Baking soda and salt in bakeries of Mehrdasht (Najafabad), Isfahan, Iran: a survey on a typical rural population in a developing country.

BACKGROUND: Bread is a valuable source of proteins, minerals and calories. Baking soda prevents the absorption and digestion of bread and more salt used in production of bread also causes different diseases. This study was conducted to determine the amount of soda and salt in bakeries. METHOD: Cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 50 bakeries district during 2009. 400 samples were collected in four steps randomly. The standard PH < 6.2 indicative of no consumption of baking soda in bread and salt less than 2 g/100 g was considered as the reference. RESULTS: The PH less than 6.2 was seen in 91.5% of samples and analyzed by random effect analysis. In 64.5% of samples, the amount of salt was more than the standard. CONCLUSION: The amount of baking soda used in the bakeries was not high; bakers either had no enough knowledge about the amount of salt or had more other reasons. Drastic measures are recommended.

A comparative study of the therapeutic effects of the Zataria multiflora vaginal cream and metronidazole vaginal gel on bacterial vaginosis.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is one of most prevalent complications among reproductive-aged women. Metromidazole prescription, which is considered as the first-line treatment of BV, is usually followed by a few side effects. Besides, there is a growing tendency toward herbal medicines for the treatment of vaginitis. Antibacterial and antifungal effects of Zataria multiflora (Z. multiflora) have been demonstrated in vitro and in vivo. This study aimed to compare the therapeutic effects of the Z. multiflora vaginal cream and metronidazole vaginal gel on bacterial vaginosis. This was a randomized clinical trial on 90 married women aged 18-40 affected by BV who attended for treatment to the gynecology clinic of Shabih-Khani Hospital. They randomly divided to two groups of 45 participants. Diagnostic criteria were Amsel's criteria and Gram stain. Z. multiflora vaginal cream or metronidazole vaginal gel for five-night usage were prescribed to each group, and after 2-7 days therapeutic effects on participants' complications and their Amsel criteria were assessed. Data analysis was performed by McNemar and Fisher exact tests. Patients' complication and their Amsel's criteria were significantly decreased after treatment with Z. multiflora or metronidazole (p<0.05). Relative risk for unresponsiveness to treatment with Z. multiflora, to unresponsiveness to metronidazole was 1.5, which was not significant. Therapeutic effects of Z. multiflora vaginal cream are similar to metronidazole vaginal gel on BV. Therefore it could be an appropriate choice to BV treatment for those interested in herbal medicines or those affected by side effects of metronidazole.