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Hydrogen Peroxide Makes Hair Go Gray?

Wrinkles and gray hair are probably the two most obvious signs of aging. We read all about collagen crosslinking, loss of deep fat pockets and other reasons for why wrinkles develop. But why do we go gray? Now there might be the answer. Hydrogen peroxide makes hair go gray.

Everybody has wondered why hair goes gray. Many people hate it, since it is such an obvious sign of aging. So much money is spent each year on dyes hiding it.

New research suggests that it is hydrogen peroxide that makes our hair go gray. Hydrogen peroxide (H₂0₂) is an oxidizing agent, so it has bleaching properties. It is found in products for bleaching hair.

Apparently, there is a build up of hydrogen peroxide in hair shafts. This hydrogen peroxide blocks both directly and indirectly the synthesis of hair pigments, so we go gray and eventually white.

Our bodies naturally make hydrogen peroxide and therefore also make enzymes to break down peroxides, called peroxidases. These enzymes will break down hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen. As hair follicles age there is less activity of a number of enzymes including peroxidases. The reduced levels of these enzymes result in less pigment being formed, and the destruction of any pigment that is made. So we go gray.

One thing that I have noticed is that those with darker thicker hair tend to go gray faster. Those, like me, with thin mousy hair tend to go gray much more slowly. Perhaps thin mousy hair means better peroxidases or other enzymes that are involved in hair pigmentation. I was always envious of those with thick hair, not so much anymore.

I wonder if soon there will be a deep scalp treatment to stop graying and/or to stimulatie production of pigment. Better hurry up; despite my thin hair, I am going gray.

photo credit: loop_oh

Technorati Tags: gray hair, grey hair, hydrogen peroxide, peroxidases, pigment

A Stroke (Brain Attack) Refresher

A friend of my mothers just had a stroke, so this weekend on the phone, she was asking about strokes. She is a prime candidate for a stroke since she had uncontrolled very high blood pressure for a number of years. It certainly does not hurt any of us, either for ourselves or family and friends, to be reminded about strokes once in a while.

A stroke is when an area of the brain becomes short of oxygen due to either a blocked blood vessel or a blood vessel bursting.

There are now many doctors who will use the term brain attack rather than stroke. This is for two main reasons. First, a stroke and a heart attack are very similar. Both involve interrupted blood flow to an area of the organ and if blood flow is not quickly restored there will be damage and death in the area of the interrupted blood flow. Many people do not know what a stroke is, but do know what a heart attack is, and get more of an idea of the brain being being damaged. Second, the term attack has urgency associated with it. A brain attack sounds more urgent and important than a stroke. This is vital since the faster treatment starts, usually the better the outcome.

There are two main types of stroke, ischemic and hemorrhagic.

Ischemia (pronounced isk-ee-mee-i-a) is the reduction or loss of blood flow to an area of an organ. This is most commonly due to a blockage of a blood vessel by a clot (thrombus) that has either formed locally, or has come form elsewhere in the body. Ischemic stroke is also known as cerebral infarction. This type of stroke is the most common, accounting for more than 80%.

A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when there is bleeding within the skull. This will happen when a blood vessel ruptures. The blood may accumulate and put pressure on part of the brain, and part of the brain may have a reduced blood flow and become short of oxygen.

Prompt medical attention will reduce the amount damage done, whatever the cause.

Very short episodes of a stroke are called Transient ischemic attacks or TIAs. These are short strokes that then resolve. Often they are called mini strokes. A better name is warning strokes. A TIA is a warning. They often indicate that a major stroke is coming. A TIA should not be ignored.

The symptoms for strokes are very variable. That makes sense, since they can occur anywhere in the brain. Depending on where the damage is located and size, different body functions will be affected. However, one common factor is that the onset of the symptoms is swift.

The most common possible symptoms include one, or more of the following

Sudden numbness somewhere in the body, especially if it is only on one side
Sudden confusion, problems talking, problems understanding
Sudden problems with walking, dizziness, balance or coordination
Sudden trouble seeing with one or both eyes
Sudden severe headache

If you, or anybody you are with, gets sudden symptoms that might possibly be a stroke call an ambulance immediately. Do not try and decide if it is a stoke, get help as fast as possible.

Get more information at http://www.strokeassociation.org/

photo credit: otisarchives1

[tags]brain attack, stroke, ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, TIA{/tags]

Does Brain Activity Prevent Memory Loss?

There are a number of software programs that have developed for exercising the brain. Which of these programs are effective in slowing decline is a matter of controversy. Some new evidence suggests that those who did activities that used their brains have less memory decline.

Brain exercise, or as it is often called brain training, is a growth industry. The trend really took off with the program Brain Age for the Nintendo. Most of the programs have a number of different puzzles, memory training and other tasks that are suggested to exercise various aspects of the brain.

Many researchers have suggested that, for some of these programs, make people very good at the training tasks, but this does not translate to other tasks or brain function in general.

A study looked at people between the ages of 70 and 89. About half the study participants had mild cognitive impairment and the other half had no measureable impairment. Participants were surveyed on their daily activities in the last year, and also between ages 50 and 65.

For the most recent period of time, those who engaged in activities such as reading books, playing games, computer use and craft activities has 30 to 50% less memory decline than those who did not engage in these activities. However, this could just indicate that those that now had memory problems found it hard to do these activities.

However, when activities from middle age were considered those who had engaged in more activities such as social activities and reading were 40% less likely to have memory loss. These data suggest that active habits have a long term impact on memory.

This research suggests keeping your mind active and keeping interested is a good way to reduce or slow memory loss.

Interestingly , those, in the previous year, who had watched seven or more hours of TV per day were 50% more likely to have memory loss. Perhaps we should all watch less of the idiot box.

photo credit: {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester}

Technorati Tags: brain activity, memory loss

Some Recent Pain Facts: Chronic Pack Pain, Fibromyalgia

Chronic back pain is on the increase. It is estimated that 80% of adults will at some time have chronic low back pain. Additionally, other estimates indicate that any one time, 10% of the adult population has back pain, up from 4% about 15 years ago. Recently studies have suggested that treatments such as extended opioid use or treatment with antidepressants do not have any long term benefit.

The increase in the incidence of low back pain is probably due to our sedentary lifestyles, terrible posture and generally being out of shape. Since treatment options are so limited for most people be kind to your back. Don’t be like one of my brothers who cannot stand for very long before he is in severe pain, finds driving painful and is generally in pain most of the time. It has really affected his quality of life.

Fibromyalgia is a common disease. It is characterized by pain throughout the body. There is a heightened sensitivity to touch. For many sufferers even a gentle touch can be quite painful. There is often a range of other symptoms, including fatigue, pins and needles, muscle spasms, bowel problems, sleep problems and brain fog. Recently there has been evidence that fibromyalgia is a central nervous system disorder.

Now one finding suggests that for some an area of the brain called the hippocampus may be involved in fibromyalgia. Researchers suggest that stress can lead to an increased excitability in the hippocampus. This increased excitability leads to a heightened perception of pain. Perhaps if there is some way to quiet the hippocampus the symptoms of fibromyalgia may recede.

Another finding suggests there may increased blood flow in some areas of the brain, and decreased blood flow in other areas. This may result in hypersensitivity.

Perhaps one or both of these may be the reason for the pain of those with fibromyalgia.

Besides giving hope to fibromyalgia suffers, to know that there are biological reasons for the symptoms is helpful. Recent data suggests that fibromyalgia is disease.

photo credit: Unfurled

Technorati Tags: pain, chronic low back pain, fibromyalgia, hippocampus, blood flow

Natural Diet Pills May Not Be So Natural

Do you take natural diet pills? If so, do you know if they are really what you think they are?

There has been quite a bit of press in the last week or so, about some brands of weight-loss pills. Some of the diet pills had other ingredients that were not listed, and some were found to contain just filler inactive ingredients.

The ones that there have been the most fuss about are called StarCaps. The advertising for these “natural” diet pills said that they contain papaya, papain (which is found in papaya, anyway), garlic, valerian and corn spices (?). Papaya, garlic and valerian have never been shown to be effective for weight loss, though they have been suggested to have other health benefits. The cost of taking the pills was about $40 per week. They were available at major retailers including the Vitamin Shoppe and GNC.

StarCaps were found to contain bumetanide, a diuretic. This ingredient was not listed on the label, and is only available by prescription. The major use of diuretics is for treatment of blood pressure. Bumetanide is a loop diuretic. Generally, loop diuretics are often not the first choice for a prescription diuretic since they can cause dehydration without consumption of plenty of fluids.

No wonder the pills appeared to work, you would lose water not fat. The weight loss would be rapid as you peed lots of water away.

The reason StarCaps have made the news is due to several football players were found to be positive for bumetanide, after drug testing. They were taking StarCaps. Apparently, bumetanide is a drug that is used to mask steroid use. So the football players, who were taking StarCaps, failed their drug tests.

One of the football players, Grady Jackson, a defensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons, has filed a class action against the owner of the company that makes StarCaps, and the retail stores where he purchased the pills.

This further reinforces that labeling a product as natural, does not guarantee that it is natural. Before you buy any products that you are going to swallow make sure that you know it is as represented. The fact that major retailers including the Vitamin Shoppe and GNC sold StarCaps shows that it is just not stuff from some strange website that should be suspect.

For more information the FDA recall info about StarCaps and a list of products with the illegal additives that they contain.

photo credit: Brooks Elliott

Technorati Tags: diet pills, weight-loss pills, StarCaps, bumetanide, diuretic

Perception Of Age Is In The Eye Area?

How do we make a judgment about the age of a person? Like many of us who are aging, I have given this some thought. It is not as simple as it seems at first. New research suggests that a major perception of age is in the eye area.

There is a woman at work who has had some “work” done on her face. She now has tighter skin with some wrinkles that were starting to get quite obvious, now, not very noticeable. Does she look younger?

Knowing what she looked like before and seeing the smoother skin, the perception might be of looking younger. When I thought about what I think what age she appears, I realized that I still think she looked the same age as before the surgery, just different. What is making me think that though she has smoothed out wrinkles she does not look any younger? I have no idea. A few people I quizzed at work, also thought she looked different but not any younger.

A new study suggests that both when judging both age and fatigue that the eye area is important. In the study, participants were asked to the rate the age of pictures of a number of different faces, while their left eye was tracked with eye tracking software to see where they looked.

The eye area was viewed 46% of the time that the face was viewed. The lower eye area and the brow where the two areas that were viewed the most. After the eyes, the forehead and then the nose were looked at the most. In those perceived to be the oldest by those viewing the photographs they also focused on the glabella (this is apparently the area above the nose between the eyebrows).

Guess the take home message is that I need to focus on under the eyes and glabella. I would like to see how images altered to increase or decrease creases in these areas affected perception of age.

photo credit: Phillie Casablanca

Technorati Tags: perception of age, eye area, under the eyes, glabella

Factors That Make Us Look Older – Identical Twins Study

So what environmental factors make us look older, or do in fact actually age our skin? In a clever twist, a study looked at identical twins to determine some factors that increase the rate at which we age.

Since identical twins have are very similar genetically, then differences in how their faces age, will be mainly due to environmental and lifestyle differences.

Therefore, in an effort to tease out what makes a face look older, nearly 200 sets of identical twins were compared. The twins were dressed alike and hair pulled off their faces, so that the comparison focused on the faces. Still pictures were taken, and then an independent panel was asked to assess whether one twin looked older than the other.

The factors that were found by the study to accelerate aging were smoking, sun exposure (particularly outdoor sports, such as golf, where long periods of time are spent outside), stress and anti-depressant use.

Those that were divorced rather than married or widowed were generally judged to be older. It was not clear whether depression is aging, or anti-depressant use is aging, or antidepressants cause more relaxation in the face making it look older.

Those that had been overweight before age 40 and then lost the weight after 40 were judged older, whereas those that had put on weight after 40 were judged younger looking. The loss of weight makes sense since as we age we lose deep fat from our face (see the post, Facial aging is mainly due to changes in fat pockets).

Take a look at a slideshow of some of the twins and which ones were considered older. It is interesting to look at the pairs. I agreed with most of the assessments, but there was one in particular (number 4), I thought was the other way round. The woman on the left has stronger creases between her eyes, but looking at the lower face I thought she looked younger. (The slide show is on the NYT website. You have to sign up to look at the site, but there are no fees or strings attached in doing so.)

See what you think.

photo credit: tmd

[tags]identical twins, older, aging, environmental factors{/tags]

Moving The Refrigerator Helps Losing Weight?

I just got a new refrigerator. I am redecorating (at a snail’s pace), with the next phase being to tile the kitchen floor. So I got the fridge installed in the back hall. Now after a few days later I think that moving the refrigerator helps losing weight.

My old refrigerator was inherited in 1985, and it was not exactly new then. I should have got a new one ages ago. I am sure it will pay for itself in less than two years in the amount of electricity that will be saved.

To save the effort, of getting the fridge leveled in the kitchen, and then having to move it up over the edge of where I have tiled so far, I got it temporarily installed it in the back hall area with the washer, dryer, furnace and hot water heater.

What I have found, now since the fridge is not in the same old place, that I am snacking less. Previously I have opened the fridge and pulled out a snack, often almost unconsciously. Now that I have to go to elsewhere, I am catching myself and thinking about it.

I think by moving the fridge, I am breaking a pattern of mindless snacking. The fact that I have to think more stops the automatic reflex. Of course, I am going to the fridge in the current location and grazing, but it is a more conscious decision.

Perhaps I should move the fridge every couple of months when I have established a new pattern of semi-conscious grazing.

Should diet programs include “moving the refrigerator to help lose weight”? Every little thing helps.

photo credit: net_efekt

Technorati Tags: refrigerator, fridge, lose weight, snacking, grazing

Today Is National Wear Red Day (Feb 6)

For years it was the consensus in the medical profession that few women got heart disease. It was a man’s disease. Not sure what most physicians thought women were dying from. It is slowly changing. As part of a big education push, Feb 6th is designated National Wear Red Day.

I should have written this as a post earlier in the week. So if you are not wearing red today, at least think red and inform friends and colleagues about women and heart disease.

Heart disease is the number one killer of women.

There is unequivocal evidence that women are less likely than men to be correctly diagnosed with heart disease when coming to the emergency room having a heart attack. Additionally, their treatment is likely to be less aggressive than men.

For more information check out these websites.
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov//educational/hearttruth/
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov//educational/hearttruth/materials/wear-red-toolkit.htm
http://www.goredforwomen.org/

The image for this post is a special pin that was created for the campaign in 2007. It can be ordered from
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/other/ht_pin_sp.htm

A cheaper tack pin can also be ordered at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/other/ht_pin.htm. I have an older version of this tack pin on the jacket that I wear most of the time.

A more frivolous, previous blog post talked about wearing red to attract men. So today there is a double benefit. Advertise the facts about women and heart disease and be attractive at the same time. WEAR RED.

Technorati Tags: National Wear Red Day, women, heart disease, pin

Benefits Of Eating Less Salt

There is always a lot of press about eating less salt. The reason usually given is to lower blood pressure, since blood pressure of many people, but certainly not all, is salt-sensitive. Recently, there has been evidence that there are benefits of eating less salt that extend beyond high blood pressure, including perhaps contributing to obesity.

According to a review, salt intake in the US increased 55% from mid 80’s tot the late 90’s. This is a pretty amazing amount. Presumably it reflects the fact that we eat out more; with restaurant food, fast food and pre-prepared foods for the home all having a lot of salt in them – more than we would generally put in home cooked foods.

Several studies that have looked at the effects of a reduction of salt in the diet and shown that reduction may have a benefit for cardiovascular health beyond just lowering blood pressure. These studies suggest that even in those with blood pressure below stage 1 hypertension (140-159/90-99) that restricting salt reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.

As an example, analysis of pre-hypertensives (120-139/80-89) showed that those who reduced salt intake were 25% less likely to be diagnosed with cardiovascular disease in the 10-15 years after the starting to restrict salt. They were also 20% less likely to die.

Then there is the suggestion that a high salt intake may contribute to obesity.

An increased salt intake makes us thirstier. Increased thirst usually leads to an increased consumption of beverages. For many people this will mean an increase in the number of calories that are consumed, since at least some of the extra beverages will be soda, juice, latte, booze or other calorie containing drink. For some, these extra calories over a period of time may contribute to weight gain.

With our current lifestyle of eating out frequently, it is hard to reduce salt intake. However, reducing salt intake even a little may be good for your heart and your waistline.

photo credit: pboyd04

Technorati Tags: eating less salt, high blood pressure, hypertensive, pre-hypertensive, salt intake, obesity

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