Looking At Potatoes With New Eyes — Hello Ultimate Diet Food

Potato a starch rich vegetable has always been considered something of an anti-diet food, but new ground breaking research results from McGill University are going to change the way we judge our side order of French fries or baked/mashed potatoes. According to this interesting study published in the journal of “Molecular Nutrition & Food Research”, high potato consumption in mice led to decrease weight gain when fed on obesity-triggering diet. The research team has concluded that the high concentration of polyphenols in potatoes might be responsible for this weight retarding action.

Slimming Power Of Tuberous Spuds

Polyphenols — a disease-fighting chemical component found in fruits and vegetables helps prevent the body from absorbing glucose and converting it into fat. Potatoes reportedly are a richer source of polyphenols even more so than the popular sources like blueberries or green tea.

In the study, a special variety of mice prone to weight gain were fed a diet with more than 60 percent of calories coming from saturated fat. One group of mice were also fed polyphenol-rich extract derived from Russet Burbank and Onaway potatoes, weight gain was reduced by as much as 63 percent — even among mice that consumed the largest quantities of saturated fat.

Mice that started out weighing on average 25 grams put on about 16 grams. Meanwhile, mice that consumed the same diet but with a potato extract gained much less weight: only 7 more grams. This study brilliantly shows us that a simple potato extract may limit weight gain from a diet that is high in fat and refined carbohydrates.

The control group in this research showed no health benefit among any mice when synthetic versions of the top four polyphenols in potatoes were substituted for the extract.

The daily dose of extract in the study came from 30 potatoes, the research team doesn’t advise anyone to eat 30 potatoes a day (because that would be an enormous number of calories). The McGill team is suggesting controlling obesity with natural potato extract and currently they are in the process of planning a new study to confirm these results in humans.

Potatoes long been considered an anti-diet food and have been shunned from dieters plates, this study gives hope to weight watches worldwide that you can finally have your cake and eat it too. 

An Ode To Amino Acids - The Unsung Heroes Deserving A Central Place In Our Skincare

Amino Acids are building blocks of the human body that make up our DNA, hormones, enzymes, collagen, elastin, bones, muscles, hair, skin, and nails. Up until recently, the significance and benefits of Amino Acids have been widely discussed when it comes to replenishing them in our daily diet, by consuming foods that are high in protein.

While this is still important, the new well-grounded fact is that our bodies can absorb Amino Acids when applied topically to the skin. With this de novo understanding, incorporating Amino Acids into skincare products has begun to receive tremendous enthusiasm from people all over the world.

Understanding Skin & Body Composition

Water accounts for 60-70% of our body weight, a person weighing 50 kg contains about 30-35 kg of water and the skin plays an important role in holding this water content. Our skin consists of 4 layers: the subcutaneous fat layer, the dermis about 2-3 mm in thickness, the epidermis about 0.1 mm in thickness, and the stratum corneum just 0.01 mm in thickness covering the surface.

The inner 3 layers are made up of living cells. The epidermal cells keratinize in about 2 weeks and then move upward to the surface to form the stratum corneum to finally come off as scales after a 28 days turnover. A healthy and moist feel of the skin (dewy skin) depends largely on the water content in this stratum corneum.

Amino Acids Are Skin's Natural Moisturizing Factors

Amino acids are critical natural moisturizing factors (NMF) in the stratum corneum. When epidermal cells die and turn into the stratum corneum, proteins in the cells are degraded to amino acids and transported to the stratum corneum. Most of the NMF in the skin is made up of Amino Acids and Pyrrolidone Carboxylic Acid (PCA) derived from glutamate, an amino acid.

Being natural moisturizing factors Amino Acids act as ideal skin hydrators when employed in skincare AKA the best moisturizers.

Collagen “The Skin Plumper” Is All Amino Acids

Collagen, the dermal bolster known to keep the skin supple, actually consists of various Amino Acids.

Many skin problems such as roughness, dryness, dark discoloration of the skin and aging are largely related to lack of amino acids. Scientific evidence has pointed out that the stratum corneum of patients with atopic dermatitis or skin irritation/inflammation is deficient in Amino Acids compared to healthy people.

The Benefits Of Amino Acids In Keeping Skin Youthful

The main contributing factors to the deterioration of our skin are ageing, toxins and UV/Sun Exposure. These factors deplete Amino Acids present in our body and when amino acids diminish, our body's natural rhythm for maintaining the skin slows down which in turn, makes our skin age even faster.

Studies have highlighted the role of Amino Acids as antioxidant that constantly prevent oxidative damages to our skin and body. Amino Acids are also natural cell membrane stabilizers and as such ensure the health and vitality of skin cells against extrinsic and intrinsic aggressors.

As Amino Acids are major components of collagen and elastin, they play a vital role in assisting skin to maintain a healthy barrier. Having a healthy barrier in the skin is important as it enables skin to hold on to existing moisture that is present, and also provides a block, or barrier, to foreign particles which may try to enter and damage the skin.

Serving up Amino Acids to the skin through skincare products helps to stimulate the production of collagen and elastin, which in turn maximizes the healthy barrier function of the skin while keeping skin tone firm and improving elasticity, color and suppleness.

Amino Acids Are Gentle On The Skin

Amino acid-based skincare and cosmaceuticals do their job gently without causing any irritation or side effects, almost like nature is caressing your skin. If you wash your hands with an ordinary soap about 10 times at 30-min intervals, skin begins to turn dry and rough. However, amino acid-based surfactants are not likely to leave this effect. The pH of the skin is an important reason for this fact. The skin under normal conditions is weakly acidic with a pH of 5 to 6. After repeated washing with a strongly alkaline soap, the skin turns alkaline. This is one of the causes of rough skin. Amino acid-based cleansers & soaps exert their cleansing power under pH conditions as close to the natural pH of the skin as possible thus preserving the ideal hydration level of the skin.

Similarly looking at skin moisturizers, we know that most moisturizers work either by occluding the skin so water loss from skin is stopped or act as humectants attracting water from dermis. Emollients are another group of moisturizers that employ oils to fill up spaces between skin cells to reduce water loss from skin. Most common occlusive agents petrolatum, lanolin, mineral Oil, silicones, zinc oxide feel greasy on skin and with regular use weigh the skin down they also occlude skin pores leading to break outs, acne and folliculitis etc. Humectants like glycerin, sorbital, urea, alpha hydroxy acids and sugars do bring in water but they can also cause skin irritations and some people don’t find them cosmetically elegant to use. Emollients like cholesterol, squalene and fatty acids are not always effective plus they do weigh the skin down with regular use. Amino Acids on the other hand work effortlessly in their natural envoirmental keeping skin hydrated by being the natural moisturizing factors, making themselves an effective, natural and risk free choice – Ideal and safe moisturizers.

Amino Acids Are Also Easy On The Environment

Cosmeceuticals discharged with sewage, like soaps and detergents, must be biodegradable. Even if Amino Acids are discharged into water in rivers lakes or sea, this will not lead to environmental destruction as long as microorganisms "eat" and degrade them to carbon dioxide and water. Amino acids, components of living things, readily return to nature. 

Journey To A Lush Mane Can Start With A Jolt From Joe

Rupunzel & Cousin Itt were probably coffee junkies, as Joe reportedly helps bulk up thinning hair and promotes hair growth —Yup, according to the scientific circles caffeine in addition to jumpstarting your neurons in the morning also stimulates your hair follicles.

A latest study published in the British Journal Of Dermatology has shown that caffeine counteracts the suppression of hair shaft production by testosterone hormone (major cause of balding in men) and stimulates hair growth. During the study micro-dissected hair from men and women were treated with testosterone alone or in combination with caffeine. Caffeine not only helped retard the action of testosterone hormone on the hair follicles but also stimulated and promoted hair growth directly and through growth factors that help prevent hair cells from dying or going into a dormant state. Female hair follicles reportedly showed higher sensitivity to caffeine than male follicles —Extra bonus for ladies rejoice.

Previously in a similar study published in the International Journal Of Dermatology back in 2007, scientists had treated weakened hair follicles with a caffeine solution and had reported that the speed of hair growth was increased by up to 25 percent with caffeine stimulation.

The recently done study has explored the actions of caffeine in much more detail and given us a solid reasons to employ caffeine as our daily hair fix along with its regular role of our circadian wake-me-upper & energy fix.

Before you dash out to get yourself a shot of double espresso take a pause —To get the follicle stimulating benefits from a cuppa joe to your scalp, just sipping a latte isn't going to cut it. To obtain an adequate dose to stimulate your locks you'd have to drink between 50 to 60 cups loaded with caffeine every day —which might actually will stop your heart before you’d see any hair spurt, hence strongly advised against.

To battle hair thinning and shedding and reap caffeinated perks for your hair, specialized hair care products loaded with optimal formulations have to be used. Such products for hair stimulation have been lining up the pharmacy shelves and judging from how common hair loss problem is I am going to predict that these battery acid infused hair stimulants are going to as popular as Starbucks if not more.

Starbucks board of directors please take notes, let’s collaborate and come up with scalp boosting capillum-latte shampoo and lotion.