People spend a lot of money on air fresheners and household cleaners thinking that they are keeping their homes germ-free, unaware of the fact that they and their family members are inhaling toxins.
    Air fresheners and household cleaning sprays could be the cause of high rates of asthma across Europe.
    The European Community Respiratory Health Survey conducted across 10 European countries found that use of sprays on a regular basis increased the risk of developing the disease by between 30 to 50 percent. Even occasional use as little as once a week increased the risk. The study found that air fresheners, furniture sprays and glass cleaners had the strongest effect.
     Previous research at the University of California, Berkeley found that many air fresheners and household cleaners, especially those with pine, lemon or orange scents emit excessive levels of toxic pollutants.
     The 4-year study found that most of these products contained ethylene-based glycol ethers, which are classified as hazardous air pollutants by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency. Most of the household cleaners contained trephines which give these cleaning products the ‘clean’ smell. Trephines react with ozone and form toxic substances.
      “My suggestion is don’t stop cleaning, but clean with consciousness that cleaning products themselves contain materials that shouldn’t be inhaled,” said William Nazaroff, the study author and professor of environmental engineering at  University of California, Berkeley.

To clean cautiously, Nazaroff suggests:

• Keeping rooms adequately ventilated during and after cleaning.
• Using products in diluted, rather than full-strength form.
• Removing cleaning supplies from occupied rooms after cleaning.
• Avoid ozone generators and ionizers if terpine-containing products are used.

     Many people believe that taking multivitamins will present chronic diseases. But studies show that multivitamins may not provide the health benefits people expect from it and in some cases the opposite has been found.

       Dr. Tim Byers of the University of Colorado School of Medicine suggests people want to easily take a pill instead of eating a healthy diet and this is why they believe that vitamin supplements are relatively harmless.

     It is shocking to know that multivitamin supplements can actually cause more harm than good. (A recent study at the University of Washington reported that taking vitamin C, vitamin E and folate supplements did not reduce the risk of lung cancer) Another study but taking beta carotene supplements by smokers actually increased the incidence of lung cancer.

      Researchers at Copenhagen University Hospital found in trails involving 180,938 people that antioxidant supplements increased mortality by 5 percent.

       Dr. Christopher G. Slatore of the University of Washington states, “Our study of supplemental multivitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E and folate did not show any evidence for a decreased risk of lung cancer.”    

      World Cancer Research Fund says that there is not enough evidence to support the claim that multivitamins can lower the risk of contracting cancer. Prof. Martin Wiseman, medical and scientific adviser to WCRF has advised people to eat a healthy diet of fresh fruit and vegetables, rather than rely on supplements.

     Many Asian and African women feel inferior about their skin colour. They think a fair skin is more beautiful and are willing to squander a fortune on whitening creams that promise a fair complexion.

    Most of these skin- whitening creams contain hydroxyquinone-a bleaching chemical, Clobetasol–a strong steroid and mercury.

    How does hydroxyquinone lighten the skin colour? It strips the melanin, the skin’s natural pigmentation and inhibits its production. But melanin is the skin’s natural protection from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. When melanin’s production is suppressed, the natural protection to the skin against the sun’s UV rays is no longer available. The skin becomes susceptible to cancer. That is why the skin-whitening creams come with instructions advising people to use sun-protection creams along with their products.

      Clobetasol can interfere with the secretion of hormones in the body and can lead to infertility and obesity.

   People who have a stressful job ran a 70% higher chance of developing heart disease, compared to people whose job is not stressful, according to European Heart Journal.
     The study involved more than 10,000 UK civil servants, from messengers to top bosses. The study started 40 years ago and is continuing till today. The study monitored how stressful each employee rated his/her job, heart rates, blood pressure readings, eating habits, smoking habits, drinking habits and level of cortisol (a stress hormone) in the blood.

     The team leader Dr. Tarani Chandola from the University College, London, found a close link between CHD (Coronary Heart Disease) and job stress. The link was more pronounced among male employees than female employees.

     Research had already shown an association between stress and illness; but the reason for this association was not clear. The researchers in this study say they understood the biological mechanisms that have nothing to do with lifestyle. No matter what the lifestyle is, if the job is stressful, these biological mechanisms are persistently there.