Zestz for LAUGHS

A guy goes to a travel agent and books a two-week cruise for himself and his girlfriend.

A couple days before the cruise, the travel agent calls and says the cruise has been canceled, but he can get them on a three-day cruise instead. The guy says "OK," and goes to the pharmacy to buy six Dramamine Tablets* and three condoms.

Next day, the agent calls back and says he now can book a five-day cruise. The guy says he'll take it. Returns to the same pharmacy and buys four more Dramamine and two more condoms.

The following day, the travel agent calls again and says he can now book an eight-day cruise. Guy says, "OK," and goes back to the pharmacy and asks for six more Dramamine and three more condoms.

Finally, the pharmacist asks, "Look, if it makes you sick, how come you keep doing it?"

Dramamine is a travel sickness medicine containing 50mg dimenhydrinate in each tablet; usually, for adults, two tablets are to be taken half an hour before the start of the journey.
Author unknown, this joke is not sponsored by DUREX or the makers of Dramamine but we hope you can see a connection to ZESTZ Moisturising Gel
;-)

Zestz JAZZ

Noryn Aziz LIVE at DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS

A classically trained singer, a qualified vocal coach, a natural lyricist and songwriter ... Noryn has made the R&B/jazz genres her forte with her powerfully weightless voice and blinding, exuberant live persona. Inspired by Ella Fitzgerald, Rachelle Farrelle, Jill Scott, Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu, here's a Malaysian-born singer set to reach a glorious closure she's been seeking, to come of age as an original singer/songwriter after a decade of vocalising standards.

Noryn Aziz is set to mesmerize music lovers with her rendition of jazz staples on Tuesday, 12 January 2010 at 9.00 p.m.

Get your tickets here: http://www.dfp.com.my/Performances/Upcoming-Performances/Noryn-Aziz.aspx

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Cut Risk of Advanced Prostate Cancer

Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and help prevent risk factors associated with chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and arthritis.

Omega-3 fatty acids appear protective against advanced prostate cancer, and even in men who carry a particular variant in the COX-2 inflammatory gene that is known to raise the risk of the disease. Previous research has shown protection by omega-3 fatty acids against prostate cancer, but this study by John S. Witte et al (1) is one of the first studies to show protection against advanced prostate cancer and interaction with COX-2.

The researchers studied 466 men diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer and 478 healthy age- and ethnicity-matched controls. Diet was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire and researchers genotyped nine COX-2 single nucleotide polymorphisms.

Men who consumed the highest amount of long chain omega-3 fatty acids had a 63 percent reduced risk of aggressive prostate cancer compared to men with the lowest amount of long chain omega-3 fatty acids.

The researchers then assessed the effect of omega-3 fatty acid among men with the variant rs4647310 in COX-2, a known inflammatory gene. Men with low long chain omega-3 fatty acid intake and this variant had a more than five-fold increased risk of advanced prostate cancer. But men with high intake of omega-3 fatty acids had a substantially reduced risk, even if they carried the COX-2 variant.

"The COX-2 increased risk of disease was essentially reversed by increasing omega-3 fatty acid intake by a half a gram per day," said Witte. "If you want to think of the overall inverse association in terms of fish, where omega-3 fatty acids are commonly derived, the strongest effect was seen from eating dark fish such as salmon one or more times per week."

1. Vincent Fradet, Iona Cheng, Graham Casey and John S. Witte. Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Cyclooxygenase-2 Genetic Variation, and Aggressive Prostate Cancer Risk. Clinical Cancer Research April 2009 15; 2559

2. Hovid’s molecularly distilled fish oil contains 18% EPA and 12% DHA. Besides Hovid's, we also carry many other brands of Omega-3 capsules. Come in and talk to our pharmacists.

Erectile Dysfunction and Smoking

Cigarette smoking is a major cause of cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, lung disease, and premature death.

Several epidemiologic studies have also suggested that cigarette smoking is related to increased risk of erectile dysfunction in men. Many of these studies however, were conducted among patients with established atherosclerotic vascular disease. Atherosclerotic vascular disease and its risk factors, including diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia, are major underlying risk factors for erectile dysfunction and these factors were not measured and not adjusted for in previous studies.

Jiang He, Professor of Epidemiology at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and his colleagues examined the association between cigarette smoking and risk of erectile dysfunction among 7,684 Chinese men aged 35–74 years without clinical vascular disease.

The team found that there was a significant statistical link between the number of cigarettes that men smoked and the likelihood they would experience erectile dysfunction. The association between smoking and erectile dysfunction was even stronger in participants with diabetes. An estimated 22.7 percent of erectile dysfunction cases among Chinese men might be attributable to cigarette smoking, says the study.

Although erectile dysfunction is not a life-threatening condition, it compromises well-being and quality of life. The Tulane study results suggest that smoking prevention should be an important approach for reducing the risk of erectile dysfunction.

1. Jiang He, Kristi Reynolds, Jing Chen, Chung-Shiuan Chen, Xigui Wu, Xiufang Duan, Robert Reynolds, Lydia A. Bazzano, Paul K. Whelton and Dongfeng Gu. Cigarette Smoking and Erectile Dysfunction among Chinese Men without Clinical Vascular Disease. American Journal of Epidemiology 2007 166(7):803-809

2. Picture credit: http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/omnivore/files/2007/12/smoking3-716130.jpg

3. If you have already have "it", don't despair, Zestz can help!

Heartfelt News

Being physically fit, not smoking, and maintaining a normal waist girth is associated with lower risk of CHD events, and CVD and all-cause mortality in men

Analysing the medical evaluations of 23,657 men aged between 30 and 79 years, Drs Chong-Do Lee, Xuemei Sui and Steven N. Blair(1) concluded that smokers who were unfit and overweight cut their life expectancy by an average of 14.2 years.

“To address health promotion and disease prevention strategies, it is important to increase healthy low-risk populations, which is a key to CHD (coronary heart disease) prevention,” the study’s authors wrote.

They found that the three factors contributed to a 59 per cent lower risk of CHD events, a 77 per cent lower risk of death from CVD (cardiovascular disease) and a 69 per cent lower risk of all-cause mortality, compared with men with none of these low-risk factors.

Men with a normal waist girth(2) and who were physically fit and not smoking had a 59% lower risk of CHD events (95% confidence interval [CI], 39%-72%), , a 77 per cent lower risk of death from CVD (cardiovascular disease) and a 69% lower risk of all-cause mortality (95% CI, 60%-76%), compared with men with none of these low-risk factors.

Men with two or three combined low-risk factors had lower blood lipid levels (total cholesterol, lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides), blood pressures (systolic and diastolic), fasting glucose levels and lower frequencies of diabetes and cigarette smoking, all of which may contribute to slowing the progression of early atherosclerosis.

1. Chong-Do Lee, Xuemei Sui and Steven N. Blair. Combined Effects of Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Not Smoking, and Normal Waist Girth on Morbidity and Mortality in Men. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(22):2096-2101. 2. Normal waist girth is approximately 95cm in both sexes.
2. Photo credit: http://www.nsma.org.au/pics2000/fatboy4.jpg

虱子病是屬於季節性的疾病嗎？

虱子病是屬於季節性的疾病嗎？肯定不是！一般而言，其爆發時間點是不分季節的，學
校假期或開學期間為其活躍期。

現今虱子的傳染已和個人衛生習慣沒有什麼直接關聯，它可能出現在清潔或肮脏的頭
髮，主要的傳播途徑是因它會隨著我們移動而落戶到所接觸的媒介。

虱子的存在如同蟑螂一樣已有上千年歷史，它們和所有生物一樣會隨環境的變遷而調適
自身的功能來達到生存目的，人類是不可能完全擺脫它的糾纏，但卻有方法來控制或阻
止它的擴散。

基於虱子不會跳或飛，其傳播途徑是靠著頭與頭的接觸，由原宿主的頭髮慢慢的移動到
新宿主的頭上，這也正因為小學生玩耍時在肢體上接觸的比較頻密，所以成為虱子宿主
的幾率會高過青年及成年人甚多。

有什麽方法可以有效的阻止虱子傳播？

基本上，我們只能避免和頭虱子宿主的頭接觸，前提是必須確認對方已被頭虱子感染。

再來，我們也要常檢查孩子們的頭髮，以確保他們不會成為頭虱子的新宿主，萬一不幸
感染並進入活躍期，必需馬上治療。新宿主的家庭成員或有頻密接觸的朋友都要進行例
常的檢查，並進一步對染上活性虱子的宿主進行治療。

沒有任何療法可以百分百的根治頭虱子或虱卵，而虱卵需6至7日才能孵化，所以必須在
首次的療程後的7天進行追蹤治療，才能降低復發的可能性

Photo credit : https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfOWLQRtDo31lJwKPbTGdfpwRBefelV5jGPiTy_H5Xvi6ZIJgbum_NxkGh1SPiD7YXgP0jvF2w04Yv0DSLN3CZSQwYP6xZdEHOVNAx65nqs9wGxOJ1bvAehig2J3scQpVtoi9R5F7bEfku/s400/DSC00068.JPG

Carcinogen - FREE BBQ

Carcinogenic compounds are formed when meat and fish are barbecued, grilled, broiled or fried.

There’s a way to reduce the significant risk of exposure to some of the carcinogens formed during high temperature cooking by just marinating the meat with some spices.

Smith JS and his coworkers¹ found that marinating with rosemary extracts can inhibit the formation of these carcinogenic compounds in cooked beef patties by 61 to 79 percent. This confirmed the 1998 findings by Murkovic M et al².

Rosemary (Rosmarinus offtcinalis L.), is a plant native to the Mediterranean. Several compounds within the lipid fraction of rosemary have antioxidant properties. One of these, rosmanol, is an odourless and tasteless constituent that has antioxidant activity about four times greater than compounds sometimes added to foods during commercial production such as butylhydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylhydroxyanisol (BHA)³.

If you like a more pungent marinade, Thai spices can inhibit the formation even further, by about 40 to 43 percent⁴.

1. Theibaut A. et al. Dietary Fatty Acids and Pancreatic Cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. J Natl Cancer Inst, 2009, 101: 1001-1011

2. Murkovic M, Steinberger D, Pfannhauser W. Antioxidant spices reduce the formation of heterocyclic amines in fried meat. Zeitschrift fur Lebensmittel-Untersuchung und -Forschung. A, European food research and technology. 1998, vol. 207, no 6 (67 p.) (32 ref.), pp. 477-480

3. Amagase H, Sakamoto K, Segal ER, Milner JA. Dietary Rosemary Suppresses 7,12-Dimethylbenz(a)anthracene Binding to Rat Mammary Cell DNA1'2. J. Nutr. 126: 1475-1480,1996.

4. Smith JS, Ameri F, Gadgil P. Effect of marinades on the formation of heterocyclic amines in grilled beef steaks. J Food Sci. 2008 Aug;73(6):T100-5. 11

5. Picture credit: http://kildare.ie/Events/images/bbq-country-style-ribs.jpg