“Antibacterial Toothpaste: Harmful, Beneficial or Harmless?” Why do dogs lick their injuries? The fact is that dogs even lick our wounds, and that brings us to the question which was raised in medical literature almost half a century ago. Can dog saliva have any therapeutic properties? A number of immune defense mechanisms seem to work in saliva. One of them includes nitric oxide. Licking human skin leads to the production of nitric oxide, which is formed from nitrite present in saliva. This substance then kills the pathogens present on the skin. Nitrates come from our diet. How do we know that by licking human skin we get nitric oxide? Scientists have found a lot of volunteers who completely licked their hands. Today we have better wound cleaners, called soap and water. The truth is that we should never let pets lick us open wounds. This is because serious infections have been reported. I’m talking about this because they convert nitrates from diet The nitrite in the mouth has a significant impact on our health. Insufficient nitric oxide production It is recognized as the earliest change anticipating outbreak and advancement a number of chronic diseases, including high blood pressure, peripheral artery disease and a number of inflammatory conditions.
As you remember, nitrates come from vegetables – in particular from beet and green leafy vegetables. Beneficial bacteria on the tongue convert nitrates to nitrites, which can circulate throughout the body to form nitric oxide. All nitrates that bacteria didn’t manage to convert for the first time, sends our body back to saliva, to give bacteria a second chance. One way to come to the lack of nitric oxide production, first of all not eating enough vegetables. Sufficient consumption of vegetables should therefore be the first step in prevention. But if our bacteria die on the tongue, the cycle will be disrupted regardless how much vegetables we consume. Therefore, we should not use antiseptic mouthwashes. If you remember, I brought you this important study some time ago; this was probably the largest public health initiative in the western world. It focused on improving diet, especially for people at increased risk cardiovascular disease, which is our biggest killer. The most beneficial food for our hearts can be green leafy vegetables, because like beet, it contains a lot of nitrates.
If you drink a little beet juice, you can get a remarkable drop blood pressure in a few hours, but you have to swallow it. The nitric oxide pathway may be interrupted if you are using an antibacterial spit out the mouthwash or swallow the juice instead. Bacteria from the tongue play an indispensable role in the conversion of nitrate from saliva. So we have to eat enough vegetables and keep bacteria on the tongue happy. We already know that we should not use antibacterial mouthwash, but what about antibacterial toothpaste? There is a toothpaste on the market that contains an antibacterial substance called triclosan. The concerns raised were antibacterial mouthwashes; but how about toothpaste? We know it only through this study. Here are the levels of nitric oxide, nitrite and nitrate after brushing your teeth with regular toothpaste. Here you can see the result of cleaning with triclosan paste. No difference. You know, our beneficial language bacteria live in the cracks on the surface of the tongue, so when you brush your teeth and not your tongue, the chemical will probably not get there.
Is Triclosan Toothpaste Safe? Your heart will not lose the beneficial effects of beet. The use of toothpaste with triclosan may not be associated with any increase risks of serious cardiac events. Although studies in rats indicate that it may have an adverse effect on function thyroid gland, so it has not been confirmed in humans. The study was funded by Colgate toothpaste maker – no conflict of interest … They concluded that triclosan was both safe and effective.
It helps to significantly reduce gingivitis, plaque and gum bleeding. Independent expert opinion of the Cochrane Group however, it suggests that the reduction of these adverse events may be statistically significant, but may no longer be of sufficient benefit to be of clinical relevance. As far as safety is concerned, the reason why some countries are starting to phase out this substance are data like these.
Despite the lack of efficacy, this substance is so common, that most US residents are exposed to it. Because the rapid increase in obesity in the US corresponds to the launch of the substance and because there are two possible mechanisms, how triclosan could affect human weight – by interfering with the intestinal microflora or to hormonal balance – Stanford researchers decided to assess connection between triclosan levels circulating in human bodies and body the weight of these people. And they really found a connection between triclosan levels and an increase in body mass index (BMI). Researchers propose to conduct further studies on how to use this chemical it can affect human growth or well-being.
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