SKIN IMPERFECTIONS NOW A THING OF THE PAST

With the new Lancôme - Visionnaire there's nothing to fret about

 Lancôme, the world leader in luxury beauty introduced Visionnaire, an extraordinary skincare serum in India this October. Since its launch, Visionnaire has sparked an unprecedented enthusiasm amongst women, dermatologists and retailers. It has become a must have in the skincare regime for anyone with open pores, uneven and dull skin. 
    After 12 years of research and 17 patents, Visionnaire actually recreates even tone skin giving you perfectly radiant skin. Lancome, known globally for its advanced research and technology on skincare, has developed a unique molecule LR 2412. This breakthrough molecule is able to penetrate to the deepest layer of your skin and as a result, imperfections are evened-out, open pores are minimised and signs of ageing are reduced. 
    First unveiled at the World Congress of Dermatology, in Seoul, Korea to thousands of dermatologists and researchers from all over the world, Visionnaire was launched in India in October and has since then seen thousands of bottles sold across the country, a testimony to its popularity. So powerful is the product that more than two out of three women postponed cosmetic procedures. 
    Actress Emma Watson was amongst the first few ladies in the world to try the new 'miracle' beauty serum from Lancôme - Visionnaire setting off an unprecedented storm amongst British women to get their hands on the product. 
GOVIND SRIKHANDE, CEO, LEADING RETAIL CHAIN: 
Visionannire is one of the best and innovative launches done by any skincare brand. It is a marvellous product, unparalleled when it comes to skin correction and making the customer look younger. Visionannire is the first product of its kind when it comes to a holistic skin redefining. It has given the Indian consumer a product most wanted. The response from customers has been astounding. It is a winner all the way. 
ADITYA NADKARNI, 
BUSINESS HEAD, LEADING UK BASED DEPARTMENT STORE: 
The launch of Visionannire or the 'magical serum' as it is called has been a key milestone in delivering one of the biggest skincare needs of women around the world. As a retail partner we saw a massive surge among consumers who wanted to be the first one to own the product. We had customer enquiries since the day it was launched and some even pre-booked the product; a rare phenomenon for a skincare product. The impact on sales has been phenomenal. The demand was so overwhelming that the stocks planned for two and a half months got sold out in a day and we had a long waiting list of customers wanting to buy the product. 
MUMBAI CONSUMERS: SHAGUFTA SHAIKH, 
HOMAMAKER FROM BANDRA: 
I have given up on micro peels; lasers for my skin when Lancôme introduced a genie called Visionnaire. After using it, my skin felt soft instantly and after a month my skin was reborn and transformed into an even-toned skin, my open pores had visibly reduced. Every time I look in the mirror I thank Lancôme. 
DELSHAD DAMLE, CUSTOMER SERVICE PROFESSIONAL: 
I have been using Visionnaire for about a month now and have been really happy with it. Firstly I love the texture; it is thin and gets absorbed into my skin very easily. As a moisturiser it is absolutely amazing. My skin feels smooth, hydrated and pampered. I have also noticed that the minor imperfections such as spots and pigmentation have been slowly fading away. Overall I love the way my skin looks and feels. I would definitely use this as a part of my regular skincare routine. 
    Visionnaire is available in Mumbai at Lancome Boutique, Pheonix Mills; Shoppers Stop at Bandra, Juhu and Malad. Ph: 022 40183712

MARCO RIGGIO, 
DIRECTOR LANCÔME: 
Mirroring the huge success worldwide, Indian women have truly embraced Visionnaire Advanced Skin Corrector. This is a clear sign that the Indian luxury beauty market is increasingly getting sophisticated. At Lancôme, we are highly committed to address the Indian woman's beauty needs.

KIRAN SINGH, 
BUSINESS HEAD LANCÔME: 
We had several women who paid in advance to secure their bottle of Visionnaire serum. The consumer response to the product has been very encouraging. It would be our endeavor in coming years to bring in high performance Lancome products to Indian consumers.

DR PURNIMA MHATRE, DERMATOLOGIST: 
I recommended Visionnaire to those who have concerns of uneven skin texture, open pores and fine lines or wrinkles. After two weeks, I saw my customer's skin looking smooth, clear and glowing. I would say that Visionnaire is one solution for all problems from open pores to uneven skin texture, fine lines and wrinkles. I was amazed to get this feedback from 20 of my customers after two weeks of regular usage.

MANASI SCOTT, 
SINGER: 
I have enjoyed using Visionnaire this past month and will continue doing so. It has definitely helped my skin reduce its uncanny knack of getting dark spots and freckles. My skin feels lovely, less prone to breakouts and I love the fact that Visionnaire suits our muggy climate, by being light on the skin.

KADAMBARI LAKHANI, 
BEAUTY EDITOR OF A LEADING BEAUTY MAGAZINE: 
Visionnaire is a leap in skincare technology. One experiences a vast difference after using it for even a couple of weeks of continuously. Visionnaire improves skin quality and texture and overall the result is a fresher and clearer complexion without aggravation or sensitivity. Especially for dull and patchy skin, it brings back luminosity.

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The‘acid’factorin yourfood!

Also known as the pH or the Acid-Alkaline diet, this new diet aims at balancing the pH levels in the body

In an effort to stay healthy and sport a svelte body, you've tried various diets either recommended by a friend, a colleague, a health professional, or in some cases, followed celebrity diets. If you are a celeb diet junkie, you probably know about all of them. The most well-known ones include The Atkins Diet, The South Beach Diet, The Zone and the Macrobiotic diet. But there's another diet called the Alkaline or the pH diet that is gaining popularity among celebs like Kirsten Dunst, Anna Faris and Gwyneth Paltrow, to name some. 
Diet Theory 
The Alkaline diet is based on the theory that as we consume more foods of an acidic nature, it may lead to health complications. Skin and hair expert Dr Jaishree Manchanda describes the diet as one "that emphasises fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts 
    and legumes." 
    Alkaline foods 
Vegetables: Broccoli, Carrot, Cauliflower, Cucumber, Eggplant, Garlic, Tomato, Alfalfa, Asparagus, Barley Grass, Spinach, Coconut Fruits & nuts:Apple, Apricot, Avocado, Banana, Blackberries, Coconut, Grapefruit, Grapes, Lemon, Lime, Muskmelons, Orange, Almonds, Chestnuts Liquids:Water, herbal and green tea Oil: Cold pressed organic olive and flax seed oilCondiments & sweeteners: Apple cider vinegar, molasses, herbs, organic honey and maple syrup 
    Acidic foods 
Vegetables: Corn, Lentils, Olives, Potatoes Fats and Oils: Animal fat and other vegetable oils Grains: Oats, Rice, Wheat, Buckwheat, Barley Animal protein: Beef, Chicken, Lamb, Oyster, Lobster Dairy: Milk, Butter, Cheese, Ice cream, Margarine Condiments & sweeteners: Sugar, bottled dressings, artificial sweetners, Vinegar It's a diet based on the theory that certain foods, when consumed leaves an alkaline residue, the food is thus classified as alkaline food." Nutritionist and naturopath Zainab Sayed says, "The Alkaline diet maintains the balance of acid-base homeostasis in the blood, which is the balance of acids and bases (commonly known as pH), in the body. Without this balance, the body is unable to sustain itself. Being acidic means that our body's pH level is less than optimal. The optimal pH level is around 7.35 to 7.45, slightly alkaline." 
WHAT ARE ACIDIC & ALKALINE FOODS? 
Foods are classified under three groups as neutral, acid-forming or alkalising depending on the effect they have on the body. Clinical nutritionist Dr Nupur Krishnan explains, "An acid-forming food contributes hydrogen ions to the body, making it more acidic. An alkalising food removes hydrogen ions from the body and reduces acidity level in our body." A common misconception is that if a food tastes acidic, it is more acid-forming effect on the body. It is important to note that this classification is based on the effect foods have on the body after digestion, not on their own intrinsic acidity or alkalinity (how they taste to us). For example, citric fruits like lemon, lime, grapefruit melons are considered as acidic because of their taste. However, their mineral content after digestion has alkalinising effect. 
HOW DOES IT WORK? 
The Alkaline Diet focus is to balance the pH level of your body, achieve a healthy pH level, rebuild your cells and your tissues, and eventually leading to a healthy body. Your body is an easy target for disease to occur only if, your pH levels are acidic, opines Sayed. Dr Manchanda says that she would recommend this diet as it can be followed easily. For proper cell functioning it is important to detox all the toxins from the body and it can be done through this diet. Apart from this it also makes teeth healthier, reduces pains and slows down ageing. In short it helps in proper digestion of food and to give you a perfect body. 
BENEFITS & DRAWBACKS 
The benefits of the pH diet include renewed energy levels, good digestion, weight loss, reduce aches and pains, and control of hypertension and better management of blood sugar levels. Besides these, there's healthier teeth and gums, better immune system and slowing of the ageing process. As for the drawbacks, Sayed says that one shouldn't go overboard with the diet. One needs to keep in mind that you have to stick to the 80:20 per cent factor whereby, you consume 80 per cent alkalising foods to 20 per cent acidifying foods. Certain fats and oils that are restricted from the alkaline diet can provide essential fatty acids, which are required to maintain immunity and make healthy cells. However, Dr Manchanda opines that not all of the benefits claimed for this diet is supported by scientific research. 
    lisa.antao@timesgroup.com 

NOT TRUE! It's a myth that citrus fruits have a high acidic value

A 'CHEESY' FACT: Cheese is known to have a high acidic value

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The Truth About... SLEEPING AT NIGHT

Before electricity, people would generally go to sleep when the sun set and rise when it rose, assuring that they got enough sleep to maintain a healthy mind and body. 

    Animals too change their behaviours such as reproduction, hibernation, and migration based on the season. It is believed that animals perceive the change of seasons by the patterns of light and dark. The mechanism used to implement this behaviour is by the secretion of melatonin. When daylight hours grow shorter during the 
autumn months, melatonin production in animals automatically increases, helping to make the almost constant sleep of hibernation possible. When daylight hours increase during the spring, the pineal gland secretes less melatonin, triggering a new pattern of physical activity. But in a highly industrialised nation the light bulb has expanded man's day from 12 to 24 hours. 
    It is becoming apparent that more and more people are sleep deprived. And with that deprivation, comes not only a mental deficiency, but also a physical one. The attempt to erase the night or to confine it to a small artificially defined window comes with a price. 
    Melatonin is a natural hormone made by your body's pineal gland. During the day the pineal gland is inactive. When the sun goes down and darkness occurs, the pineal is turned on and begins to actively produce melatonin, which is released into the blood. That is why melatonin is sometimes called the 'Dracula of hormones' — it only comes out in the dark. 
    In the morning, when we perceive that it is light, melatonin secretion ceases, which stimulates the production of other hormones and hence other body activities to begin. This orderly daily rhythm is of prime importance to our physical condition, intellectual capabilities, and emotional health. 
    The pineal gland and melatonin are the body's primary timekeepers imparting information about the time of day, season of the year, and phase of life to the brain and throughout the body. Resetting this rhythm also means that the body is working overtime, making it more out of balance and less efficient. Thus, not only are the necessary chemicals imbalanced, but the body will age faster as it is forced to work for longer and longer hours without being 
able to restore itself. 
    Melatonin is believed to influence the internal processes so that all of the body's systems work together, in coordination. Should this internal structure become disorganised in any way, the body becomes more susceptible to disease as sleep is not just a mental recharger, but also important for the body as well. When a person sleeps, the body and mind are working just as hard as when the person is awake, correcting chemical imbalances, building immunity, assuring proper blood sugar levels for the next day, and maintaining memory. 
    For all you late night sleeper's — If you are exposed to light till wee hours in the morning, your melatonin won't rise to high enough levels to do its job. Light coming in from the window or from another room or even a nightlight can disrupt the production of melatonin. Sleeping for six to eight hours in complete darkness is important for good health and looking young.

Sejal Vora Naturotherapy Practitioner

TAKE NOTE: Sleeping for six to eight hours in complete darkness is important for good health and looking young

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Cough & cold medicines overtake antibiotics

Mumbai: Cough and cold seem to be our biggest worry as far as healthcare concerns go. The trend is visible with not only certain cough and cold medicines being the largest selling drugs, but with popular cough medication Phensedyl also overtaking antibiotic Augmentin to become the top-selling drug in the pharma retail market. 

    Phensedyl, after showing a dip earlier this year, has regained its share from Augmentin. Phensedyl which is marketed by Abbott, witnessed a growth of little over 12% for the 12-month period ended October this year, while GlaxoSmithKine's Augmentin grew just 7% during the period, according to consultancy firm, IMS Health which tracks retail pharma sales. 
    Industry experts say that sales of cough and cold medications register a spurt during the August-October months with the rise of respiratory infections. There may also be a host of issues at play including the supply of the medication as well as raw material for manufacturing it. Phensedyl had a market share of 0.43%, while Augmentin was slightly lower at 0.40%, followed by anti-diabetic therapy Human Mixtard at 0.39% and cough and cold drug Corex at 0.37% during the 12-month period ended Octoberthis year. 
    Others which posted a robust double-digit growth during the 12-month period include Human Mixtard, Revital, Monocef and Betadine. In October, Corex was the top-selling brand, followed by Augmentin, Phensedyl and Human Mixtard was at the fourth slot in the over Rs 5,000-crore market. The overall growth in October dipped to 13%, the lowest during the year. 
    Says Amit Backliwal, MD IMS Health, "Though the 13% growth registered by the industry in October 2011 is the lowest growth observed over the past 10 months, it still remains healthy and in double-digits. A look at the past trends indicates that the market trajectory in 2011 is in line with previous years; sales have peaked in the July-September quarter (coinciding with the monsoon season where infectious / respiratory diseases also peak), and then declined marginally, which is a normal trend. We expect the industry growth for FY11 to remain bullish in the range of 14-17%, and in-line with the IMS Market Prognosis report forecast". 
    While the top pecking order in terms of market share remained the same led by multinational Abbott, there was a huge growth witnessed in certain mid-size companies. 
    "One such prime example is Macleods Pharma, which we believe will move to into the elite top-10 players group very soon, if they continue to clock their current growth momentum," he added.

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Footballers: Too many headers 'can damage the brain'

For the perfect header, keep your eyes on the ball and make contact at the peak of your jump, say coaching experts

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Related Stories

• Modern footballs 'not much safer'
• Warning over Astle's death

Frequently heading a football can lead to brain injury, warn doctors who say they have found proof on brain scans.

Imaging of 32 keen amateur players revealed patterns of damage similar to that seen in patients with concussion.

There appears to be a safe cut off level of 1,000 or fewer headers a year below which no harm will be done, but the US investigators say more work is needed to confirm this.

Heading is believed to have killed the English footballer Jeff Astle.

Astle, 59, who died in 2002, developed cognitive problems after years of playing for England and West Bromwich Albion.

The coroner ruled that his death resulted from a degenerative brain disease caused by heading heavy leather footballs.

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"Start Quote

Repetitive heading could set off a cascade of responses that can lead to degeneration of brain cells"

Lead researcher Dr Michael Lipton

Repeated trauma

Although the balls used to play soccer today are much lighter than those used in the 1960s when Astle was playing, they can still pack a punch, says lead researcher Dr Michael Lipton of Montefiore Medical Center, the university hospital for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Footballs can travel at speeds as high as 34 miles per hour during recreational play and more than double that during professional play.

However, others doubt that the force exerted by the ball would be enough to cause damage.

Dr Lipton's team set out to determine what impact on the head repeated contact with the ball might have.

They used a special type of brain scan known as diffusion tensor imaging, which is good for visualising nerve and brain tissue.

The 32 volunteers who underwent the scans were asked to say how often they headed the ball during football training and play.

This revealed that players who were "frequent headers" had obvious signs of mild traumatic brain injury on their scans.

Five brain regions were damaged - areas in the front of the brain and towards the back of the skull where processes like attention, memory, executive functioning and higher-order visual functions take place.

Jeff Astle played 361 games for West Bromwich Albion

The researchers believe the injuries build up over time.

Cumulative damage

Dr Lipton, who presented his findings at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, said: "Heading a soccer ball is not an impact of a magnitude that will lacerate nerve fibres in the brain.

"But repetitive heading could set off a cascade of responses that can lead to degeneration of brain cells."

The same volunteers also performed worse on tests designed to check cognitive abilities like verbal memory and reaction times.

The damage only occurred in players who said they headed the ball at least 1,000 times in a year. Although this might sound like a lot, it amounts to a few times a day for a regular player, say the researchers.

They recommend further studies to confirm what is a safe amount so that footballers could be advised on this.

Dr Andrew Rutherford from the School of Psychology at Keele University has been researching the possible damage caused by heading for several years. He says he is yet to be convinced by the evidence so far.

He suspects that researchers are looking at the wrong thing. He believes most head trauma seen in football is due to players clashing heads when they are going for a header, rather than contact with the ball itsel

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Stressful lives and an addiction to smartphones can lead to the phenomenon of sleep texting

Don't sleep over this one!

Case study: A young woman working in a private company gets up in the middle of the night to her vibrating smartphone. Sleepy, she notices a message and texts back. The next morning, she has no memory of sending the text. 

    The above phenomenon is now being referred to as 'sleeptexting'. Psychologist Seema Hingoranny says, "People with stressful lives are so much into sending (work-related or otherwise) messages to people the entire day that they keep doing it during the night, without even realising that they are." 
    This, however, is not a common trend yet, but city experts agree that it is happening. Former president of the Bombay Psychiatric Society, Kersi Chavda, states, "People do get up in the middle of the night to text, check their phone for emails or updates on social networking and microblogging sites, but it is not that they are unaware of it, like in sleep walking." 
    Experts agree that since smartphones are addictive for some, sleep texting is becoming common. People are not ready to ignore their smartphones - they check their phones even in the middle of intimate moments with their partners, say Chavda. "But unless it is compulsive and you are completely unaware the next morning of texting from your phone at night, this is not a serious problem." In an earlier report, sleep specialist Dr David Cunnington said that he was so worried about the disorder that he warned those experiencing the condition to leave their mobile phones out of their bedrooms. He was quoted as saying, "People are doing so much during a normal day that it can mean they feel like they're on call even at night. Because it's so easy to communicate with smartphones, it becomes more difficult to separate waking and sleeping lives." 
    Seema adds, "The symptoms of sleep texters include stress, low attention and memory spans, and low concentration. And if there are instances of something like this happening, one must start taking precautions." 
SAVE YOURSELVES 

• Avoid keeping your handset in your bedroom. 

• Accept that your body and mind need six-eight hours of sleep. 

• Try to 'switch off' from work once you are at home. 

• Do not keep your phone on the vibrate mode because that is very distracting . and will invariably wake you up.

Sleep texting is on the rise

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Heart attack between 1 & 5 am deadliest

Study Reveals Brain Releases Hormones During Sleep Which Put Strain On The Organ

New Delhi: Scientific studies have revealed that heart attacks are worst when they take place between 1 am and 5 am. 
    Researchers say the size of the heart attack and the subsequent left-ventricular function is significantly different based on the time of the attack. 
    Astudy on humans, published online in the reputed journal "Circulation Research", says "the greatest amount of injury to the heart occurs when individuals have a heart attack between 1 am and 5 am". 
    Indian doctors agreed. Dr Ramakant Panda, cardiac surgeon at Asian Heart Institute, said, "There are different phases of sleep. Early morning sleep is called rapid eye movement sleep during which people dream. The body is asleep but the mind is awake. The autonomous nervous system is stimulated which releases hormones such as adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol. These hormones increase the activity of the heart which beats and works harder. But the hormones constrict the blood supply to the heart." 
    Chairman of Escorts Heart Institute Dr Ashok Seth said, "One main reason why heart attacks are worst at night is because people wait till morning to go and get an ECG. Initially, they rubbish it by thinking its indigestion and take some antacids. Instead if it occurred in the morning, people would immediately go to the hospital for an ECG." 
    "We were trying to ascertain whether the time of day when a heart attack occurs influences the amount of damage that the heart sustains," said the study's senior author Jay H Traverse, a cardiologist at Minneapolis Heart. 
    An analysis of 1,031 patients of acute heart attack identified 165 patients with their firstheart attack who had blocked arteries. 
    What are the implications of these findings? "It is important to understand that theheart's ability to protect itself against more severe damage varies over a 24-hour cycle. Identifying those protective changes may be particularly relevant for pharmaceutical manufacturers that are seeking to develop cardioprotective drugs," Traverse added.

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Health & the city: They don’t go together

Studies Show Babies Born In Cities Face Battery Of Mental And PhysicalHealth Problems

London: Living in a city can take a toll on your health — it can make you obese, infertile, depressed, and may give you potentially life-threatening diseases such as cancer, say researchers. 
    A number of studies have shown that babies born in cities, and children who grow up in them, face a battery of health problems that afflict both their physical and mental well-being. 
    In fact, urban living carries a significantly increased risk of chronic health disorders like mental illness, immune diseases, arthritis, heart diseases, cancer and fertility problems, according to the researchers. 
    The studies indicate that daily exposure to urban pollution can affect people before they are even born, leaving them prone to a lifetime of illhealth. The researchers have discovered that babies born in cities are bigger and heavier — normally a good sign — than those born in the countryside. But when they compared the placentas of mothers from a busy city and a rural area, they found that the city mums had far higher levels of chemical pollutants called xenoestrogens in their blood and in that of their unborn babies. 
    Xenoestrogens are industrial chemicals that affect human bodies in similar ways to the female hormone — oestrogen. As well as causing excess foetal growth, they have been linked to problems such as obesity, hyperactivity, early puberty, fertility problems and cancers of the lung, breast and prostate. 
    The researchers from the University of Granada, Spain, found that although city mothers were older and weighed less than rural mothers, they still gave birth to larger babies. 
    Maria Marcos, who led the study, has said that the toxic xenoestrogens seem to have a significant effect on the development of unborn children. Her report provides the latest evidence that city air can seriously hinder normal childhood development. But it doesn't end there. Laboratory tests undertaken at the Ohio State University showed how urban pollutants may cause metabolic changes in toddlers resulting in raised blood sugar levels and increased resistance to insulin. PTI

Risks of urban living affect babies even before birth

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