Tonight on The Checkup ` has Sam uncovered the secret to eternal youth? You've knocked five years off your age. Mataroria discovers the truth about vaping,... But are we gonna suffer a rude awakening like we did with cigarettes? ...and Gareth answers a burning question. Can spicy food cause stomach ulcers? But first, I take one for the team. In my general practice, I see many surprising things, but one thing that rolls around year after year is winter and all the dreaded lurgies that come with it. Even a doctor needs a doctor sometimes, and today I'm here for my flu vaccine. Influenza immunisation programmes aim to vaccinate 1.2 million people in New Zealand every year, but general opinion is divided. Some are sold on the idea,... I've had it done. My mum got it done for me and all my siblings. I've never had the flu since I've had it. If it's for a more healthier environment, a more healthier population, then I'm all for it. ...while others aren't convinced. I have heard that the flu vaccine can give you the flu, and I know people who have... I don't know whether it's in their head or not, but they've got the flu after having had the injection. The one time I did have it, I did get quite sick, so... it's a no for me. (LAUGHS) Can the vaccine make you ill? It can't. The vaccine contains no live virus. It's impossible. For a second opinion ` Ahmed? I totally agree. It cannot give you the flu. If you do catch the flu after being vaccinated, it'll be because you came into contact with the virus before the vaccine became fully effective, which takes two weeks. Just a sharp scratch coming now. It's more likely that you've caught a different cold or virus altogether. There are hundreds out there with similar symptoms. Why is the flu such a big deal? Unlike the cold, the flu, or influenza, has the ability to kill. It's also highly contagious. (COCKS WATER GUN) People with the flu can spread it to others up to about 6ft away with just one sneeze. Even if you manage to duck your sneezy workmate or family members, you're not safe. (CURIOUS WALTZ MUSIC) If a flu virus carrier touches a surface, like a crossing button or a door handle, then everyone who touches that same button or handle for 24 hours could be infected. (WILD WEST STANDOFF MUSIC) How does a vaccine work? Think of it as a wanted poster. It warns your body what to look out for so you can fight it when it rides into town. Sometimes viruses can mutate and so disguise themselves. This is the constant battle with vaccinations ` keeping one step ahead of the bad guys. Each year, the flu vaccine is updated, so it can target the most serious virus strains predicted to hit during the winter months. The World Health Organisation collects data from across the globe before deciding which three or four flu viruses will be included in the vaccine. The vaccine is free for those most at risk, but it's available for everyone. If you have the flu vaccine, it will dramatically reduce your chances of getting sick and the virus' opportunity to spread and effect others. And who doesn't want the bad guys run out of town? (JAZZY GUITAR RIFF) (UPBEAT BASS MUSIC) On the face of it, smoothies are marvellous, blending healthy fruit and vegetables into delicious drinks and providing our five plus a day in one refreshing, handheld hit ` genius! But let's dig a little deeper, shall we? Most smoothies are fruit-based, but do we ever know how many pieces go into one smoothie? And it is a case of the more the merrier? Do you both drink smoothies? Um, if they've got beer in 'em. (LAUGHS) So, what do you think's good about a smoothie? Uh, I like smoothies because I'm always in a hurry, and I` Like, they're just a convenient lunch for me, really. They're cold, and they're good for after school. It seems very healthy because they contain a lot of fruit. They're thirst-quenching, they're flavourful, and they're good for you. How many portions of fruit do you think go into this smoothie here? Maybe... Maybe... One with each? How many portions of fruit do you think goes into this smoothie here? Nine. Two pieces of strawberries, half an orange, Yeah? ...and a half apple? I reckon half of` half of what's here. Probably, like, that much pineapple, like, an apple and an orange. I would think... six. Six! Right on the money. (LAUGHS) Really? (LAUGHS) Yeah, perfect. I'm obviously a smoothie expert. (BOTH LAUGH) Although fruit is a wonderful source of essential nutrients, it's also high in sugar, and with a fruit smoothie, you're getting an awful lot of sugary bang for your buck. And roundabout how many teaspoons of sugar do you think is inside of the smoothie? Um, I think two teaspoons. Three? Probably you have... eight inside? I don't know, maybe... four? I dunno. 10? 10? 12? Yep. Yep. Yep. Eight? Eight? Yeah, try 18. Oh no, really? Yep. So not so healthy? (LAUGHS) Oh! 18? 18? Yes. Yeah. Yep. Wow. Too much. Yeah, that's a lot. Does that surprise you? It is! Yeah. Because 18 is a lot. 18 is much. Yeah. Bear in mind, on average Kiwis are already consuming 24 to 30 teaspoons a day ` four to five times the recommended amount. Does it matter that it's natural sugar? Unfortunately, it makes no difference if the sugar is natural or added. When you eat a piece of fruit, the sugars are contained within the fibrous cell walls of the flesh, and this fibre slows the digestion and absorption of the sugar. But when you hit the switch on the blender, the sugars come out of the fruit cells, and become what is known as 'free sugars'. These free sugars are absorbed more quickly into the bloodstream, and may contribute to weight gain, tooth decay, diabetes and other serious illnesses. Because of this high free sugar content, the British Heart Foundation says smoothies can only count as one of your five-plus a day, no matter how many items you put in. If you can't give up your favourite fix, there are ways to reduce the sugar hit. Don't add sweeteners and only use the amount of fruit you can reasonably eat in one sitting ` half an apple and half a banana, for example, is reasonable. Leafy green veges and nuts are a good edition. Try trim milk or yoghurt instead of fruit juice and limit the amount ` only 150ml is recommended. In general, are smoothies a healthy option? They contain many beneficial nutrients, but I just can't ignore the large amount of sugar. If it's a health fix you're after, I suggest getting stuck into some whole fruit and veges ` just the way nature intended. (CRUNCHES) Vaping and smoking are a little bit different an addiction. Do you think e-cigarettes are safe? * It's hard to believe that once upon a time, you could smoke everywhere ` in restaurants, on aeroplanes and even in hospitals. When I was 18, the bars were filled with smoke, but, thankfully, we wised up and put a stop to that. But now there's a new kid on the block ` vaping. It's estimated that over 200,000 Kiwis are now puffing on e-cigarettes. But are we gonna suffer a rude awakening like we did with cigarettes? Is vaping a lifesaver or a smokescreen? Vapers inhale the mist that's created when a liquid is heated in a battery-operated device, or e-cigarette. In New Zealand, it is currently legal to vape in public buildings and offices, and it's up to individual employees and business owners whether or not they including vaping in their smoke-free policy. It's just like second-hand smoking. Yeah, they're better to smoke outside, aren't they? It doesn't really effect me. It's not healthy. I'm a tyrant. I'm an old witch. No one vapes in my shop. (LAUGHS) A comparison to smoking is an inevitable one, but there are some fundamental differences. (LIGHTER CLICKS) Smoking burns tobacco, which releases an addictive dose of nicotine, and alongside it comes thousands of other toxic chemicals and carcinogens, which are proven causes of lung cancer and heart disease. E-cigarettes don't contain the toxic chemicals found in tobacco cigarettes, but some do contain nicotine. Nicotine is not extremely harmful or cancer-causing on its own, but it is highly addictive. The other ingredients are ones we are actually pretty familiar with. These ingredients are things we already use in existing products, and are FDA and CE approved. The health benefits of vape over tobacco haven't gone unnoticed. Professor Chris Bullen is investigating if e-cigarettes could be the answer to quitting tobacco smoking. So we did one of the first studies in the world here in Auckland. I think the success story for e-cigarettes is that people want to try them and use them to help them quit smoking more than any other pharmaceutical product. Do you think e-cigarettes are safe? Well, I think they're not completely safe, but in relationship to smoking, they're much, much safer. Got some good information on short-term use, and it all looks pretty good. So what we don't know is if people use them for years and years and years, if there are gonna be some long-term harmful consequences. So for people who smoke, is there the risk that they might take up e-cigarettes, and then start on normal cigarettes too? It's probably one of the biggest debates in this area. It's the idea that e-cigarettes are a gateway to subsequently smoking tobacco, which would be a really bad thing. The evidence coming out of the New Zealand data that we collect on young people's behaviour shows that smoking year-on-year, amongst all segments of society, is going down, and we know that e-cigarette experimentation is going up. So if e-cigarettes were leading young people to become smokers, we're not seeing that signalled at this point in time. Josh McNally took up vaping in an attempt to kick a long-term smoking habit. I started smoking when I was about 12 years old. That's about 17 years of smoking full time. (BOTH LAUGH) I've tried several ways to quit smoking. I tried patches. I tried the gum. It just really wasn't working for me at all. That's why you don't have a Cleito. For me, I think with vaping, I was still doing the action of putting something to my mouth; I was inhaling deeply; I was just letting go of whatever was stressing me out at the time, but it didn't have to have all the nasty chemicals that are found in cigarettes. (BOTH LAUGH) Vaping and smoking are a little bit different an addiction. I would need to have a cigarette, whereas now, I can go out and leave my vape at home and be quite happy. While vaping has seen Josh kick his unhealthy smoking habit in the butt, the jury's still very much out on the benefits of e-cigarettes. Just ask Letitia O'Dwyer from the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation. With e-cigarettes and vaping, there's concerns around the flavours. Some flavours in particular appear to be more harmful, like apple and cinnamon and vanilla ` those sort of flavours, which are quite popular. And the fact that although you've got the vegetable glycerine and propylene glycol that they use in these products ` they're fine ingredients for food, which you ingest, but they're not something that's actually supposed to be inhaled into the lungs and into the bronchial tissue. The argument for e-cigarettes and vaping is that they're 95% safer than traditional cigarettes. It's not actually based on any real science that they're 95% safer. I think people would generally agree that they aren't as harmful, and they don't have the carcinogenics that traditional tobacco smoke has, but they're not without harm, and we don't have the long-term safety data on these products yet. If you look at the flavours and the marketing of these products, that's what our big concern is ` that direct consumer advertising, radio, the fact that they've got names like 'gummy bears,' and, you know, all these quite youth-orientated, we would say, flavours and names. It would be really sad to see us have all of these lung conditions come up in 20 years time, because of e-cigarettes and vaping. I mean, it's gonna look ridiculous. To me, if e-cigarettes can help you give up tobacco smoking, then it might be worth a try. Otherwise, I'd give them a miss. It's just a bit too early to really know what the long-term effects are. So we're all between about 60 and 70? ALL: Yes. We want to know is darker skin ` does that have less wrinkles than lighter skin? What do you think? At Specsavers, we don't do things by halves except for our 50% off sale. Get 50% off a great range of styles, including designer brands and all prescription sunnies. Hurry in to Specsavers today. * (CURIOUS MUSIC) As a GP, I get asked lots of weird and wonderful questions about health, such as, 'Are eggs bad for my heart?' That one's false. 'Can antiperspirants cause breast cancer?' Well, there's no evidence for that. 'Can I get pregnant from sitting on a toilet seat?' Think I missed that lecture at med school. And the one I'm really looking forward to getting to the bottom of today ` 'Can spicy food cause stomach ulcers?' Hi. Can I get one spicy vindaloo, please? There's your change. Awesome, cool. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Stomach ulcers are open sores that develop in the lining of your stomach. The symptoms of stomach ulcers can be really uncomfortable and no fun at all. For most people, they'll experience acid reflux, a burning pain in the stomach, and it can make you burp a lot. For a long time, people believed ulcers were caused by stress and spicy food. In the 1980s, however, Australian physician Dr Barry Marshall had a suspicion that recently discovered bacteria were to blame for this painful and very prevalent condition. But he needed to prove it, so he got some bacteria and tissue samples from some of his patients who actually had ulcers and made up a tasty wee broth which he drank, and within several days, he developed symptoms of nausea, heartburn, and by doing this, proved that stomach ulcers are actually caused by bacteria. Barry's brave experiment proved the link between bacteria and stomach ulcers. It would ultimately lead him to jointly win the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2005. The bacteria is called helicobacter pylori and is believed to be transmitted from person to person through close contact. It is usually picked up in childhood. So here's a little demo to explain how an ulcer forms. This represents the stomach lining. The pink napkin is the outer part of the lining, and this yellow napkin is the overlying mucous membrane. So this baking powder... represents the bacteria, and the bacteria weaken the mucous membrane of the stomach lining. As you can see, with the weakened mucous membrane, the acid is able to get deeper into the stomach lining, and cause an ulcer to form underneath. Today, the standard treatment for ulcers includes antibiotics. I, for one, am very glad that spicy food is not the culprit. I'll definitely be keeping it on the menu. (JAZZY GUITAR RIFF) Whether you choose to laugh or cry at your next birthday is totally up to you. Unfortunately, we have less control over those inevitable telltale signs of ageing ` wrinkles. (BLOWS) Age lines are a result of multiple factors ` sun exposure, smoking, overall health, genetic inheritance, gender, skincare routines and even facial expressions. But what about ethnicity? I've employed the help of 10 women with a range of skin tones to test the theory that darker skin ages better than paler skin. What are your ages? So... 60? 65? 66? 65, 66. So we're all between about 60 and 70? ALL: Yes. We've asked you all here today because we want to have a look at your skin, and we've asked you not to wear any make-up. How does that feel? Is it scary? That's OK. That's OK. We don't wear` We don't wear... We don't use too much make-up. And we're gonna ask you to be even braver as we analyse if there's any wrinkles, and we want to know is darker skin ` does that have less wrinkles than lighter skin? I think so. I think the darker skin does not wrinkle as quick as the whiter skin. Yeah. Yep. Right, shall we get down to business, ladies? Yep? Yep? ALL: Yes. OK. Let's go. (LAUGHS) (INQUISITIVE MUSIC) There are two factors that cause the skin to age ` Just lean forward... chronological ageing, which none of us can avoid, and photo ageing. Photo ageing is caused by exposure to the UV, primarily the sun, but the effect it has does vary according to skin colour. Today we're using a VISIA imaging machine to analyse our volunteer's skin. Great, and close your eyes. The machine will do three things ` measure the number and depth of lines and wrinkles. So, we're looking at the wrinkles around the eye area. Yeah. The light green are the fine lines, and the darker green is the deeper lines and wrinkles, but overall, it's looking really good. Good. Yeah. That's excellent. (LAUGHS) I'm happy. Yeah. Secondly, it will highlight UV damage. Did you have lots of sun exposure as a child? Oh yeah. I mean, as a kid, we had a holiday bach at Little Manly. You just didn't have sunblock. No. Yep. And I can remember my mother trying to put QTol on afterwards to get rid of the burn... Oh, wow. ...and the peeling. So were you out in the sun very much when you were younger? Well, of` of course. (LAUGHS) Because I grew up in the port. Oh my goodness, after lunch ` the beach. Right. And then home. Yeah. And then after dinner ` the beach. Again. Oh my. In summer time, it was amazing. (LAUGHS) Yep. Lastly, the machine provides a true age reading, based on its findings. So your true skin age has come up at 63, and your real age is 68, so that's awesome! You've knocked five years off your age. (ALL LAUGH) Melanin is what gives skin its colour. Dark skin not only has more melanin, but the skin cells have bigger pockets of melanin, which is packed in so tightly that it absorbs and scatters more light, giving darker skin more protection from the sun's ultra-violet rays. These tightly packed melanin-filled cells mean darker skin is thicker and wrinkles are less prominent. It's really great, because we can't... Would you like to know the results? ALL: Yes! What was the answer? Yes, please. Your age of your skin was the same or younger than your chronological age, so you all have excellent skin. And the result was correct that ladies with a darker skin tend to have less wrinkles, and the overall winner for the lady who had the biggest difference between her chronological age and her skin was Matilde. (ALL CHEER) Ageing is a combination of nature and nurture. Nutrition, exercise and skincare all play a huge role, but the truth is ` none of us can escape it.