Hydrogen Peroxide, oesophageal cancer and the desire to be blonde

I wonder if anyone else has been tempted to look into the Web Log scene and see if there are others afflicted by Oesophageal cancer who have written a BLOG or have linked some sites where there is information to be had?

I have had a look at the various search engines and typed in what I think is the correct spelling for Oesophageal Cancer and got some results.

More than I expected to be perfectly honest.

However when I decided to try a variation on the spelling - either to find those who cannot spell in English or sites that use the American variant of the word namely "Esophageal" Cancer then I really started to get results.

A recent article called "How Acid Reflux Leads to Esophageal Cancer - Discovered by Researchers" is among the more fascinating finds.

The article states (inter alia)

A particular enzyme is significantly higher in cancer cells that have been exposed to acid, leading to the overproduction of hydrogen peroxide, and offering a possible explanation for how acid reflux may lead to cancer of the esophagus, according to a recent study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

The study found that the enzyme NOX5-S is affected by exposure to acid and that it produces stress on cells, activating genes that lead to DNA damage. For the first time, researchers have outlined the signaling pathway from cells damaged by acid, to the progression of esophageal cancer. They believe the same process may happen in the body when cells are exposed to acid reflux.

I don't know what you make of this, but from now on I am not going to read any more jokes about Blondes.

After all hydrogen peroxide used to be the weapon of choice for those teenagers who wanted to make a statement and become blond virtually overnight to join the "surfer" craze prevalent at the time.

Regardless of your ancestry, regardless of your skin and hair colour the trendy thing to do back in those days was to go out in the sun and get as brown as possible and then to dye your hair with hydrogen peroxide as a means of obtaining a blonde thatch.

I never succumbed to this teenage fascination for becoming what was known as a 'surfie', but apparently my body longed to be part of the crowd and if it was to be denied access to hydrogen peroxide on the outside then it decided to manufacture it from the inside!

Since staying out in the sun and getting brown is also an inducement for people to get skin cancer I suspect that those of us in the 1950's and 1960's who did take up the good old Aussie life style of sun, sand and surf may be exposed to greater risks of a painful death in our older age than others in the past.

Who would have thought back then that the 'healthy' life style advocated at the time would lead to something completely different?