Zinc and Colds

It is one of the few ingredients linked to shortening a cold. Unlike Vitamin C, which studies have found likely does nothing to prevent or treat the common cold, zinc may actually be worth it. The mineral seems to interfere with the replication of rhinoviruses, the bugs that cause the common cold.

In a 2011 review of studies of people who recently became ill, researchers looked at those who started taking zinc and compared them with those who just took a placebo. The ones on the zinc had shorter colds and less severe symptoms.

Battery Facts

A major site compared 40 batteries using fast drain and slow drain technology. Its findings mimicked other findings from a number of other tests. 

The resulting data yielded some interesting results. First, highest price is not highest value, and second, zinc batteries, although usually the cheapest are poor value as they drain faster than alkaline and lithium batteries. Brand name has no relation to quality, but are usually higher priced.

Bottom line is that buying the cheapest non-brand-name alkaline battery is almost always the best value. Lithium batteries last the longest, but are almost always not the cheapest. In the tests, Ikea alkaline batteries blew away the competition for best value.

Think about how often you change batteries for every day use items, such as TV remote, computer mouse, clock, smoke detectors, flashlights, etc., it is usually once every year or two, or even longer.

My advice - if you need long stable battery life (such as for a good camera), pay more and buy lithium. If you want the best value and do not mind changing batteries a bit more often, buy the cheapest alkaline you can find.

Another Ten Interesting Facts About Humans

1. Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day. Am glad I have not grown up.
   
2. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
3. The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet.
4. The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt light bulb. Your brain generates as much energy as a small light bulb even when you are sleeping.
5. The brain is much more active at night than during the day.
6. The brain itself cannot feel pain. The brain might be the pain center when you cut your finger or burn yourself, but the brain itself does not have pain receptors.
7. The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger and the nail on the middle finger of your dominant hand will grow the fastest of all. Nail growth is related to the length of the finger, with the longest fingers growing nails the fastest and shortest the slowest.
8. The lifespan of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average.
9. Human hair is virtually indestructible. Aside from it’s flammability, human hair decays at such a slow rate that it is practically non-disintegrative. Hair cannot be destroyed by cold, change of climate, water, or other natural forces and it is resistant to many kinds of acids and corrosive chemicals.
10. The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razorblades. Hydrochloric acid, the type found in your stomach, is not only good at dissolving pizza, but can also eat through many types of metal.

Common Cold

I 'caught a cold' a few weeks back, (actually it turned out to be pneumonia, contracted from a visit to the doctor and it is gone now). Anyway, it started me thinking about where the name 'common cold' came from.

The name "common cold" came into use in the 1500s, because its symptoms seemed to appear in cold weather. Of course, we now know that a common cold is not limited to cold weather. It seems more prevalent, because people spend more time indoors in close proximity to each other, sharing the virus.

It is difficult to catch a cold by eating something infected with cold virus. The secretions of the mouth tend to kill the virus and any that survive end up in the stomach where gastric juices quickly destroy them. Also, kissing a person with a cold will not cause you to catch it. The quantity of virus on the lips and mouth are miniscule.

There is no cure, due to the hundreds of varieties of viruses, but many medicines can mask the symptoms until it runs its course, usually a week or less. People are most infectious during the first 24 hours, even if the symptoms have not begun to show.

Zinc, echinacea, vitamin C, garlic, eucalyptus, honey, lemon, menthol, steam, hot toddies, alcohol, Zicam, chicken soup, and many other "cures" have been repeatedly tested and have been scientifically proven to not prevent or shorten the duration of a cold. At best they provide some physical relief. People believe these are effective because of the varied nature of colds. Some viruses only last a few days, while others last for weeks.

Flu shots are designed to prevent the most common type of virus and are effective for only that type. Antibiotics do not cure a cold as they work on bacteria and most colds are caused by virus. However, if it is bacterial, such as half of pneumonia strains, it does help. Bacterial pneumonia usually comes on suddenly and viral types take some time to develop.

Imagine a person with a four-day form of cold. If he does nothing he will be well in four days, but he immediately drinks a gallon of orange juice. A couple of days later he feels great and tells everyone that the vitamin C in the juice killed his cold. His story quickly spreads and everyone starts drinking orange juice. The vitamin C didn't cure it.

On the other hand, people who try a cure and find that it doesn't work aren't as likely to report it, because most folks do not brag about failures. Human nature and the variability of the cold virus create a situation where beliefs in cold cures persist in spite of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary.