What's that coming over the hill, is it a Monster, is it a Monster? NO, it's Vietnamese Panga and Norwegian Salmon Fish :P

Every time I jump in the car after picking my boy up from his nursery, he wants me to play music I randomly buy for a pound from Poundland. Most of the times I just drop in into a local Poundland shop, look for something that might resemble my musical taste and buy a few CDs. With this practice I have been super lucky and found Franz Ferdinand's "The Fallen" or some really good stuff by the Kings of Leon. However, I've also been unlucky and got some very messed up choices... sorry Manic Street Preachers :P

The last time I went music-shopping at Poundland I got the album "Not accepted anywhere" by the Welsh band "The Automatic". And boy oh boy my son loves that "Monster" track. I play it every single day like 3/4 times for the kid's amusement. Hey, Kasabians of this world, bear in mind my kid is 3 and a half! 

Also recently, he has been into eating fish because of his nursery's menu; and I, being a vegetarian, cannot really advise him anything fishy for his meals. That's why I resorted to my wife who has a BSc in Marine Biology, and asked her for some tips on the matter. She is now an accountant and immediately jerked that responsibility to her mum, a really nice 'amateur chef' who immediately told us - "BUY ANYTHING BUT JUST DON'T GIVE HIM ANY NORWEGIAN SALMON OR VIETNAMESE PANGA FISH. THE MOST POISONOUS FISHES ON EARTH!"

Well, alarm bells rang in my head. I had to look into it... that's Toxicology right there asking to be investigated. And so I started reading, listening to stuff, inquiring until I found this incredible documentary entitled "Poisonous Fish: The Big Health Lie" starring a world renown environmentalist fighting alongside the Greenwarriors of Norway that goes by the name Kurt Oddekalv (for copyright reasons I can't embed the video here). But I am serving you the saucy facts right below, so steaming hot that you will learn that even schools are murdering their pupils with them poisonous food choices.

FACTS:

(Image from Raincoast Conservation Foundation)

Fact 1 - Over 2 million specimen cohabit restricted salmon farm spaces where disease, like the parasite sea lice that lodges onto the fish flesh and potentially kill them, spread and force the farming companies to spray their farming waters with neurotoxic pesticides. Sea-lice can become resistant to treatment which reinforces the use of more potent pesticides by desperate farmers. [1]

(Image from undercurrentnews)

Fact 2 - Due to low prices derived from modern farming conditions and due to market demands (Panga has become famous because it is odourless and tasteless, so chefs can add any flavour to it), the Vietnamese Panga Fish is now of the most consumed fishes in schools these days. 99% of the world production of Panga fish comes from Vietnam where poliphosphates are constantly used as practice. Even though poliphosphates do not represent an immediate health threat (they're just additives that facilitate freezing and artificially increase the fishes weight because they absorb water), they have been increasingly used these days in many other fish cultures. Gastric over exposure to this product might become a concern. For example, they are very common in codfish preservation (see post here). [2]

(Image from Slow Food)

Fact 3 - Most Panga fish are sick because of the river pollution where they are farmed in. These rivers have highly concentrated values of bacteria and algae that cause eutrophisation that is responsible for the low oxygen levels in these waters. In addition, farmers battle diseases by pumping enormous quantities of drugs to fight issues like bleeding in the fin area and liver disease. Antibiotics like sulphadiazine (used to treat meningitis) are regularly administered to the fish ponds generating ever more drug-resistant bacteria which in fact forces the farmers to administer even higher concentrations of antibiotics. And these antibiotics produce residues that are excreted or lost to nature and spread out, as well as accumulating in the tissues of the fishes. [3]

(Image from The Project Avalon Forum)

Fact 4 - In Norway, some of the pesticides used to combat diseases present in these salmon farms are the same that were used during the 1st world war to gas people, as believed by Kurt Oddekalv. [4] [5]

(Image from The Project Avalon Forum)

Fact 5 -  If it was only Panga and Salmon, but no, it's with the environmental conditions and not the subject animal farmed. Cods have been suffering genetic mutations that occasionally result in a mouth defect where they cannot close their mouths. A problem that in nature, according to Kurt Oddekalv, would take eight generations to clear out from their genotype.

(Image from The Hearty Soul)

Fact 6 - A wild salmon contains roughly 5-7% fat, but a farmed one will contain approximately in between 14.5% and 24% fat. Bearing in mind that the toxicants deposit predominantly in the fat tissue, these farmed salmons are large vessels of poisonous fat that researchers (e.g. Jérôme Ruzzin from the University of Bergen in Norway) have already related to increased obesity and diabetes, in studies conducted on rodents. The different pollutants found altogether in farmed salmon samples are among several others: endosulfan sufate (a highly toxic endocrine disruptor), and Dieldrin (a highly toxic pesticide likely to be carcinogenic and to act also as an endocrine disruptor). [6] [7]

(Image from esri)

Fact 7 - Surprisingly its not the pesticides sprayed onto the farming waters that represent the biggest threat, but those already incorporated in the dry pellets that are fed to these fishes. These pellets are concentrated protein and fat tablets that are made by companies specialised in fish feeds. In Europe, these companies buy mostly fatty fish coming from the Baltic sea, one of the most polluted seas in the entire world for it is surrounded by nine industrialised countries that dispose of their toxic residues into the Baltic waters. [8]

(Image from ChemService Inc.)

Fact 8 - Protein powders contain an antioxidant called Ethoxyquin (also known as Santoquin, Santoflex or Quinol) created in the labs by Monsanto (a biotechnology company).  This chemical was registered in 1959 as a pesticide to treat rubber, fruits and vegetables but can be found nowadays well above the 50 ug per kilogram concentration permitted by law in fishes analysed by the Swiss anti-fraud labs. Because of discrepancies in communications between parts (pellet-makers and fish-farmers) Ethoxyquin is being used well above what is supposed to. More surprisingly, this product has no specific toxicity studies performed (I could only find a review article) and the one Norwegian researcher who dedicated her PhD studies to the study of this pesticide lost her job and was forbidden to publish her findings. [9] [10]

(Image from The Budapest Beacon)

Fact 9 - Corruption to the highest level with terrifying impact on public health - It's a fearful former postgraduate that explains to us that there are no studies performed by the creators of Ethoxyquin on its safety. She discovered that the pesticide has the capacity to cross the blood-brain barrier, a boarder that should be impermeable to all toxic substances humans are exposed to. It's a startled former researcher that 'admits 'pressure from above organised in the shape of an old-time Italian Mafia. On the possible top of the pyramid we can find that research funding in Norway was cut to projects studying the toxicity of Ethoxyquin. And this entanglement of dark connections goes to the person responsible for the whole food security system in Norway; the same one holding stock participations and previous work relations with the world leader in dry-fish meal pellets. The moment you watch the whole video, find it here if it still is available on the web, you will find conflict of interest all over that network.

(Image from www.21food.com)

Fact 10 - With an ever growing demand for food from the Western contemporary 'obese and diabetic' societies, no fish is going to waste. The fish skin, let's take cod as an example, is used for cosmetics, the spines and heads are crushed into a pulp that is used in ready-meals and pet food. All that wouldn't be a problem if the list of ingredients was compliant with an honest description of the real product used. That is because a 'fish fillet' is one thing and a pulp comprised of fat, bone and sparse fish meat is yet a completely different thing.

I told my wife the other day that outside Portugal there's loads of corruption, to a degree that fortunately we don't even see in my home country. However, the impact in countries with the economy of Portugal is much bigger because for a country as rich as Norway one can hardly see the impact of such level of corruption if not in the long term. However, the impact on the health of those consuming fish coming from the Norwegian fjords, or even from Vietnam, where regulations are overlooked either due to an entangled mob-like networking or simply because of a relaxed supervision from authorities, will always constitute a crime against humanity... regardless of what they might say.


[1] Jansen, P. A., Grontvedt, R. N., Tarpai, A., Kelgesen, K. O., Horsberg, T. E. (2016). "Surveillance of the sensitivity towards antiparasitic bath-treatments in the salmon louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis)". PLoS One, 11(2): e0149006. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0149006.

[2] Sheard, P. R., Nute, G. R., Richardson, R. I., Perry. A., Taylor, A. A. (1999). "Injection of water and polyphosphate into pork to improve juiciness and tenderness after cooking". Meat Science, 51(4), pp. 371-379.

[3] Huysveld, S., Schaubroeck, T., Meester, S. D., Sorgeloos, P., Langenhove, H. V., Van linden, V., Dewulf, J. (2013). "Resource use analysys of Pangasius aquaculture in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam using exergetic life cycle assessment". Journal of Cleaner Production, 51, pp. 225-233.

[4] Smith, A. G and Gangolli, S. D. (2002). "Organochlorine chemicals in seafood: occurence and health concerns". Food and Chemical Toxicology, 40(6), pp. 767-779.  

[5] Shaw, S. D., Brenner, D., , Berger, M. L., Carpenter, D. O., Hong, C. S., Kannan, K. (2006). "PCBs, PCDD/Fs, and organochlorine pesticides in farmed Atlantic salmon from Maine, eastern Canada, and Norway, and wild salmon from Alaska". Environmental Science & Technology, 40(17), pp. 5347-5354.

[6] Ruzzin, J., Rasmus, P., Meugnier, E., Madsen, L., Lock, E-J., et al (2010). "Persistent organic pollutant exposure leads to insulin resistance syndrome". Environmental Health Perspectives Research Triangle Park, pp. 465-471.

[7] Aksnes, A., Gjerde, B., Roald, S. A. (1986). "Biological, chemical and organoleptic changes during maturation of farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar". Aquaculture, 53(1), pp. 7-20.

[8] Rheinheimer, G. (1998). "Pollution in the Baltic Sea". Naturwissenschaften, 85(7), pp. 318-329.

[9] Blaszczyk, A., Augustyniak, A., Skolimowski, J. (2013). "Ethoxyquin: An antioxidant used in animal feed". International Journal of Food Science, Volume 2013, pp. 1-12.

[10] Ethoxyquin:EFSA safety assessment inconclusive, European Food Safety Authority, [https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/151118], last visited on the 5th of April 2017, last update unknown.

Closure to homoSOYxuality

I have been a vegetarian for 20 years now, give and take. I've had my share of soy in the meals I cook, and also in the ones I have in restaurants. So far I can assure you that I still feel the same man, i.e., deeply in love with my wife, still feel attracted to the opposite sex (especially to anyone looking like Jennifer Lawrence, Natalie Portman, Monica Belluci or Charlize Theron), no shrinkage of penis has occurred so far (you'll have to trust me on that for I'll never post any proof on Instagram :P, I don't even have an Instagram account), and I am not infertile (two beautiful babies so far, but I'm stopping there and it's not about the soy beans, it's really that now I need to enjoy the kids and travel with them, show them the world, the different cultures and diversities so they don't blame soy beans for male homosexuality in the future).

I understand the political stance played by a scapegoat decoy, but we must be truthful to the available scientific data collected thus far. The best practice is actually to kind of lightly x-ray the previously referred literature (see post here) and see exactly what was measured, what agents were scrutinised and reference levels suggested to produce significant alterations (reference to these articles can be found in the previous post). Let's start then:

"Altered sexualy dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area (SDN-POA) volume in adult Long-Evans rats by dietary soy phytoestrogens"

A study using Long-Evans female and male rats where a Phytoestrogens-rich diet and a Phytoestrogens-free diet are put to test. There is a significant reduction in body weight and prostate weight observed, however, testosterone levels are not affected by the different diet treatments; and finally the Phytoestrogens-rich lifelong diet delays puberty onset without impacting on the cycle. The study does not check impact on humans and to be fair never intended to, but other questions we can distill are, for example, how many of us humans would indeed make a life based on phytoestrogens-rich diets? Most likely, no one. And how much phytoestrogens is too much? Where is the threshold? What other foods that make part of our diet also contain high levels of phytoestrogens, and what is a 'high level of phytoestrogens'???!

Again, this is not a judgmental analysis of the study, actually it's quite far from that, but instead a judgmental analysis of anyone using it as proof of soy impacting on human sexual maturation, per se.

"A soy supplement and tamoxifen inhibit sexual behaviour in female rats"

A study focusing on the patterns of sexual behaviour in rodents (rats) based on 'chemotrophism' triggered by progesterone and oestrogen. Diets containing different soy contents were studied as impacting agents on sexual mating behaviour a few hours after ingestion and analysed against a progesterone injection. Overall, the results indicated soy supplement as an oestrogen antagonist - bad news to certain people,  crude news in the overall picture -, but again, how much soy is too much, where's the threshold? I am not considering the study a limited one as to be fair it did study what was proposed in itself, but who can consider phenotypical/biochemical/endocrine changes to male biology simply based on these values? No one.

And to be fair I could go on and one with every single study discussed in the previous soy post, but it wouldn't take us anywhere. So I chose to discuss the hot topic, the one that really has been driving criticism against soy presence in diets go crazy, i.e., soy-based infant formulas.

"Safety of soy-based infant formulas containing isoflavones: The clinical evidence"

For starters, soy-based infant formulas provide a healthy alternative to those children who are lactose-intolerant. Moreover, they agree with the most strict regulatory and safety standards. A comparison study conducted at the University of Iowa, comparing between soy-based infant formula (SBIF) and human milk/cow's milk, and analysing mean weight in infants, resulted in no differences in the first 4 months of development. And a follow-up study of the adults who were fed either SBIFs or cow's milk showed that no differences were produced in their adult weight, for both males and females.

In terms of reproductive development the presence of isoflavones that some scientists attribute to impacting agents affecting sexual maturation stages of those fed with SBIFs, was also evaluated. But this article refers also other research articles written by intelligent people and not by lazy prophets of doom, that backup the complexity of extrapolating potential adverse effects (seen occurring in animal models) into the human biology.

I must quote the article on a few remarkable/excellent observations:

"...rodent studies investigating in utero exposure to isoflavones need to be interpreted in the light of the relatively lower estradiol levels in pregnant rodents compared with pregnant women. The fetal rat is exposed to picomole levels of estradiol whereas the human fetus is exposed to micromole levels of estradiol" [1].

"Fielden et al (2003) [2] studied the effect of gestational and lactational exposure to genistein on testicular weight and sperm quality in adult mice at levels comparable with or greater than human exposure. Results showed no significant treatment-related effects on male offspring body weight, anogenital distance, seminal vesicle weight, or testis weight. However, not all studies concur with these findings [3]". 

"In contrast, clinical studies showed that infants fed SBIF have normal reproductive development and later health. In an abstract, Businco et al (1999) [4] studied 34 children who had been fed SBIFs who were then evaluated at a median age 29 mo. A detailed physical exam included signs of sexual maturation and bone density, metabolic markers of bone, and one marker of estrogen. The investigators’ conclusion was that phytoestrogens in SBIFs did not induce hormonal effects".

And we could go on and on for weeks and get exactly the same feedback we have been comprising thus far. There isn't enough evidence that can suggest that phytoestrogens, to the levels that are fed to people, especially infants, can impact on sexual maturation. As to people turning gay because they are fed SBIF, what can I say???? Homosexuality has been among us since ever and now we need to blame soy for personal options??? What are people going to come up with next? That our politicians don't really want to corrupt, it's the air we breath that is making them selfish pricks?

Well, the judge is still out there for an eventual need to relate phytoestrogens to different sexual orientations. In terms of sexual maturation and aberrant sexual organs' development, we could very much blame parents for smoking, the tones of rubbish put into consumed meat, the completely makeshift foods that are sold in our supermarkets, the quality of our lives filled up with stress and anxiety, the incredible irrational intake of sugar and hydrogenated fats that are generating super obese newborns, the levels of lead that back in the 60s was present in the paint used in cradles and other furniture for children, or even the nail polish solvent ethyl acetate in toothpaste,  etc etc etc. 

I might bring up some hysterical/historical facts on that matter if you guys comment on this post and make me believe it's worth. See you soon and keep using soy, moderately as anything else... you wouldn't drink a whole cow would you? 

Bye!


[1] Clark, J. H. (1998) Female reproductive and toxicology of estrogen. Korach, K. S. eds. Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology 1998:259-276 Marcel Dekker New York.

[2] Fielden, M. R., Samy, S. M., Chou, K. C. & Zacharewski, T. R. (2003) Effect of human dietary exposure levels of genistein during gestation and lactation on long-term reproductive development and sperm quality in mice. Food Chem. Toxicol. 41:447-454.

[3] Wisniewski, A. B., Klein, S. L., Lakshmanan, Y. & Gearhart, J. P. (2003) Exposure to genistein during gestation and lactation demasculinizes the reproductive system in rats. J. Urol. 169:1582-1586.

[4] Businco, L., Bruno, G., Giampietro, P. G. & Furcolo, G. (1999) No oetrogens hormonal effects in long-term soy formula fed children. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol.103:S169.

Introduction to HomoSOYxuality

Every month I try my very best to get in touch with my relatives, especially now that I live over 985 miles from what used to be home. In one of those events I routinely label 'The Round', I call basically all my family (usually my aunts and grandma because I come from a very matriarchal family).  They love hearing from us, knowing about how the kids are growing so fast, their funny personalities, my day-to-day chores, how I've recently been threatened by a right-wing extremist in the middle of the streets, the good and the bad of a migrant's life. Some calls get to be super funny because one of my aunts always falls for my classic pranks where I play the role of a Brazilian salesman trying to get her to buy the newest internet package, or a Ukrainian construction engineer asking for a cab... I don't know why, but her naivety is so contagious that the whole family ends up laughing of her incapacity to recognise me amongst my million voices.

In one of those calls I ended up talking to my godmother. She is a secondary school teacher... I guess she is retired now, but the indoctrination spirit is still there, and quite alert! And she loves pharmacology in the 'hypochondriac' way. Well, not that she is a hypochondriac, I must say, but she knows basically everything a real hypochondriac needs to know to be a hardcore professional hypochondriac. 

And on that specific day she went on and on about stuff I am still trying to digest, advice after advice, nothing very technical or scientific in the data sense of the topic; but quite accurate, to say the least. It was all good until she started, like many other times in the past, complaining about my vegetarian options and my soy milk breakfasts. Straight away she told me she read somewhere, somewhen, that soy milk breakfasts end up giving you soy milk breasts... 'Do not feed that to your child, please avoid it'. I came to know that the web is filled with scare-articles about boys growing with reduced-size testicles and boobies so big they look like silicon implants. 

But what is in fact true about this new wave of articles relating soy (and its potent phytooestrogen daidzein - belonging to a group of isoflavones) to the appearing of female traits in male children? I had to investigate.

I immediately recalled having read an article, long time back, written by a redneck religious prophet bragging about soy being the cause of high homosexuality incidence rates in America. And when I read that article I honestly felt towards those prophets, like Albert Camus, when he once said:

But after, I realised that the best way to refute a secular supposed scientific preconception is by analysing the alleged scientific foundations that give roots to such false-belief. Could it be possible that there was a dash of scientific grounds to even remotely assume that soy consumption, due to its high oestrogen levels, can make you physically/behaviourally effeminate? I had to go straight to the scientific facts, the studies with no moral judgements from any third-parties whatsoever. I needed to make sure the assessed studies were based on physical and endocrine alterations and not a witch hunt everyone is already so sick of.

Study Title	Methodology and/or Goals	Relevant Endocrine/Physical observations
Altered sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area (SDN-POA) volume in adult Long–Evans rats by dietary soy phytoestrogens [1]	Animals were fed either a phytoestrogen-rich (Phyto-600) or a phytoestrogen-free (Phyto-free) diet. And also males or females fed the Phyto-600 diet (from birth) were switched to the Phyto-free diet.	Consumption of phytoestrogens via a soy diet, significantly: (1) decreases body and prostate weight, (2) delays puberty onset, and (3) alters SDN-POA volumes during adulthood.
A soy supplement and tamoxifen inhibit sexual behaviour in female rats [2].	Examined the impact of the selective oestrogen receptor modulator tamoxifen and a popular soy phytoestrogen dietary supplement on female sexual behaviour in rats. Ovariectomised female rats were given either tamoxifen or the soy supplement, then injected with oestradiol benzoate or oil (followed with an injection of progesterone) and tested for sexual behaviour after the progesterone injection.	Soy significantly attenuated paced mating behaviour in animals compared to controls acting as an oestrogen antagonist on female rats.
Safety of Soy-Based Infant Formulas Containing Isoflavones: The Clinical Evidence [3].	Discusses the available clinical evidence regarding isoflavones in soy infant formulas in relation to nutritional adequacy, sexual development, neurobehavioral development, immune function, and thyroid disease.	Available evidence from adult human and infant populations indicates that dietary isoflavones in soy infant formulas do not adversely affect human growth, development, or reproduction.
Oestrogens and phytoestrogens: brain plasticity of sexually dimorphic brain volumes [4].	Examined the consumption of phytoestrogen (using a phytoestrogen-rich versus a phytoestrogen-free diet) s from conception to adulthood (and shifting) to characterise (a) circulating plasma phytoestrogen levels, (b) testosterone levels in males, (c) sexually dimorphic brain volumes and (d) the presence of apoptotic cells in these brain structures in Long-Evans rats.	Consumption of dietary phytoestrogens can alter hormone-sensitive hypothalamic brain volumes in rodents during adulthood.
Changes in male reproductive system and mineral metabolism induced by soy isoflavones administered to rats from prenatal life until sexual maturity [5].	Determined the influence of high-dose soy isoflavones (daidzein and genistein) administered from prenatal life to sexual maturity on testosterone and oestradiol levels, testicular and epididymal morphology, the number of epididymal spermatozoa, and mineral metabolism in rats.	Relatively mild effects of phytoestrogen administration on the morphology of testes and epididymides and the number of epididymal spermatozoa were observed despite the high dose used.
Soy, phyto-oestrogens and male reproductive function: a review [6].	Examined the evidence regarding the potential detrimental effects of soy and phyto-oestrogens on male reproductive function and fertility in humans and animals.	Overall, there are some indications that phyto-oestrogens, alone or in combination with other endocrine disruptors, however, these results must be interpreted with care, as a result of the paucity of human studies and as numerous reports did not reveal any adverse effects on male reproductive physiology.

After analysing the overall observation of these carefully selected studies I came to the easy conclusion that there are so many latent questions to answer that it is almost impossible to do a proper job with a single post. Questions as simple as what can be considered a soy-rich diet, how much is too much for the human endocrine system, what daily consumption can be assumed to produce significant results, what exact indicators shift behaviour, and what is their significance in the holistic perspective of things?..., etc etc etc.

Like most of these articles suggest, the results need extreme care in their analysis and none favour a specific trend or school of thought. They are in need of yet a lot more data to actually impose anything conclusive. Therefore, I decided to give it yet another go. In the next post I'll be summarising the significant physical/endocrine/behavioural alterations that are indeed observed and described in the above mentioned articles.

***

[1] Lund, T. D., Rhees, R. W., Setchell, K. D. R., Lephart, E. D. (2001). "Altered sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area (SDN-POA) volume in adult Long–Evans rats by dietary soy phytoestrogens". Brain Research, 914(1-2), pp. 92-99.         

[2] Patisaul, H. B., Luskin, J. R., Wilson, M. E. (2004). "A soy supplement and tamoxifen inhibit sexual behavior in female rats". Hormones and Behavior, 45(4), pp. 270-277.

                       

[3] Merrit, R. J. and Jenks, B. H. (2004). "Safety of Soy-Based Infant Formulas Containing Isoflavones: The Clinical Evidence". The Journal of Nutrition, 134, pp. 1220S-1224S.

[4] Lephart, E. D., Rhees, R. W., Setchell, K. D. R., Bu, L. H., Lund, T. H. (2003). "Estrogens and phytoestrogens: brain plasticity of sexually dimorphic brain volumes". The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 85 (2-5), pp. 299-309. 

[5] Piotrowska, K. et al. (2011). "Changes in male reproductive system and mineral metabolism induced by soy isoflavones administered to rats from prenatal life until sexual maturity". Nutrition, 27(3), pp. 372-379.

[6] Cederroth, C., Auger, J., Zimmermann, C., Eustache, F., Nef, S. (2009). "Soy, phyto-oestrogens and male reproductive function: a review". International Journal of Andrology, 33(2), pp. 304-316.

Men on Pause? Hit play again!

I have been trying to write a serious article about SEX. Not because I think it's toxic, not at all, you just keep doing it as much as possible (the safe version, not the careless one). But mainly because a few months back I was reading an article about McAfee and his new adventure in the depths of some rain forest. Apparently he set up a lab with all the money he made with his namesake antivirus; looking for a miraculous pill that whoever gets there first will just win a golden rainbow. I talk of Libido enhancers for women.

Men are sexual beasts by nature!! Women look a lot more delicate and refined in what comes to sex. At least it used to be that way. If one triggers their moderate libido sky high by creating a "Viagra meets Pink Pill" who knows what nuclear thing can happen. It will definitely be the nuclear mushroom of the sexual encounters.

Playing edgy and trying not to be too rude for the more sensitive minds, I can easily declare that if I was the one to find this universe changing compound I would name it PussyCatDoll. You all know the PussyCat part, holistically and in its parts, let's just jump that explanation.... kind of feel like explaining it bit by bit... however, well... every time I think of a woman taking such libidinous pill, I see her transforming into Nicole Scherzinger, entering the room like a furious hurricane and leave all men present in a state of total hormonal chaos. I would actually bottle those pills in a jar with a "Biohazard" sticker on it and the image of Nicole going all erotic against the wind.

Well...

If you try the web and search for libido boosters for women, pills for increasing libido in women or any other aid that ultimately can make women more willing for fooling around, you will find a very well kept secret. Don't misinterpret my words, you will find information, actually loads of it, but you will also find a tremendous black hole of misguiding misinformation, sucking you into a deep abyss of very superficial concepts and a shallow touch on ingredients, active substances and the like. Companies do know that after oil, the black oil that makes our cars go forward, there is sex. And that is the second strongest lobby in the world. Just ask anyone you know and I can assure you that after Power (Authority per se), Speed and Sex are the verges separating mankind from noradrenaline ejaculations straight to the spinal chord (if such thing can be accepted by the anal retentive scholars of the endocrine philosophy).

To understand libido in women and how could a pill ever manipulate it, we must firstly look deeper into the periodicity of sexual desire. Singer and Singer (1972) separated the problem in two basic components: a period of heightened sexual desire within the menstrual cycle and 2) and the relationship between such period and the ovulation. Singer and Singer (1972) did not find any correlation between desire and spontaneous ovulation in women. But they indeed found that maybe there is a coitus-induced ovulation in most women, especially when sexual appetite is high. Most women I know who have the guts to talk openly about sex actually claim that the more they do it the more they want to do it. All right! This is a good indicator for the production of the pink pill, nonetheless it does not fully provide answers for the miraculous ingredient. Moreover, they also found that a woman's sexual desire usually peaks during the follicular phase or luteal phase, usually each subject adopts a trend from these two [1]. Here's another good point for the making of a pink pill.

These ideas may have been taken into account by the creators of Avlimil (made 100% of natural ingredients), a product for menopausal women. This known dietary produce works the hormonal imbalance characteristic of such period of bodily changes but is anecdotally had as a libido enhancer. It is based on Sage leaf (Salvia officinalis), Red raspberry leaf (Rubus Idaeus), Isoflavones from Kudzu root and red clover extract, Wax Myrtle (Morella cerifera), Licorice root (Glycirrhizia glabra), Capsicum pepper (Capsicum annuum), Damiana leaf (Turnera diffusa), Ginger Root (Zingiber officinale), Valeriana root (Valeriana officinalis) and Black Cohosh root (Actaea racemosa).

A watchdog website known as Woman's Health Weekly, tested a few libido enhancers specifically for women and accepts Avlimil has being a lot better than most of the products tested, however it is still far from being one of the two best they have assessed [2]. For this crew HerSolution (TM) is the first choice. They claim it boosts fertility and satisfaction during sex, works incredibly fast, and does not have any side effect. Nevertheless, they do not respond to my main question, i.e., does it increase libido in women instantly or in a matter of minutes, hours days? Maybe, Provestra (TM) responds better to this question. This same watchdog website claims that Provestra (TM) focuses specifically on the reasons why women lost sexual appetite, and bases its action on one very clever idea - promoting the blood flow to the genitals to increase "the sensation and possibility for extremely powerful orgasms".

For all those men who are already preparing crazy loads of ginger root juice, just calm down! Even though there are no side effects known, and the ingredients are basically the same between these three main brands. Why don't you do your own research with your partner. Women are known to be turned on tremendously by companionship, sharing, communication and kindness. Sit her down and review as a couple a list of ideas I browsed in the web to make your life easier:

1st) Apply some time understanding the human sexual response, here.

2nd) Read a good chapter on sex enhancing supplements, here.

3rd) Get to know Femvigor(TM), another product that claims quality, here, and then take your own choice.

After reading a few pages throughout the web you have to agree with the statement that this is the dawn of the T-Booster Era, the quest for the T-booster miracle as they say. A company that reaches a safe, sound formula for enhancing women's libido will make more profit than companies relying on petrol. Testosterone is the new bodily God. But where is the Goddess to this iconic hormone?

Enjoy!

[1] Singer, Irving and Singer, Josephine (1972). "Periodicity of sexual desire in relation time of ovulation in women". Journal of Biosocial Science, 4, pp. 471-481.

[2] Woman's Health Weekly, Avlimil, [http://uk.womanshealthweekly.com/pills/avlimil/], last ipdate in 2010, last visited on the 14th of March 2013.

He was Sean, but now Sonia... after Soy

Here I am today to discuss another matter brought to me by my mother... by email, this time concerning soy. Well, my mum knows I'm a vegetarian, but I think she was seeking for advice from her son-the science researcher rather than her son-the vegetarian. She really killed my brains when back in 1999 I decided to go green and animal-friendly. But that is nothing when compared to when on the phone I respond to her "Pray a little to God" when things in the lab are not going as fast and accurate as I want, and I reply "My God is the Universe" and these last two months He hasn't been listening to me, and then I respectfully laugh and let it go. But Mum, she never lets it go. When I dismay her God she becomes ballistic. For instance, after telling her for the tenth time I am not a Catholic, and hear her reply that "Yes you are", just for me to say "No, I am in fact a Pantheist" for her to close the matter with a fierce "You are a Catholic because you were educated as a Catholic, so stop saying rubbish"... I feel like Sheldon! What can I say? I am a Pantheist but my mom believes me not... when in fact what she is afraid of is that her Catholic education, transmitted to me throughout my early years as a person, probably failed to give me more than the moral grounds to operate as a human (and that is great, mum, really!)... it didn't give me any real perception of the existence of Hell, Heaven, a furious Almighty God seeking revenge whenever I misbehave and a bunch of Saints that come to have dinner at your place just for trying to kill you when you failed to convert water in wine and perform twelve ready meals out of a single fish.

This time a 'crazy' email was sent to my mother; an evocative of the poisonous profile of soy. Incredible bullocks or quite truth? I had to investigate, but I've been so taken by my PhD that I could not spare much time doing a proper in-depth research through both literature and my own brains. So I stopped today for that.

Soy... There's flavoured and unflavoured soy milk, soy yogurt, soy beans, soy beansprouts, soy butter, soy this, soy that, you go find it, it's huge. Apparently the person who emailed my mum emailed a bunch of other people as these days you're just easily forwarded someone's fear, you freak out and immediately forward your fears to someone else and the long chain of terror is built in a matter of a few seconds. On the tip of your finger lies the generator of a long chain of misconceptions. But The Toxicologist Today's readers are not stupid, they get informed, they read and think about things. 

Obviously there are phytooestrogens (known commonly as feminine hormones) in soy, and these hormones are also known for their important role treating menopausal women because these same phytooestrogens mimic the human oestrogens, however with lower power, around 1000 times less [1]. Only this email states that this hormone, so related to beneficial effects like the reduction of hot flushes in menopausal women, protecting women against coronary heart disease, lowering blood pressure, reducing the risk of osteoporosis, protecting against several types of cancer (breast, colon, prostate, skin, etc) is - in the opinion of it's creator -, one of the main reasons of homosexuality in the modern times. And to that, my friends, I don't know if I cry or if I laugh. Homosexuality, a pattern that exists from the time the human race found their way from the primitive soup's pot, suddenly for some people is due to diets rich in soy!!!

Then this email states that the modern trend of obesity among children is caused by soy and it's effects on the thyroidal gland, then teenagers become ever more obese. It's not the lack of sports, a sedentary life, consolas and video-games instead of going outside and play, fast-food and more carbohydrates than ever in our human history... for these people the reason is Soy. 

Another point they stress out. Mums not wanting to feed their children cow milk, swap to soy milk and suddenly in their perspective a few horrific things happen, i.e., male babies become gay and girls have their periods at the age of seven. They even state that male infants never happen to remember the time when they were not gay just because they were fed soy milk way too early in their lives.

I could not accept something so surreal and so biased. I accept science, scientific facts, research studies, principles and theories based in data, relevant data. I even accept miracles and magics when I am the one individual seeing them with my own eyes and only after exhausting all the possible scientific explanations. What I cannot accept is an email sent to people reading "Scientific studies from UK, New Zealand, Israel and France reveal that soy causes homosexuality, arrest physical development and male traits, can cause leukemia in infants and provoke thyroidal gland issues, subsequently, obesity" just like that. I accept any theory people come up with, but show me the studies, the data and the scientists who actually did such research.

Since I find this subject an offense to people who actually read and care for the facts, I decided to post hereby the guidelines for a healthy intake of soy, based on the Soyconnect.com with actual research articles cited so you can make your own judgment.

"Isoflavone intake ranges from about 30 to 50 mg/d. When isoflavone intake is not directly measured, it is easy to estimate because each gram of soy protein from traditional soyfoods is associated with approximately 3.5 mg isoflavone (this ratio does not hold in more Westernized soyfoods because isoflavone loss can occur with processing). [1]

"The dietary guidelines recommend consumption of three cups (six servings) of beans per week; recent data suggest Americans come close to meeting this modest recommendation although this intake still represents only about 10% of total protein, assuming ½ cup provides ~8 g and total protein intake is about 80 g/d. [1] 

The 2nd image up there contains the average levels of isoflavones (one of the two existing types of phytohormones the other one being lignans found in cereals, for example). For more information on a healthy soy intake go fetch on this great work by Mark Messina [2].

Just for closure. In my humble opinion, the two biggest and maybe sole real problems associated to soy is the way big farming companies have been destroying the Amazonian Rainforest (the Brazilian's Lunges of the World), and also the natural human stupidity and ignorance that whenever finds something good health-wise, explores that idea to the maximum thus making a venom out of a good ailment.

To sum up:

Soybeans - Better Health Channel [2]
"Eating soybeans can reduce the risk of a range of health problems, including coronary heart disease. Soybeans contain hormone-like substances called phytoestrogens that mimic the action of the hormone oestrogen. Health benefits for menopausal women could include fewer hot flushes, protection from coronary heart disease and lowered risk of osteoporosis. Whole soy foods like soymilk, soy yoghurt, soy bread and tofu are high in phytoestrogens."

But because I am a scientist, I want to give the power of speech to both sides. So if you actually think soy milk is making children gay, this article HERE is for you. This is actually the original text from where this email sent to my mum was generated. See you tomorrow, only this time I'll serve Codfish.

Image taken from SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone, [http://suppversity.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/leguminous-fish-poison-soy-saponins.html], last visited on the 08th of October 2012.

[1]. Soyconnection.com, Guidelines for healthy soy intake [http://www.soyconnection.com/newsletters/soy-connection/health-nutrition/article.php/Guidelines+for+Healthy+Soy+Intake+?id=233], last access on the 08th of October 2012, last update unknown.

[2]. Better Health Channel, Soybeans, [http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Soybeans], last access on the 08th of October 2012, last updated on February 2011.

New origin(?) and New methodology(!) - Reassessing Cushing's syndrome

Because I am having trouble respecting the schedule I presented myself earlier this week (loads of stuff going on in the lab, questions without answers and optimising procedures), I decided to, at least, offer my audience a few of the advances science made concerning Cushing's syndrome since I last presented my BSc thesis. Not that I think my thesis offered a brand new perspective to the world, possibly the only persons who read it were the ones who had to assess it and myself; in addition, rarely (in my perspective) an undergraduate studying a case-study will ever produce scientific roller-coasters. However, I'd like to know what has changed concerning this topic since the last time I deliberately "sat" on top of the ideas I was studying back in 2007. 

Possibly, if time and responsibilities allow me, then during the weekend I will finally post my BSc presentation and wait for the comments of those who know a lot more on the subject than I do. I'd also like to invite whoever studies or works in the fields of Toxicology, Endocrinology, Molecular Microbiology or similar areas, to just share their BSc presentations with us, it is a good way of making knowledge ever more accessible and show other people what you've been working on. Sometimes it might help others progress on their own research fields. No knowledge should ever be wasted.

Now! Focusing on two nice papers I recently found concerning this whole topic. The first one comes from Spain, more precisely from the Institute for Biomedical Research and the National Biotechnology centre, both in Madrid, also with the participation of the Asturian Oncology Universitary Institute, in Oviedo. They recently published an article concerning the growing role of DNA methylation on endocrine function where they briefly touch Cushing's syndrome:

This research group states that "The pro-opiomelanocortin [a precursor polypeptide involved in expressed in both lobes of the pituitary gland and once mutated is related to early onset obesity and adrenal insufficiency - tipical of the Cushing's pattern of symptoms I think],  gene plays an important role not only in the regulation of the HPA axis [hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal] and adrenal development but also in obesity". [1] 

These researchers say that pro-opiomelanocortin gene is functional in "ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome" [1]. The POMC promoter that shows normal features "normal non-methylation" in sane tissues is, therefore, "specifically demethylated in expressing tissues and tumors". [2] The methylation biomolecular and biochemical consequences can be found in the article, it wouldn't be respectful to disrispect copyrights, nevertheless they suggest that different levels of methylation can occur which will ultimately affect appetite and obesity [2]. The ideas might not be completely new as they even subliminally assume by referring very frequently the works of Newell-Price published in 2003. However, it does have significance especially for those who in the 90s underwent surgery and even though found themselves with recurrent Cushing's episodes, thus looking for another possible explanation to their problem. The later is but a personal hypothesis!

***

A second paper that I will very briefly touch concerns a new method for measuring cortisol in Cushing's syndrome patients. Length of exposure to glucocorticoids define how harsh Cushing's can be, thus representing a fine indicator for endocrinologists. I remember that back in 2007 I worked with around 15 years of data from one single patient; the data I analysed contained levels for salivary, serum and urinary cortisol... amongst other indicators. But very recently, a research team from Ontario, Canada, found a brand new perspicacious way of measuring and comparing past/present levels of glucocorticoids. Simply by adapting a salivary kit and testing for hair. Exactly, for hair!!! As they say in their abstract:

"The severity of Cushing's Syndrome (CS) depends on the duration and extent of the exposure to excess glucocorticoids... Current measurements of cortisol in serum, saliva and urine reflect systemic cortisol levels at the time of sample collection, but cannot assess past cortisol levels. Hair cortisol levels may be increased in patients with CS, and, as hair grows about 1 cm/month, measurement of hair cortisol may provide historical information on the development of hypercortisolism". [3], thus suggesting "that hair cortisol measurement is a novel method for assessing dynamic systemic cortisol exposure and provides unique historical information on variation in cortisol...", but has they say this is just too recent and better understanding of the limitations and advantages associated to this technique are necessary.

These are two simple ideas in a world of research; fresh principles that when thoroughly studied might provide a much better understanding of the ways to prevent Cushing's syndrome expressing, and even the methodology to comprehend how successful treatment is through time.

[1] Garcia-Carpizo, V., Ruiz-Llorente, R., Fraga, M., Aranda, A. (2011). "The growing role of gene methylation in endocrine function". Journal of Molecular Endocrinology, 47, R75-R89.

[2] Newell-Price, J. (2003). "Proopiomelanocortin gene expression and DNA methylation: implications for Cushing’s syndrome and beyond". Journal of Endocrinology, 177, pp. 365–372. 

[3] Thomson, S., Koren, G., Fraser, L. A., Rieder, M., Friedman, T. C., Van Hum, S. H. M. (2010). "Hair Analysis Provides a Historical Record of Cortisol Levels in Cushing's Syndrome". Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes, 118(2), pp. 133-138.