In a not-so-recent report analyzing various skin creams, it was revealed that skin whitening cream you may be using could very well contain high levels of mercury – a toxic metal tied to numerous health problems. The news is concerning, as our current society pushes for flawless appearance, leading to the heavy usage of many consumer products.

Skin Whitening Cream Often Contains Toxic Mercury

The investigation was carried out by the Chicago Tribune, where 50 skin-lightening creams were sent out for certified lab testing. It was found that 6 of the 50 contained amounts of mercury banned by federal law. What’s more, 5 of the 6 contained mercury at levels greater than 6,000 parts per million – an amount capable of causing kidney damage over time.

The reason for such alarming levels of mercury? According to the Tribune, FDA spokesman Ira Allen said that the agency is unable to check all food, drug, and cosmetic products under jurisdiction while having less than 500 inspectors to review. “It is likely that things get past us,” he said.

Mercury is, or was, actually used in skin whitening cream to block melanin production, which gives hair and skin their pigmentation. While other chemicals can be used to achieve this block, mercury is inexpensive and effective, said Ellen Silbergeld, a professor of environmental health science at Johns Hopkins University. What’s interesting is that the Food and Drug Administration banned mercury in skin-bleaching or lightening products and other cosmetics back in 1990, but the agency doesn’t test the products to see if consumers are at risk – whether it be due to lack of resources, or any other reason.

In fact, mercury is such an issue in skincare products that the FDA recently issued a warning to consumers over mercury content of many ‘off-brand’ personal care products. According to the FDA report, the common culprits are marketed as skin whitening cream and anti-aging products. The agency also states that mercury-containing skin products were found in at least seven states, including Texas, California, Virginia, Maryland, New York and Minnesota. The FDA findings also reached similar conclusions to the independent analysis by the Chicago Tribune, with face cream tested by the agency containing mercury up to 131,000 times more than the allowable level.

Sadly, mercury is actually a huge problem not only in consumer products, but in food as well. Mercury is so prevalent that you could say we’re currently experiencing a hidden mercury pandemic; here’s some products to avoid in order to lower daily mercury exposure.

Additional sources:

Chicago Tribune

When hearing the word turmeric, you may automatically think about the spice used in Indian cooking and nothing more. Although it is indeed a culinary fundamental in many cultural dishes and can add a delicious taste to a variety of meal options, many people do not realize that turmeric is more than just a spice — it can also be a natural remedy for many health conditions; you can even use turmeric for acne.

Natural Alternatives | Turmeric for Acne

Many have attested to the effectiveness of turmeric against acne. Since acne problems are caused by bacteria living on the surface of the skin, turmeric can be of great help. Turmeric has strong anti-bacterial properties which help not only in killing the bacteria, but reducing the swelling and redness of the skin. It can also help the area cool down and reduce irritation.

Turmeric is a well-known blood purifier, so many people who suffer from acne not only use turmeric as a mask or wash for the affected area, they also take it internally. You can buy turmeric in liquid form (which has been shown to be most effective), but it can also be purchased in capsules and pills as well. You can also use fresh turmeric roots and add it to a glass of warm water and drink it in the morning. The real benefits of turmeric are seemingly endless.

Adding another use to turmeric for acne, some people like to use the spice for creating a mask. Turmeric can be combined with other ingredients that help the skin like yogurt, honey, lemon and many more. Some people even leave it overnight, and wake up to wonderfully soft skin, but you can also leave it on for only a few minutes before washing it off. If deciding to leave it on overnight, be wary of the yellow stain it can leave on your skin if you apply it longer. After using turmeric as an overnight mask, you may not want to go out for a few days, or use an oil-based cleanser or facial toner to remove the stain.

Consider turmeric for acne. With continuous use of turmeric, your acne should reduce and clear out within a few weeks.

Additional sources:

SkinCareTalk

LiveStrong

Many commercially produced products for health and beauty often brag about the use of almond milk, oil and butter as an ingredient. What is it with this ingredient that makes it beneficial for you? Almonds are actually a great source of vitamin E, which is why using some almond-derivation as a main component for lotion, soaps and other beauty product can make your skin smooth and glowing. Of course there are many more health benefits of almonds which should be recognized. Here are some of them:

The Health Benefits of Almonds

• Improves Diet—For people who would like to take control of their eating, almond is a good option. This is filled with vitamins and minerals like magnesium, potassium, zinc and iron. Because of its high fiber content, you will also feel full and it would be easier to fight your cravings.

• Improves heart health — Thanks to the monounsaturated fats, protein, and potassium contained in almonds, the nut is indeed a heart-friendly option. This component effectively reduces the amount of cholesterol in the body and aids in prevention of heart diseases. In addition, almonds help to reduce the amount of C-reactive protein, which causes artery-damaging inflammation. There are actually nine studies which show that almonds have a positive impact on heart health and cholesterol.

• Regulates blood sugar — Even for diabetics, snacking on almonds can be beneficial. Further adding to the health benefits of almonds, research published in the journal Metabolism, showed that consuming an ounce of almonds before indulging in a high-starch meal resulted in 30 percent less post-meal glucose levels for individuals suffering from type 2 diabetes. This is compared to a 7 percent reduction for non-diabetics.

• Helps with weight loss —If you’re watching your weight, don’t hesitate to grab a small handful of almonds. In one study comparing those who ate a low-calorie diet that included either almonds or complex carbs, the almond group had a:

-62 percent greater reduction in weight/BMI

-50 percent greater reduction in waist circumference

-56 percent greater reduction in body fat

Additionally, a study published in the journal Obesity also found that eating nuts twice a week or more was associated with a reduced risk of weight gain.

Almonds are more than just your ordinary snack. The health benefits of almonds make it easy for you to effortlessly maintain good health with a tasty snack. While some foods such as almonds can be attributed to improved health, the FDA sometimes deems healthful foods like walnuts “drugs”.

Apple cider vinegar is a seemingly-magical liquid which has been used for ages when it comes to taking care of countless health problems, and is fantastic for maintaining quality overall health. The benefits of apple cider vinegar are plentiful, and can be used on various parts of the body while also providing tremendous overall benefit from consumption. It can also be utilized for various uses around the house.

Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar

Here are ten of the most common uses to experience the benefits of apple cider vinegar:

• Use it to add shine to your hair. Rinsing the hair with apple cider vinegar after shampooing can help to create a healthy shine. Try doing this about two or three times per week.

• It makes the face clear. Apple cider vinegar can set the ph level of the face in balance, while helping to kill the bacteria that causes acne as well.

• It can soothe tired hands and feet. Dipping your hands and feet in some apple cider vinegar can be like a spa experience.

• Use it to treat sunburn. Even though sunburn can be really painful, it can be soothed and treated by including a few cups of apple cider vinegar to your bath.

• It helps to whiten teeth. As apple cider vinegar has strong cleaning properties, applying it will help remove stains and residue.

• Use it as an aftershave.

• Lose weight with it. Drinking water with a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar can help you lose fat.

• Detox with it. Drinking it can also help remove the body’s excess fats and toxins.

• Wipe your area clean – use it as a cleaning agent. Apple cider vinegar is a strong disinfectant.

• Reduce pet’s fleas. Use apple cider vinegar to spray on your pets for powerful hygiene and health effects.

Apple cider vinegar is truly an amazing product you can use to improve your health. This incredible substance can be used to help treat strep throat, acid reflux, high blood pressure, asthma, hiccups, and so many other health complications. Seeing as the benefits of apple cider vinegar ranges from so many biological uses to even home care traits, it is safe to say that this product belongs in every single household.

A new study shows how eating a plentiful amount of fruits and vegetables not only leads to great health, but can also make you look more attractive. The study points out how certain compounds found in fruits and vegetables have the ability to alter skin tone, changing the redness or yellowness of people’s skin and ultimately leading to what they say is a more attractive appeal.

Fruits and Vegetables Can Make You More Attractive

A small study involving 35 university students between the ages 18 and 25 examined the participants’ fruit and vegetable intake while researchers recorded their skin color over a six week period. All but one of the participants were white. The researchers found that higher fruit and vegetable consumptions resulted in an increase in skin redness and yellowness.

“Our study suggests that an increase in fruit and veg consumption of around three portions, sustained over a six-week period, is sufficient to convey perceptible improvements in the apparent healthiness and attractiveness of facial skin,” said Ross Whitehead, a researcher at the University of St. Andrews’ school of psychology.”

The skin tone changes are associated with what are known as carotenoids, naturally occurring highly pigmented compounds found in many fruits and vegetables. Although carotenoids are assumed to be found in yellow or red, green vegetables are also high in the compounds. The study concludes with:

“Increased fruit and vegetable consumption confers measurable and perceptibly beneficial effects on Caucasian skin appearance within six weeks. This effect could potentially be used as a motivational tool in dietary intervention.”

While carotenoids are shown to be useful in boosting attraction, there are many other beneficial compounds that can be found in fruits, vegetables, as well as other foods that make you more attractive. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that higher dietary intake of vitamin C, found in fruits like oranges and papaya, actually reduced the visibility of a wrinkled appearance. Additionally, biotin, a b-complex vitamin found in Swiss chard, is associated with enhanced looked. Other vitamins present in many vegetables such as vitamins A, K, and C can also help to slow the aging process.

With today’s manufacturing there are many chemicals and toxins that are both purposefully added to products as well as unintentionally added. Mercury is one of those unintended additions to many of the products people consume and topically apply every day. In order to avoid exposure to this heavy metal, and in turn avoid the risk of any heavy metal toxicity, you need to know where the metal resides in order to avoid it.

Mercury Highly Present in Many Foods and Consumer Products

One of the most significant places you may find mercury is in processed foods. In 2009, a study found that almost half of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury — a carcinogenic chemical element that is toxic in all its forms to the human body. Even more troubling, nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products that listed HFCS as the first or second ingredient were found to contain mercury as a whole. With an incredible amount of processed foods and fast foods containing this ingredient, the result could be described as a mercury pandemic. Instead of addressing this major public health concern, the FDA is focusing their time on crushing beneficial supplements through NDI regulations that threaten the entire infrastructure of the nutraceuticals industry.

Mercury is also very present in skin whitening creams and body care products. Mercury has been found in some of these products at levels as high as 300,000 parts per million. A newspaper sent 50 skin-lightening creams to a certified lab for testing. Six were found to contain amounts of mercury banned by federal law. Five of the six had more than 6,000 parts per million — enough to potentially cause kidney damage over time.

Another everyday product you may want to avoid is compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Only months after it was found that energy saving compact fluorescent bulbs release carcinogenic chemicals into the air, a new study has found that these harmful chemicals are continually released from the bulbs over a period of weeks to months. Furthermore, the study also found that the levels of mercury released exceed those that are considered safe for humans.

Avoiding these products will not only result in better overall health, but you will also dramatically reduce your exposure to mercury. Along with this avoidance, dental amalgam fillings, multi-dose vaccines, and seafood should also be avoided.

Researchers have found that regardless of genetic predisposition, the hardship of divorce and the devastating health effects of smoking can lead to hair loss in women. In addition to smoking and divorce, excessive drinking also ups the risk. The study, conducted by the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, examined 84 female identical twins. The subjects completed lifestyle questionnaires, had their hormone blood levels tested, and an extensive photo analysis of their hair.

The reason twins were chosen is due to the fact that twins carry the same genetic coding, removing genetic differences from the equation. What the team found was quite revealing as to the link between an unhealthy lifestyle and hair loss. Across the temporal area of the head, near the temples, the team found that the longer a woman smoked the greater the hair loss.

Divorce also had a noticeable effect on hairline, though it may be from the stress of the breakup.

“Most likely, stress is the aspect of a troubling divorce that appears to lead to hair loss among women,” noted study author Dr. Bahman Guyuron.

Luckily, there are many natural yet effective ways to improve the quality of your hair and skin without the usage of harsh chemicals. Check out the 5 foods that can actually make you more attractive, and eat your way to healthy hair.

According to the CDC, at least two men have been infected with a rare skin condition after receiving tattoos in Seattle, Washington. The infection does not respond well to antibiotics, and the men were considered to be otherwise healthy.

Medical News Today reports:

One case is confirmed, the other is as yet unconfirmed say the CDC. The confirmed case is of a healthy 44-year-old man who received a tattoo on his left forearm at a commercial tattoo parlor in August 2009. He has tested positive for Mycobacterium haemophilum, a bacterium that rarely affects people with a healthy immune system, write lead author Meagan K. Kay of the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues.

The yet to be confirmed case is of a healthy 35-year-old man who received his tattoo at the same parlor two months later. His tests were inconclusive, and the CDC are treating him as a “suspected” case of infection.

The authors write that although rare, difficult-to-treat bacterial infections have been reported even in healthy people who receive tattoos.

In the case of the man with the confirmed Mycobacterium haemophilum infection, he developed a painless rash at the tattoo site three days after visiting the parlor in August 2009. 12 days later he sought medical help. By then the rash had developed into bumpy, red nodules with pus (erythematous nodules) about 3 to 5 mm in diameter. By the following February, after several visits and treatment with various antibiotics, the rash eventually improved although some traces of infection remained. The man stopped treatment in March because of nausea, and by May the lesions had healed.

The source of the bacteria has not been traced. An investigation of the tattoo parlor by local authorities in December 2009 found all the procedures complied with Washington State safety and sanitation standards, although they did instruct the owner to switch to sterilized water instead of tap water for rinse solutions and diluting tattoo dyes.

None of the samples taken from various sites in the parlor, including the source of tap water, the tip of a reusable black ink container, various bits of equipment, the soap dispenser, and so on, showed traces of mycobacteria when tested by the CDC.

However, the authors note that although water has been suspected as a reservoir forM. haemophilum for various reasons, when investigators come to test environmental samples, using culture tests, as in this case, they are usually negative. They suggest that perhaps the interval of more than four months between the man visiting the parlor and the local authority investigation further reduced the chance of recovering any M. haemophilum.

They suggest tattoo operators probably use tap water because:

“No tattoo industry standards exist for the practice of diluting tattoo ink. Washington State does not specifically require tattoo artists to use steam-distilled or sterile water when rinsing needles or diluting ink.”

But they refer to legislation, brought in in July 2010, that “prohibits mixing ink and pigments with improper ingredients”.

So their conclusion, and recommendation is that despite the fact infections due to water appear uncommon, operators should not use tap water for for tattoo procedures.

For the first time, scientists have transformed skin cells into functional nerve cells.

“A major goal in regenerative medicine is the facile generation of human neurons for cell replacement therapeutics or disease modeling,” the leader of the study and colleagues wrote in the Aug. 4 online issue of Cell

Medpage today reports:

The battle over the ethics of stem cell use in research led to a search for alternative sources of pluripotent cells — those that can differentiate into any type of cell.

One such technique involves genetic programming of skin cells into an intermediate pluripotent state, from which the cells can subsequently be converted to neuronal cells.

However, the process of transforming fibroblasts into this intermediate pluripotent state is inefficient, with only 1% of cells being converted, and the intermediate state itself is associated with DNA alterations and tumorigenesis.

So Abeliovich’s group sought to skip the intermediate step and transform the cells directly.

Once they determined that the fibroblasts had been converted to a neuronal phenotype through expression of genetic markers, they performed electrophysiologic testing and found that the transformed cells demonstrated the sodium, calcium, and potassium channel activity typical of neuronal cells.

The neuronal cells also exhibited resting membrane potentials of −67 mV to −32 mV, which is also characteristic.

The researchers next transplanted labeled human-derived neuronal cells into the brains of embryonic mice, and demonstrated the integration of the neural cells into the murine neural circuitry by immunostaining using an antibody to a human neural cell adhesion molecule.

Finally, “as proof of principle” for the use of these transformed neuronal cells in human neurodegenerative disease, they cultured fibroblast cells from patients with familial Alzheimer’s disease carrying mutations in the presenilin (PSEN)-1 or -2 genes.

These two genes encode for proteins involved in the γ-secretase enzyme system through which amyloid precursor protein is cleaved to Aβ.

The neuropathology of Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the presence of plaques consisting of fragments of this amyloid precursor protein, with an increased ratio of Aβ42 fragments to Aβ40 fragments, the researchers explained.

This “amyloid hypothesis” of Alzheimer’s disease “proposes that modified cleavage of [amyloid precursor protein] by β-secretase and γ-secretase leads to the generation of a pathogenic Aβ42 fragment,” they wrote.

In these cell cultures from familial Alzheimer’s patients, the researchers observed a marked increase in the Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio compared with cultures from unaffected individuals (P<0.001).

Combining all the cell lines from Alzheimer’s patients found a significant and amplified increase in the Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio (P<1 ×10⁻⁹).

In comparison, the Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio in cell lines from unaffected individuals was not increased (P>0.05).

These in vitro findings were “consistent with patient brain pathology,” in Alzheimer’s patients, they observed.

The results of these experiments in which fibroblasts can be directly transformed into neuronal cells should provide researchers with an opportunity for in vitro exploration of other abnormalities associated with Alzheimer’s disease, such as in synaptic function.

And future murine experiments can focus on actually testing the therapeutic effects of integration of the induced human neuronal cells, Abeliovich and colleagues predicted.

They noted that a limitation of their work is that thus far they have only analyzed two of the PSEN mutations, and that there are many others that could yield further information.

Researchers have found that eating grapes and drinking wine can protect the skin against UV damage, and in turn sunburn. Cosmetic companies are already attempting to develop formulas that take advantage of the new information.

The Telegraph reports:

The study, carried out in vitro in the laboratory, has been published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Marta Cascante, a biochemist at the University of Barcelona and director of the research project, said it proves grapes could help protect the skin from sun burn and even skin cancer.

She said the research could help to develop skin creams and other products to protect skin from sun damage.

“This study supports the idea of using these products to protect the skin from cell damage and death caused by solar radiation, as well as increasing our understanding of the mechanism by which they act”, she said.

The study also adds to the popular image of the healthy and tanned population of the mediteranean.

Previous research has put the low cancer rates and good health down to tomatoes, olive oil and even red wine.