Hydrogene peroxide beneficial health effects

Hydrogen Peroxide is old news to us. -Craig

Natural bleach 'key to healing'

Zebrafish are often used to investigate biological processes

Saturday, 6 June 2009 00:44 UKE-mail this to a friend Printable version


A natural bleach produced by the body appears to play a key role in marshalling the immune system to fight off infection and heal wounds.

US scientists, working on zebrafish, which have similar genes to humans, found a burst of hydrogen peroxide is released following a tissue injury.

This seems to be the signal for white blood cells to converge at the site of damage and begin the healing process.

The Nature study may help explain conditions such as asthma.

Asthma, obstruction in the lungs and some inflammatory gut diseases have all been linked to high levels of white blood cells.

Although zebrafish would at first appear to have nothing in common with humans, they do have similar genes and are widely used to investigate biological processes. This study could provide new insight on immune function and the causes of various inflammatory diseases in humans
Dr Leslie Knapp
University of Cambridge


The researchers, from Harvard Medical School, inserted into the fish a gene that glows in the presence of hydrogen peroxide.

They discovered that when the tail fins of these fish were injured, a burst of hydrogen peroxide was released from the wound and into the surrounding tissue.

Teams of white blood cells appeared to respond to this chemical signal, arriving at the site of the wound to begin the healing process.

When the researchers blocked the ability to produce hydrogen peroxide, white blood cells failed to respond to the injury.

Mysterious signal

Researcher Professor Timothy Mitchison said: "We've known for quite some time that when the body is wounded, white blood cells show up, and it's really a spectacular piece of biology because these cells detect the wound at some distance.

"But we haven't known what they're responding to. We do know something about what summons white blood cells to areas that are chronically inflamed, but in the case of an isolated physical wound, we haven't really known what the signal is."

In the human body, hydrogen peroxide is produced primarily in three places - the lung, gut and thyroid gland.

Professor Mitchison said: "Perhaps in conditions like asthma, the lung epithelia is producing too much hydrogen peroxide because it's chronically irritated, which, if our findings translate to humans, would explain inappropriate levels of white blood cells.

"This is certainly a question worth pursuing."

Dr Leslie Knapp, of the University of Cambridge, said: "Although hydrogen peroxide is routinely used for wound cleaning and prevention of infection, some laboratory-based studies suggest that hydrogen peroxide can have a negative effect on the healing process by interfering with the activities of cells that form connective tissue.

"This new study, involving a living organism, could provide new insight on immune function and the causes of various inflammatory diseases in humans."

Dr Elaine Vickers, of the charity Asthma UK, said hydrogen peroxide levels did appear to be higher in the lungs of people with asthma, but it was not clear why.

"We welcome any research that increases our understanding of the role that hydrogen peroxide plays in the body.

"This could shed light on the causes of asthma symptoms and potentially lead to new avenues for creating future asthma treatments."

Oral contraceptives linked to asthma

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Some women who use oral contraceptives may have an increased risk for asthma, according to results of a Scandinavian study.

The effect depends on body mass index (BMI), with the rate of asthma increasing as BMI goes up, Dr. Ferenc Macsali of Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, and colleagues report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

From 1999 to 2001, the researchers mailed questionnaires to women ranging in age from 25-44 years in Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Respondents included 4,728 women who did not use oral contraceptives and 961 who did.

After taking account of other factors that can influence the risk of asthma, the researchers found that women who took oral contraceptives were 42 percent more likely to have asthma.

When classified by BMI, however, the odds for asthma with oral contraceptive use were 45 higher for normal weight women and 91 percent higher for overweight women, but 69 percent lower for lean women.

The investigators did not gather data on the type of oral contraceptives being used.

The findings should be interpreted with caution, Macsali's team notes, and they advise that women not stop taking oral contraceptives.

"Women who believe they have asthma related to using the pill should discuss anti-asthmatic treatment with their doctors, and alternatively other forms of contraception," the researchers point out.

Even if their study's findings are eventually confirmed, they point out, "the individual health risks related to unwanted pregnancies are much larger than a slightly elevated asthma risk."

SOURCE: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, February, 2009.

Cholinated pools and swimming- 5 times asthma risk increase!

Swimming in chlorinated pools 'increases asthma risk five-fold'

Children who swim regularly in chlorinated pools are five times more likely to develop asthma, research has found.

By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
Last Updated: 2:05AM BST 25 Sep 2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics...-five-fold.html


Swimming is recommended as a good form of exercise for asthmatics because the warm humid air is less likely to trigger attacks than other physical activities.

But mounting research is suggesting that the chlorine used to keep the pools clean could be contributing to the development of the condition.

Researchers in Belgium studied the effects of swimming in outdoor pools regularly from a young age and found a strong link.

Previously the same team have found that indoor pools may also increase the risk of asthma in children.

It is thought the chlorine fumes floating around the surface of the pool may help to trigger the condition by irritating the upper airways.

There are five million people in the UK with asthma including more than one million children.

Prof Alfred Bernard, of the Catholic University of Louvain, Brussels, Belgium and his team examined 847 secondary school pupils with an average age of 15.

They had blood tests, lung function tests and parents completed a questionnaire about their exposure to pets, tobacco smoke, and pollution which are known to increase the risk of asthma. They were also asked detailed questions about their swimming habits and from that the researchers calculated the total number of hours spent in outdoor chlorinated pools during their life.

Children who had swum for the equivalent of one hour a week for ten years, more than 500 hours in total, were five times more likely to have the wheezing condition than children who never swam in outdoor pools.

Those with a predisposition to allergies, as shown by measurements taken from their blood, were up to ten times more likely to have asthma if they had swam for more than 500 hours in an outdoor pool, the study published in the European Respiratory Journal showed.

Children who had never swum in an outdoor pool and had only swum in an indoor pool for less than 100 hours in their lives were four times less likely to have asthma than the rest of the children studied.

The research team also found that children having regularly attended an outdoor pool before the age of seven were more likely to be allergic to cat or dust mite than those who had never attended an outdoor pool so young.

But children who swam in a pool sanitised using copper and silver showed no increased risk of asthma which suggests the chemicals and not simply swimming are responsible for the effect, the authors said.

The authors concluded: "In summary, the present study shows that the attendance at outdoor chlorinated swimming pools, at home or during holidays, is associated with an exposure-dependent increase in the risk of asthma.

"Since these associations were not found with the attendance of the copper–silver pool, they are most likely due to some airways damage caused by chlorine-based oxidants added to pool water or released at the surface of the pool as aerosols or gases."

The researchers advise parents not to over-chlorinate their own pool and not to send their children too frequently to poorly managed outdoor pools with a strong chlorine smell at their surface.

The most common way to add copper and silver to a pool is with a machine called an Ioniser, which attaches to the pipework and runs on electricity.

They have a copper and silver electrode that erodes away over time as the pool water passes over it with charged copper and silver atoms being released into the water.

Leanne Male, Assistant Director of Research at Asthma UK, said: “There are a number of studies to suggest that chemicals such as chlorine might be involved in the development or aggravation of allergic conditions including asthma. This is due to the fact that chlorine products may compromise protective cell barriers within the lungs, meaning people with allergic asthma are more vulnerable to allergens.

“However, for people with non-allergic asthma, swimming is an excellent way to keep fit and increase lung capacity especially in indoor pools as the warm humid air in the swimming pool is less likely to trigger asthma symptoms.”