When weighing up the health risks of getting a tattoo, most people are concerned about the risk infection.

But recently the ingredients in tattoo ink have come under the microscope, with some being identified as potential carcinogens.

Norman and Tegan take a look at the many substances used to create permanent art, and whether they carry any real harm to humans.

References:

• Why Tattoos Stay Put | UCSF Synapse
• What's in my ink: an analysis of commercial tattoo ink on the US market - PMC
• Much ‘tattoo’ about nothing; Tattoo pigment mimicking breast microcalcifications on mammography
• Tattoo ink exposure is associated with lymphoma and skin cancers – a Danish study of twins | BMC Public Health
• Melanoma Arising in Tattoos: A Case Series and Scoping Review of the Literature
• Does tattoo ink give you cancer? - Cancer Council Australia
• 2016 report from the Australian Government’s Department of Health, National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme

The carnivore diet asks people to eat entirely animal-based, and the most extreme followers restrict themselves to only meat.

Many carnivores claims they feel great — better than they ever have. They have more energy and lose weight.

Norman and Tegan tuck into the reasons why carnivores feel better in the short-term, and the dangers they're inviting in the long-term.

References: 

• Behavioral Characteristics and Self-Reported Health Status among 2029 Adults Consuming a “Carnivore Diet” - Current Developments in Nutrition
• Limitations of Self-reported Health Status and Metabolic Markers among Adults Consuming a “Carnivore Diet” - Current Developments in Nutrition
• Assessing the Nutrient Composition of a Carnivore Diet: A Case Study Model
• Yellowish Nodules on a Man Consuming a Carnivore Diet | Lifestyle Behaviors | JAMA Cardiology

Hot flashes. Night sweats. Aching joints. Sore boobs. Welcome to your body in perimenopause!

In episode one of this four-part series, Yumi Stynes speaks to women in the thick of perimenopause and battling physical symptoms. 

She also sits down with Dr Susan Davis, endocrinologist and world-leading expert on sex hormones and ageing to learn the best treatments for bothersome symptoms and how look after yourself in this stage of life. No sweat!

Essential listening if you're going through perimenopause right now, or for those wanting to know what's over the hormonal horizon.

Do you find yourself complaining that you've got a small bladder, as you run to the toilet for the third time in an hour?

There are many reasons a person might pee more than others, including some scary medical conditions. 

But as Norman and Tegan explain, in most cases your bladder is just deconditioned and you need to get your urinary tract into shape. 

References:

• Bladder control: Lifestyle strategies ease problems
• A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial of a product containing pumpkin seed extract and soy germ extract to improve overactive bladder-related voiding dysfunction and quality of life
• Pumpkin Seed Oil Extracted From Cucurbita maxima Improves Urinary Disorder in Human Overactive Bladder
• Prosta Fink Forte capsules in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Multicentric surveillance study in 2245 patients

Microplastics are everywhere – they’re in the air, in the water and in our bodies.

There’s plenty of evidence for that, but it’s still unclear what effects these microplastics are having on our health.

Norman and Tegan unpack what we do and don’t know about these tiny specs of plastic, and what you might be able to do about them.

References:

• Ingested microplastics: Do humans eat one credit card per week?
• A review of the endocrine disrupting effects of micro and nano plastic and their associated chemicals in mammals
• Association of mixed exposure to microplastics with sperm dysfunction: a multi-site study in China 
• First evidence of microplastics in human ovarian follicular fluid: An emerging threat to female fertility
• Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Atheromas and Cardiovascular Events | New England Journal of Medicine
• Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains | Nature Medicine

• Chewing Gum Releases Hundreds of Microplastics In Your Mouth, Study Finds

This week parts of Australia are preparing to wind back their clocks to mark the ending of daylight saving time.

For a long time the country has been divided about the positives and the negatives of changing the clocks twice a year.

Norman and Tegan look into the health effects of this shift – from the impact on sleep to medical procedures and road accidents.

References:

• Basic concepts and unique features of human circadian rhythms: implications for human health | Nutrition Reviews | Oxford Academic
• Are Daylight Saving Time Changes Bad for the Brain? | Cerebrovascular Disease | JAMA Neurology
• Daylight Saving Time and Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Meta-Analysis
• Daylight savings time transitions and risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: An interrupted time series analysis
• Embryo transfers performed during daylight savings time led to reduced live birth rates in older patients | Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics
• Daylight saving time as a potential public health intervention
• Does lowering evening rectal temperature to morning levels offset the diurnal variation in muscle force production?

If you're short-sighted or long-sighted, have astigmatism or double vision, you now live in a world where glasses can help you out.

But there's a misconception hanging around that wearing spectacles weakens your eyes over time, and so some people avoid getting their vision checked.

Norman and Tegan focus in on how glasses work and the long term impacts of wearing them.

References:

• When time outside doesn't slow short-sightedness - the Health Report
• The history of spectacles - the College of Optometrists
• To Correct or Not Correct? Actual Evidence, Controversy and the Questions That Remain Open
• Undercorrection of myopia enhances rather than inhibits myopia progression
• Interventions to slow progression of myopia in children - Cochrane Review

We haven’t always suppressed our sweat or our natural body odour, but in many cultures now it’s expected we’ll all try to smell our best.

You might be seeing more ads for ‘natural’ deodorants that promise to keep you fresh without any harmful ingredients.

Norman and Tegan talk through those ingredients, and whether they carry any risks.

References:

• The specific biochemistry of human axilla odour formation viewed in an evolutionary context
• Use of Aluminium in Antiperspirants - Australian Department of Health
• Antiperspirants/Deodorants and Breast Cancer - National Cancer Institute
• Antiperspirants - National Kidney Foundation
• How Advertisers Convinced Americans They Smelled Bad - Smithsonian Magazine

Protein is having its moment — walk any supermarket aisle and you'll find product after product boasting its protein content. 

Do you need to be loading up on protein through powders or processed foods, or can you meet your goals with whole foods?

Norman and Tegan unpack why protein is important and how much you need each day. 

References:

• Protein - Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand
• Tips to boost protein in your diet from Dietitians Australia
• How much protein can the body use in a single meal for muscle-building? Implications for daily protein distribution
• Association between dietary protein intake and risk of chronic kidney disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Long-time listeners would have heard Norman decrying fine particulate air pollution and its negative effects on health.

But when it’s all around us – on our worksites, in our offices and on our motorways – how are you supposed to protect yourself?

Norman and Tegan explain what fine particulate air pollution is, and what it does to the body once it’s breathed in.

References:

• Estimates of global mortality burden associated with short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5)
• The health effects of fine particulate air pollution
• Ambient (outdoor) air pollution - World Health Organization
• Particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) - Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
• Air pollution is not ‘the new smoking’: comparing the disease burden of air pollution and smoking across the globe, 1990–2017
• East Side Story: Historical Pollution and Persistent Neighborhood Sorting