How much tuna is safe to eat?

Just came across a cool tool over at the Environmental Working Group's site.  You enter in your weight (in pounds) and it tells you how much tuna -- albacore, light -- it's safe for you to eat each week.

EWG Tuna Calculator

Very useful.   Enjoy!

Product Review: Avalon Organics "Vitamin C Vitality Facial Serum"

After yesterday's eye-opening expedition down facial moisturizing product lane, I thought it was long past time for me to review some of my other daily-use applications.

Today's product review is for Avalon Organics "Vitamin C Vitality Facial Serum" from their "Vitamin C" product line. It's a serum I use fresh out of the shower and under my other face moisturizer on a daily basis.



Feels great going on, and I find it's good for making those dark circles under my eyes less prominent - especially in combination with one of Avalon Organics' other face creams in the Vitamin C line. Plus, unlike products in the lavender line, it doesn't tend to make me break out - a definite plus.

So here is the catch: the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety database gives it a 6/10, or "moderate hazard" rating.

What I'm trying to figure out is why, given that the highest warning number for any of the ingredients listed on their site is a "4".

Curious to find out more? You can go here to see the rating on the site. See if you can figure out why they're slamming this product, because I'm stumped.

Product Review: Avalon Organics Co-Q10 Wrinkle Defense Cream

Sometimes I feel like finding and using a good quality cosmetic product is a losing battle.

A couple of nights ago, while waiting for a prescription to be filled at Shoppers Drug Mart, I came across a face cream by Avalon that I’ve been wanting to try.  It regularly runs at more than $20-$25 per unit, even at my favourite lower-priced health food store; Shoppers was selling it off for $16.99.  So what the heck.  I got it.

Today (filed under the heading “why do I do this to myself??”) I checked on its rating in the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database online.  A rating of 4 – “moderate hazard”.

Although a breakdown of the individual ingredients show none at a high hazard level – most of the ingredients are at a low level, in fact – the kinds of hazards cover the complete list: cancer developmental/ reproductive toxicity, “violations, restrictions & warnings”, allergies/immunotoxicity, as well as “Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Neurotoxicity, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Miscellaneous,Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Contamination concerns, Occupational hazards”.

I suppose it could be worse. 

In case you also picked it up, here are the key ingredients to be concerned about:

  

For more information on this product from the Avalon Organics web site, go here.

To see the complete product review breakdown on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database (online) site, go here.

Experiment: Changing Supplements

According to several sources I've read about, adequate vitamin D ingestion can help support your immune system.  I tested as being pretty low on vitamin D so I started taking supplements of 1000 IU of D3 per day, which I increased (based on feedback from my naturopath) to 2000 IU per day.

In addition to this, I have stopped using hand sanitizer.  In fact, the last bug I caught was after using hand sanitizer so it occurred to me that it might be removing good bacteria as well as the bad stuff.

So here is my experiment:

1.  2000 IU of vitamin D3, in supplement form, per day.  (In case you're curious, I'm taking this SISU brand product)

2.  Hand washing.  I wash my hands almost as soon as I get home and before I start to work with food or do anything, really.  Back and front, using a natural soap if I can (it usually ends up being the fruit and vegetable wash liquid).

3.  Switched brands of vitamin C to the SISU brand as well -- I suspected that the Genestra product (C-1000 with bioflavinoids) I've been using for years was no longer quite doing the trick. One a day (1000 mg) of vitamin C.  This one has Ester C.

4.  Ran out of my normal calcium, so I started using the SISU brand of that as well.  It's a coincidence -- honest!  I'm taking 4 pills (2 with lunch and 2 in the evening) per day.

5.  My usual B-12 folic acid supplement in the morning when I remember to take it.  That one isn't SISU -- at least not right now!

OH!  I just remembered one other change I've made ... I'm drinking boiled water from the kettle at work rather than using (and re-using) either my stainless steel water bottle or plastic bottles.

Let's see how it goes ... fingers crossed ...

so ... do vitamins help or not? studies show ...

An old friend, who also happens to be a doctor down in the States, sent me a really interesting article from the New York Times yesterday on the results of studies done on vitamin consumption and their impact on health (News Keeps Getting Worse for Vitamins by Tara Parker-Pope, November 20, 2008).

Factoid #1: Long-term ingestion of vitamins C and/or E don't seem to help prevent cancer.

Factoid #2: Vitamins C and E do not seem to prevent heart disease.

Factoid #3: Vitamin C seems to not only protect healthy cells but cancerous cells as well.

Factoid #4: Vitamin E, especially when taken in combination with other vitamins and/or minerals, seems to actually account for a HIGHER mortality rate (4% if only taking vitamin E -- 6% if taking vitamin E in combination with other vitamins/minerals -- according to one study) than taking nothing at all.

Factoid #5: In one study, people being treated with radiation for neck and head cancer were given doses of vitamin E. It seemed to reduce the side-effects of the radiation, but the cancer recurrence rates seemed to be higher in the group taking vitamin E.

On a positive note ... well, it's not all bad. B12/folic acid is still a good thing if you're a woman of child-bearing age. And taking calcium does seem to help with osteoperosis if you're a woman over the age of 65.

It's a fascinating article - suggest you check it out.

drinking coffee protects your liver? who knew?!?

I am a coffee drinker.

But apparently, in some respects, that has now been found to be a good thing.  According to an article I just read online in RealAge, the benefits of consuming coffee include:

• improved liver function
• decreased mortality from certain diseases
• ingestion of some great anti-oxidants

Sounds (reads) too good to be true.  But if it is ... woo hoo!

Wander on over to Real Age to read this article or just the highlights if you want to find out more about this.

to vaccinate or not to vaccinate ... interesting article

Read an interesting article in the September/October 2008 edition of Mother Jones Magazine on the safety of vaccinations and your kids.

Given that I have a kid myself - and was torn when it came to vaccinating him - I was curious as to what this particular magazine writer's take would be on the subject. The author of the article, Arthur Allen, has written a book on the subject called Vaccine ... and seems to be saying that the problems associated with vaccinations are unproven, and that the risks of NOT vaccinating are so much higher.

One of the most interesting points he makes are that there is a corollary between educational level received and outbreaks of illnesses which would be otherwise covered by preventative vaccinations. PhD? Chances are better that you chose to not get your child those shots.

Worth a read -- check out the article and let me know what you think.

And if you want to pick up Arthur Allen's book, feel free to get it from Amazon.ca -- it will help support my book habit! :)