1 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:06,560 Walk into any chemist's shop 2 00:00:06,560 --> 00:00:09,160 and you'll be bombarded by an array of pills 3 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:13,240 and potions in bright, shiny packages that claim to treat 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:15,120 almost every imaginable ailment, 5 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:19,040 from runny noses, to spots, from coughs to aching muscles. 6 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:22,480 But these remedies don't come cheap. 7 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:26,760 We now spend £2.5 billion a year 8 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:31,480 on a whole range of products - from painkillers to multivitamins, 9 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,200 indigestion remedies to cough syrups. 10 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,400 How much do we really know about what we're buying? 11 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:41,320 I'm on a mission to find out the truth about some of Britain's 12 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,520 top selling over-the-counter medicines. 13 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:47,360 We've got perfectly safe other remedies here, 14 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,360 without any risk of side effects. 15 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:51,760 I've never ever done this before ... 16 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,400 I'll be discovering what really happens when you take them. 17 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:57,400 It's Christmas in my tummy. 18 00:00:57,400 --> 00:00:59,920 You don't often imagine or visualise what's 19 00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:02,040 happening to medicines in your body. 20 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:06,680 Investigating the common complaints they're designed to treat. 21 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:11,920 How much snot are we making a day? Half a cup. Quite a large volume. Yeah, it's not pleasant. 22 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,600 And turning myself into a human guinea pig. 23 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:16,080 Argh... 24 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:17,880 C'mon, hurry up! 25 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:20,600 This leg now feels like it's on fire. 26 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:25,600 To uncover the surprising truth about which medicines really work... 27 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,840 This is the kind of stuff my mum always swore by as a kid. 28 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:33,000 ..and which are just a waste of our hard-earned cash. 29 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:34,280 HE COUGHS 30 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:36,000 It's like tear gas. 31 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,440 Over-the-counter medicines have never been more accessible or 32 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:47,000 more convenient. 33 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,520 You can buy them everywhere from your corner shop to the supermarket 34 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,000 and you don't need a prescription. 35 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,720 But as a doctor, I want to find out 36 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,760 whether these common cures are all they're cracked up to be. 37 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,480 First, I'm looking at Britain's biggest-selling 38 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:12,320 over-the-counter remedy, oral painkillers. 39 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:18,640 Last year, we forked out over £350 million on these. 40 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:22,400 But how much do we really know about the pills we're popping? 41 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,280 There are loads of different kinds of painkiller, 42 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:27,720 many of which claim to be able to treat different 43 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:32,160 kinds of pain. Some of them treat period pains, others treat muscle aches, others treat headaches. 44 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:34,560 I'm a doctor, and I'm bamboozled - 45 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,920 is it really possible for a painkiller to target 46 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:39,640 a specific body part? 47 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:44,760 To understand how a painkiller works, 48 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,240 I'm tracking its journey from my mouth, to 49 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:52,320 the place in my body where it's absorbed, using this - a pill cam. 50 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:56,000 Any time I see one of these I'm more and more amazed. 51 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,800 It's got a camera at both ends, it's got batteries and lights. 52 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,600 It's essentially like having a miniature film crew, 53 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:04,560 but a hell of a lot easier to swallow. 54 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:10,080 The camera shows the incredible internal 55 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,880 journey from my mouth, down my oesophagus to my stomach. 56 00:03:14,920 --> 00:03:17,400 So now we'll chase it with the pill. 57 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,200 'Within a few seconds, the pill has caught up with it.' 58 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:24,360 There we go. 59 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:27,720 You don't often visualise what's happening to medicines 60 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:29,640 once you put them in your body 61 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:31,200 but this is a great display 62 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:33,560 of the pill just sitting in the stomach. 63 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,080 But the pill's not working yet. This is just stage one 64 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,360 of its journey, where it gets crushed and mushed. 65 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:48,480 If I poke myself... 66 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,760 ..you can really mash the tablet up further. 67 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:56,240 It looks like a little snow globe. It's Christmas in my tummy! 68 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,040 It might look pretty, but the painkiller won't actually 69 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:05,760 start working until it reaches the bloodstream. 70 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:13,080 So the journey from my mouth to my stomach was really quick, 71 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:14,840 just a few seconds. 72 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,160 But now the pill's being held there for a little while 73 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:19,800 and now small amounts of the liquid 74 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,720 with the pill dissolved in it are squirted into my small intestines 75 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:26,720 and that's where it's going to get absorbed in the bloodstream. 76 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:29,480 Once in your bloodstream, it flows all over your body. 77 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:33,080 You end up with as much drug in your big toe as you do in your head. 78 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:35,520 There is no way of sending 79 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,600 that drug to a particular bit of your body and yet 80 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:42,600 on the packets - these ones are for headaches, 81 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:46,480 these ones are for joint pain and these are for periods. 82 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:51,320 What's more, if you look closely at the packaging you'll notice something. 83 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:55,880 They all have an identical product licence number and this means 84 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:57,960 that these three very different packets 85 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:01,480 contain exactly the same ibuprofen pills, 86 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:03,840 with exactly the same ingredients. 87 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,960 And so it's not just the annoyance that you're being made to 88 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,720 buy three packets when one would do. There is a safety issue. 89 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,560 If you had your period at the same time as a sore knee 90 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,200 and then you got a headache, you might end up taking 91 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:18,720 the maximal dose of each one 92 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:21,240 and that would be three times what you're allowed. 93 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,040 Now, this isn't a case of the manufacturers being 94 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:30,920 untruthful, these pills will help any pain, but it is clever marketing 95 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,640 and a way to tempt you to buy each particular product. 96 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:38,120 Remember, always read the small print and that will tell you 97 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:40,000 what you can safely take, and when. 98 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,640 Oral painkillers aren't the only source of relief we Brits turn to. 99 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,400 Exercise is now one of the nation's most common past-times, so the 100 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:59,320 use of topical painkillers to treat muscle strain is on the rise too. 101 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:05,680 Last year, we rubbed £83 million worth onto our aching muscles. 102 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:10,640 I'm interested in two of the most popular types. 103 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:15,120 They don't contain any drugs like ibuprofen, instead they claim to 104 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:19,240 have a heating effect or a cooling effect which relieves muscle pain. 105 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:24,160 These treatments are obviously hot. They say heat all over them, 106 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:28,360 they're red and they've got flames in the fonts and on the packet. 107 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:29,600 These are obviously cold - 108 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:31,480 they say freeze and cold all over them 109 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:33,080 and this one has an icicle on it. 110 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:37,200 And yet the list of conditions that these products claim to treat 111 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:40,520 is identical - essentially aching muscles. 112 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:45,000 So how do we decide which to use - the hot ones or the cold ones? 113 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,240 I used to use heat, heat-based products like Deep Heat, 114 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:50,960 but more recently I've been told that cold is better 115 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:53,080 so I do use an ice pack every now and then. 116 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,080 Most of the time I use Deep Heat, or things like that, 117 00:06:56,080 --> 00:07:00,040 or muscle rub, to take away pain or to ease it a little bit. 118 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,280 Generally I only have one at a time just so it's a little bit cheaper. 119 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:05,480 So at the minute I've got a hot cream. 120 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,000 What are you going to buy next time? A cold tube. 121 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,360 Yeah, I'll try the cold treatment next time. 122 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:17,640 I'm a trained doctor, and even I'm confused about which one to buy. 123 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:21,480 So to help me decide, I'm going 124 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,000 to do a pretty extreme experiment to find out just how heat 125 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,720 and cold affect the human body after exercise. 126 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,800 I've come to Beat The Bog, a gruelling five-mile obstacle 127 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:37,960 race over sodden Kentish farmland. 128 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:42,760 400 runners here are going to be wading, climbing and running 129 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:46,080 through a muddy hell and I'll be joining them to get some answers. 130 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:47,600 Only one thing is for certain, 131 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:49,480 that my muscles are going to be aching. 132 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:54,400 I'm interested in a very particular sort of muscle pain called 133 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:58,120 delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS for short. 134 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:01,520 That's the pain deep in your muscles that often gets 135 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:03,520 worse in the days after exercise. 136 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:09,880 And what I want to know is, can hot or cold treatments help reduce it? 137 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:14,480 So, I've recruited some runners to take part in our test 138 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:16,480 and split them into three teams. 139 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:19,560 Thank you for taking part. 140 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:23,800 At the end of the race we're going to do three different treatments. 141 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:27,800 We've got a nice hot bath for 15 minutes, a really cold bath 142 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,200 for 15 minutes, and no treatment at all as a control group. 143 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,960 'The theory is that by changing the temperature of our deep muscles 144 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:40,720 'shortly after exercise, we can reduce some of the pain we feel. 145 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:42,800 'And there are two schools of thought 146 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:44,600 'on which treatment works best.' 147 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:49,000 I'm going to relieve the suspense. The hot team is going to get red. 148 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:50,400 And that is you guys. 149 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:52,320 Yes! Hooray! 150 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,680 'You could jump into a nice warm tub to heat them up 151 00:08:55,680 --> 00:09:00,080 'or plunge into an ice bath, like Andy Murray, to cool them down.' 152 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:04,880 I'll put the cold team out of their misery and it's you 153 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:08,640 guys. Cos this is what the top performers do now! 154 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:10,400 How long are we going to be in the tubs for? 155 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:13,960 I'm afraid to say you're going to be in the water for 15 minutes. 156 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:15,040 Ouch! 157 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:18,480 'We've chosen 15 minutes because that should be long enough to 158 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:20,440 'change the temperature of your muscles 159 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:21,840 'by up to a degree or two.' 160 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:24,880 You guys can chill out, 161 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,640 put your feet up, you just can't get in either of the tubs. 162 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,920 'But first, five miles of hell on earth.' 163 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:35,080 Three...two...one! 164 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:36,600 KLAXON BLARES 165 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:45,160 This course is going to push the runners to the absolute limit 166 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:48,360 and exercise those muscles they didn't even know they had. 167 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:53,600 I'm going catch up with them in just a couple of places. 168 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,360 I think that counts as my ice bath. 169 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:03,240 'Eurgh, the things I do for science! 170 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:07,880 'And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse... 171 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:10,840 '..electric shock therapy.' 172 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:12,320 Aargh! 173 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:15,280 C'mon, hurry up. 174 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:21,200 Now there's a sight for sore eyes - the finish line. 175 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:26,920 I'm pleased that's over. 176 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:30,920 I'm tired, I'm aching, I was even stung by a nettle - 177 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:34,400 but tomorrow morning is when the real agony begins. 178 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:36,720 And that's what I want to find out now. 179 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:39,840 Are hot or cold treatments going to help prevent that? 180 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:45,320 So it's a frosty 15 minutes in a freezing ice bath for those 181 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:46,840 that drew the short straw. 182 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:50,480 The first bit is going to be the worst 183 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:52,960 but once you're in it will be lovely! 184 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:56,800 You want to sit down so your thighs are in. 185 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,720 Oh, my word! Oh! 186 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:02,720 LAUGHTER AND SHRIEKING 187 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:05,160 I'm all right now, I've settled. 188 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:08,080 Yeah, it's lovely once you're in, isn't it? 189 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:10,480 You do actually start feeling all right. 190 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:12,040 Are you getting in? 191 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:16,360 Er, I've got a verruca, so I can't! 192 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:22,640 'For the lucky few, it's a 15-minute soak in warm water.' 193 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:27,640 Would you guys rather be in the cold tub? No! No! 194 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:31,240 'And how are the control group doing?' 195 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:35,840 It's not proving too difficult for you guys! No! 196 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,320 We think we're coping quite well, actually. Quite relaxing. 197 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:46,200 'We'll be monitoring the runners over the next three days to discover 198 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:49,240 'whether heating or cooling their muscles works 199 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:52,200 'better at reducing their long-term pain.' 200 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:54,720 So I think our results are going to be really interesting 201 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:57,320 but will they help me make a decision about which 202 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:00,600 over-the-counter treatments I should get - hot or cold? 203 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:05,760 'I'll be finding out later, when muggins here puts them to the test.' 204 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,600 This leg now feels like it is on fire. 205 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:10,040 That's a lot of hot cream. 206 00:12:16,680 --> 00:12:19,080 Muscle pain is one thing, but I suspect us Brits 207 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:22,080 are far more likely to overindulge in food 208 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:26,520 than we are in exercise, so indigestion is now a common problem. 209 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:30,760 40% of adults in the UK suffer with indigestion 210 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:35,880 and last year we spent £120 million trying to treat it. 211 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:39,560 Indigestion to me feels like burning, bloating, 212 00:12:39,560 --> 00:12:41,760 kind of don't feel well at all. 213 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:43,600 What do you think causes indigestion? 214 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:49,040 It can be a number of things, eating too fast, or eating the wrong things. 215 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:50,920 What are your symptoms? 216 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:55,120 A kind of tightness, not in the stomach, in the chest area. 217 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:56,840 So what is indigestion? 218 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:04,000 Your stomach is a muscular bag that prepares your food for digestion. 219 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:08,280 It sits about here and importantly it should be full of acid. 220 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:12,360 But this acid is incredibly strong. 221 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:14,800 While your stomach can deal with it, 222 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:18,680 other parts of your body can't, and indigestion occurs when this acid 223 00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:22,360 escapes from your stomach to somewhere it isn't supposed to be. 224 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:26,680 That is the delicate lining of your food pipe or oesophagus, 225 00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:30,240 and it starts to inflame it and make it very painful. 226 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:33,840 To help combat the pain we're stocking up our medicine cabinets 227 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:36,040 with a whole range of pricey remedies. 228 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:40,120 But if we knew which types of food caused indigestion 229 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:42,880 we could avoid swallowing that cost. 230 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:49,280 I really love food, in fact I'm a total glutton, and I'm 231 00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:53,000 certainly no stranger to that awful feeling of lying in bed with 232 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:57,040 indigestion pain, bitterly regretting an evening of over indulgence. 233 00:13:57,040 --> 00:13:59,400 Luckily, indigestion can be quite a fun thing to study 234 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:03,000 and with that in mind, I've invited four guests over for dinner to see 235 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:05,560 what they know about indigestion and how to treat it. 236 00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:06,760 DOORBELL RINGS 237 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:12,240 Hello, hello. Hello. Hi. Come on in. 238 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,400 Thank you. 239 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:15,920 'I want to know 240 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:19,880 'if my diners can identify which foods are the most likely to 241 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:24,680 'cause indigestion by asking them to score each course out of ten.' 242 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:26,880 Do any of you suffer from indigestion? 243 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,840 No, I have a steel stomach. I can eat anything. I actually do. 244 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:33,280 Do you? Yes, yes, I do. 245 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:36,400 'For starters, a tomato and basil salad 246 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:39,080 'drizzled with balsamic vinegar.' 247 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:41,880 Dinner is served. 248 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:44,320 All right, I've got to keep cooking. See you in a second. 249 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:48,520 What do you reckon, guys? It's beautiful. 250 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:50,480 I think it's slightly acidic, 251 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,000 so it could lead to indigestion. 252 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,080 The vinegar is obviously very sharp but mixed with the tomato, 253 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:58,960 that's very acidic - two acidic things together. 254 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:01,320 I give the starter a six because the vinegar is 255 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:04,240 quite acidic and maybe the tomatoes will give us a bit of heartburn. 256 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:08,720 I'm a massive fan of really spicy food. 257 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:11,200 And that is making my eyes water! 258 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:17,040 'Next up, the main - a spicy chicken jalfrezi.' 259 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:20,200 That's for anyone who wants a bit of extra spice. 260 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:25,960 Ooh. Oh, this looks nice. Thank you. 261 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:31,160 I'm going to give the score for the main course an eight 262 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,360 as I believe it'll give a lot of 263 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:34,600 people indigestion. 264 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:38,880 This to me isn't as acidic or is going to give indigestion as bad as tomatoes. 265 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:40,040 Are you serious? 266 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:41,800 Yeah, seriously. 267 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:46,320 'Finally, dessert - apple crumble served with vanilla ice cream.' 268 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:52,040 I think of all the meals we've had this is the most neutral. 269 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:56,520 I'm going to give apple crumble and vanilla ice cream a zero, 270 00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:00,040 because there is zero chance it'll give me acid indigestion. 271 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,560 Cheers. Cheers! Cheers! 272 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:06,320 Time to tally up the scores. 273 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:09,960 David - you reckoned the starter had the greatest capacity to cause 274 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:13,320 indigestion. In fact, the acid in your stomach 275 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:16,320 is many, many tens of times more powerful 276 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,360 than the acid in the vinegar and the tomato, 277 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:21,960 so the tomato juice should dilute the stomach acid. 278 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:24,720 You all, actually, on average, rated the main course as 279 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:28,920 the thing most likely to cause indigestion. 280 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:32,440 All it does is it attaches to your pain nerves 281 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,960 and sends a message to your brain that's the same as if your mouth 282 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:40,640 was on fire and in fact spiciness shouldn't have any effect on it whatsoever. 283 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:44,640 You all rated the pudding as the dish least likely to cause 284 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:48,960 indigestion. In fact, the thing that is most likely to give people 285 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:54,240 acid indigestion is very high calorie, fatty foods and 286 00:16:54,240 --> 00:17:00,560 the spice content is pretty much irrelevant and the acidity content is reasonably irrelevant as well. 287 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:08,040 The reason high calorie foods packed with fat and sugar cause indigestion 288 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:11,520 is because they stimulate your stomach to produce more acid. 289 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:14,440 This applies to alcohol too, so it's best to avoid this 290 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:15,760 if you do suffer. 291 00:17:18,120 --> 00:17:20,320 Now we know what causes indigestion, 292 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:24,040 let's find out how effective the over-the-counter medicines are. 293 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:29,400 First, the chalk-based antacid tablets which claim to treat 294 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:30,640 mild indigestion. 295 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,560 David, do you ever take these kind of large chalky pills? 296 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:38,440 I do. And you do get relief from them. I do, yes. 297 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:40,120 So pills like this, the chalky ones, 298 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:43,160 are the quickest to work of all the over-the-counter medicines because 299 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,800 they immediately neutralise the acids, they start working instantly. 300 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:49,000 They're very safe, they're very bland, 301 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,120 they contain substances a lot like chalk. 302 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:55,680 Chalk-based antacids work by helping to reduce 303 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:57,920 high levels of acidity in your stomach. 304 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,880 But what really hurts is acid reflux. 305 00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:05,680 This is what the remedies called alginates claim to treat, 306 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:08,360 so, next, I want to see how they work. 307 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:13,440 I have made a kind of model stomach here. 308 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:14,520 This is a conical flask, 309 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,080 representing the anatomy and contents of your stomach 310 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:19,320 and it's full of hydrochloric acid 311 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:21,640 which is the acid that's in your stomach. 312 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:24,520 This is about same amount of alginate 313 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:25,960 that a lot of people use to 314 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:28,520 treat heartburn or acid reflux. 315 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:30,840 And I'm going to pour it into the stomach. 316 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:34,040 'Alginates work by forming a protective 317 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,840 'barrier between the acid in your stomach and the oesophagus, 318 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,320 'so that the acid can't reflux back up.' 319 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:45,880 OK, so I think our fake stomach and alginate mix is ready. 320 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:48,640 I'll be honest, I've never, ever done this before. 321 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:51,360 So you can see how it should work. 322 00:18:51,360 --> 00:18:53,760 The alginates have blocked the opening 323 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:56,960 from the stomach to the oesophagus and they should form... 324 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,240 this is the raft the packs all talk about. 325 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,960 So we should be able to turn this upside down. 326 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:08,200 And...not have anything leak. 327 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:10,120 What do you think, shall we give it a go? 328 00:19:10,120 --> 00:19:11,880 See if it'll go completely upside down. 329 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:18,240 That's pretty good, isn't it? 330 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:20,040 I mean, even if you shake it, OK, 331 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:21,840 you wouldn't want to stand on your head, 332 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:24,280 but that raft is working very effectively 333 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:28,640 to stop the acid going from the stomach up into the oesophagus. 334 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:34,720 So the two most popular types of indigestion remedies do 335 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:36,840 alleviate the symptoms. 336 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:39,840 But if you find yourself reaching for them often, you should 337 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,840 see your GP as it could be a sign of an underlying health problem. 338 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:52,240 I've set up a fairly extreme demonstration 339 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:56,320 to look at the effects of heat and ice on the deep muscles. 340 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,920 I want to find out which works best to relieve the pain 341 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:02,480 we feel after we exercise. 342 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:04,920 At the end of a punishing five-mile obstacle 343 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:09,760 course, I plunged one team into icy water, one had a nice warm bath, 344 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:12,560 and the other control group just put their feet up. 345 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:17,520 A sports physiologist has been running the numbers for me. 346 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:20,200 It's been a couple of weeks since the race. 347 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,800 I felt dreadful for days afterwards, 348 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,400 deep pain in my muscles. 349 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,360 That seems to be what we've seen in the results we got. 350 00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:30,520 You can see everyone felt bad 351 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:32,960 after the race, as you'd expect. 352 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:34,440 Right. 353 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:38,280 But differences emerged once the teams got in to the water. 354 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,960 Then we see this quite dramatic reduction in pain with the hot 355 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:43,560 and cold treatment groups compared 356 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:45,760 to the guys who were lounging around on the grass. 357 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,640 That's because they're having this sensation of hot or cold water, 358 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:50,960 and it's acting as a distraction. 359 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,800 If you bite your tongue then stamp on your foot, you forget 360 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,240 about the fact you've bitten your tongue. Completely. 361 00:20:57,240 --> 00:20:59,360 Then the pain goes back up at 24 hours, 362 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:01,480 and the groups are pretty similar there. 363 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:04,720 Not until 72 hours, so three days later, 364 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,000 that you see that very big difference 365 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,520 between the guys who lounged on the grass 366 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,680 and the guys who had the treatment. 367 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:15,960 The cold and hot seem to have both worked here. How have they worked? 368 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:19,840 Cold water immersion actually reduces inflammation. 369 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:22,200 It can actually reduce the pain. 370 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,360 So less blood flow goes to the muscles and therefore you don't 371 00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:28,360 get that inflammatory response that is so painful? 372 00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:32,360 Yeah. The opposite happens with the hot trial, in that it's increasing 373 00:21:32,360 --> 00:21:36,160 blood flow to the muscle, allowing by-products that cause 374 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:40,480 the pain to be taken away from the muscle and be expired or excreted. 375 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,440 It's almost as if the blood's rinsing or flushing the muscle. 376 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:45,400 Essentially, yeah. 377 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,560 'What's most surprising to me is that there's barely 378 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,720 'any difference in effectiveness between hot and cold water.' 379 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,320 The evidence suggests that cold water may be slightly better 380 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:58,360 but we're talking about an improvement in recovery 381 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:00,760 of maybe 1%, 2%, 3%. 382 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:04,560 For Andy Murray or Mo Farah or someone that needs to train really 383 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:08,200 hard and recover really quickly that does make a big difference. 384 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,960 That's what we're talking about in elite sport. 385 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:12,520 But for the average person, 386 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:15,040 it doesn't really make much of a difference. 387 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,320 This is great news for me, I was never going to start having ice baths. 388 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:22,400 But knowing that a long soak in water of any temperature 389 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,360 will reduce my pain, that's fabulous. 390 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:31,240 So, I've discovered that both hot and cold baths can reduce 391 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:35,720 long-term pain by changing the temperature of our deep muscles. 392 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:40,240 And, they can also help in the short term by distracting us. 393 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,440 Next, I want to look at the topical painkillers, 394 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,960 especially the ones that talk about heating or cooling to relieve pain. 395 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:50,760 How exactly do they work? 396 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,560 I'm going to smell great for the rest of the day! 397 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:56,840 'First, the cold cream.' 398 00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,440 So it immediately is feeling cold. 399 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:03,680 Why is that? These cooling creams have things like alcohol in them. 400 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:05,920 As it evaporates, it will be cooling the skin. 401 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:12,480 'My skin feels cold but I won't know if it's changing the temperature 402 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:17,320 'of my muscles without sticking a thermometer deep into my leg.' 403 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:21,160 The temperature is 32.5 degrees inside your muscle there. 404 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:23,880 That's a normal resting muscle temperature. 405 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:26,960 So that temperature is about the same as you would expect 406 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:29,280 if I hadn't put any cream on? Yes. 407 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:30,960 Shall we try the hot cream? 408 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,320 This I used to use when I was playing sport at school. 409 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:35,520 That's a lot of hot cream! 410 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:37,880 But we're going to get a proper result with this! 411 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:39,560 Yeah, you'll get a result! 412 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:45,160 Now it feels, as the cream is warming up, I'm starting to feel... 413 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,160 You should start to feel a burning sensation. 414 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:53,560 Yeah, this leg now, it feels like it's on fire. 415 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:57,000 'The question is - is it heating my muscle?' 416 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:03,120 32.4, 32.5. So it's exactly the same temperature as the other leg. 417 00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:06,720 I would swear this leg was on fire, the other leg was freezing cold. 418 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:10,880 And it would be very persuasive, I think, if you put the creams on, 419 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,760 you would feel like they were deeply affecting your muscles. 420 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,040 Interestingly, they produce this effect without changing 421 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,000 the temperature in the muscles. 422 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,360 Even though it isn't obviously having any deep effect, 423 00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:26,960 the power of the distraction is very real, 424 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:28,600 so, as a short-term solution, 425 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:30,960 I think these things are quite effective. 426 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:34,280 Really what we're just seeing is a distraction, 427 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:37,840 it's making you feel like it's hot or cold 428 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,400 but it's not actually physically changing the temperature 429 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:43,960 like it would if we were in a hot or cold bath. 430 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:47,200 I can't help noticing, though, 431 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:51,480 that some of these products use words like "deep" and "penetrating". 432 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,800 Now, I know they aren't changing the temperature of my muscles, 433 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:57,400 so what do the manufacturers mean by those words? 434 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:02,840 Well, they say that all the claims on their packaging are approved 435 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,360 by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. 436 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:09,080 None of the gels claim to heat or cool the muscles, 437 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:13,040 but they are a convenient way to manage pain at any time. 438 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,960 The makers of Deep Freeze say the word "deep" is used 439 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:21,760 because "the gel provides relief from pain in the deeper tissues". 440 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:27,600 The truth is, if you want reduced pain in the days after exercise, 441 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:31,200 a bath, either hot or cold, will be much more effective, 442 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:35,000 it'll be free, and you won't smell like a chemist shop. 443 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:42,000 Next - a medicine market that we spend over £100 million a year on. 444 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:49,600 One in five of us will pick up a cough this winter, 445 00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:52,520 so it's no surprise that over-the-counter cough remedies 446 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:54,040 are big business. 447 00:25:55,680 --> 00:26:00,960 Personally, I've always been pretty sceptical about over-the-counter cough medicines 448 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:05,360 because to me they don't seem to address the reason we're coughing, the virus. 449 00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:08,600 But, if you think about it, if they did stop us coughing 450 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,680 we'd spread less virus around and we'd all get them less often. 451 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:13,320 And that can only be a good thing. 452 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:16,960 So what I want to know is what's in them and do they actually work? 453 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:20,600 I'm meeting a cough expert to find out. 454 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:25,720 So what's going on here? I thought we were going to study cough. 455 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:27,760 Well, Chris, I've got some ingredients here 456 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:30,080 which we're going to make you cough with. 457 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:32,520 Cough's about an irritation in your throat and what we're 458 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:37,000 going use is some chilli and vodka to irritate your throat. 459 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,720 At the back of our throats we all have cough receptors that 460 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,400 react to things like cold viruses and irritants - 461 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,880 they're what trigger the cough reflex. 462 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:52,920 In order to demonstrate this, Alyn's devised a coughing cocktail 463 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:55,040 made with vodka and chilli. 464 00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:59,400 So take it off and just take a deep breath over the mixture. 465 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:02,560 HE COUGHS 466 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:05,400 It's like tear gas! 467 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:07,640 It's... 468 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,360 So, what is going on there? Why does that make me cough? 469 00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:13,480 So the hot stuff in the chilli, the capsicum, is going in 470 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:16,040 and irritating the receptors on the end of the nerves 471 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:18,960 and that gives you that horrible tickle that you've experienced 472 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:20,960 and makes you cough. 473 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:24,800 The theory behind over-the-counter cough syrups is that 474 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,120 they coat the back of the throat, topping the irritant. 475 00:27:28,120 --> 00:27:32,080 But would a home-made syrup work just as well at suppressing a cough? 476 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:35,920 I'm going to make some here and we can test it. Go ahead. 477 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:39,600 I'm just putting some hot water in there so we can dissolve our honey. 478 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:44,080 'I'm using honey and lemon to make a strong tasting, gloopy syrup, 479 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:46,680 'similar to over-the counter ones.' 480 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,200 This is the kind of stuff my mum always swore by as a kid. 481 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:53,160 I really enjoyed it but since going to medical school, 482 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:55,440 I've been quite scornful of this kind of home remedy. 483 00:27:57,320 --> 00:27:59,880 'The syrup's ready, now I just need the cough.' 484 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:05,040 This is basically a pepper spray right into my lungs. 485 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:07,840 Chilli pepper. Right! 486 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:09,240 BUZZING 487 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:10,520 HE COUGHS 488 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:14,960 It's like inhaling a curry. 489 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:18,000 OK, so now we want to try the syrup. 490 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:25,120 I'm never going to hear the end of this at home, if this works! 491 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:37,080 OK. OK, so we'll do it again. Say when. Now. 492 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:38,440 BUZZING 493 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:43,960 That is remarkable. It's a bloody miracle! 494 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,200 But it's still all going into my lungs. Yeah. 495 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:50,600 Gosh, Mum, I'm really sorry! 496 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:53,680 That's absolutely fantastic. I'm really amazed. 497 00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:57,000 The interesting thing is it's kind of the arrogance of doctors, that 498 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,120 we almost don't want to say honey and lemon is very effective. 499 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,760 We don't have a scientific, or very good scientific explanation for this. 500 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:07,200 We don't know about this very complicated area of the body. 501 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:08,800 All right, well, I'm persuaded. 502 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:10,880 What about the over-the-counter preps? 503 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,160 Right, well, let's have a look at those. 504 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:18,920 'Many cough medicines use this principle of syrupy sweetness 505 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:20,480 'to relieve cough. 506 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,880 'But is it worth buying cough syrups with extra drugs in them 507 00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:26,680 'which might help with other symptoms?' 508 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:29,400 We've got three things here which have some of the most common 509 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:31,680 ingredients in cough medicines. 510 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:36,680 We have the same sort of liquid. It's syrupy and has 511 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:38,320 strong flavours in it. 512 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:41,960 So it has that benefit which we've just demonstrated. 513 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,400 But in addition, some of them have drugs in. 514 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:45,680 What's the drug in this? 515 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:47,600 That's got guaifenesin in. 516 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:48,880 Yeah, I've heard of this. OK. 517 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:50,920 And it's supposed to be an expectorant, 518 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:54,320 but it in fact - I can't find any really good evidence that it 519 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:56,680 works by producing more mucus at all. 520 00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:57,800 What's this one? 521 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:00,520 That's, the drug is called dextromethorphan, 522 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:04,080 and that's perhaps the commonest drug that is around. 523 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,000 There is a limited amount of evidence that it has a small 524 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,880 additional effect. What about the white powder? 525 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:12,240 That's a drug called pseudoephedrine, which does dry 526 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:16,960 out secretions, so I would only use that if I had a runny nose as well. 527 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:19,680 There's no evidence that that particularly diminishes cough? 528 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,320 No, absolutely no evidence on cough for that one. 529 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,560 And very little for guaifenesin, but the best evidence, 530 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:29,480 and that's not all that brilliant, is for dextromethorphan. 531 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,200 So it's not just that the evidence these are any better 532 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:35,240 than honey and lemon is quite limited, they're also drugs. 533 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:37,400 Whenever I take pseudoephedrine, I feel anxious, 534 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:39,120 I get a racing heart, guaifenesin makes 535 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:40,560 people feel nauseated. 536 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:44,720 We've got perfectly safe other remedies here which we've 537 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:46,240 just demonstrated in you 538 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:50,600 and they are effective and very cheap 539 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:53,000 and without any risk of side effects. 540 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,200 I guess the thing I really want to know is what do you do? 541 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:59,360 I make my own cough linctus, a little bit of honey, 542 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,640 bit of boiling water, squeeze of lemon. 543 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:05,760 It's not an evidence-based, randomised trial 544 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:08,240 but it's dirt cheap and it works in my house. 545 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,120 In my view, the evidence seems pretty limited that over-the-counter 546 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:18,120 medicines are any better than a home-made honey and lemon syrup. 547 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:23,560 And, because it's not medicated, you can drink as many cups as you like. 548 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:25,800 Now, the medicated syrups do work in the same way 549 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:27,800 but you can only take them a few times a day 550 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:30,560 and some people will report these side effects. 551 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:34,080 Now, we've heard what our cough expert said - he agreed - 552 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:38,000 but for me the final arbiter in discussions like this is 553 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:39,400 often the NHS website 554 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,760 and, sure enough, they say the evidence for medicated 555 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:45,760 cough syrups is limited and they recommend 556 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:47,720 a honey and lemon drink just like my mum. 557 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:53,360 And after all that, what did the manufacturers say in their defence? 558 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,280 Well, all cough medicines and the claims made about them, 559 00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:58,840 are approved by the MHRA. 560 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:00,760 And the risks and side effects are clearly 561 00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:03,160 explained on the patient leaflet inside. 562 00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,800 A cough is one thing, but when you've got a full-blown cold or even 563 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,240 flu you can end up with a whole range of different symptoms. 564 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:19,360 And last year, we spent £347 million trying to beat them. 565 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,800 Increasingly, we reach for the convenience of all-in-one remedies 566 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:28,760 that treat more than one symptom, 567 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:31,720 but are we in danger of over-medicating? 568 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:36,000 To understand more about the symptoms we suffer 569 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:40,080 and how best to treat them, I've come to Flu Camp. 570 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:44,280 I'm standing in a high security medical research facility 571 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:48,200 and at the moment it's in environmental quarantine lockdown. 572 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:50,920 And that's because the patients in these rooms 573 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:53,760 are suffering from a highly contagious virus. 574 00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:56,840 But it's not a virus they just caught in the outside world, 575 00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:00,680 it was given to them by the doctors that work here. 576 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:04,480 We have volunteers who come in, we infect them with virus, 577 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:07,000 so we know exact point at which they've been infected 578 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:08,240 and then we monitor them. 579 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,680 This state-of-the-art research facility 580 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:18,720 was set up to develop cold and flu treatments. 581 00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:22,200 Volunteers are safely infected with common cold and flu viruses 582 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:26,000 and remain in isolation for up to two-and-a-half weeks 583 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:28,480 so their every symptom can be recorded. 584 00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:32,800 Starting to get symptoms, sore throat, sneezing, 585 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:36,840 something's definitely starting to happen. 586 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:38,040 How are you feeling? 587 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:40,880 The last two days have been the worst. 588 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:43,200 Bunged up, sore throat, achy. 589 00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:46,000 If I was trying to do a full day's work 590 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,600 you'd notice the symptoms even more. 591 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:50,440 I'm definitely ill, 592 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:55,040 I've got a stuffy nose, one blocked nostril, one runny nostril. 593 00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:57,640 We each get given tissues. 594 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:02,480 He have to be very meticulous about our mucous collection. 595 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:05,400 How much snot are we making per day? If we're really snotty. 596 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:10,440 We can produce over 50g, so half a cup, basically. 597 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:13,360 Quite a large volume. Yeah, it's not pleasant. 598 00:34:14,720 --> 00:34:17,200 But not everyone suffers in the same way. 599 00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:20,360 How are you feeling? 600 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:23,120 Feeling fine. Yeah, absolutely great at the moment. Really? 601 00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:25,000 That's not what I was expecting. 602 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:26,680 It's not what I was expecting. 603 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:28,800 I haven't got any symptoms at the moment. 604 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:32,240 No sore throat, no blocked nose. I feel great, to be honest. 605 00:34:32,240 --> 00:34:35,760 'So how come this guy's feeling fine?' 606 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:39,400 From an individual to an individual basis there is definite variability. 607 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,480 To just give you an example. 608 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,880 If you take the swine flu pandemic from 2009/10, 60-70% of people 609 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,120 would have had very mild symptoms, 610 00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:50,240 they probably put down to a cold, 611 00:34:50,240 --> 00:34:52,880 and then, of course, there was the group where people did die. 612 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:54,000 I mean, that's amazing. 613 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,600 We can have one virus and between different patients, 614 00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:57,920 some people die 615 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:00,680 and some people may never even have had symptoms that they noticed 616 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:02,320 enough to remember. Yes, absolutely. 617 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:07,560 So if none of us have all-in-one symptoms, how can 618 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:09,440 we have an all-in-one medicine? 619 00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:14,960 I'm meeting a pharmacist to help me answer that question. 620 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:17,720 We've got all these different varieties. 621 00:35:17,720 --> 00:35:21,640 Cold and flu max, night and day, powders, capsules, liquids. 622 00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:24,000 What are the ingredients in those products? 623 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:26,800 The ingredients in these products tend to boil down to three 624 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:29,800 different medicines. Paracetamol for pain or fever, 625 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:32,960 ibuprofen, which does a similar thing, and a decongestant. 626 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:35,960 Different people have different experiences of being ill. 627 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:39,600 If you're not congested, there's no reason to take something with a decongestant in. 628 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:42,960 Essentially, you'll get the benefits only if you've got the symptoms. 629 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:46,280 Otherwise you're just exposing yourself to unnecessary side effects. 630 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:49,200 If we are going to treat symptoms, we should think about those first 631 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:51,080 and then think about what drug or medicine 632 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:52,560 we use to treat the symptom. 633 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,560 I don't know about you, but when I get a cold often it's the headache 634 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:56,920 that really affects me. 635 00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,280 Paracetamol works for me, so that's what I tend to use. 636 00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:00,520 Won't be same for everyone. 637 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:06,320 It may be convenient to grab an all-in-one remedy. 638 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:09,880 But, unless you're suffering with all of the symptoms, you might be 639 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:13,920 better off buying those that target specific symptoms to avoid 640 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:16,760 taking medicine you don't really need. 641 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:19,520 And, if you're in any doubt about what to take, 642 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:21,840 speak to your pharmacist - they might be able to help. 643 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:31,640 Now, many people think they can avoid all these nasty colds and 644 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:36,080 viruses by stocking up on products they hope will keep them healthy. 645 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:41,160 Last year, we paid out £352 million 646 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:45,200 on vitamin pills and supplements, and it's a growing market. 647 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:47,200 Although we often buy them in the chemists, 648 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:52,040 these are foods, not medicines, and are regulated by UK food laws. 649 00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:57,520 I take vitamin C and multivitamins every day. 650 00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:02,720 I think I just take them because I don't think I eat enough fruit and veg 651 00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:05,360 and I feel they're going to give me what I need. 652 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:08,760 I had cupboards full of vitamins, pots of them. 653 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,160 So I binned all of them and now take one multivitamin. 654 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:14,240 Hoping it addresses the lot. 655 00:37:14,240 --> 00:37:17,520 One in three people in Britain take vitamin supplements. 656 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:21,320 That's tens of millions of people popping pills every day 657 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,280 in the hope of improving their health. 658 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:30,040 But are they doing any real good or can we get everything 659 00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:31,440 we need from the food that we eat? 660 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:35,760 I've come to meet what I think is a fairly typical British family, 661 00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,000 to take a close look at their diet. 662 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:44,640 Is there anything more fun than rummaging through other people's fridges?! 663 00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:49,160 Potatoes, carrots, coconut water, lovely fresh turkey breasts. 664 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:51,560 There's loads of goodness in there, but then 665 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:55,520 we get to the top of the fridge, and it all falls to pieces! 666 00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:59,480 Two packs of chocolate-covered carbohydrate. 667 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:04,800 Well, it's got the green banner. So that's OK! So it's good. 668 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:09,320 Like most families, the Jais eat fairly healthily 669 00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:11,920 most of the time, but they still like their treats. 670 00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:13,640 Monday to Thursday, 671 00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:17,000 it's real food. We don't worry about fat contents 672 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,960 and stuff like that, we just eat food. 673 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:23,320 You mean rather than eating processed stuff. 674 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:26,200 Rather than eating processed stuff and junk and stuff. 675 00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:29,840 And then on Fridays, they have, like, take out. 676 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:31,680 Oh, really? Yeah. 677 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:35,080 'Is this diet giving them all the vitamins they need? 678 00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:39,000 'I've asked the Jais to keep a food diary over the following week 679 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:41,760 'and I'll be back later to find out.' 680 00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:43,960 We want to get a really accurate look, 681 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:46,520 so we need you to be completely honest. OK. 682 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:53,600 Alongside vitamins, one of the biggest sellers 683 00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:57,040 on the market are fish oil supplements that contain omega-3. 684 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:04,560 And perhaps that's not surprising, because, as a nation, 685 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:07,440 we just don't eat enough oily fish. 686 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:09,720 In fact, less than a third of us 687 00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:12,320 eat the recommended one portion a week. 688 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,480 There's loads of stuff in oily fish that's good for you. 689 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:19,000 And one of the main things is a type of fat called an omega-3 oil 690 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,760 and the interesting thing about omega-3 oils is you can't 691 00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:23,720 make them, you have to eat them, 692 00:39:23,720 --> 00:39:26,480 and they're vital for every cell in your body. 693 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:29,520 And it's been shown that when you eat them in the form of oily fish 694 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:33,480 it can help prevent everything from dementia to heart disease. 695 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:38,920 Do we know which fish will give us the richest source of omega-3? 696 00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:42,920 Fish here! Get your omega-3s for heart and brain! 697 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:46,480 I've come to ask the people of Norwich. 698 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:50,120 Salmon has the most. OK, fresh salmon. 699 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:53,720 Well, the tuna. You think the fresh tuna? Yeah, I do. 700 00:39:53,720 --> 00:39:56,800 Probably them fish fingers, they probably put loads of it in! 701 00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:59,560 To get as many omega-3s as you would have in a piece of salmon, 702 00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:01,760 you'd need to eat 50 fish fingers. 703 00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:04,240 That's all right - good sandwich, that would be! 704 00:40:04,240 --> 00:40:07,920 I think it goes fish fingers, cod, tuna, salmon. 705 00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:11,080 What about tinned tuna and salmon? Tinned salmon's got more 706 00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:13,360 and tinned tuna not so much. 707 00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:16,120 You're exactly right! Salmon has the most, along with the tuna, 708 00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:19,040 and tinned salmon is almost as good as fresh salmon. 709 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:21,560 Tinned tuna doesn't have much in it. 710 00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:24,560 Cod has some. So for each portion of salmon that you ate, 711 00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:28,040 you'd need to eat five or six portions of cod. 712 00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:29,240 Wow! 713 00:40:29,240 --> 00:40:32,560 So, if eating oily fish is so good for you it would seem obvious 714 00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:35,880 that taking a fish oil supplement would also be good for you. 715 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:38,720 Well, at the moment, the best evidence shows that 716 00:40:38,720 --> 00:40:41,720 the strongest benefit is from eating the fish itself - 717 00:40:41,720 --> 00:40:44,320 the fish contains a lot more than just the oil. 718 00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:48,520 While fish oil supplements may provide 719 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:50,160 a benefit for some people, 720 00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:53,200 they can be harmful in others, like pregnant women. 721 00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:57,320 So it's best to check the detailed information on the NHS website 722 00:40:57,320 --> 00:40:58,720 before you take them. 723 00:41:05,240 --> 00:41:08,640 'For the past week, the Jai family have been keeping food diaries 724 00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:12,840 'to see if they're getting all the vitamins they need from their diet.' 725 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:15,640 How did you find the week with the food diaries? 726 00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:19,480 Concentrates the brain, having to fill out a food diary. 727 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:22,160 In my mind, I think I eat fantastically, 728 00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:26,920 but when it's on paper in black and white it says a different story. 729 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:32,480 'I've brought along a vitamin expert to analyse the results.' 730 00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:38,840 So, first of all, Sue, how did the Jai family do, compared to a typical British family? 731 00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:40,800 Fairly well. 732 00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:42,760 I looked at how the two children 733 00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:47,200 compared with children in the UK, other children, 734 00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:50,200 and you with women and men. 735 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:53,200 And, really, you weren't far different, which is good news. 736 00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:54,920 That's comforting. Yeah. 737 00:41:54,920 --> 00:41:57,040 Let's start with you, Delaney. 738 00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:01,000 Selenium and iodine, that's all really that Delaney's missing. 739 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:04,960 Selenium's a thing a lot of people are worried about being a bit deficient in. 740 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,640 How do we make sure that we're not deficient in it? 741 00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:09,600 It's found in quite a number of foods, 742 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:12,120 but the easiest way is to have to odd Brazil nut. 743 00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:14,080 So selenium not too difficult to deal with. 744 00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:16,720 How do people make sure they're getting enough iodine? 745 00:42:16,720 --> 00:42:18,800 I guess the easiest way is to use iodised salt. 746 00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:20,480 You can buy that in supermarkets. 747 00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:23,920 'Brother Dan could do with a bit more calcium.' 748 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,800 Do you know any foods that calcium's in? 749 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:28,960 Cheese. Cheese is really good. 750 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:32,400 Milk, yoghurt, cheese, as you said. 751 00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:35,960 So dairy products are a good source, so that's fairly easy. 752 00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:39,880 Mum and Dad, you guys have a bit more yellow. 753 00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:42,200 Terry's a little bit low on iron. 754 00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:44,600 The iron is a problem, actually, because you need iron. 755 00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:47,640 If you had more green veg you would get some iron there. 756 00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:48,760 Right. 757 00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:51,200 Some meat would be helpful. Couple of times a week. 758 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:54,480 Because if you don't have enough iron you'll end up with iron 759 00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:57,240 deficiency anaemia, so that'll make you feel tired. 760 00:42:57,240 --> 00:43:00,240 Ron, how did you think you were doing? 761 00:43:00,240 --> 00:43:05,000 I thought I was doing well, but obviously the numbers say different. 762 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:09,240 'Dad Ron isn't eating enough fruit and veg.' 763 00:43:09,240 --> 00:43:13,200 You were getting barely over one portion a day on average. 764 00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:15,280 I was having a little bit of coleslaw 765 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:18,640 and tomato on the side, but obviously I wasn't having enough. 766 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:24,720 Would the addition of more fruit and veg, meat, fish, a bit of dairy, 767 00:43:24,720 --> 00:43:28,600 would that sort out the problem? And some nuts. Nuts, pulses. 768 00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:31,520 So what we think of as a "good" diet. 769 00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:39,080 So, should the Jais be paying for costly vitamin supplements 770 00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:42,520 if they can get everything they need by eating a balanced diet? 771 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:47,720 The Jai family are fairly typical, they're not 772 00:43:47,720 --> 00:43:51,360 getting their five a day and their diets are deficient in a few vitamins 773 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:53,840 and a few minerals, so it would seem like a really obvious 774 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:57,960 solution for them to buy an over-the-counter multivitamin supplement. 775 00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:00,640 In fact, the majority of large, independent studies 776 00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:04,160 have shown that for healthy adults, there is 777 00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:06,640 no clear benefit in taking a multivitamin 778 00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:09,720 and, in some cases, they may even be harmful. 779 00:44:10,720 --> 00:44:13,720 There's no question that vitamin supplementation is useful 780 00:44:13,720 --> 00:44:16,520 in certain conditions and age groups, but for most of us 781 00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:20,000 the best bet is to eat a healthy and varied diet. 782 00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:30,440 As a doctor, I thought I knew most things 783 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:32,480 about over-the-counter medicines. 784 00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:36,000 But I've already turned up some real surprises. 785 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:40,160 We lead such busy lives, it seems it's often more convenient 786 00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:45,040 to pop a pill rather than rustle up a home remedy or eat our five a day. 787 00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:47,640 But with a bit more time and thought, there's no doubt 788 00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:51,680 we could save ourselves some money and improve our health. 789 00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:56,880 Finally, I want to take a look at two different skin conditions 790 00:44:56,880 --> 00:44:59,640 and the remedies we use to treat them. 791 00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:07,760 Last year, us Brits spent over £80 million 792 00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:11,360 treating fungal infections like athlete's foot. 793 00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:14,040 This itchy, irritating skin disease 794 00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:16,760 affects up to 25% of the population, 795 00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:19,560 but how can we avoid footing the cost? 796 00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:25,520 First we need to understand how infection occurs. 797 00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:30,080 So I've come to meet Haringey women's football team. 798 00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:36,560 This is a great honour coming in the girls' changing room. 799 00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:38,520 Has anyone had athlete's foot? 800 00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:41,360 I know I have. When I dried my feet, they were quite sore 801 00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:44,000 between my toes, and that's when I knew I had athlete's foot. 802 00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:47,480 What's your foot routine like in the changing room? 803 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:49,760 I get changed, I always change my socks. 804 00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:52,000 I put talcum powder on my toes, 805 00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:55,320 just cos my feet are quite sweaty. 806 00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:57,920 I admit that one! 807 00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:01,160 Karla, are you known in the team as "Sweaty Foot Karla?" 808 00:46:01,160 --> 00:46:03,640 No! But I might be! 809 00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:09,640 Everyone has bacteria and fungi living on their skin, 810 00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:13,240 but when they multiply, problems can start. 811 00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:16,800 Fungi thrive in warm, dark, humid environments 812 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:18,200 like sweaty trainers, 813 00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:21,600 showers and communal changing areas just like this. 814 00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:24,480 So are Carla and the rest of the team 815 00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,240 infected with athlete's foot now? 816 00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:32,960 I've brought along a little camera so we can have a closer look. 817 00:46:32,960 --> 00:46:38,160 I'm looking for flaky, dry skin, and an itchy red rash 818 00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:41,800 that develops in the spaces between the toes. 819 00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:44,960 Dry, no cracks. 820 00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:48,160 High five, exactly. 821 00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:51,640 While Karla... Sweaty Foot Karla! 822 00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:57,480 The front of your foot is almost in the perfect shape 823 00:46:57,480 --> 00:46:58,720 of an expensive stiletto. 824 00:46:58,720 --> 00:47:01,160 Now you're offering! 825 00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:04,880 I must say, your feet do not feel sweaty. 826 00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:09,360 The ladies' feet look fine, but that's with the naked eye. 827 00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:11,640 Who's got ticklish feet? 828 00:47:11,640 --> 00:47:13,560 Karen. 829 00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:18,280 So I'm taking some swabs to the lab to be tested and I'll be back later 830 00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:20,040 with some surprising results. 831 00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:23,600 This is just about the worst plate we got off anyone's foot. 832 00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:25,520 Do you want to hear whose foot it was? 833 00:47:34,720 --> 00:47:38,920 Another skin condition that causes distress to many is acne. 834 00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:42,920 As many as 80% of 11 to 30-year-olds suffer from it, 835 00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:47,960 and last year, we spent £70 million on treating it. 836 00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:52,040 Like almost everyone, I had spots as a teenager, 837 00:47:52,040 --> 00:47:57,160 and for about five years I spent vast quantities of my parents' money 838 00:47:57,160 --> 00:47:59,240 on over-the-counter spot treatments. 839 00:47:59,240 --> 00:48:02,400 Between me and my two brothers, the whole bathroom was full 840 00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:05,680 of different ointments, treatments, lotions and potions. 841 00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:07,360 But did these things do any good 842 00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:11,120 or have I spent my parents' whole retirement fund for nothing? 843 00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:16,080 It's important to know more about what causes acne 844 00:48:16,080 --> 00:48:19,200 so I'm meeting up with a dermatologist. 845 00:48:19,200 --> 00:48:22,480 Dev, I'm a bit confused about acne, it's not really my area. 846 00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:24,680 I know it's to do with hormones. 847 00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:28,320 There's inflammation, bacteria involved, 848 00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:30,800 some people say diet. What's going on, why do we get it? 849 00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:32,560 These are common questions 850 00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:36,280 and I think the best way to answer these would be to look at how 851 00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:40,280 normal skin functions, and then we can tease out how acne develops. 852 00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:42,920 So we've got three different stages of acne here 853 00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:45,120 with our lovely volunteers. 854 00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:47,280 Melanie, do you want to step up 855 00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:50,240 and we'll have a look at your skin to kick off with. 856 00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:55,480 So Melanie's got almost flawless skin. 857 00:48:55,480 --> 00:48:59,360 Is there any bit of it that you notice or that bothers you. 858 00:48:59,360 --> 00:49:02,520 I get quite a lot of blocked pores around my nose area. 859 00:49:02,520 --> 00:49:04,400 That's where I get most problems, I think. 860 00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:07,000 We've got a special derm cam 861 00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:09,120 which is going to magnify the skin ten times. 862 00:49:09,120 --> 00:49:11,280 Let's have a look with the cam. 863 00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:14,400 I must say, they do look very dramatic. 864 00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:19,320 This is common. Blackheads are simply the openings of pores, 865 00:49:19,320 --> 00:49:22,040 which are grease glands in the skin, 866 00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:24,320 so this is the hair coming up, 867 00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:28,360 and attached to the hair is a grease gland, 868 00:49:28,360 --> 00:49:33,560 and this is producing grease, or sebum, 869 00:49:33,560 --> 00:49:37,000 and it travels up through this channel 870 00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:39,000 and comes onto the skin, 871 00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:42,680 and this is normal flow of grease on to the skin. 872 00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:45,800 We need that because skin needs needs to remain supple 873 00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:47,920 and well moisturised. OK. 874 00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:50,800 So, Melanie's skin is quite normal. 875 00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:52,720 Next up is Sam. 876 00:49:52,720 --> 00:49:55,800 So Sam's got slightly more noticeable acne. 877 00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:58,520 You've got very much the same kind of spottiness 878 00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:02,440 I had when I was a teenager for five or six years. 879 00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:04,920 I'm just going to have a look on your cheek. 880 00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:06,880 So there's redness. 881 00:50:06,880 --> 00:50:09,000 What's going on there? 882 00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:12,440 As acne develops, you produce more and more grease, 883 00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:14,600 and that's been forced out. 884 00:50:14,600 --> 00:50:16,640 Also, this top layer of the skin 885 00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:19,880 becomes abnormal and doesn't allow the grease out 886 00:50:19,880 --> 00:50:23,720 as well as you'd hope, so now you've got a blockage, 887 00:50:23,720 --> 00:50:26,280 and this just seals up like this. 888 00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:30,280 Does cleaning affect this? Is Sam not cleaning enough? 889 00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:32,240 Bacteria are already here. 890 00:50:32,240 --> 00:50:35,760 It's coming from within, rather than from the surface. 891 00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:39,680 If you overwash, you may dry out the skin more, 892 00:50:39,680 --> 00:50:43,160 and that stimulates the grease glands to produce more grease, 893 00:50:43,160 --> 00:50:46,200 so you might actually not be doing yourself any favours. 894 00:50:46,200 --> 00:50:49,760 I think the advice should be twice daily washing with soap and water 895 00:50:49,760 --> 00:50:51,960 and that's all you need to be doing. 896 00:50:54,520 --> 00:50:57,440 The main cause of acne is hormonal changes 897 00:50:57,440 --> 00:51:01,640 which is why it's most prevalent in teenagers like Sam, 898 00:51:01,640 --> 00:51:06,120 but for our next sufferer, Julie, it's persisted into adulthood. 899 00:51:06,120 --> 00:51:08,760 Julie, you've had acne for ten years, 900 00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:10,400 you even keep a blog about it. 901 00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:13,240 Can we have a look at your skin with the derm scope? Sure. 902 00:51:13,240 --> 00:51:15,240 There aren't many blackheads, 903 00:51:15,240 --> 00:51:18,000 not many kind of active spots, 904 00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:20,800 but there is this pocking and scarring. 905 00:51:20,800 --> 00:51:24,280 What have you done to the spots over the years? Did you squeeze? 906 00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:27,240 Yes. Like most teenagers, when you see a white head, 907 00:51:27,240 --> 00:51:30,000 your immediate reaction is that the spot's ready 908 00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:31,560 and you want to squeeze it, 909 00:51:31,560 --> 00:51:34,960 and that's what I've known to leave the scarring on my face. 910 00:51:34,960 --> 00:51:38,920 Dev, is this true that the squeezing leads to the scarring? 911 00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:45,520 The minute you apply pressure down here to squeeze that, 912 00:51:45,520 --> 00:51:48,480 this may happen in the skin. 913 00:51:48,480 --> 00:51:52,320 It forms a column, and as a scar forms, it contracts, 914 00:51:52,320 --> 00:51:54,840 and leads to this indentation of the skin, 915 00:51:54,840 --> 00:51:57,880 so we must try and stop this from happening 916 00:51:57,880 --> 00:52:00,200 by adequate treatment early on. 917 00:52:02,120 --> 00:52:06,080 So seeking early treatment for acne is clearly vital. 918 00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:09,640 But do the dozens of products being sold over the counter 919 00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:11,360 actually do any good? 920 00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:15,480 Some are just simply soaps, which just cleans the skin, 921 00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:17,800 and some have active ingredients. 922 00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:22,600 The two best ingredients that have evidence for treating mild acne 923 00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:26,480 are benzoyl peroxide and also salicylic acid, 924 00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:29,840 which gently exfoliates the top layer of the skin 925 00:52:29,840 --> 00:52:35,120 and has the effect of opening up the pores to allow the grease to flow. 926 00:52:35,120 --> 00:52:38,120 But if you're using these for many months 927 00:52:38,120 --> 00:52:41,160 and you're seeing no improvement, then really you should have 928 00:52:41,160 --> 00:52:43,520 prescribed medication by your GP 929 00:52:43,520 --> 00:52:47,000 to try and reduce the chance of you having scarring. 930 00:52:48,120 --> 00:52:51,000 So the over-the-counter remedies can help 931 00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:52,800 but you need to be patient, 932 00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:56,760 as many take as long as six weeks to start working. 933 00:52:56,760 --> 00:52:59,680 If symptoms persist or are particularly severe, 934 00:52:59,680 --> 00:53:01,760 the best advice is to see your GP. 935 00:53:11,600 --> 00:53:15,200 Now, back to the irritating issue of athlete's foot. 936 00:53:15,200 --> 00:53:18,560 Treatments for this and other fungal infections 937 00:53:18,560 --> 00:53:21,040 are a multimillion pound business. 938 00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:23,480 So are there other ways to avoid paying out 939 00:53:23,480 --> 00:53:25,760 for costly over-the-counter remedies? 940 00:53:29,040 --> 00:53:32,040 It's been two weeks since I met Haringey women's football team 941 00:53:32,040 --> 00:53:34,960 and searched their feet for signs of athlete's foot. 942 00:53:34,960 --> 00:53:38,120 They all looked fine, but to be sure, I took some swabs 943 00:53:38,120 --> 00:53:41,200 and sent them to be cultured in a lab. 944 00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:44,360 Now I'm back with some pretty terrifying results. 945 00:53:46,160 --> 00:53:48,560 So, guys, we've got your results, 946 00:53:48,560 --> 00:53:49,880 and we've brought Marc, 947 00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:52,760 who has the lucky job of analysing your foot fungus. 948 00:53:52,760 --> 00:53:56,160 So shall we start by looking... There's quite a variety of results. 949 00:53:56,160 --> 00:53:58,640 We're going to project them on the wall. 950 00:53:58,640 --> 00:54:00,920 Eugh! That's disgusting. 951 00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:04,600 Is this perhaps slightly more disgusting than you were expecting? 952 00:54:04,600 --> 00:54:05,760 Yeah. Not great. 953 00:54:05,760 --> 00:54:08,920 This is like the whole mushroom farm! 954 00:54:08,920 --> 00:54:12,280 This is just about the worst plate we got off anyone's foot. 955 00:54:12,280 --> 00:54:14,200 So whose foot do you think this is? 956 00:54:14,200 --> 00:54:16,400 I'm not going to do it! 957 00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:21,680 The only thing we can say is this is not Sweaty Karla's foot. 958 00:54:21,680 --> 00:54:26,000 But this wasn't the only slide showing signs of athlete's foot. 959 00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:29,360 This is a better selection of what we saw 960 00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:31,640 and it's very interesting to see 961 00:54:31,640 --> 00:54:35,800 that in fact 75% of the plates we took, you all had dermatophytes, 962 00:54:35,800 --> 00:54:39,800 which is the main cause of athlete's foot. 963 00:54:39,800 --> 00:54:44,360 The astonishing fact is that these slides represent all of us. 964 00:54:44,360 --> 00:54:46,400 Everyone carries these bugs 965 00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:50,600 and when they get out of control, this is what it can lead to. 966 00:54:50,600 --> 00:54:54,240 This is actually a particularly savage example 967 00:54:54,240 --> 00:54:55,720 of athlete's foot. 968 00:54:57,320 --> 00:55:00,400 So how can we stop the fungi from multiplying 969 00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:03,280 and turning into full-blown athlete's foot? 970 00:55:03,280 --> 00:55:06,720 Because these bugs are everywhere, you can't really avoid getting them. 971 00:55:06,720 --> 00:55:10,440 You can boil your shoes and sterilise your socks 972 00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:12,640 but you'll quickly pick them up again. 973 00:55:12,640 --> 00:55:17,560 It's about making your feet bad homes for the fungi. 974 00:55:17,560 --> 00:55:19,720 The best thing is really good hygiene. 975 00:55:19,720 --> 00:55:21,640 Clean between your toes, make sure it's dry, 976 00:55:21,640 --> 00:55:24,760 give your feet enough time to get the air through. 977 00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:27,600 They won't grow in that environment. 978 00:55:27,600 --> 00:55:30,360 Prevention is always better than cure, 979 00:55:30,360 --> 00:55:32,800 but if you do get athlete's foot, 980 00:55:32,800 --> 00:55:35,360 do the over-the-counter remedies work? 981 00:55:35,360 --> 00:55:37,800 This is your standard over-the-counter medicine, 982 00:55:37,800 --> 00:55:40,760 and what we did here was we grew dermatophytes on a plate 983 00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:42,080 with their food source. 984 00:55:42,080 --> 00:55:44,640 This is where we put the formulation 985 00:55:44,640 --> 00:55:47,280 and it's killed it completely, so they're very effective. 986 00:55:47,280 --> 00:55:51,200 They get into the fungal cell wall and basically explode the organism, 987 00:55:51,200 --> 00:55:52,680 so it has gone. 988 00:55:52,680 --> 00:55:55,400 They will work as long as you use them correctly. 989 00:55:57,560 --> 00:56:00,880 No matter how obsessive you are, you cannot avoid these fungi. 990 00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:03,440 They're on the changing room floor, they're in your shoes 991 00:56:03,440 --> 00:56:06,040 and they're on the pitch, but what you can avoid 992 00:56:06,040 --> 00:56:11,160 is spending loads of money on anti-fungal over-the-counter medication. 993 00:56:11,160 --> 00:56:16,640 By practising good foot hygiene, you deprive the fungi of food 994 00:56:16,640 --> 00:56:20,120 and water, and you make your feet an inhospitable place 995 00:56:20,120 --> 00:56:21,960 for fungi to survive. 996 00:56:25,120 --> 00:56:30,640 I've reached the end of a fascinating journey to uncover 997 00:56:30,640 --> 00:56:34,080 the truth about the everyday remedies 998 00:56:34,080 --> 00:56:36,200 we have in our medicine cabinets. 999 00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:43,840 I started out a bit professionally sceptical, 1000 00:56:43,840 --> 00:56:46,480 but when I reflect on what I do when I'm ill, 1001 00:56:46,480 --> 00:56:48,560 I realise I do use over-the-counter medicines. 1002 00:56:48,560 --> 00:56:51,360 The important thing, though, when you go to the chemist's, 1003 00:56:51,360 --> 00:56:52,960 is do it with your eyes open. 1004 00:56:52,960 --> 00:56:57,040 Do your research - the detail's in the small print. 1005 00:56:57,040 --> 00:56:58,920 These products may be convenient 1006 00:56:58,920 --> 00:57:01,440 but make sure you really know what's in them. 1007 00:57:04,200 --> 00:57:07,320 Before you buy any medicine, cut through the marketing. 1008 00:57:07,320 --> 00:57:09,960 Ask yourself, would a home remedy work better? 1009 00:57:09,960 --> 00:57:11,560 Are there any side effects? 1010 00:57:11,560 --> 00:57:15,960 You'll save money and end up getting more effective treatment.