XEC more contagious
The latest subvariant of COVID-10 Omicron strain is XEC, a more contagious strain that is responsible for a lot of infections today, expected by experts to lead to massive increase in COVID-19 cases. XEC has spread to at least 40 countries, and reported in various states today.
The percentage of death due to COVID-19 for the week ending December 14, 2024, was 1.1 percent. The pandemic is still with us. We must be vigilant and careful. Employ mitigating measures when in public, especially for seniors and other more vulnerable individuals.
The CDC recommends everyone, including those who had been infected before or had booster shots more than 6 months ago, to get the new booster shot. Let us have the booster and play it safe. COVID-19 is still scary. Vaccines reduce hospitalizations and deaths, and have, so far, saved billions of lives around the world.
Oral health
The condition of our teeth, gums, oral cavity as a whole, impacts the health of our heart and our general health as a whole. Any infection, gingivitis or tooth decay, etc., spreads bacteria throughout our body, adversely affecting our cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, musculo-skeletal system. even our neuro system, including the brain
Oral infection initiates inflammation in all other organs, causing various ailments that are subtle and clinically not obvious, until the infection becomes very severe. Some of potential illnesses include heart attack, blood clots, pneumonitis, aggravated arthritis, dementia, to name a few. Oral health translates to overall health.
Visiting the dentist at least every six months, is not a luxury, nor only an option. Regular dental examination is a medical necessity, like annual clinical check-up and standard and other specific blood tests, etc. to ward off or detect diseases.
Prevention is a lot simpler and a ton better than a cure.
Conscious brushing
A few years ago, I received an email from a reader asking me about the proper way to brush teeth. Actual the regimen for daily oral hygiene (after each meal) includes flossing, brushing, and gurgling with a mouthrinse, preferably one containing stabilized chlorine dioxide, which gets rid of (and not mask) halitosis (bad breath). Chewing gums daily helps clean our oral cavity.
Personally, I do what I would describe as “conscious brushing,” where I concentrate on making sure no tooth is left unbrushed, front, top, back. The aim is, of course, to brush our teeth, our tongue (which is loaded with the most bacteria!), and the entire oral cavity clean, without missing any area. And only by being meticulous and fully attentive to the brushing can we achieve this.
Contaminated water
While pristine rivers in remote uninhabited areas of the world might theoretically have water clean enough drink, today, any “natural water” is not recommended for drinking, even from the well-protected glacial streams in places like Iceland, Artic regions of Canada, or Switzerland.
Test your water with a TDS (total dissolved solids) meter. Curious, I once tested the tap water in our old ancestral home in San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City, Philippines, and the TDS was 275 ppm. Lower than Las Vegas, which has 373 ppm. Tap water in Northwest Indiana has 145 ppm. Under-sink water filters yield water with 56 ppm.
Water with TDS of less than 50 ppm lacks essential minerals. TDS of 50-300 ppm is generally considered ideal, and 300-500 and higher are undesirable for drinking. TDS meters cost around $6-$15).
Distilled water has zero TDS level, but scientifcally not 100 percent pure. Costco’s Kirkland bottled water, 24 ppm. Mineral water, alkaline water, have higher, but safe, TDs levels.
Distilled water is for laboratory use, for humidifiers, CPAP machines, and other sensitive devices, or for cooking or for coffee or tea. It contains no vital minerals, so it is unhealthy to drink distilled water. It could lead to electrolyte imbalance which could have serious health consequences.
ZeroWater
One of the best water filters that is ultraportable and impressively effective is the 5-stage ZeroWater filter, which is sold everywhere as a 7, 10-cup pitchers, or as a larger 23-cup dispenser. Any faucet water going through this small filter will yield zero TDS, zero contaminants…except for microbes and parasites, which require UV light to eradicate.
It is may be an unintended public misinformation that ZeroWater is advertised as the “purest drinking water,” because medically speaking it is unhealthy to use water filtered by ZeroWater (with 000 TDS) as daily beverage, much like drinking distilled water, because they both lack the important minerals our body needs. Occasionally, when bottled water is not available, drinking this water with 000 TDS is not dangerous.
Water filtered by ZeroWater may be also used for devices, cooking, and perfect for making coffee or tea.
Removal of all minerals (good and bad) make the water taste flat. The 5-stage filters remove the harmful contaminants (calcium, lead, PFAS, glyphosate, arsenic, copper, nitrates, and byproducts of chlorine and cleaning disinfectants widely used in homes. The 6-stage and higher filters have UVC LIGHT to kill microbes and parasites.
Alkaline water
Unless a person is ill, with too much acid in the body, alkaline water is not a healthy beverage. This is an expensive, useless, and unsafe water to drink daily. Drinking alkaline water taxes the water-electrolyte system of the body, make it overwork to maintain a balanced, a normal physiologic, acid-base balance. The pricey ionizer machine to make alkaline water is a big scam. Nothing beats clean filtered water as a beverage.
Soft drinks
All forms of soft drinks, cola or uncola, regular or diet, caffeinated or caffeine-free and other sugary beverages are poison to the body, increasing the risk for metabolic syndrome. Energy drinks, with some reported heart irregularity and deaths among users, are obviously unsafe. Why spend money to get sick? Bottled water is the healthier drink, and less costly. Be smart. Wisdom is healthy.
Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is an international medical lecturer/author, Health Advocate, medical missionary, newspaper columnist, and Chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian foundation in the United States. He is a recipient of the Indiana Sagamore of the Wabash Award in 1995, presented by then Indiana Governor, US senator, and later a presidential candidate, Evan Bayh. Other Sagamore past awardees include President Harry S. Truman, President George HW Bush, pugilist Muhammad Ali, David Letterman, Astronaut Gus Grissom, noted educators, distinguished scientists, etc. (Wikipedia). Websites: Today.SPSAtoday.com, feunrmfmedicalalumni.org, on Amazon.com, view “Where is My America?” Email: [email protected]
