What is Zinc-Oxide? Why is it in your Huha undies?
What is Zinc-Oxide?
Zinc oxide is made from zinc, a type of metallic element found in nature and also now used in many different electronic, chemical and household products.
Like other elemental metals, including iron or electrolytes like magnesium, zinc is able to carry a certain electric charge which lends itself to benefits within the body. Zinc can benefit the immune system, digestive tract, brain and skin. Zinc Oxide is an inorganic compound with the formula ZnO.
What is Zinc Oxide used for?
Zinc oxide is used in a wide range of cosmetics and personal care products including makeup, nail products, baby lotions, bath soaps and foot powders.
Topical zinc oxide is a non-prescription (OTC) over-the-counter mild astringent with weak antiseptic properties. It is known for being used to treat and prevent various skin conditions including minor abrasions, burns, chafing, diaper rash, insect bites, and other minor skin irritations. It also has a long history with being used in sun protection products. It contains anti-microbial properties which is why it has been infused into the lining of our cellulose fabric undies.
There have been a number of recent studies completed on the properties and benefits of Zinc Oxide which include:
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Zinc as non-antibiotic treatment for UTIs
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Vaginal Zinc Moisturizer Gel improving postmenopausal Vulvovaginal symptoms
- Zinc as a vaccinating against genital herpes
Zinc-Oxide Studies
Zinc could help as non-antibiotic treatment for UTIs
In a study conducted by University of Queensland, they discovered new details about the role of zinc in our immune system could help the development of new non-antibiotic treatment strategies for bacterial diseases, such as urinary tract infections (UTIs).
UTIs are one of the most common bacterial infections worldwide with about 150 million cases each year, and can lead to serious conditions such as kidney infection and sepsis. One in five women will have at least one UTI in their lifetime. Nearly 20% of these women will have another and 30% of those will have yet another. Common symptoms of UTIs include an urgent need to urinate, a burning feeling when urinating, an aching feeling, pressure or pain in the lower abdomen, cloudy or blood-tinged urine and a strong odour to your urine.
The researchers of the University of Queensland, led by Professor Matt Sweet, Professor Mark Schembri and Dr Ronan Kapetanovic examined how our immune system uses zinc to fight uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) - the number one cause of UTIs.
Dr Kapetanovic, from UQ institute said, "We confirmed by direct visualisation that cells in our immune system known as macrophages deploy zinc to clear bacterial infections."
They also discovered that UPEC has a two-pronged strategy to survive the body's immune response.
"We found that, compared to non-pathogenic bacteria, UPEC can evade the zinc toxicity response of macrophages, but these bacteria also show enhanced resistance to the toxic effects of the zinc.
"These findings give us clues to how our immune system battles infections, and also potential avenues to develop treatments, such as blocking UPEC's escape from zinc to make it more sensitive to this metal.
Vaginal Moisturizer Gel Containing Zinc, Improves Postmenopausal Vulvovaginal Symptoms
According to Women's Health Matters, although there are many different approaches for treating vulvodynia and vulvar vestibulitis syndrome, but there is no single cure that is suitable for everyone. However, the most common type of cream is a zinc oxide cream, which is also commonly used to treat diaper rash.
To support this, in a study by the Journal of Menopausal Medicine, 37 women suffering with vulvovaginal symptoms were enrolled and asked to use the zinc-infused vaginal gel daily for 2 weeks. After that, the Vaginal Health Index (VHI) was calculated and was based on vaginal pain, dryness, burning, itching, dyspareunia and dysuria before and 2 weeks after the completion of treatment.
At the end of the pilot study, the results showed a significant improvement in VHI. The largest improvement occurred in vaginal dryness and there were no signs of inflammation on vaginal cytology. The conclusion of the study was that zinc-containing vaginal moisturizer gel significantly improves postmenopausal vulvovaginal symptoms without serious side effects.
New Approach to Vaccinating Against Genital Herpes Holds Promise
The Journal of Immunology reported on a recent study of mice, which showed that specially-designed zinc oxide tetrapod nanoparticles (ZOTEN) could hold promise as a novel method of vaccinating against herpes simplex-2 virus (HSV-2).
With this in mind, Dr. Antoine and colleagues conducted a study to investigate the use of ZOTEN as a strategy to protect against genital herpes in female mice with HSV-2 infection.
First, they swabbed the mice with HSV-2. Next, they treated some with ZOTEN ointment, and the remainder with placebo ointment. The ZOTEN-treated mice developed significantly fewer genital lesions than the placebo-treated mice did, and also had less inflammation in the central nervous system, where the virus can hide.
Huha Zinc-infused Mineral Undies
We believe in putting your body first. The fibers in the fabrics of our Thong, Cheeky and Brief undies are permanently embedded with high purity pharmaceutical Zinc Oxide during the spinning stage. This healing mineral is soothing for even the most sensitive skin.
In a clinical study it was also discovered that zinc-infused lyocell fabric provides very strong antibacterial activity against the bacteria that causes itch and skin irritation and the bacteria that leads to UTIS. It yielded a log reduction greater than 3, which means a reduction of up to 99.9% of bacteria over a 24 hour period!
