YOUR MEDICAL QUESTIONS: IGNORED FOR DAYS, EDITED, SIMPLIFIED, AND ANSWERED!

The frightening truth about health problems is that AT LEAST as often as not, doctors have no solution to them. Even in this advanced medical age, many of the symptoms that afflict people simply have no good explanation. Similarly, many of the questions patients ask doctors don't have good answers. There is much more in the world of health and disease that we DON'T know, compared to how much we do know. But at least we can be honest. If I have no idea what the answer is to your medical question, I will tell you.
This week, however, I've gotten some medical questions that I CAN answer. I'll recap those questions, and hopefully answer them!
READER QUESTION #1: WHY DOES MY WIFE COMPLAIN ABOUT MY B.O.?
Answer: because her nose is too sensitive! Just kidding. This is actually the best question I have been asked in a long time. Why? Because there really are good answers. There really is hope for you, if you have bad B.O. (body odor). Not only are there good explanations, there are effective and simple solutions, if you simply memorize these BODY ODOR AXIOMS:
Axiom #1: Your SWEAT is the main causative agent of your body odor.
Axiom #2: Your SWEAT is a cousin of your PEE. If your PEE stinks, your SWEAT stinks.
Axiom #3: Deodorants do not work well.
Axiom #4: Your armpit hair is a lost cause. If it smells, it needs to be eradicated completely.
Let's delve deeper.
Axiom #1: Sweat is mostly saltwater, just like urine. But it does carry proteins and other chemicals derived from your diet. The less effectively you are secreting food-related metabolites via stool and urine, the more you will be secreting these chemicals in your sweat. And many of these metabolites just smell like shit. Solution: you need to keep urine and shit regularly and rapidly leaving your body. Particularly if you eat alot of meat, which gets broken down into stinky proteins, you need to FLUSH these proteins out with LOTS of fiber and LOTS of water. You should be eating AT LEAST one salad or one healthy plate of vegetables for every meat dish you eat.
Axiom #2: Is your pee yellow and stanky? Then so is your sweat!!! It is that simple. Concentrated urine is full of protein, yellow in color, bubbly, and smells horrible. Dilute urine is clear and so clean you can almost drink it. Dilute your pee and your sweat will follow. Solution: drink enough water all day long that your pee is clear, or at least a very subtle, light yellow. This will keep your sweat almost odor-free.
Axiom #3: deodorants. When you apply a deodorant, all you are doing is temporarily slowing down sweat, and only on 1% of your body. And you are masking how your sweat smells with Old Spice, Speed Stick, or some other slightly less offensive odor. HOWEVER, I do not think deodorants pose and health risk. And the "salt lick" crystal deodorant does work, but it can itself become colonized with malodorous bacteria. So if your crystal deodorant stinks, toss it.
Axiom #4: armpit hair- I think, though I cannot prove, that armpit hair is the reason there are a lot more smelly dudes out there than there are smelly women. Armpit hair traps sweat, and then becomes colonized by smelly bacteria. Application of greasy deodorants then traps the bacteria in the hair. Eventually, you end up with a permanently stinky carpet of bacteria under your arms. This armpit carpet is a lost cause- it can't be steam cleaned, sprayed, washed, or remedied in any way. Solution: SHAVE IT OFF! You don't have to shave your armpits permanently; just shave them every few months, or every year, whenever you notice a lingering funk.
IN SUMMARY: If you stink, get your urine clear, your diet high in fiber, and shave your armpits! Then feel free to use, or not use, the deodorant of your choice.

READER QUESTION #2: CAN TOFU MAKE ME STERILE?

Answer: NO. There are not true "endocrine disruptors" in soy; rather, there are some "phytoestrogens" in very small amounts. These plant-derived chemicals can VERY WEAKLY imitate the action of estrogens in the body. But you already have some estrogens in your body, even if you are male. And a little estrogen does not hurt. It does not reduce or disrupt your own testosterone in any way. A large amount of ingested estrogen can give men breasts and lower their sperm count, but it takes high-dose estrogen hormone pills to accomplish this. No amount of soy in your diet can approach the doses that cause these effects. And soy is a fantastic source of protein, calcium, and vitamins.
Personally, Dr. Tofuhead eats tons of tofu and drinks 12-16 ounces of soy mild daily. And he has not yet transformed into a woman! He recommends that everyone incorporate some soy into their diets.

READER QUESTION #3: CAN TOPICAL SKIN PRODUCTS GIVE ME CANCER?
This is a question that honestly does not have a great answer. All I can say is "I doubt it." That's because the skin is actually a fairly impenetrable barrier to most chemicals that contact it. Chemicals that can penetrate the skin into the body tend to be industrial solvents: things like acetone, turpentine, paint thinner, DMSO, ether, etc. Most cosmetics are based on relatively weak oils or on water, which cannot penetrate below the most superficial layers of skin.
HOWEVER, this is an ongoing area of research, and we may be blissfully ignorant. A study last year, for example, found that lavender oil could penetrate into the system of babies, and have estrogen-like effects. Lots of baby skin products have lavender oil, but pediatricians are now warning against using these products. I honestly have a hard time understanding why lavender baby products have not been banned completely. But that has to do with the FDA and with cosmetics companies, a topic that deserves its own comprehensive rant.
As an adult, I don't think you can do yourself much harm with the lotions, deodorants, and soaps you put on your body. But I recommend extreme caution with things that you are supposed to put on your baby or your kids. If a product for children has not been in wide use for years with no reports of bad effects, I don't recommend using it, no matter how "natural" it claims to be.