SMART HEALTH TIPS

Dangers with Plastic and Food

Dioxin Carcinogens cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Don't freeze plastic water bottles with water in them as this releases dioxin from the plastic. You should not heat food in the microwave using plastic containers. This applies particularly to foods that contain fat. The combination of fat, high heat and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of our body. Dioxin are carcinogens and highly toxic to the cells of our bodies. Instead use glass, Corning Ware, or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results ... without the dioxin.

TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's safer to use tempered glass, Corning ware, etc.

Remember when some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper? The dioxin problem is one of the reasons. To add to this: Saran wrap placed over foods as they are nuked, with the high heat, actually drips poisonous toxins into the food, use paper towels instead.

The Mouthwash Myth

The bad breath from that cheeseburger with extra onions you had for lunch will linger for hours - if you let it. Nobody wants bad breath, that's why big-brand dental product companies spend millions of dollars each year trying to sell you their breath-freshening products. For good oral hygiene there are other alternatives.

Problem is, most of these heavily advertised products simply hide mouth odors - or worse yet, compound the problem - with moisture-robbing alcohol and short-lived flavor additives. To be effective a mouthwash must attack and neutralize volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs), the rotten-smelling bacterial by-products mainly responsible for bad breath. Most commercial mouthwashes use alcohol - nearly 30 percent by volume in some cases - to actually kill the bacteria, but is that the answer?

"The use of alcohol in mouthwashes is an ironically poor choice," says Dr. Anthony Stefanou, D.M.D., a New York City dentist. "VSCs result from dead bacteria and epithelial cells. When alcohol is used to "kill the germs that cause bad breath" as touted by nationally advertised mouthwashes, those products may be fueling the carrier of bad breath by producing more dead bacteria! VSCs may also increase the permeability of the periodontal membrane, weakening the gums and making them more vulnerable to periodontal disease."

You need to neutralize these odor-causing germs and bacteria through an oxidation process.

Learn more about this topic and add your comments at the Breath Remedy Blog.