Thursday, June 26, 2008

Regular vs Tea Tree Oil Toothpaste and Mouth Ulcers - Results after One Week


Regular toothpaste, the stuff of nightmares. (Photo by james_michael_hill)

A while ago I mentioned that I had ran out of the tea tree oil toothpaste I'd been using to get rid of the mouth ulcers that appear every now and then. During the first few weeks I didn't see much difference, but after that there was a longer than usual period of ulcer-free brushing.

A week ago I bought a tube of regular toothpaste, and the very next day I noticed a new ulcer. Whether that had something to do with the toothpaste or not is hard to say, though. Luckily it also went away after a few days - usually it takes at least a week. I did take 1,000 mg of vitamin C daily during the next few days, which may have helped.

I will continue using the regular toothpaste to see whether there is any difference to the tea tree oil toothpaste.

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Monday, June 23, 2008

Biotin Supplements: Strengthening Hair & Nails


Hair, nails, horns - biotin will help grow anything. (Photo by foxypar4)

I've started a new experiment: I'm taking 5 mg of biotin daily to see whether it has a visible effect on hair and nail growth. According to Wikipedia,

Biotin is often recommended for strengthening hair and nails. Consequently, it is found in many cosmetic and health products for the hair and skin.

The Recommended Adequate Intake is only 30 micrograms for males age 19-70. Biotin deficiency is rare, so supplementing with biotin is questionable:

There are, however, no studies that show any benefit in any case where the subject is not actually biotin deficient.

Still, some people have claimed that they have noted benefits after adding more biotin to their diets (just Google "biotin hair"). A lot of supplements contain only 5-50 mcg of biotin, which probably won't make any difference unless you have a deficiency. The strongest supplement you can get in Finland has 5 mg (which is equivalent to 5,000 mcg) and is sold as an animal supplement, though it is used by people as well, since it's cheaper and contains more biotin than products meant for humans.

The supplement will last for a month, after which I'll try to review the results using my unscientific and subjective methods.

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Monday, June 16, 2008

Fat camp - day 43


Goodbye fat camp, I will miss you. (Photo by The Stakhanovite Twins)

I weighed myself yesterday and was glad to see that my weight had climbed to 61.5 kilos. 63 would have been pretty good, but I think I might have to settle for this, unless I manage to gain some more muscle by hitting the gym.

You'd think gaining weight was easier than anything, but when you're eating healthily, it's not that simple. I've had the occasional pasta during these past few weeks, but I'm not too keen on going on a high-carbohydrate diet. Instead, I've tried to get my extra calories from chocolate, fruit smoothies made with heavy cream, and the one ingredient that seems to be included in all my diets - beer.

In any case, I'm going to take a break from fat camp for now.

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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Preventing Mouth Ulcers with Tea Tree Oil Toothpaste - Results after Two Months


Tea tree toothpaste is spesifically made for wooden teeth. (Photo by GraphicReality)

The tea tree oil toothpaste tube I bought has finally ran out. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I went to the dentist last week and found out I have a dental cavity. Of course, there's no way of knowing whether using the toothpaste had anything to do with it, and in any case, avoiding dental caries wasn't the primary reason I bought the toothpaste.

The real reason was to see whether it would help me get rid of mouth ulcers, and yesterday it struck me that I haven't had a single one since I last mentioned them. This was almost one and a half months ago, which is pretty good, but not really proof of the toothpaste working, since I did have a couple of ulcers during the beginning of the experiment.

I'm afraid I may have to buy another tube to confirm the results. Or I might try a normal toothpaste to see whether the effect was due to something else.

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Sunday, June 8, 2008

Topical Tea Tree Oil for Hair Growth


Use tea tree oil and never have to shave again. (Photo by Koshyk)

Fat camp (i.e. my attempt at gaining weight) is still running, but since I haven't been able to weigh myself lately, I don't have anything too interesting to write about.

Instead, I've begun a new experiment that uses tea tree oil - yes, the same magic ingredient that seems to have done nothing for my teeth. I'm sure it has some antibacterial properties, but the toothpaste that I used is clearly no miracle product. Last week the dentist was scraping tartar from my teeth so intensively I thought she was mining for gold.

Antibacterial properties are apparently not the only properties tea tree oil has. There have been some studies that suggest that tea tree oil is antiandrogenic, which means it inhibits the effects of male sex hormones. In this study, kids using lavender and tea trea oils developed gynecomastia - that is, they grew breasts. Probably not something you'd want to have as a man, but antiandrogenics are very popular because of their potential to stop hair loss and/or increase hair growth in men.

At least, that's how they're supposed to work when applied to the scalp. On other parts of the body, it's a different game. I'm assuming that if it grows hair on the scalp through its antiandrogenic effects, it should do the opposite when applied to other areas. And why is that, you ask? Because the hair follicles on the scalp are "handled differently" by the body than hair follicles elsewhere (yes, this is my best scientific explanation for it). We've all seen men with hair everywhere else but the head.

To see whether these claims have any validity, I will conduct a rigorous examination of the effects of tea trea oil by rubbing it on to my right leg daily for the next month or so. I'm going to use sesame seed oil as a carrier oil. I will declare the experiment succesful if there is a difference in hair growth between my right leg and left leg (you know what I mean).

Or if I develop breasts.

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