The Health Risks of Uncircumcision

For my dearest blog fellows who are pregnant with baby boy, this is the time to think about circumcision. Especially for Asian people, circumcision is not widely practised as in Western countries.

Keep reading below and you will know how important is circumcision, BOTH for your boy and for his future wife.

Let's go back in history. If you happened to think that circumcision is unimportant as our ancestors back then never even have this procedures done, you are correct! But, only applicable for that period of ancient time, when our ancestors are still naked. In fact, the foreskin plays important role to protect the tip of penis from dust, sand, insects, and infections.

The above doesn't apply anymore in our time, where we are all wrapped in clothes, often dirty and sweaty. This has made it became unhygienic, especially for people who live in hot weather countries.

The reason why circumcision is important, because the inner lining of the foreskin is very thin. This does not give protection against injury and infection like normal skin does. In fact, 'smegma' or a whitish residue of dead cells and other material, is collected under the foreskin. This attracts bacteria and other microorganisms.

Statistically, uncircumcised men are more exposed to infectious diseases such as:

• Thrush
• Human papilloma virus
• Syphilis
• HIV
• Urinary tract infections
• Other inflammatory conditions of the skin
• Phimosis, a narrowing of the opening the foreskin that prevents it being retracted and makes sex painful
• Higher chance of prostate cancer

Meanwhile, their female partners are more prone to:

• Genital herpes
• Chlamydia
• Pelvic inflammatory disease
• Infertility
• Higher chance of cervix cancer

There is a one-in-three chance of an uncircumcised man developing one or more of these conditions over his lifetime.

However, there are always risks involving with any surgical procedure. In one in 500 circumcisions there's some minor bleeding. In about 1 in 1000, the circumcision needs to be redone. It is noteworthy though, that complications are fewest when it's done between birth and 4 months, although the procedure can be done at any age. Serious complications that requires hospitalisation is very rare. Mutilation or loss of the penis, and death, are practically unheard of if the surgeon is competent.

All in all, the benefits of circumcision still outweigh the risks of the procedure.

And to mothers to baby boys, now you can make your informed decision on whether or not to circumcised your boy, or leave it to him to decide later in his life.

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For reference:
• World Health Organization's website : http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2007/pr10/en/index.html
• Professor Brian Morris's website : www.circinfo.net
• The Royal Australasian College of Physicians policy statement on circumcision : http://www.racp.edu.au/
• Why circumcision is a biomedical imperative for the 21st century - BioEssays abstract : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

List of Foods Having Aphrodisiac Qualities

Apart from satisfying our hunger and taste buds, foods also have fringe benefits to them. Some foods are claimed to be able to increase arousal in both male and female. Here are the theories behind the aphrodisiac potential foods.

Arousal for Men
There are some components in oysters that have aphrodisiac qualities. For one thing, oysters contain varying levels of dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that affects the arousal center in our brain. The effect is straight away. Secondly, oysters contain high level of zinc, that is important in raising level of testosterone in men. The effect, though, is not immediate.

Arousal for Women

Parsley and truffles may have aphrodisiac potential, as these food smell like that of androsterone, a pheromone usually responsible for men's musky body smell. This smell can influence arousal in women.

More Arousal
Ginger, cayenne pepper and garlic also can stimulate the arousal centers in the brain. Garlic which has anti-clotting properties can affect libido by increasing blood flow to brain and sex organs.

The smooth texture of chocolate and the cocoa's serotonin creating chemical, tryptophan, contributes to chocolate's aphrodisiac potential.

Happy experimenting potentially aphrodisiac foods! Best served with soft dimmed light or maybe during candlelight dinner. Do share stories of your experiences with these food (^-^)

Men: All The More Reasons To Have Frequent Sex

A US study. published in Journal of the American Medical Association, suggested that men who have active sex life or masturbate frequently reduced their chances in developing prostate cancer.

This topic indeed has always been controversial among experts. Previous research suggests that increased production of testosterone, a male hormone, can faciltate the growth of prostate cell. However, this new study suggests that frequent ejaculations may decrease the concentration of chemical carcinogens that accumulate in prostatic fluid, and thus may reduce the development of crystalloids that are associated with prostate cancer in men.

This study results found that men who ejaculate 13 times a month or more, were much less likely to develop prostate cancer than men who do it 4-7 times a month. In comparison to men who ejaculate 4-7 times a month, men who ejaculate between 13-20 times a month had 14% lower lifetime risk; and 33% lower lifetime risk for those ejaculate 21 times and more a month.

These findings still need further investigation though. The previous study that concluded increased prostate cancer risk with higher sexual activities was published in the journal Epidemiology in 2002.

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For reference
Journal of the American Medical Association: http://jama.ama-assn.org/

Men: Rediscover Your Mojo By Shedding Few Pounds

Do you happen to be an overweight lad? If you do, you'd better start hitting the gym to lose some pounds. Besides for your health reasons, this will also lead to healthy sex life.

"For men, the penis is the window to the heart", expert says. This is due to the blood vessels in the penis are exactly the same as those in the heart. So if you suffer from erectile dysfunction, this is often a warning diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

A study of more than 19,000 men, conducted in 2005 and published in Journal of the American Medical Association, found that men who suffered from erectile dysfunction were just as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as smokers.

The problem of erectile dysfunction does not only happen to old men, but also to younger men. So men, keep yourself fit and watch out your waistline. And for women, keep track of your man's weight as so to maintain your man's healthy and active sex life well into later years.

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For reference
Journal of the American Medical Association: http://jama.ama-assn.org/