So you think you might just get lucky and land yourself a kiss with your hot date this Valentine’s Day? Think again.

Kissing might just kill you, according to a report released last week.

French kissing with multiple partners almost quadruples a teenager’s risk of spinal meningitis, a potentially life-threatening disease, researchers claim.

In a study involving 114 young men and women aged 15 to 19 who had been admitted to English hospitals with meningococcal disease in 1999 and 2000, it was found that those who had kissed intimately with multiple partners were 3.7 times likelier to catch the disease.

The research, which is published online by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), was led by Robert Booy of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance in Sydney, Australia.

Meningococcal disease is caused by a bacterial or viral infection of the spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds it.

The symptoms are fever, headache and a stiff neck, which can proceed to nausea, vomiting and seizures.

Viral meningitis is generally far less severe than bacterial meningitis, which can lead to brain damage, hearing loss or even death if untreated swiftly with antibiotics.

In short, kiss too many people and you might just fall over and die!

There goes the mistletoe next Christmas. Farewell to my romantic plans on February 14 later this week.

Here’s the lowdown:

• Holding hands can cause Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease (HFMD)
• Kissing can kill you
• Sex puts you at risk of catching the HIV virus
• Oral sex is still illegal in Singapore

DAMN! And you wonder why we are ranked second from bottom in the Durex sex survey ???

This is sad news, it is reported a 15 year old Canadian girl, Ms Christina Desforges died last week apparently from food allergy, which was triggered by a kiss. She got sick last Saturday after kissing her boyfriend who had eaten peanut butter snack just hours earlier. Doctors tried giving her a shot of adrenalin, but it was unable to get her back.

“Food allergy such as peanut allergy is an immune response. It differs from food intolerance which causes discomfort without provoking the immuno-response. In certain cases, peanut allergy can be life-threatening. Peanuts or peanut protein can cause an allergic reaction in those who are allergic to the food even at a trace level.

0.6 percent of Americans may suffer from food allergies. About 50 to 100 people die from peanut allergy every year in the U.S. compared to 5 to 10 a year in Canada.

What causes peanut allergy remains largely unknown. A study, published in the March 13 issue of New England Journal of Medicine, linked the acquisition of the condition with babies’ using skin preparation containing peanut oil. Peanut allergy was also found associated with intake of soy milk or soy formula.

Peanut allergy, like allergies of tree nuts and shellfish, persists in many sufferers throughout their lifetime. Only 20 percent of the people with peanut allergy may develop tolerance sometime in their lifetime. This is in contrast with other types of food allergies such as allergies of milk proteins, soya, or eggs, which tend to disappear as children grow older.”

FoodConsumer.org - Article

Know More about Peanut Allergy

Peanute Allergy Facts
Peanut Allergy - What you need to know
Peanut Allergy - Where do we stand?

These days, it seems relatively easy to contract cancer. Personally, I have known many people who have contracted the disease. With such ease in contracting cancer, one should look for ways to try and prevent it all together. It seems that beer has some cancer preventing properties.

Researchers at Oregon State University discovered a anti-cancer compound in beer. This compound found only in hops and the main product they are used in - beer - has rapidly gained interest as a micronutrient that might help prevent many types of cancer. The researchers first discovered the cancer-related properties of this flavonoid compound called xanthohumol about 10 years ago.

“Xanthohumol is one of the more significant compounds for cancer chemoprevention that we have studied,” said Fred Stevens, a researcher with OSU’s Linus Pauling Institute and an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry in the College of Pharmacy. “The published literature and research on its properties are just exploding at this point, and there’s a great deal of interest.”

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