What are superfoods?

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Thank you all for the amazing feedback I got from you on the different social networks about my latest article "What's a gluten-free diet?".

Right after the holiday season, we all love a good detox program to purify our body and soul from all our Christmas sins. Some of us take the plunge and go for the latest fad diet. Whereas others feel they got the whole Healthy Diet with particular attention to superfoods.

But what are those Superfoods everyone seem to talk about these days? And most importantly is there any truth, medical or theoretical evidence that these foods are Super?

What are Superfoods?

Superfoods are nutrient-rich foods that are considered to be especially beneficial for our health and well-being.

Superfood Berries

However the name 'Superfood' has been disputed by many saying that it is a non-medical term used in marketing with little scientific evidence for it. The term itself has been prohibited in the European Union since 2007 unless it is accompanied by a medical notice approved by an medically and scientifically accredited name or organisation.

What are these superfoods?

Berries, nuts and seeds in general, dark green vegetables (such as spinach, kale, collard greens, Swiss chard, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli), citrus fruits, fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, and sardines, vegetables with bright, dark, or intense colors (such as beets and their greens, and sweet potatoes), many legumes (peanuts, lentils, beans, raw cocoa), and whole grains as a group.

You might say, 'Well, if these are good foods to begin with, foods that could be part of a healthy diet, what's wrong with naming them Superfoods?'

Tweet This - If these are good foods, part of a healthy diet, what's wrong with naming them Superfoods?

And in essence, there's nothing wrong with it if these are actually eaten as part of a healthy diet and not popped in your mouth in a pill form!!!

Green tea leaves from Chengdu

For example, green tea is well known for its superfood quality as it is a superoxidant and contains B vitamins, folate (naturally occurring folic acid), manganese, potassium, magnesium, and caffeine. Many weight loss supplements include green tea extracts but there is currently insufficient scientific evidence that consumption of green tea or its specific extract EGCG has any health benefit.  The FDA itself sent a warning letter in 2013 about false advertising and health claims concerning the effects of green tea consumption.

Why are they called Superfoods?

Many Superfoods contain natural chemicals that have been shown to have positive health effects in laboratory studies. These include antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

It’s certainly true that a healthy diet can help to reduce the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes but it is unlikely that any single food will make a major difference on its own.  

Cancer Research UK note that Superfoods are often promoted as having an ability to prevent or cure diseases, including cancer; they caution, 'you shouldn’t rely on Superfoods to reduce the risk of cancer. They cannot substitute for a generally healthy and balanced diet'.

Fighting Cancer with Superfoods?

From HERE

There is some lab data that show that some of these ingredients can affect cancer cells in a laboratory setting, including killing them and stopping them from growing. But unfortunately jumping to the conclusion that eating those nutrient-rich foods can affect your cancer outcome is a biiiiiiig leap!

First of all, your body is a complex organism and the interactions between the food we eat and our bodies are much more complex than those between a purified chemical and cells in a tube.
Secondly, food is itself complex: An isolated chemical may behave very differently in a test tube than when it is eaten as part of food.
Last but not least, dose as always is of paramount importance. Even eating very large portions of a ‘superfood’ might not provide enough of a specific ingredient to a sufficient amount to have any effect on our health. For example, garlic contains a nutrient alleged to help reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. But you'd have to eat up to 28 cloves a day to match the doses used in the lab!

Is it bad though?

As part of a healthy diet, the short answer is not at all. With everything though, dosing and pacing are essential. You won't get a quick fix by gorging yourself on Superfoods, you won't cure any disease and your disease risk may not be that much reduced if you are already on a healthy diet. If anything, an exclusive diet might put you at risk of deficiency of other essential nutrients.
Some foods when eaten in large quantities can put you at risk of toxicities - think fish and mercury - for example, some seaweeds contain natural toxins which are thought by some to increase risk of cancer and liver damage.

Do you like your Superfoods? Do you include them in your diet on purpose?

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,

References and further reading

Wikipedia
Cancer Research UK - Superfoods
NHS - Superfoods

What's a gluten-free diet?

My Dear Sexy Readers,

First of all, I would like to wish you a fantastic New Year!!!!

A lot of people may feel that January is a good month to work on their New Year resolutions.

One of these may be to go gluten-free to help their body cope with the excess food they have accumulated during the holiday season.

Many of you will hopefully detect that the above sentence contains 3 non evidence-based facts*, but as I typed it, I felt strangely liberated like I could do something that would cancel out my overindulgence and Christmas sins!

I'm a greater believer though in knowing the truth and understanding our body (HERE), how it works (HERE and HERE) and how things we ingest (HERE, HERE or HERE) or slather on it do to us (HERE and HERE).

So if you'd like to know the scientific truth about gluten and gluten-free diets that supermarkets, unscrupulous nutritionists and restaurant owners purposefully don't share with you, please keep on reading... (Well, yes of course it's a new and very lucrative business...)

What is Sarcoma?

My Dear Sexy Readers,

I stumbled upon this while working on a writing test for a job application (! I know, totally random!): this week 23-29 June 2014 - yeahhhh I'm not too late - is Sarcoma Awareness week!! I'm glad I found this because, although I knew the name, I didn't really know much about Sarcomas. And you know me, I love learning about new things and sharing it all with you.
This year's campaign is about Getting People "On the ball" for sarcoma. What is it? It's simple, you just download a Poster from their web page and order your "On the Ball" pack to bring to your GP to make him/her more aware of symptoms, signs, etc... I couldn't find any # to go with the campaign but if you type Sarcoma on the ball on Twitter, you get some results!

You can download this poster yourself from HERE and bring to your GP, along with an info pack

Sarcoma Fact Sheet (borrowed from the Sarcoma website)
Sarcoma is a group of rare-ish cancers that develop in the muscle, bone, nerves, cartilage, tendons, blood vessels and the fatty and fibrous tissues.

There are around 100 different sub-types of sarcoma

There are around 3,800 new cases of sarcoma diagnosed each year in the UK

There are 13,000 people living with sarcoma in the UK

Sarcomas make up 15% of all childhood cancers (0-14 years) and 11% of all cancer diagnoses in teenagers and young people (15-24 years)

Sarcomas make up 1% of all cancer diagnoses in the UK

If you are interested or just want to know more about Sarcomas, check the charity's designated web page over HERE


Did you know about Sarcoma? Do you feel we should get more involved in the awareness campaign to get GPs to recognise signs and symptoms? Feel free to share your experience in the comments box, thank you for dropping and...

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,

Further Reading
http://www.sarcoma.org.uk/

What is Diabetes?

My Dear Sexy Readers,

I've been working on the second installment of #MyBodyDoesWhat series which will be a new infographic on Pancreas (Previous ScienceSoSexy infographics)! Little did I know that beginning of June was Diabetes week. How timely am I? - Well, I'm 2 weeks too late, but it could be worse, right?! (If you don't know what Pancreas and Diabetes have in common, keep reading ;)

8th - 14th June was the week chosen to raise awareness to this common life-long health condition. This year, using the different social media platforms, the word was #ican! An initiative to show help and support to anyone with diabetes by gathering examples of things that this condition will never let you stop from doing. Check out their live story stream over HERE.

3.2 million people are diagnosed with diabetes in the UK and an estimated 630,000 people have the condition, but don’t know it. In the world, the diabetic population stands at 365 million people, representing around 8.5% of the global population.

Diabetes is when our body either doesn't make enough insulin (produced by our pancreas) or cannot use its own insulin properly to help get the sugar (coming from food or our liver) to move from our blood into the cells of our body, causing build up of that sugar in our bloodstream.

The Insulin binds to its Receptor and makes the Glucose transporter move to the cell surface where it can open up a passage to let the Glucose come inside the cell. If there's no insulin or the receptor doesn't recognize or respond to it, the Glucose is stuck in the blood and accumulates = Diabetes

There are 2 types of diabetes
Type 1 is when the body doesn't produce insulin. It requires insulin to treat, is typically developed as a child or young adult, and is a disease that destroys pancreatic cells meaning no insulin production is possible.

Type 2 is when the body doesn't produce enough insulin or the insulin produced is not working properly. It is considerably more common and typically affects people over the age of 45, who are also overweight.

If you have followed my first #MyBodyDoesWhat infographic, you know that I'm going to use this series to explore what our body does because seriously it is freakishly genius. I think I should know more about it so I thought I would share with my Sexy Readers whatever info I gather! My second installment on Pancreas is basically "in the making" stage.

In the meantime, if you would like to share your own experience with fellow readers, feel free to hit the comments box, so

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,

Further reading
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/

The Real Big Bang Theory #Pint2014 Review by Phil

My Dear Sexy Readers,

During the Pint of Science festival, I was lucky enough to go to the very popular and sold out talk by Prof John Ellis entitled 'Blowing up the Universe'. What a treat, I felt so privileged to see that eminent scientist explain the Big Bang Theory to us in the amazing surrounding of a central London pub! Very surreal! I got home, super psyched and shaking from adrenaline!

If you don't know who Prof John Ellis is, let me tell you he's one of those people who will be mentioned in Physics book in at least the next 200 years for his involvement in understanding our Universe and of course the extraordinary CERN's Large Hadron Collider. 

So, my Sexy Readers, let me introduce to you Sexy Scientist Phil who was there with me that night, and knowing his larger memory capacity, I thought it would only be fair to Prof John Ellis to ask a brighter mind to summarize our evening! Here is his review:

Prof John Ellis

In ‘Blowing Up The Universe’ Prof John Ellis took us on a journey through the ever expanding Universe. 

It turns out that the Universe has been expanding ever since it came into being with a great Big Bang, and that we are in a period of exceptionally rapid inflation right now. 
Curiously, all the exciting stuff in the Universe seems to have happened in the very first few fractions of a second, even before most particles let alone atoms ever existed. 

The problem is that 13.8 billion years later, it’s not entirely trivial to work out what exactly did happen back then. Clever people like John Ellis give it a go anyway; they come up with theories for which they amazingly sometimes even find evidence in the here and now. 

BICEP2 telescope in the South Pole from HERE

For example, a good chunk of the white noise you get with a badly tuned TV set is caused by cosmic background radiation which originated at the time of the Big Bang. 
As if this was not proof enough, the aptly named BICEP2 experiments (basically a huge telescope at the South Pole) has recently measured this in a slightly more sophisticated fashion than a 60s TV set and now found definite proof for the ultra-rapid expansion of the early Universe – unless of course the measurements were contaminated by galactic dust (star dust’s ugly sibling) which apparently is a real possibility. 

John Ellis was a very engaging and entertaining speaker and I really enjoyed the talk, although I won’t claim for a second that I understood even half of what he said. 

To answer the question why the Universe only ever expands and never contracts, he produced my favourite analogy: the Universe is a bank you can withdraw money from that you never have to pay back. 
Now that is my sort of bank!

"A" Big Bang Theory - by

Thank you Sexy Phil for your review. I hope you, my Sexy Readers, found it interesting and that you wouldn't want to miss talks down the pub by such eminent Scientists!!

I have to mention that the evening then turned into a Physics stand up comedy with the very funny and of course Sexy, Lieven Scheire who explained some Physics to us using humour! Very entertaining indeed, and I hope to see my fellow Belgian again very soon,

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,

Designer babies #Pint2014 Review by Debbie

My Dear Sexy Readers,

I'm sure you are all sexilly aware by now of Pint Of Science festival that happened this year all over the world between the 19th and 21st of May (my review on the liver talk, my review on the probiotics talk). You can also look up #pint2014 on here or on your favourite platform.

Because so many talks were happening at the same type all across my city - London - it was impossible to be everywhere, so I asked a few friends to report to me on what they learnt down their local pub ;)

May I introduce to you Sexy Debbie who went to the Imperial College Union Bar to a talk entitled 'Creating Life: Test Tubes and Ethics'. Here is her review, and don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comments box:

"When does life begin? Who has the right to decide on the fate of an embryo? Is genetic enhancement necessarily a bad thing? These are hotly debated issues surrounded by controversies and impassioned views. They are not easy questions and they have no easy answers, yet they are just some of the many contentious issues faced by the field of medical ethics and reproductive science.

At a sold-out Pint of Science event I was lucky enough to be in the audience for Mr Stuart Lavery and Professor Raanan Gillon’s talks on ‘Creating life: test tubes and ethics’, in the unlikely surroundings of the pub. Mr Stuart Lavery is the director of IVF Hammersmith, one of the world’s largest IVF units, and Professor Raanan Gillon is Emeritus Professor in Medical Ethics at Imperial College London. Together they are two of the world’s foremost professors in the field of medical ethics and reproductive science.

IVF Hammersmith has pioneered the reproductive technology of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, whereby couples undergoing IVF can have their embryos screened for genetic diseases so that only embryos free from the genetic mutations will be implanted. On a scientific level, the procedure is ground-breaking. By removing just one cell from an 8-cell stage embryo, enough DNA can be extracted for genetic screening and the embryo will continue to develop unharmed. At IVF Hammersmith, every member of lab staff has been genetically screened so that if any of their cells accidentally fall into the vials they are working with their DNA will be detected and not confused with that of the embryo.

'All parents hope for a healthy baby'

All parents hope for a healthy baby and will do what they can to help minimise any risks, giving up smoking, alcohol and caffeine for example. Selecting an embryo that is not predisposed to a genetic disease is another means of increasing the chance of having a healthy baby. The concerns and objections tend to arise based on the fate of the embryos that do have genetic mutations and when the possibilities of what the technology is capable of are considered.





Preimplantation genetic diagnosis currently screens for specific serious genetic diseases. This isn’t because that is all that the science is capable of, this is because that is all that is legal in the UK. It is possible to screen embryos for risk factors for particular diseases, such as the risk gene for breast cancer. Would it be right to select against embryos that may get a disease when they equally may not get it? Likewise, it is possible to select for a female or male embryo, to screen for eye colour or hair colour, and even to genetically modify the DNA of the embryo and develop so-called designer babies. As more genes are identified, personality traits could also be screened for. What is the line? Who should decide where to draw it? Should legislation be the same across different countries? Should legislation be in place at all, should public committees be used to make ethical decisions or should parents have the right to decide?

As much as the right of the parents is respected, this was over-ridden in the case of a deaf couple who requested for their IVF embryos to be screened for the deaf gene. They felt they could raise a deaf child better than a hearing child, but it was decided that this did not value the welfare of the child and so the request was rejected. The process of reaching ethical verdicts such as this was explained by Professor Raanan Gillon, who described four principles that provide a moral framework within which to make ethical decisions.

This was a fascinating evening full of discussion and debate. I came away with many more questions than I started with. Clearly the development of reproductive technologies has increased the options for couples at risk of having a child with a serious genetic disorder. However, the use of techniques such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis is expanding, creating new ethical and legal dilemmas in need of regulation and legal frameworks.

How often do you get to discuss such hot topics in the pub with two world experts?! Thanks Pint of Science, I will definitely be back again next year!"

Useful links/further reading 
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis
A guide to preimplantation genetic diagnosis
IVF Hammersmith
Pint of Science
Professor Raanan Gillon Imperial College profile

I hope you all Sexy Readers enjoyed Debbie's review on this super hot topic and let me know what you think in the comments :)

Stay tuned for Sexy Phil and his review on the Big Bang Theory talk by none other than Prof John Ellis, one of the most famous theoretical physicist of our time (a real - slightly older - Sheldon if you like ;))!

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,

Difference between Correlation and Causation

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Maybe you've seen this blog on Correlations on Facebook like I have, it was posted through a group called "I -Blipping- Hate PseudoScience" . Now, you might wonder why the Sexy Hell I would talk about Correlations!!! Well, this is kind of a fun explanation on the difference between Correlation and Causation. So I thought I would apply the concept to something I wrote previously and which I know you guys are very interested in.
You might recall this previous Sexy article on Parabens and the bit about Breast Cancer:

"It has been suggested that the use of Parabens in cosmetics and especially in deodorants and anti-perspirants might contribute to the high incidence of this type of cancer. Parabens were detected in tissue samples from human breast tumors........ It has to be noted that in that famous study (Darbre, 2004) that sparked the whole controversy on Parabens, there were no control tissues to demonstrate specificity of association between Parabens and breast cancer, ie. normal healthy tissues could still contain Parabens and be harmless, the presence of Parabens not being the cause of cancer but merely an innocent spectator. To date, no other study has repeated this 2004 study with the appropriate controls. There were however two epidemiological studies (by questioning patients, no lab testing involved) attempting to address the link between breast cancer and deodorant/antiperspirants. One reported no difference of use between cancer patients and non cancer people. The second one reported an earlier onset of the breast cancer with the use of  underarms cosmetics. But again, both studies lacked appropriate controls and certainly lab experiments to attest the presence of Parabens."

 Now, this is an example of graph you can find on this extraordinary blog:

Correlation between Divorce rate in Maine and Consumption of margarine per capita. From HERE

This graphs shows that Divorce rate in Maine CORRELATES with consumption of margarine (per capita) in the US - However it doesn't mean that if you eat margarine and you live in Maine, it will CAUSE you to get divorced or that if you eat margarine, people in Maine will have an increased chance of getting a divorce.

Correlation between the age of Miss America and the number of murders by steam, hot vapours and hot objects. From HERE

This graphs shows that the Age of Miss America CORRELATES with the number of Murders by steam, hot vapours and hot objects - However, it doesn't mean that if Miss America is 23 years old, it will CAUSE 7 murders due to steam, hot vapours and hot objects.

So, of course these examples are dramatic but I think they illustrate quite well the difference between Correlation and Causation, and they make me laugh so much, I thought I would share it with you, Sexy Reader!
Now... Coming back to the above correlation about Parabens and Breast cancer:

If you find Parabens in nanograms in breast cancer tissue, it doesn't mean that it was the CAUSE of breast cancer, nor doesn't it mean that if you use anti-perspirant, it will cause you to be more likely to develop breast cancer.

This infamous 10 year old study has never seen its sequel, maybe simply because there is NO causation.

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,

Disclaimer: I haven't come across any new study on this but I can't keep up to date with everything, so apologies if the causative link has been scientifically proven and I'll be happy to amend my articles.

Become a Liver Lover! #Pint2014

My Dear Sexy Readers,

What wonderful treats we got this week with 3 beautiful nights at the pub, filled with exciting and interesting facts from "real" Scientists!
For recap', Pint of Science is a Science festival for everyone - especially non scientists - covering anything and everything in these 4 categories: Matters of the Mind, Understanding our Bodies, Physics and Chemistry, and Planet Earth!
I was lucky to be able to take 2 nights off from mummy's duties to go down the pub and listen to amazing talks, funny at times, and full of info easy to remember.

Pint of Science coasters - I would like to apologise to the organisers for 'stealing' these

On Tuesday 20th May, I went to the Oneill's in Earl's Court to listen to Dr Nathan Davies's talk entitled "Loving your liver, why we should all become hepatophiles", followed by Dr Jane Macnaughtan and her talk on "Better bacteria for a better you" (future post coming up - Now Ready HERE).
I chose these 2 talks because, bizarrely, I've been preparing blog posts on these exact same 2 subjects, so I thought "Well, well, well, my source of relevant literature can't be better than this!". I've already added some of the info on my first #MyBodyDoesWhat? infographic on the Liver which focuses on the liver's functions (not covered in this article). Also don't forget to check out #DYK 10 about Jaundice!

Loving your Liver - Why we should all become hepatophiles (= liver lovers)
Nathan was a very enthusiastic and lively Pint Of Science speaker. From his first power point slide, he got us all interested in wanting to know more about the amazing liver! Here are a few facts that he shared with us:

The Liver is an amazing organ and the most active in our entire body. Its filtering and detoxifying cycle occur up to 20 times per hour! It can function at only 20% of its capacity, and most amazingly, it is capable of regenerating itself in a matter of weeks, sometimes days.
Unfortunately, when a person suffers from a liver disease, he often cannot recognize the signs that are often dismissed as benign, such as tiredness and flu-like symptoms, until it's too late!
Nathan was telling us about those street check ups they performed on volunteers (e.g. blood test). Surprisingly, a quarter of this tested population had alarming state of liver damage and required immediate further check ups. It would seem as though we are not taking very good care of our liver!
In fact, liver disease is the only killer disease with rising numbers.
The number one cause of liver disease death is, would you believe it, obesity!!! The second and third causes are undiagnosed Hepatitis viral infection and alcoholism, respectively.

Units for typical drinks

• Obesity: What I didn't know is that, under a microscope, the damage that fat and alcohol do to a liver tissue is identical!

• Astonishingly, 90% of the Hepatitis-infected European population doesn't know it is infected by the Hepatitis virus. One in 3 person is exposed at one time or another to the Hepatitis B virus, of course not everyone will get infected as encounter doesn't mean infection.

• Dr Nathan Davies also approached the subject of alcoholism and binge drinking, which is worse? It is quite clear that constant and regular drinking is not making it easy on the liver to regenerate itself if it is constantly under "attack". And it's not very clever to binge drink, even if it's occasional, your gut bacteria hate it. As a consequence, they can leak out of your gut, provoking inflammatory responses and causing damage. So beware, don't count too much on your liver's regeneration power!!

As a conclusion, let's treat our liver right by doing these 3 simple things:

1. A Healthy BMI. This is so easy to check if you are in the right range
2. In case of doubt, get checked for Hepatitis infection. There are vaccination programmes!
3. Limit your alcohol intake: Here are the NHS recommendations on your unit allowance:

• Men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units of alcohol a day
• Women should not regularly drink more than 2-3 units a day

I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed going to the pub to get these facts for you ;) If you are interested in coming to this Science festival next year, do bookmark the Pint Of Science website, I will, of course, update you in time with their #Pint2015 programme.


I'll do a recap on Dr Jane's talk very soon, in the meantime you can check out this Twitter Storify for pictures from these 124 pub events happening all over the world - almost - at the same time over 3 nights!

 See you Soon for more Sexy Science,

Pint of Science 2014 Programme

My Dear Sexy Readers,

If there is one festival not to be missed in 2014, and that will actually be good for your ears, it really is  Pint Of Science!!!

Pint Of Science 19-21 May 2014
I mentioned this event a while ago and promised I would update you on their programme, well here we are, the programme has been finalized and it promises to be absolutely epic!! I think this year, they really went all out, even though this is only their second year running, with evening talks happening in 21 cities in 6 countries over 3 days,!!!
I mean, WOW, imagine the injection of Science that is going to be shot all over the world at the same time!!!!!!
So, there's absolutely no way anyone can miss this massive event!! From a Journey to Antarctica, Curiosity Rover on Mars, to Dark matter and Studies on Twins or on Mum's diet during pregnancy, you WILL find something that is right up your street... right up your street (!)!

How to do?

The US Pint of Science talks map

First Choose your country by clicking on one of these links: USA, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Australia or France or click on one of the maps and go for the TICKETS tab, you'll then be able to go to your city of choice:
San Diego, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Tampa, London, Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, Bristol, York, Bath, Glasgow, Dublin, Lausanne, Genève, Sydney, Paris, Brest, Lyon or Bordeaux!

You then will have the choice of talks between:

Matters of the Mind - Understanding our bodies - Chemistry and Physics - Planet Earth!

For example, in London, on the subject Matters of the Mind:
On the right hand side, I can choose my favourite pub and see what talks are happening and when.
OR I could choose a topic and could travel to that pub on the night I choose.
The pub closest to mine is the Horse, which will host talks from scientists from King's College and among these, on Monday I could go to "What drives us mad?" and "Smart drugs and students: what's really going on in UK universities?"

UK, London, Planet Earth subject

OR if I'm not fussed about locations or subjects, this link is a whole list of talks for me to see directly what's available when and where regardless of the subject.
You can do this for each city, in your country.

Basically there's absolutely no reason whatsoever not to go, there will be talks on about anything that's going on right now in our/your university!!

I don't get Science, never have, never will
In case, you are worried you're not gonna understand and you're gonna waste your time, fear not, all the doctors and professors have been invited on the basis that they can translate their work into normal words. This is the whole point of this festival so do not hesitate to stand up and say "It's still complicated, could you please translate it further" because if you don't get it, it's not your fault, trust me, it's the speaker's fault! And no matter how eminent the guy is in his field, he's still a human and should be able to talk to you like any other human, ah ah!!! And let's not forget, these talks are happening in pubs, so just order an extra pint of lager, Science is like Languages, you can talk the lingo after the 2nd one,... or 5th ;)

Wherever you are in the world, there's a good chance the Pint Of Science festival is happening in a pub near you!
If you are in the UK, check out this map, it will tell you exactly where and what is happening!!

If you get to go to one of these talks, let me know - I can only go to the London ones so I'd be interested to know how good all the other talks were-  take pictures, write me a note, I will feature your sexy feedback right here on Science So Sexy,

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,

Did you Know? How does the Antibiotic Amoxicillin work?

My Dear Sexy Readers,

I bet if you have lived in the UK for most of your life, you have only known a few antibiotics in your life (hopefully), and most notably Amoxicillin. Why is it always that one that GP prescribe? How does it work?

How does Amoxicillin work?
Amoxicillin is what we call a β-Lactam antibiotic (fig.1). Most β-lactam antibiotics work bystopping the production of the "peptidoglycan" layer of bacterial cell walls (See figures 2 and 3 here below). This cell wall layer is important for structural integrity (fig3), especially in "Gram-positive" bacteria (fig.2), because it is the outermost and primary component of the wall. The last step in this "peptidoglycan" chain production is supervised by an Enzyme abbreviated PBP. A β-Lactam antibiotic is similar in structure to the last building block of the cell wall, taking its place in the structure. Because the PBP enzyme recognises it as if it was a proper brick, the Antibiotic inhibits the completion of the cell wall construction, therefore making the bacteria unviable and starting a process of auto-destruction. Some bacteria have changed themselves to  make themselves resistant, either by attacking the β-Lactam ring of the antibiotic (fig.1) which is essential for the recognition with the PBP enzyme, or by modifying PBP so it's less sensitive to the antibiotics (like MRSA has).

Figure 1: The Beta-Lactam antibiotic with its Beta-Lactam ring (the square!)

Figure 2: The difference between Gram + and Gram - bacteria. Look out for the Peptidoglycan layer.

Figure 3: How the Peptidoglycan wall builds up

If you are interested in more fast read sexy facts, check out SSS Did you Know series for previous posts.

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,

Virus, Bacteria - How do Antibiotics work?

My Dear Sniffy, still Sexy though, Readers,

By this time, you probably have all suffered from the sore throat that prevents you from sleeping or the cough that seems to empty your lungs, the sinuses under immense pressure that make your eyes watery, the sneezing, the shivering, the headaches, etc...

So naturally, you call your doctor/GP/clinic and request an urgent appointment because, quite honestly, you feel so shit, it can't be normal, you need medicines, and lots of them!!!

How many times, then, didn't I hear "my GP is crap, he only gave me paracetamol!", "I went to see another one, he gave me antibiotics, so see? The first one is obviously not qualified".
Yes, it's true, in the UK, your GP won't tell you to take some guafenisin, imodium or motilium or suck on Strepsils like doctors do 'on the continent' and you need to seek advice at the Pharmacy or on Google.
Although I don't particularly agree with the kind of self medication policy in this country, it does help to dis-engorge clinics for more serious cases.
So in case you wonder, here is a factsheet on bacteria and viruses and why there's no point taking Antibiotics when you have a cold:

Note: If you don't feel like reading, why not check my Pinterest infographic, just hover your pointer over here.

Note2: Ever wondered how Amoxicillin works, check it out in our Did You know Series!

What's the difference between virus and bacteria?
When do we need antibiotics?

Bacteria

A bacterium is a single cell microbe. The content of this single cell is much simpler than the content of a human cell. For example, because their DNA is not contained in a defined vesicle, they are called prokaryotes. As opposed to our eukaryotic cells where the DNA is contained inside the nucleus.

They are categorised according to the fact that they have an outer membrane or not  (gram negative or positive respectively) and to their shape (spheres, rods, spirals, commas and corkscrews).

Their size can vary from 50 nm (0.05 micrometers = 0.00005 centimeters) to 2 micrometers in diameter or width for the spherical ones and from 1 to 10 micrometers for the long one.

(A micrometer is the size of a pin head, it is also 10 times smaller than a centimeter)

How do bacteria infect our body and what does the body do about it?

Bacteria love our bodies, our fluids are so rich in vitamins, sugars and other nutrients, they can find everything in there to grow and survive. We can be infected by bacteria by contact with them, through infected water, food, dust, air liquid droplets or through our wounds for example.

The points of entry are also our natural barriers such as our skin when we are sweating, our eyes and lacrymal glands, our nose and our nasal hair and the runny nose; and if through the mouth, the acidity of our stomach or the natural bacterial flora from our intestines will fight for us.

Unfortunately, some of them are stronger than our first defences and will continue their invasion and stimulate therefore our second line of defence, our immunity.

Immunity

Our immunity can be triggered by different mechanisms and our defensers can be macrophages (they eat the invaders and take a sample to show the rest of our defense lines what the body is fighting against), phagocytes (they are whole cells whose job is to eat the invaders), cytokines (messengers that will warn the rest of the immunity who's the culprit) or lymphocytes (cells that will fight the invaders or will control the cells that will fight the baddies). They will work altogether, sort of like -community officers - police officers - the army- would.

Following an infection, the signs are: The tissues in the area are red and warm, as a result of the large amount of blood reaching the site. They are also swollen, again due to the increased amount of blood and proteins that are present. The area is painful, due the expansion of tissues, causing mechanical pressure on nearby nerve cells, and also due to the presence of pain mediators.

The battle ends when all phagocytes have eaten and digested all the invaders. You can see their action when you are rejecting the pus or mucus - of different shades, depending on who's at fault!

Virus

Virus particles (known as virions) consist of two or three parts: i) the genetic material made from either DNA or RNA, which are long molecules that carry genetic information; ii) a protein coat that protects these genes; and in some cases iii) an envelope of lipids that surrounds the protein coat when they are outside a cell.
The shapes of viruses range from simple helical and icosahedral forms to more complex structures.

Example of virus structure

In general, viruses are much smaller than bacteria. Most viruses that have been studied have a diameter between 20 and 300 nanometres. Some filoviruses have a total length of up to 1400nm; their diameters are only about 80nm.

How does a virus infect our body and what does the body do about it?
Through coughs, sneezes, vomit particles, bites from infected animals or insects, exposure to infected bodily fluids, a virus can enter our body.

Viruses can't multiply on their own, they have to invade a 'host' cell and take over its machinery in order to be able to make more virus particles: they consist of genetic materials (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protective coat of protein. They are capable of latching onto cells and getting inside them, and making the host cell use their DNA to spread themselves (here below, a specific example with the HIV retrovirus).

The cells of the mucous membranes, such as those lining the respiratory passages that we breathe through, are particularly open to virus attacks because they are not covered by protective skin.

The human body does have some natural defenses against a virus. A cell can initiate RNA interference when it detects viral infection, which works by decreasing the influence of the virus's genetic material in relation to the cell's usual material. The immune system also kicks into gear when it identifies a virus by producing antibodies that bind to the virus and render it unable to replicate. The immune system also releases T-cells, which work to kill the virus.

How do Antibiotics work?

Antibiotics are given as anti-bacteria medicine. They either kill the bacteria or stop the multiplication of bacteria. They are also working against parasites and fungi.
Choosing an antibiotic will kill the desired bacteria, but not the cells in your body. Each different type of antibiotic affects different bacteria in different ways. For example, an antibiotic might inhibit a bacterium's ability to turn glucose into energy, or its ability to construct its cell wall. When this happens, the bacterium dies instead of reproducing. At the same time, the antibiotic acts only on the bacterium's cell-wall-building mechanism, not on a normal cell's.

Antibiotics do not work on viruses because viruses are not alive. A bacterium is a living, reproducing lifeform. A virus is just a piece of DNA inserted into a living cell to reproduce more of the viral DNA. Therefore, there is nothing to "kill".

Bacterial resistance to Antibiotics

The most serious concern with antibiotic resistance is that some bacteria have become resistant to almost all of the easily available antibiotics. These bacteria are able to cause serious disease and this is a major public health problem. Important examples are methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) and multi-drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

What to do to prevent Antibiotic resistance?

Solutions are to minimise unnecessary prescribing and overprescribing of antibiotics for example. Making sure to complete the entire course of the prescribed antibiotic is important so that it can be fully effective and not breed resistance. And of course, we must practise good hygiene and use appropriate infection control procedures.

See you Soon for more Sexy, less Sniffy, Science,

References
http://www.humanillnesses.com/original/At-Ca/Bacterial-Infections.html
http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/medication/question88.htm
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Infections_bacterial_and_viral

Science Cafés: Bringing the Sciences to a pub near you

My Dear Sexy Readers,

I have a couple of exciting news for you:

First of all, the next Cosy Science meet up will happen in a pub in Holborn (central London) and will address the subject of immunology. Immunology is the study of our immune system which is how our body is fighting against microbes for example in order to protect it from diseases.

During this special event, you will get to ask ANY question about it to the scientists who will be there!! I think that is a fantastic opportunity to finally understand what those school teachers were trying to make us understand or catch up on the latest discoveries in immunology. The QA session promises to be once again a lively one.

 

Cosy Science presents:"Everything you wanted to know about our immune system but were afraid to ask"
When: Tuesday 25th March 2014
What time: 7-10pm
Where: Cittie of York pub, 22 Holborn  

What it is about: The immune system is the ultimate master of self-defence. Its actions protect us from pathogens and cancers while allowing us to peacefully co-exist with the trillions of harmless microbes that inhabit our body. How the cells and molecules of the immune system achieve this delicate balance is not fully understood but rapid progress in this area is leading to a picture that is fundamentally distinct from earlier views. This new understanding of immune function offers exciting prospects for the development of new vaccines and therapies for human disease.

Secondly, the next Pint of Science festival is almost there and will transport us all over UK, with some international destinations too!! The idea behind this Science festival is to bring the Sciences to everyone in multiple pubs, cities and countries at the same time! Last year, I introduced their audacious first event on SSS, it turned out to be extremely successful. A bit like a music festival where you need to choose the stage depending on where your favourite artists will perform. Full programme is almost complete and I will update this post in due course with the latest news, so feel free to come and check it out again.

Pint of Science Festival

When: Monday 19th - Wednesday 21st May 2014
What time: Pub time
Where: Everywhere!
What it is about: Next Pint of Science festival will take place Monday 19th - Wednesday 21st May 2014. We will present four topics: Matters of the Mind (neurosciences and psychology), Understanding our Bodies (life sciences), Physics, Engineering and Chemistry, Planet Earth (earth sciences). We plan to expand to 7 different cities and 14 universities in the UK, and internationally to France, USA, Switzerland and the Republic of Ireland. 

No excuse for pretending not to know anything about Science, now is there? it's literally at your door step, welcome it!!

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,

What are Omega-3 and -6?

My Dear Sexy Readers,

This is something I have been on the lookout for quite a while now and certainly since I wrote the SSS article on Olive Oil - Better than Butter? I came across a few scientific papers with various claims on Omega-3 and/or -6 and their positive and/or negative effect on our health!

But the benefits or deleterious effects on our health are as contradictory as their varied nomenclature is confusing.
So here is my understanding - so far!

What are Omega-3 and -6?

Omega-3 and -6 are called essential fatty acids - Essentials because our body is not capable of making them even though they are necessary to the good development of our organs, notably our brain (hence the claim that eating Omega-3 rich food is important for school pupils - More on this here below).

For example, DHA (a type of Omega-3) is a major component of our brain and eye tissue and is vital during pregnancy and early infancy. It’s recognised by health authorities, professionals and nutritionists as a vital nutrient for promoting cardiovascular, brain, joint, nerve, vision, skin and immune health. 

For a quick recap' on what are fats, fatty acids and triglycerides, check out this previous SSS post on Olive Oil, better than butter?

Omega-3

Omega-3 can be found written as n-3 PUFA, ALA, EPA, DHA, ω-3. So what's the difference between all these?

PUFA is a general term and stands for PolyUnsaturated Fatty Acid - more on this HERE

ALA stands for Alpha Linolenic Acid - more on this HERE - and can be converted into EPA and DHA. It is not found in fish but in nuts and notable in flaxseed which is the richest source of ALA.

EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid) are found almost exclusively in fish and seafood, although these forms of Omega-3 are formed by their diet of single-celled marine organisms.  The oilier the fish, the more EPA and DHA are present. Exemples include salmon, mackerel and tuna.

Adult humans can convert ALA to DHA but only in small amounts, this is because it’s mainly used for energy whereas EPA and DHA aren’t.   

Omega-6

Omega-6 can be written n-6 PUFA, ω-6. It mostly comes as Linolenic acid LA from plant oils such as corn oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil, as well as from chicken, eggs, avocado, nuts and seeds. As you can imagine, we are consuming vast amount of Omega-6 daily. It can be converted into Arachidonic Acid AA. Another Omega-6 is Gamma-Linolenic acid GLA which was first isolated from the seed oil of evening primrose, but can be also found in safflower, blackcurrant, borage and hemp seed oils.

What happens to them once we have eaten them
If we look at the conversion mechanisms:

From HERE

Linoleic acid (LA) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) have 18 carbons. LA has 2 double bonds and the first one is at carbon 6, therefore it is a member of Omega-6 (C18:2n-6). ALA's first double bond out of the 3 is at carbon 3 so is part of the Omega-3 family (C18:3n-3). Both of these fatty acids (LA and ALA) are converted in the body to have more double bonds and increased number of carbons. LA is converted to arachidonic acid (AA) with 20 carbons and 4 double bonds (20:4) and ALA is converted to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) which has 20 carbons and 5 double bonds (20:5). EPA can be further converted to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) consisting of 22 carbons and 6 double bonds (22:6).

Why are they important?

Those converted products are precursors of Eicosanoids which are signaling molecules. For example, EPA is a precursor for prostaglandins-3 (inhibits platelet aggregation), thromboxane-3 and leukotrienes-5 group which are messengers involved in our immunity and inflammation response.

Both Omega-3 and -6 have pro-inflammatory effects, although Omega-3 less so than -6 or null depending on the tissue involved, which led to the popular understanding that -3 was anti-inflammatory is -6 was pro-inflammatory.

From HERE

Both Omega-3 and Omega-6 compete for the same enzymes (Desaturase and Elongase represented here above in the middle) that will lead to these pro-inflammatory Eicosanoids. 

Wikipedia tells us that the amounts and balance of these fats in a person's diet will affect the body's eicosanoid-controlled functions, with effects on cardiovascular disease, triglycerides, blood pressure, and arthritis.

(NOTE: Anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen, to name but a couple, act by downregulating eicosanoid synthesis.)

This competition for the enzymes sparked the wide belief that a balanced diet of Omega-3 and -6 was therefore essential for our body. Indeed, since our Westernized diet at an Omega-3 and -6 ratio of 1:20, due to the extensive use of Omega-6-rich vegetable oils, is far from the ideal 1:1 or the more realistic 1:4, it has been 'web-widely' speculated that it is the reason of our suffering from many diseases such as Cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, IBS & inflammatory bowel disease, macular degeneration, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, cancer, psychiatric disorders.

Do I need to take supplements?

As for anything, the choice is yours!

Following the belief that taking Omega-3 supplements was boosting pupils brain's functions, a couple of studies have tested groups of pupils either by giving them supplements or a placebo, or by measuring their DHA levels vs diet vs their school results. Needless to say, none of these studies have shown unequivocally that taking supplements was the cause for an increase in cognitive behaviour. Indeed, even the pupils taking the placebos, for the simple fact that they were watched over, were improving. Regarding the lab analysis of their DHA levels, let's remember that association is not causation!

After a quick search, I found another trial, but this time, properly managed with controls and all. The results show no improvement!

But unfortunately it's not only on pupils brain's activities that Omega-3 have shown to have no effect, but also on adults's cardiovascular function and accident's incidence!

A large, randomized, controlled trial failed to demonstrate a benefit to n-3 fatty acid supplementation in patients with cardiovascular risk factors. Admittedly, one weakness of the study was that it failed to account for variability in patients' diets. However, in 1999, the GISSI Prevention Trial found that n-3 fatty acids significantly reduced cardiac deaths in people who had already experienced myocardial infarction. And in 2008, the GISSI-HF trial found significantly reduced mortality and hospital admissions in heart failure patients given fish oil capsules in conjunction with standard therapy.

Personally, I think that cardiovascular incidents is a big umbrella underwhich many varied diseases are assembled. The little differences between each could bring out those differences in Omega-3 supplementation effects. It is my understanding that, in 2014, we still don't know for sure! 

But, I didn't see anywhere that it was bad for your health! So... The choice is yours.

(However if you do suffer from cardiovascular disease, do not take my word for it, I'm not a GP Dr. It's best to listen to your GP or specialist!)

But, Omega-3 or -6 are bad for our health?

Although studies suggest that intake of ALA supplements may moderately decrease the incidence of cardiovascular incidents, the results are either slightly statistically significant or just confusing.

There are also a number of studies suggesting that high levels of ALA in the blood and fat cells may correlate with an higher risk of prostate cancer. Although a dietary supplement of 2g did increase a blood biomarker for Prostate cancer, the results were not significant. Why mention it then?

Other studies dispute the relevance of stating such an effect when observational studies show no concrete difference. On the other hand, some studies show a protective effect or a genetic predisposition to prostate cancer enhanced by ALA. Again, these data are all very confusing and have to be taken extremely lightly.

If you'd like some intense reading on this, check out this open access review, that will most likely reassure you.

These 2 nice articles on debugging the "fake" 'link' between Omega-3 supplements and Prostate cancer along with the comments will give you some nice insight into how to interpret results:

The Huffington post
Dr Geo's post

What's SSS take-home message?

Eat Fish!

As for Omega-3 pills, look out for DHA and EPA levels. I came across this website, and I think if you'd like a supplement, this one looks the best thought of.

I'm tempted to say, stay away from Omega-6 supplements. That is for that reason that I stopped giving my baby SMA toddler's milk that contain Omega-3 and Omega-6 supplements!

I think we'll never repeat it enough, the point of being healthy is not by taking tablets of all sorts or binge-gyming (an activity whereby you go to the gym 3 times a week for only one month/year, usually in January), but by adopting a healthy durable lifestyle! For more info on Detox programs and healthy lifestyle, check out SSS previous post.

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,

References
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3865857/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19921446
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12442909
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/Prevention/38969
http://www.badscience.net/2010/06/the-return-of-a-2bn-fishy-friend/#more-1675
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0066697
http://paleozonenutrition.com/2011/05/10/omega-6-and-3-in-nuts-oils-meat-and-fish-tools-to-get-it-right/
http://www.barebiology.com/pages/what-is-omega3
http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthy-kitchen-11/omega-fatty-acids
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3859488/
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/96/6/1262.long
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15051847
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18951003