explaining how they define old age.
And then please join the discussion below. How old do you feel? And at what age do you think old age begins?

photo credit: AleBonvini

Technorati Tags: old age, aging, old

Skin

Why exactly do we have fingerprints? What do you think? What is their function?

Never thought about this before. My guess was that the ridges make us more sensitive to touch.

I heard an interview on the radio with a researcher who works on hands, claws etc. He has just published a paper that says that fingerprints do not improve our grip. The reverse is true, there is less friction so there is less grip.

In the experiments a graduate student had his fingers and thumbs attached to a machine that pressed his hand and dragged it against a Perspex sheet, and the amount of friction was measured. As the poor graduate student’s hand was pressed harder the level of friction on the skin did not increase as fast as expected.

Thinking about it, this makes sense. Having ridges on our fingers means that the whole surface is not in contact with something, but just the smaller area of the ridges.

The researcher suggested that the ridges protect our fingers from damage by not gripping so well. As he mentioned, areas that have a strong ridge pattern are more resistant to blisters than the flatter areas. For instance when doing things that involve friction and the skin on our hands,we are less likely to get blisters on our finger tips than smoother areas of the hand.

Other theories of why we have fingerprints are the sensitivity to touch, and something to do with channeling water away, so when are hands are wet we don’t lose so much grip.

Sometimes I find it amazing what we don’t know. Since skin is obvious and easily accessible for study, you would think we would know pretty much everything about it.

photo credit: Steve & Jemma Copley

Technorati Tags: fingerprint, grip, friction, skin

Diet

We all have heard that high carb foods may be bad for us. There have been a number of studies linking high carb foods to big bellies, diabetes and a number of other not-so-good health effects. Now there is evidence that eating high carb foods reduce artery function for several hours.

Well before the Adkins diet became popular, some research had suggested that eating a lot of high carb foods increased the risk of cardiac events.

New research suggests that this increased risk may in part be due to meals with high simple carbohydrate levels causing arteries to have reduced function for at least several hours after the meal.

The arteries in our blood system can get wider and narrower as required by the body. For instance, to lower blood pressure, the body can make arteries wider, increasing the volume,which then lowers the pressure. Think of water coming out of the hose. If you squeeze the end to make it a bit narrower the water would squirt out with a higher pressure.

If your arteries become less elastic, or become less able to contract the body cannot control things like blood pressure as well. Studies comparing people with normal body fat and obesity have shown that arteries are less elastic.

In the new study expansion of the brachial artery, the major blood vessel of the upper arm, was compared in study subjects who ate either one of two different types of a high carb meal, a low carb meal or got water. The three meals and water were rotated, so all subjects were analyzed after consuming all three meals and water. The artery function was reduced after eating, but not when just drinking water. The effect on arteries was much greater for the both the high meals, than for the high fiber meal.

This research is another piece of evidence that eating a high carb diet may not be the best for your health.

photo credit: saragoldsmith - Walkers potato chips (crisps) - even cajun squirrel flavour are high carb

Technorati Tags: high carb, artery, elastic, reduced function