Chewing gumcan kill bacteria
Since childhood, older people warned kids that chewing gums are the culprit in tooth decay and dental cavities. But just 10 minutes of chewing gum can remove 100 million bacteria from your mouth, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands found that chewing gum can trap and remove bacteria from the oral cavity. In the study, five biomedical engineering students were recruited to chew two different standard types of spearmint gum for various lengths of time ranging from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. After they were through, the gum was spit into a cup filled with sterile water to be analysed, Medical Daily reported. There were about 100 million bacteria detected on each piece of chewed up gum, with the number increasing as chewing time increased.
low carb diet can affect digestion
low carb diets may be used as a weight loss tool by some people, but dieticians and nutritionists warn that the tactic may be contributing to a reduction in fibre intake and thus, helping in setting up health problems instead. The average fibre intake is already low and avoidance of foods like potatoes, a surprisingly important fibre provider, according to the latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey, is bad news for digestive health, reports femalefirst.co.uk. Potatoes provide 12 percent of the average adult intake of fibre, which is twice the amount we get from breakfast cereals and 30 percent more than a person’s intake from brown bread, including wholemeal bread. Fibre is crucial for good health and long-term population studies suggest it may help reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.
Beetroot juice can help heart patients
The new research by Wake Forest University looked at a small group of COPD patients who drank beetroot juice as compared to a placebo drink before exercise, Khaleej Times reported. “The intent of this study was to determine if acute ingestion of beetroot juice, which is rich with nitrates, prior to exercising could improve the exercise capacity of COPD patients,” said Michael Berry, chair of Wake Forest’s department of health and exercise science. COPD makes it difficult for patients to breathe and worsens over time. In turn, they tend to limit their activities, become more sedentary, and lose fitness and physical function. The findings showed overall that those patients who drank beetroot juice were able to extend their exercise time and had reduced exercise diastolic and resting systolic blood pressures. The research appeared in the journal Nitric Oxide: Biology and Chemistry.