Health is Wealth

A dimple is an anomaly of the muscle that causes a dent in the cheek, especially when the individual smiles. Some people have dimples in both cheeks, others in just one cheek. Babies are likely to have dimples caused by baby fat in their cheeks. When they lose their baby fat as they get older, their dimples disappear. Other children do not have them at birth, but may develop them later in childhood. In some people, dimples last only until adolescence or young adulthood, while in others they are a lifetime trait.

Dimples can be passed through multiple generations. The frequency with which a heritable trait is carried forth through genes is called penetrance.

Sometimes a variation in penetrance may also occur. Some individuals may carry a particular gene, but they do not manifest the traits associated with it. Nonetheless, they pass the traits to their successive generations.

Apart from that, sometimes the dimples may also be caused from spontaneous mutations that result in a dent in the cheek or a cleft chin that leads to dimples.

From my observation with my third daughter, her cheek dimple only started to appear (or perhaps much more visible to me) when she was about 7 or 8 years old. She’s got quite a deep chin dimple though.

With my two older daughters, they are fortunate to be blessed with deep dimples on both sides of their cheeks since birth. Their assets are inherited as my hubby has dimples and everyone else from his side of the family has dimples on their cheeks.  With my eldest daughter, her dimples used to appear prominently whenever she smiled. When she was about 8 or 9 years old, the dimples don’t quite appear anymore when she smiles. However, they are still there and deep as ever.

Dimples that have a similar appearance can occur in successive generations of a family. For example, in one family, it was observed that the siblings, their father, uncles, grandfather, and great-grandfather all had similar-looking dimples in both cheeks. In other families, dimples may occur in a child but are not seen in more than one generation.

Chillies are a good source of antioxidants. Forty-two grams of the spice would account for your recommended daily allowance of vitamin C, but that would make for a pretty strong spicy curry!  Chillies are also rich in vitamin A, as well as minerals such as iron and potassium.  Hot-heads who ate spicy food six or seven days a week have lower mortality rate.

While chillies are loaded with antioxidants, there may be some adverse effects on some individuals.

Eating chili can cause intestinal distress in some people. The symptoms may include abdominal pain, a burning sensation in your gut, cramps, and painful diarrhea.

Test-tube and animal studies indicate that capsaicin, a plant compound in chili peppers, may either increase or decrease your risk of cancer.

Eating chillies regularly has also been linked to faster cognitive decline.

A 15-year study of 4582 Chinese adults aged over 55 found evidence of faster cognitive decline in those who consistently ate more than 50 grams of chili a day. Memory decline was even more significant if the chili lovers were slim.

The study, led by Dr Zumin Shi from Qatar University, showed that those who consumed in excess of 50 grams of chili a day had almost double the risk of memory decline and poor cognition.

In 2018, a man from the United States who ate a Carolina Reaper as part of a dare in a hot pepper eating contest ended up in the emergency room with a thunderclap headache.

Both my middle and youngest daughters were born with thick, jet black hair.  My middle daughter had very thick, coarse and black hair as a young child. And the youngest daughter had very fine and black baby hair with big waves at the tip, like a doll.  But as they grew older, the color and texture of their hair changed, around the ages of 9 – 11 years old.  Both the girls’ hair changed color from black to brown, as with the texture. The middle girl’s hair texture changed from coarse to super fine and the youngest girl’s hair changed from super fine to frizzy and super curly!

My youngest daughter with super fine and black hair when she was a toddler.

Her hair turned frizzy and curly (sometime even kinky curly) when she was about 8 or 9 years old. The color changed from black to brown.

Why Did My Girls’ Hair Change Texture And Color?

Hair and eye color are mostly determined by our genes. But it’s not just by the genes we have, but also by whether those genes are turned on or turned off. And since genes can turn on and off throughout our lives, this means your hair color can change!

Many different factors can turn hair pigment genes on and off. These factors are not even completely understood by scientists.

Changes in hair color in kids and teenagers are most likely due to changing hormones. Hormones are chemical signals that the body uses to send messages between body parts. Changes in hormone levels can cause pigment genes to be turned on or turned off.

Hair colors can change well into puberty, as some genes aren’t “switched on” until the hormones flood the body in adolescence. Eventually, usually in the 30s, human hair stops producing melanin and begins to turn grey. Basically, it stops adding color to the hair. Gray hair tends to occur earlier in Caucasians and later in Asians.

This can happen in adults too.  Hormonal changes aren’t limited to puberty. Changes in age, nutrition, temperature, sun exposure and various other factors can cause our bodies to change the amounts or types of hormones we make.

The color of your hair is the product of a mixture of eumelanin (produces brown and black colors) and pheomelanin (produces red and yellow colors) in your hair. The amount of each type of melanin is typically unique to your genetic make-up – as is when those amounts will change and you’ll start to go grey.

What Else Can Change Hair Color?

Our hair color can change in ways unrelated to our genes. Harsh chemicals such as bleach and chlorine can change the chemical makeup of our hair. This can make our hair change colors.

When you go to the salon or bleach your hair, you are exposing your hair to very reactive chemicals. The main ingredient in hair bleach is hydrogen peroxide. When you put hydrogen peroxide on your hair, it reacts with the melanin pigments and makes them colorless. Hydrogen peroxide reacts faster with eumelanin than pheomelanin.

There are several other theories as to why hair changes color – sun exposure, medications, illnesses and hormones.

One theory is the sun’s UVB and UVA rays are being absorbed by your hair roots and the vitamin D has gone inside your scalp and it is sort of tanning your hair. Lots of direct sunlight will lighten anyone’s hair.

Usually, our hair will turn darker because eumelanin production increases as we age (until we go gray, that is). And because some genes are not switched on until triggered by the hormones first released during puberty, we might not show our “true” natural hair color until adolescence.

Hair is not the only feature to naturally change color as you age – for 10 to 15 percent of people, their eyes do too.

Can Hair Texture Change Too In Children?

If you’ve seen a baby or toddler’s soft hair and how it changes over time, similar changes also happen later in life. Around puberty, straight hair can turn wavy and its texture can change, or wavy hair may turn curly or kinky.  Coarse hair can change into fine hair too.

Why do these hair changes happen? 

A few hormones—thyroxine, triiodothyronine, androgen and insulin have been identified as the culprits behind these hair texture turnarounds. As a youngster’s body hits puberty, these hormones kick in and begin changing hair as well. Hormones also can impact hair growth.

I am quite a coffee lover but due to time constraint, only consume instant coffee. Drinking regular coffee is linked to many health benefits (1, 2, 3) The question is –  do these benefits apply to instant coffee as well?

For those of you who need your quick fix of cup of joe every morning, have you ever wondered how instant coffee is made?

Instant coffee is in fact made from real coffee. Whole beans are roasted, ground and brewed before they start their journey to becoming instant. What makes coffee instant is when all the water is removed from the brewed product, leaving behind dehydrated crystals of coffee. To make it coffee again, simply add water.

There are two ways to make instant coffee: spray drying and freeze drying.  Spray drying is achieved by spraying liquid coffee concentrate as a fine mist into very hot, dry air (we’re talking about 480 degrees F). When the coffee hits the ground, the water has been evaporated and it has dried into small, round crystals.

Freeze drying coffee involves a few steps. First, the coffee is cooked down into an extract. The coffee extract is chilled at about 20 degrees F into a coffee slushie. The coffee slushie is then further chilled on a belt, drum or tray to -40 degrees F until it forms slabs of coffee ice. The coffee ice is broken into granules. They’re then sent to a drying vacuum, where the ice vaporizes and leaves behind instant coffee granules.

So, is instant coffee healthy? Or does only freshly ground coffee contain all the health benefits?

Coffee is the single biggest source of antioxidants in the modern diet (4, 5, 6, 7).

This high antioxidant content is believed to be responsible for many of the health benefits linked to drinking coffee. Like regular coffee, instant coffee contains many powerful antioxidants (8, 9).

According to one study, instant coffee may contain even more of certain antioxidants than other types, due to the way it is processed (10).

One standard cup of instant coffee contains only 4 calories, and provides small amounts of potassium, magnesium and niacin (vitamin B3).  Moreover, instant coffee generally contains slightly less caffeine than regular coffee. For those who are trying to cut back on caffeine but can’t live without their daily cup of joe, instant coffee may be a better choice.

Instant Coffee Contains More Acrylamide
Acrylamide is a potentially harmful chemical that forms when coffee beans are roasted. This chemical is also commonly found in a wide range of foods, smoke, household items and personal care products. Instant coffee may contain up to twice as much acrylamide as fresh, roasted coffee.  Overexposure to acrylamide may damage the nervous system and increase the risk of cancer.

However, the amount of acrylamide you’re exposed to through diet and coffee is much lower than the doses that have been shown to be harmful. Therefore, drinking instant coffee should not cause concern regarding acrylamide exposure.  Always exercise moderation in your coffee consumption, as with other foods.

Instant Coffee and Cholesterol
Instant coffee has less cafestol than coffee made in a French press or Turkish coffee, according to Dr. Rob van Dam, assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. Cafestol is a substance that can elevate cholesterol. Both instant coffee and filtered coffee prepared in an automatic coffeemaker contain very small amounts of cafestol. If you already have high cholesterol or a family history of heart disease, instant coffee is a better choice than French-press or Turkish coffee.

Instant Coffee May Have Several Health Benefits

Given that instant coffee contains the same antioxidants and nutrients as regular coffee, it should have most of the same health effects.

Drinking instant coffee may:

1  Enhance brain function: The caffeine can improve brain function.

2  Boost metabolism: The caffeine may increase metabolism and help you burn more fat.

3  Reduce disease risk: Coffee may reduce the risk of neuro degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

4  Decrease diabetes risk: Coffee may help reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes (11)

5  Improve liver health: Coffee and caffeine may reduce the risk of liver diseases like cirrhosis and liver cancer (12 13 , 14)

6  Improve mental health: Coffee may help lower the risk of depression and suicide.

7  Promote longevity: Drinking coffee may help you live longer.

Coffee contains a complex array of bioactive compounds. The chemical processes used to create instant coffee alter or remove some of its nutrients.  Common sense dictates that this processing should lower the nutrient value of coffee. However, research has not confirmed this. In fact, as mentioned earlier, instant coffees may be richer in some nutrients.

Instant coffee is quick, easy and doesn’t require a coffee maker. It also has a very long shelf life and is cheaper than regular coffee.

Overall, instant coffee is a healthy, low-calorie beverage that is linked to the same health benefits as other types of coffee. But do exercise moderation in your instant coffee consumption.

Do you think you stopped growing at age 16 or 18?  Yes we may have stopped growing vertically at the end of puberty but did you know that some parts of your body continue to grow after the rest of your body is fully grown?

My youngest daughter keeps commenting that my ears seem to grow longer and longer each time she observes them intently.  I didn’t believe her and did a search on whether ears grow with age and bingo, they do! It’s confirmed by the US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health in this article.  And I learned something new because of my 11-year old daughter’s curiosity 🙂

Bones, stop growing after puberty and muscle and fat cells also stop dividing. But cartilage – that’s the plastic-like stuff in ears and noses – cartilage continues to grow until the day you die. Not only does cartilage grow, but the earlobes elongate from gravity. And that makes ears look even larger.

Like the nose, the ears are composed of cartilage and will continue to get bigger through your lifetime. In a study published in the December 1995 British Medical Journal, the width of participants’ ears did not increase over time, but the length did — by as much as 0.22 millimeters (0.0087 inches) a year [source: Juan].

So it’s really true. Older people do have larger noses and ears!