That's Fit

Cinnamon is one of those spices that can liven up many dishes, and while tasty things often aren't good for you, this is one exception -- cinnamon is exceedingly healthy. It has a number of benefits, according to The Healthy Snacks Blog, including these top five:

1. Cinnamon has antifungal, antibacterial and antiparasitic properties. This means it can help fight yeast infections, lice and ulcers.

2. Cinnamon has anti-inflammatory properties. It can reduce your chances of strokes and heart disease.

3. Cinnamon can help lower bad cholesterol and it can help manage blood sugar levels and diabetes.

4. Cinnamon is an excellent source of manganese, dietary fiber, iron and calcium.

5. Smelling Cinnamon can improve your memory.

So enjoy cinnamon, but make sure you do it in moderation -- it can be toxic in large doses. And please note that large, doughy cinnamon buns are not an ideal source of cinnamon -- but they're a great source of fat and calories.

How do you use cinnamon in your diet?

A new study shows that both red and white wine, even without the alcohol, may help fight cavities. Although it's interesting, it's really nothing to get too excited about just yet. The research was done in Italy by putting wine (with the alcohol removed) and bacteria together in test tubes to see what would happen. Both wines were effective in killing bacteria types that cause cavities and throat infections, but it seemed that red wine may have been slightly better. Researchers also did some tests on just the acids found in the wine and found that they seem to be the real reason behind the anti-bacterial properties.

Of course you shouldn't start chugging a glass of wine every night instead of brushing your teeth, but who knows what research like this might lead to!

The age-old adage of washing up before dinner has some strong implications when you consider how much bacteria could be hitching a ride on dirty hands. All kinds of nasty illnesses can result from improper hygiene. Way back when before everyone had fancy antibacterial cleaners, soap got the job done. But now that we can simply rub on a hand gel or spray a surface, it begs the question: are we really choosing the right weapon against bacteria?

Microbiologists are beginning to think that antibacterial products don't quite clean as well as traditional methods. In fact, they could be doing more harm than good! These cleaners leave behind residue that can help build resistant bacteria, whereas soap and water do not. Why is this? It's due to the fact that antibacterial products don't kill everything, and the strains of bacteria left over become even stronger.

After the bacteria become tolerant of these cleaners, cross-resistance is possible. This means they start putting up all kinds of defenses, including protection against other things like antibiotics. One example they discovered was for a compound found in many hand and wash cleaners. Prolonged exposure to this common antibacterial cleaner caused mutations in the bacteria. Not only did they become stronger, but they somehow built a resistance to an antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis. While this has only been shown in labs, the potential is there in the home. If you're a healthy individual, experts suggest sticking with soap. However some people with lesser immune systems may have to rely on antibacterial products.

Honey has been around since the beginning of time, and with technology giving us so many artificial and chemical alternatives for everything from sweeteners to healing aids to beauty products it's easy to forget that something so simple and "old" has such an amazing list of benefits and properties. Good for everything from sweetening your tea to helping with insomnia, honey also has antibacterial properties and can sometimes even help with seasonal allergies.

This makes all the news lately about the honeybees struggling and disappearing especially distressing!

These days, it seems like so many products use the label 'antibacterial' as a selling point. I know I've chosen the antibacterial version of something over the regular one, but I might not anymore after reading this. The article provides three reasons not to use Antibacterial products:

1-They are bad for the environment, and have turned up in fish, waste water, and even breast milk.
2-They have lead to resistant strains of bacteria.
3-They don't do us any good. Colds and flus are caused by viruses, not bacteria. Plus, according to this, a little bacteria is good for you -- it helps build a healthy immune system.

I did a little digging and found that antibacterial products have actually been linked to cancer, which is pretty scary considering these products are everywhere. I think this is a good lesson in not believing everything corporations tell you.

Olive oil isn't just good for your heart (and your stir-fry veggies), it's also good for your stomach. According to a new study coming out of Spain, virgin olive oil is effective in fighting the bacteria H. pylori, which infects the lining of the stomach and causes millions of cases of gastritis and ulcers each year. The H. pylori bacteria has several strains, but olive oil has been shown to be effective against eight of them, including 3 which are resistant to traditional antibiotics.

The study was done with oil and bacteria in a lab setting, so the next step is to see if the results hold true in the human body.

You may have heard of the ingredient triclosan - it's commonly used in antibacterial soaps and even some toothpastes. Earlier this year, triclosan received some negative press for its part in creating antibiotic-resistant germs. Also, when triclosan mixes with the chlorine found in most tap water it creates chloroform, which is not something I want to be exposing my skin to several times a day.

Just in case these stories weren't enough to get you to ditch the antibacterial soap, here's one more reason. A new study discovered that triclosan is also a synthetic endocrine disruptor, which means that it can disrupt the body's hormone-signaling system. Washing with plain soap and water usually leaves your hands plenty clean, but if you feel you need something more, alcohol-based sanitizers are a safer alternative to triclosan soaps.

Antibacterial clays are earning some respect as a legitimate medicinal tool. Like most people, I usually associate clay with spas... things like clay facials and relaxing body masks. But new research is uncovering powerful antibacterial properties in certain kinds of natural clay.

I'll warn you that this article gets pretty technical, but if you can wade through the chemistry terminology this information is pretty amazing. Certain clays are powerfully medicinal, while others have no effects at all or can even be harmful, depending on when and where the clay was formed. Soon we may see antibacterial clay being used to fight certain types of bacterial infections where traditional methods, like penicillin, are failing.

The antibacterial products found absolutely everywhere nowadays aren't really doing what they promise, and appear to be harming the environment instead. Not only did the FDA determine that there is "no added benefit" to using antimicrobial products in place of regular soap and water, but many of the toxic pesticides used to make products antiseptic resist water treatment efforts. TCC, the most commonly used antimicrobial, has been found in increasing amounts in surface water, municipal sludge (which is used to fertilize crop fields), and in as many as 60% of U.S. streams. It has been linked to cancer and reproductive disorders in mammals, and blue-baby syndrome in humans. And TCC's relative, triclosan, is known to promote growth resistant bacteria such as E. coli.

The antibacterial product market has exploded over the last several years, and despite repeated urgings from the American Medical Association, TCC and other chemicals are currently not regulated. With no proof of any benefits, and as much as 1 million pounds of dangerous chemicals being released into the U.S. every year, this is proving to be one really bad idea.

Numerous studies have shown that your desk is riddled with germs, and that the "typical worker's desk has hundreds of times more bacteria per square inch than an office toilet seat." Since so many people eat their breakfast, lunch or at least a snack or two while seated, busily clicking away at the keyboard, this makes for some rather disturbing food for thought. Before shelving the idea of eating in the office altogether, or keeping an industrial sized and sanitizer next to your computer, check out the new Antibacterial Mouse from Elecom. It is only available in Japan at the moment, but it connects using a USB port, so it should work with any plug-n-play computer. The mouse has a special resin coating that prevents bacteria from growing on it, so you can rest easy -- at least until you start using the keyboard. Maybe we should all switch to voice-recognition software ...