All posts by Hill Fox

Bad Effects of Too Much Sitting?

Is sitting too much dangerous for your health? Yes it is. There are a few health topics on which most doctors and health experts agree — and this is definitely one of them.

An Australian study led by the University of Sydney has found more evidence that sitting too much increases the risk of dying. This was even after taking into account physical activity, weight and health status of study participants. The study of more than 200,000 Australians is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Relying on self-reported data from 22,497 people 45 years or older from the “45 and Up Study” — the largest look at healthy aging in the Southern Hemisphere — the researchers found that compared to people who spent less than four hours a day sitting:

• Adults who sat 11 or more hours a day had a 40 percent increased risk of dying in the next three years — from any cause.
• Adults who sat eight or more hours a day had a 40 percent increased risk of dying in the next three years — from any cause.

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Smokeless Tobacco Side Effects: Is It Safe and Not Addictive?

Smokeless Tobacco Side Effects. Healthwise, is smokeless tobacco safer than smoked tobacco? Is tobacco less dangerous to your body if you don’t smoke it and, instead, take it in through other ways? Is Ashton Kutcher — who was spotted by the paparazzi buying snuff — less likely to develop cancer if he uses snuff rather than cigarettes?

Apparently, smokeless tobacco is not safe at all. It can still give you cancer (oral, esophageal, and pancreatic). Smokeless tobacco can also cause heart disease, gum disease, and oral lesions such as leukoplakia.

Let this be a warning to those who mistakenly think that chewing or simply inhaling tobacco is not hazardous to their health.

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Lipstick Side Effects: Cumulative Lead Exposure?

Lipstick Side Effects: Lead Poisoning? In our earlier post on makeup side effects, we mentioned that lipstick contains the element lead which is known to be poisonous to humans. Does this mean that you should stop throw your lipstick to the garbage can?

lipstick side effects - toxic lead poisoning

Well, maybe not. The Food and Drug Administration has, in the past, declared that the level of lead in lipstick are not a health risk if it is recorded at 10 parts per million (ppm) or less. Recently, it reiterated this position when it issued a draft guideline for cosmetic manufacturers. Specifically, it says that it has “analyzed 685 products and found that more than 99 percent of products tested contain levels of lead that are at or below FDA’s recommended maximum level for lead as an impurity”.

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Deodorant Side Effects: Breast Cancer?

Deodorant Side Effects. Can deodorants cause breast cancer? Yes? No? Maybe? Many breast cancers develop in the part of the breast closest to the armpit, where underarm products are used and new research shows that parabens, a compound in antiperspirants, are found in many breast tumors.

But because they’re present in both the tissues of women who used deodorants and those who didn’t, health experts say the new findings are not conclusive and only raise more questions.

Parabens, a preservative found in deodorants, antiperspirants and other underarm products can act like the hormone estrogen. That lifelong exposure to estrogen may cause breast cancer is a well-established association backed up by enough scientific evidence.

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Selenium Side Effects, Safety Risks, and Benefits

Selenium Side Effects, Safety Risks, and Benefits. Study says selenium supplements could be harmful. Americans and Canadians don’t need selenium supplements. But they are going over the recommended upper limits that presents health risks in the long-term.

Are selenium supplements good for you? Yes and no. And like most things in life, moderation is the key. A new review of studies shows that most people in Canada and the U.S. get enough selenium in their diet and that taking supplements could even be harmful.

A naturally occurring trace mineral found in soil and foods such as Brazil nuts, fish, poultry, meat, eggs, and grains like wheat, selenium is undoubtedly vital for good health.

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