SMELLY
COHABITATION …..
Symbiotic organisms! That is how the human body has been described by an article published
in June 2006 issue of the Magazine Science. We are an amalgam – a mix of bacteria and human cells. According to some estimates, 90% of our body cells may be actually bacteria. The human body relies on hundreds of bacteria for survival. Adults carry up to 100 trillion microbes, representing more than 1000 different species. These bacteria are not only important for digestive and immune system but also for giving clues for various diseases, nutrition, effects of drugs etc. Some of them also cause diseases. They cohabit in our body and there is no way we can filter the good from the bad. Thus, we must also learn to cohabit with the bad and the ugly. After all God cohabits with Satan! Otherwise when He created the world, why did He create Satan also? Forgetting the lessons of
cohabitation may be costly for us. Tests conducted by Dr. Phillipa – Darbre at London’s Reading University on effect of
deodorants showed that removing foul smell the easy way could be a costly proposition. The deodorants are a danger to the fair sex – they may increase the risk of breast cancer. The chief convict is the aluminium compound found in almost all types of deodorants. These compounds which block the sweat glands killing all the bacterias have the similar effect as oestrogen (sex hormone), known to help increase the cancer cells. The application of the deodorants on the armpits may lead to breast cancer in women if they penetrate into the skin. In case the compounds do not penetrate into the skin, they will still carry the killer effect. The reason - they kill all the bacteria of the armpits - harmful as well as useful. After all chemicals do not have brains. Hence they do not discriminate. Thanks to the deodorants and the advertising agencies that boost the sale of such non-essentials, the useful bacteria too get killed leading to decrease of life-sustaining agents. The problem of body odor can be solved by applying turmeric paste periodically before bathing. Adding neem leaves does wonders. Even consumption of raw turmeric paste is useful in gaining a healthy body and also killing away the stinking body odor. Turmeric thus acts as a natural life saver whereas deodorant is actually a killer. And for those who can afford and those who have the time and the inclination: massage milk, curd, butter, jaggery and honey all over your body once in a while in that sequence. It will be a smelly way of cohabitation – only healthy and nice!