Sodium fluoride

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Sodium fluoride makes you Dumb and can cause Cancer!

Does it and if it does, will you avoid Sodium fluoride? The active ingredient that makes your teeth shine and stand against tooth decay?

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Dental Cavity. Suyash.dwivedi (2015) retrieved from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dental_Caries_Cavity_2.JPG

Sodium fluoride is the active ingredient in your toothpaste you always use or you use its other "evil" alternative Sodium monoflourophosphate, which often found in Colgate and Crest products. Rumors say, the fluoridation of water (adding Sodium fluoride in our drinking water) will make you Dumb and can cause Cancer. These claims were advocated by alternative medicine reactionaries, food enthusiast, religious groups, environmentalists and so on. It was unproven and based on anecdotal evidence.

So why, we fluoridate our water? to help prevent tooth decay to the large populations and there is already natural fluoride in our water supply anyways. Fluoridation just adjust the fluoride content of water supplies to a certain degree, making it optimal for tooth decay prevention [1]

"Even now it was hotly debated, whether it can cause Cancer and make you Dumb or is it just a dumb rumor made by dumb people?" 

Breakdown of Sodium fluoride

In order to appreciate what sodium fluoride really is - we need to go in molecular level. Sodium fluoride is colorless, odorless molecule bonded by an ionic bond between sodium ion and fluoride ion; the bond makes it stronger and linear making it more stable and suitable to stack to each other. These characteristics make it solid at room temperature, high melting point, and high boiling point. It is manufactured via the Neutralization reaction of a hydrofluoric acid with sodium bicarbonate (base) and the products are Sodium fluoride, carbon dioxide, and water. Basic chemistry tells us, Sodium fluoride is a salt.[2][3][4] 

Element Fluorine vs Fluorides

Fluorine behaves differently than Fluorides. For example, fluorine gas is highly toxic and reacts violently with other substances, while Fluorides are relatively inert and safe to ingest in a small amount.[1] This often was the spark of fluoridation controversies.

How much will it Kill me?

Lethal Dose Low (abbreviated as LDLo) in Human is 71mg/kg, which can result to tremor in parts of your body, brittleness of teeth and bones (often called flourosis). Ingesting about 1662 mg/kg can cause reduce gas exchange in lungs (called hypoventilation), vomiting and death. To put it in perspective, our daily intake of fluoride is 0.038 to 0.048mg/kg, which is relatively small. The lethal dose and its toxicity will only appear at many thousands of time greater than one receives from fluoride from food, water, and personal products. [5]

Will I still use it?

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Yes and no. Yes, because it prevents tooth decay by preventing the acids from bacteria metabolism (its poop) from degrading the enamel of your teeth and lead to tooth decay. Fluoride surrounds the tooth and absorbed into the surface protecting against the acid; the process called remineralization. No, means just don't used it excessively and don't chug a gallon of toothpaste it can result to fluorosis and death.

Does it cause cancer and make you dumb? No, it was anecdotal evidence and unproven claimed by fluoridation oppositions.

Are Tampons the Right Choice for You?

Are Tampons the Right Choice for You?

Tampons and other feminine care products are unavoidable for women and the choices in what products are used can influence their overall health. Most women are unaware and are oblivious to the hazards of using bleached feminine care products, but this article aims to educate women on how the choices they make today can have an affect on their overall health forever.

Drug store feminine care products are covenant, affordable and make menstruating look like fun. Most of these tampons however are bleached to make them aesthetically pleasing and have perfumes added to make them smell nice as well. This bleach that is used secretes a chemical called dioxin that is absorbed by the skin and is known to cause cancer, nervous system disorders, infertility, birth defects and a chronic condition called endometriosis (4, 2). Dioxin is the name of a family of chemicals that are a by-product of the production of other chemicals, such as the bleach found in tampons. These chemicals are colorless and odorless, therefore hard to detect, but none the less are there.

As mentioned earlier, endometriosis is a condition that can develop in a woman when dioxins are secreted by a tampon in the vagina. About 8-10% of all women that are of the age of reproduction have been diagnosed with this illness and will have to live with it for the rest of their lives (3). This condition causes severe pain, bleeding and inflammation in the pelvis, which could overall lead to infertility, or the inability to have children, which not only affects a woman’s physical health but also her mental health (1).

There is good news though, there are alternatives to using the standard bleached tampon. Organic, unbleached tampons and pads are safer for not only a woman’s health, but also for the environment. There are also washable and reusable menstrual pads, or a plastic menstrual cup. Even though these products may be more expensive or harder to obtain they are a safer approach to menstrual care.

The common bleached tampon may be covenant and look nice, but the dioxins that are been secreted and absorbed through the skin are doing women more harm than good. It is important to be aware of what chemicals are being exposed to our bodies, to ensure that we are not putting our health at risk.

Figure 1: האלופות (Photographer). (2015, December 5). Fleurcup and tampons.jpg.[digital image]. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fleurcup_and_tampons.jpg 

Literature Cited:

[1] Hogg, S., & Vyas, S. (2015). endometriosis. Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Reproductive Medicine, doi:10.1016/j.ogrm.2015.02.001

[2] Huang, Q., Chen, Y., Chen, Q., Zhang, H., Lin, Y., Zhu, M., & Dong, S. (2016). Dioxin-like rather than non-dioxin-like PCBs promote the development of endometriosis through stimulation of endocrine–inflammation interactions. Archives of Toxicology, , 1-10. doi:10.1007/s00204-016-1854-0

[3] Martinez-Zamora, M., Mattioli, L., Parera, J., Abad, E., Coloma, J., van Babel, B., . . . Institutionen för naturvetenskap och teknik. (2015). Increased levels of dioxin-like substances in adipose tissue in patients with deep infiltrating endometriosis. Human Reproduction, 30(5), 1059-1068. doi:10.1093/humrep/dev026

[4] The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2011, December 02). Dioxin. Retrieved March 06, 2017, from https://www.britannica.com/science/dioxin

Make informed daily choices! Become more in charge of your health!

            One of the most important and useful parts of an education is the ability it provides you with to formulate your own beliefs and opinions using a range of information. This includes the need to make informed decisions regarding the substances you encounter in your day to day life. If you can limit exposure to potentially harmful substances it is directly and substantially beneficial to your own health. An example of self-education that can potentially help you to avoid possible harmful effects associated with exposure is the recent substantial shift from inclusion of Bisphenol A (BPA) in consumer products. The public responded to research regarding possible negative side effects associated with BPA exposure and their desire to have it removed from consumer products, as BPA was previously very commonly found in products like water bottles and aluminum cans. Had the public ignored the research findings and concerns from the scientific community companies likely would not have been as motivated to remove BPA from their products, as it would only result in a larger cost of production. Initially the possible danger associated with BPA was discovered in a lab where mice were accidentally exposed to BPA which resulted in observable negative reproductive health effects. A studying following these findings gathered data that confirmed that nearly all of the tested individuals had BPA in their urine. While these findings confirm is that it is present in the body following exposure, it does not confirm any negative side effect and is promising in that it shows BPA is being removed from the body. However, more research and observation is required in order to prove that it is not having a directly negative effect on the body. It is up to all consumers to demand this type of research as well as increased accountability regarding chemicals found in consumer products.

References:

 Bisphenol A. PubChem. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Bisphenol_A#section=Top

(accessed March 2nd, 2017)

 Hinterthuer, A. Just How Harmful Are Bisphenol A Plastics? Scientific American https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/just-how-harmful-are-bisphenol-a-plastics (accessed March 2nd, 2017)

Will this make you stop using your deodorant?

No one wants to small bad. So what’s the first thing we reach for after a shower?

DEODORANT or ANTIPERSPIRANT!

But could these two cause cancer?

The answer is…no.

First we must understand the difference between the deodorant and antiperspirant.

Deodorant:

-       Cosmetic Product

-       Eliminates Odor

-       Consists of antibacterial components that kill the odor causing bacteria.

     Antiperspirant:

-       Drug

-       Prevents sweating

-       Eliminates the release of sweat by forming Aluminum plugs in the sweat gland   

Retrieved from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Al_absorption_by_skin.jpg
You might have seen ads like the one below on Facebook and social media sites, but how accurate is this information? And is present in these two products that has the potential to directly link to cancer?

 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKaAd7H3jZ6-Gze5XAN7IATbkR4HFZKaucs4ELxc-wT1KctwzLkd8WRiJLY2uEsUTONEpxWnMtZ7sweKMa0EJcwQ56aYAllIMwCgPZT5JwUe1xgwvYnxmMJIisu5k7APSGlUqZHjlY8to/s1600/emma+deo.jpg

•     Aluminum Chlorohydrate is the most active ingredient in antiperspirants and deodorants. The chemical formula for Aluminum Chlorohydrate is Al₂Cl(OH)₅ and it appears as a yellow powder in solid state and as a colorless liquid. Too much exposure can lead to skin irritation and rashes.

•     No accurate/solid scientific evidence has been revealed that shows a direct correlation between the use of aluminum containing deodorant/antiperspirant and the increased risk of cancer. ¹

•     In fact, more recent studies that prove that aluminum present in degradant has no direction correlation to cancer. ¹

     "Rumors that deodorants and antiperspirants could cause breast cancer were started by an email hoax. There is no convincing evidence that antiperspirants and deodorants cause breast cancer.” – Found on Cancer Research UK website.

Still worried about getting cancer at the risk of smelling nice?

Don’t be! But if you are interested, there are many alternatives, some pre-made and some that you may have to cook up on your own:

1.    Use Lemon Juice- citric acid kills odor causing bacteria ²

2.    Rubbing alcohol ²

3.    Or make your own by mixing: ²

•       1/4 cup baking soda

•       1/4 cup arrow root powder or corn starch

•       5 tablespoons coconut oil

¹Should you REALLY stop wearing deodorants because of cancer risk?. (2017). Mail Online. Retrieved 6 March 2017, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3820336/Should-REALLY-stop-wearing-deodorants-cancer-risk-Expert-shuns-underarm-products-studying-chemical-ingredients.html

² 5 natural deodorant alternatives. (2017). MNN - Mother Nature Network. Retrieved 5 March 2017, from http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/natural-beauty-fashion/stories/5-deodorant-alternatives

³ Antiperspirant, deodorant, or both? - Healthy Skin - MedBroadcast.com. (2017). Medbroadcast.com. Retrieved 3 March 2017, from http://www.medbroadcast.com/channel/healthy-skin/hyperhidrosis/antiperspirant-deodorant-or-both