Simply The Pits: These Underarm Myths!

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Are We Taking A Risk To Smell Fresh As A Daisy?

Yesterday, we asked you for your health-related view of underarm deodorants.

So, what does the science say?

They can cause (or increase risk of) cancer: True or False?

False, so far as we know. Obviously it’s very hard to prove a negative, but there is no credible evidence that deodorants cause cancer.

The belief that they do comes from old in vitro studies applying the deodorant directly to the cells in question, like this one with canine kidney tissues in petri dishes:

Antiperspirant Induced DNA Damage in Canine Cells by Comet Assay

Which means that if you’re not a dog and/or if you don’t spray it directly onto your internal organs, this study’s data doesn’t apply to you.

In contrast, more modern systematic safety reviews have found…

❝Neither is there clear evidence to show use of aluminum-containing underarm antiperspirants or cosmetics increases the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease or breast cancer.

Metallic aluminum, its oxides, and common aluminum salts have not been shown to be either genotoxic or carcinogenic.

Source: Systematic review of potential health risks posed by pharmaceutical, occupational and consumer exposures to metallic and nanoscale aluminum, aluminum oxides, aluminum hydroxide and its soluble salts

(however, one safety risk it did find is that we should avoid eating it excessively while pregnant or breastfeeding)

Alternatives like deodorant rocks have fewer chemicals and thus are safer: True or False?

True and False, respectively. That is, they do have fewer chemicals, but cannot in scientific terms be qualifiably, let alone quantifiably, described as safer than a product that was already found to be safe.

Deodorant rocks are usually alum crystals, by the way; that is to say, aluminum salts of various kinds. So if it was aluminum you were hoping to avoid, it’s still there.

However, if you’re trying to cut down on extra chemicals, then yes, you will get very few in deodorant rocks, compared to the very many in spray-on or roll-on deodorants!

Soap and water is a safe, simple, and sufficient alternative: True or False?

True or False, depending on what you want as a result!

  • If you care that your deodorant also functions as an antiperspirant, then no, soap and water will certainly not have an antiperspirant effect.
  • If you care only about washing off bacteria and eliminating odor for the next little while, then yes, soap and water will work just fine.

Bonus myths:

There is no difference between men’s and women’s deodorants, apart from the marketing: True or False?

False! While to judge by the marketing, the only difference is that one smells of “evening lily” and the other smells of “chainsaw barbecue” or something, the real difference is…

  • The “men’s” kind is designed to get past armpit hair and reach the skin without clogging the hair up.
  • The “women’s” kind is designed to apply a light coating to the skin that helps avoid chafing and irritation.

In other words… If you are a woman with armpit hair or a man without, you might want to ignore the marketing and choose according to your grooming preferences.

Hopefully you can still find a fragrance that suits!

Shaving (or otherwise depilating) armpits is better for hygiene: True or False?

True or False, depending on what you consider “hygiene”.

Consistent with popular belief, shaving means there is less surface area for bacteria to live. And empirically speaking, that means a reduction in body odor:

A comparative clinical study of different hair removal procedures and their impact on axillary odor reduction in men

However, shaving typically causes microabrasions, and while there’s no longer hair for the bacteria to enjoy, they now have access to the inside of your skin, something they didn’t have before. This can cause much more unpleasant problems in the long-run, for example:

❝Hidradenitis suppurativa is a chronic and debilitating skin disease, whose lesions can range from inflammatory nodules to abscesses and fistulas in the armpits, groin, perineum, inframammary region❞

Read more: Hidradenitis suppurativa: Basic considerations for its approach: A narrative review

And more: Hidradenitis suppurativa: Epidemiology, clinical presentation, and pathogenesis

If this seems a bit “damned if you do; damned if you don’t”, this writer’s preferred way of dodging both is to use electric clippers (the buzzy kind, as used for cutting short hair) to trim hers down low, and thus leave just a little soft fuzz.

What you do with yours is obviously up to you; our job here is just to give the information for everyone to make informed decisions whatever you choose 🙂

Take care!

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    You will need

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    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Put the ginger in a big pot with the stock; cover and simmer for about 20 minutes (otherwise the ginger flavor will remain mostly concentrated in the ginger strips).

    2) Bring it to a boil and add the bok choy, mushrooms, shallots, chili peppers, and the carrot; simmer for another 5 minutes

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    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • Osteoporosis & Exercises: Which To Do (And Which To Avoid)

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small

    ❝Any idea about the latest research on the most effective exercises for osteoporosis?❞

    While there isn’t much new of late in this regard, there is plenty of research!

    First, what you might want to avoid:

    • Sit-ups, and other exercises with a lot of repeated spinal flexion
    • Running, and other high-impact exercises
    • Skiing, horse-riding, and other activities with a high risk of falling
    • Golf and tennis (both disproportionately likely to result in injuries to wrists, elbows, and knees)

    Next, what you might want to bear in mind:

    While in principle resistance training is good for building strong bones, good form becomes all the more important if you have osteoporosis, so consider working with a trainer if you’re not 100% certain you know what you’re doing:

    Strong, steady and straight: UK consensus statement on physical activity and exercise for osteoporosis

    Some of the best exercises for osteoporosis are isometric exercises:

    5 Isometric Exercises for Osteoporosis (with textual explanations and illustrative GIFs)

    You might also like this bone-strengthening exercise routine from corrective exercise specialist Kendra Fitzgerald:

    Enjoy!

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  • Brazil Nuts vs Pecans – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing Brazil nuts to pecans, we picked the pecans.

    Why?

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    In the category of vitamins, Brazil nuts have more vitamin E, while pecans have more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, C, K, and choline. An easy win for pecans.

    The category of minerals is an interesting one. Brazil nuts have more calcium, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium, while pecans have more iron, manganese, and zinc. Before we crown Brazil nuts with the win in this category, though, let’s take a closer look at those selenium levels:

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    For this reason, it’s recommended to eat no more than 3–4 Brazil nuts per day.

    We consider that a point against Brazil nuts.

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  • A New Tool For Bone Regeneration

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    When it comes to rebuilding bones, one of the tools in the orthopedic surgeon’s toolbox is bone grafts. This involves, to oversimplify it a bit, gluing particles of bone to where bone needs rebuilding. However, this comes with problems, most notably:

    • that the bone tissue and the adhesive “glue” need to be prepared separately and mixed in situ, which is fiddly, to say the least
    • that the resultant mixture mixed in situ will usually be unevenly mixed, resulting in weak bonding and degradation over time
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    You may be wondering: why can’t they mix them before putting them in?

    And the answer is: because then either the glue will set the bone prematurely (and now we have a clump of bone outside of the body which is not what we wanted), or else the glue will have issues with setting in situ, and now we have bone tissue running down the inside of someone’s leg and setting somewhere else, which is also not what we want.

    These kinds of problems may seem a little more “arts and crafts” than “orthopedic surgery”, but they are the kind of nitty-gritty real-life real challenges that actually get in the way of healing patients’ bones.

    The new solution

    Biomaterial research scientists have developed an injectable hydrogel (containing all the necessary ingredients* that uses light to achieve cross-linking of bone particles and mineralization without any of the above being necessary. In again oversimplified terms: they inject the hydrogel where it’s needed, and then irradiate the site with harmless visible light which instantly sets it in place. As to how the light gets in there: it’s just very shiny, like candling an egg to see inside, or like how you can still approximately see bright light even with your eyes closed.

    *alginate (natural polysaccharide derived from brown algae), RGD peptide-containing mussel** adhesive protein, calcium ions, phosphonodiols, and a photoinitiator.

    **unclear whether this would trigger a shellfish allergy. Probably kosher per “פיקוח נפש” and Talmud Yoma 85b, but we are a health science newsletter, not Talmudic scholars, so please talk to your Rabbi. Probably halal per Qur’an 5:4 and failing that, the same principle as previously mentioned, expressed in Qur’an 5:3 and 6:119, but once again, your humble writer here is no Mufti, so please talk to your Imam. As for if you are vegetarian or vegan, then that is for you to decide whether to take a “medications with animal ingredients are unfortunate but necessary” stance, as most do. This vegan writer would (she’d grumble about it, though, and at least try to find an acceptable alternative first).

    Back to the more general practicalities…

    How it works, in less oversimplified terms:

    ❝The coacervate-based formulation, which is immiscible in water, ensures that the hydrogel retains its shape and position after injection into the body. Upon visible light irradiation, cross-linking occurs, and amorphous calcium phosphate, which functions as a bone graft material, is simultaneously formed. This eliminates the need for separate bone grafts or adhesives, enabling the hydrogel to provide both bone regeneration and adhesion.❞

    See the paper: Visible light-induced simultaneous bioactive amorphous calcium phosphate mineralization and in situ crosslinking of coacervate-based injectable underwater adhesive hydrogels for enhanced bone regeneration

    “That’s great, but I was hoping for something I can do right now, ideally at home”

    If getting glued back together was not on your bucket list, that’s understandable. There’s still a lot you can do for bone density; here’s a quick overview:

    Too much information?

    If that was too much information all at once, then we recommend this as your one-stop article:

    The Bare-Bones Truth About Osteoporosis

    Want more information?

    We are but a humble newsletter and can only include so much per day, but we highly recommend this book we reviewed a little while back, which goes into everything in a lot more detail than we can here:

    The Whole-Body Approach to Osteoporosis: How To Improve Bone Strength And Reduce Your Fracture Risk – by Keith McCormick

    Enjoy!

    Don’t Forget…

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