Antioxidants boost sperm health

Antioxidants vitamin E and beta-carotene help maintain male fertility and offer the best protection against sperm damage.

In a study of crickets, researchers found that a combination of these antioxidants provided to be the best weapon to boost the health of the sperm.

Study author Maria Almbro, from the University of Western Australia (UWA), said sperms were known to be vulnerable to attack from highly reactive molecules known as free radicals. They damage sperm cells, unless neutralised by antioxidants.

Almbro's colleague Leigh Simmons said for most animals, it was typical for females to have the sperm of several males inside them at any given time, competing for the fertilisation of eggs, reports the journal Ecology Letters.

"It is fair to say that the sperm are at war within the female, and we can expect that the most competitive sperm will win the race to the egg," Simmons was quoted as saying by a UWA statement.

"Our study showed that the sperm of males who were fed antioxidants were easily able to outclass the sperm of rival males who were deprived of antioxidants," he added.

"What we have done is provide a definitive experimental confirmation of this, not in a test tube, but in a real living animal, showing that antioxidants are profoundly important in deciding the outcomes of reproduction in males," said study co-author Damian Dowling from Monash.

Energy drinks can be dangerous

Caffeine-rich energy drinks pose dangerous health risks and may cause seizures, strokes or even death, a study carried by the NGO Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

The NGO's Pollution Monitoring Lab conducted a survey from May to June which picked energy drinks randomly from markets across the country and tested their caffeine levels.

"Forty-four per cent of them breached the caffeine limit of 145 ppm (parts per million) prescribed by the government," the study said.

The study also claimed that caffeine is a psycho-stimulant and it could be doing irreparable harm to the body, which could lead to seizures, strokes or even death.

These so-called energy drinks are being confused with sports drinks, as most of them marketed and projected in a such way. Gyms, bars and clubs across the country are dishing out these drinks to their clients, claiming major health benefits. But studies show that these drinks are not made to rehydrate and replenish the body.

Consumed during intense physical activity, they can lead to dehydration.

How can light kill viruses?

To save off infection, there are some things you probably know you should do: wash your hands, gets lots of sleep, be careful when you sneeze, don't rub your eyes (especially after touching your nose); eat lots of fruits and vegetables. After all, a cold virus can survive on someone's hand for a couple of hours or for several days on some materials.

Even those hand sanitizers that many people use don't kill everything. And once they're in the body, viruses are quite tough to kill - antibiotics are powerless against them and vaccines for influenza and some other viruses must be changed every year to adapt to new strains. Fortunately our immune systems can fight off many viruses, but some, like Ebola or even influenza, can be deadly. It may then surprise you to learn that something viruses are exposed to all the time visible light can be used to kill them.

Doctors are limited in the ways they can fight viruses, which is why studies like this one are so exciting. On the next page, we'll look at more ways in which scientists try to fight viruses or stop their spread altogether. Several of them use light, whether to kill viruses or as an activating agent.