Consumer columnist and West Hartford resident Harlan Levy has more than 20 years of experience writing stories about everyday experiences that anyone could encounter.

Harlan Levy. Courtesy photo

By Harlan Levy

Hey dog-lovers: August is Dog Month! I never heard of it, but our dog Latke did and barked at me to celebrate. So I gave some special treats to our granddaughter to give to Latke, and she barked her appreciation. So, dear dog-loving readers, give your dog a bone or special treat today, OK?

Water boilers

I was looking at food hacks a few days ago and found one that said I should empty my water boiler daily and not leave water sitting inside. The hack said, “Leaving water to sit in a kettle or water boiler for too long causes rapid limescale buildup, creates a breeding ground for bacteria and mold, ruins the fresh taste of future drinks due to oxygen loss, and can cause mineral concentration from repeated reboiling.”

But was that true? I never heard of that. So, I did some research and found that, no, home heating or domestic hot water boilers should not be emptied daily. Draining a hot water boiler daily introduces fresh oxygen-rich water constantly, which causes rapid internal rust, corrosion, and scale build-up.

I guess you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. No surprise in our politically divided nation.

Home hot water boilers should not be emptied daily. Photo credit: Harlan Levy

Poop pills and insomnia

The following sounds ridiculous, but science can be odd.

A new study in the Journal of Internal Medicine found that “poop pills” may ease insomnia by reprogramming the gut microbiome. “Reprogramming the gut microbiome with fecal microbiota transplants could reduce the amount of time people with insomnia spend awake,” the report says. “A poop transplant – a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) – may help adults with long-term insomnia sleep better.”

After the transplant, study participants’ gut bacteria became more diverse than an untreated group of people with insomnia. Their sleep efficiency – the percentage of time they spent asleep while in bed – also increased, researchers reported, indicating that the gut microbiome may play a role in sleep-wake regulation.

The study included 80 adult women and men with chronic insomnia from seven hospitals in China. The participants did not have other health problems, such as migraine or obstructive sleep apnea, that could interfere with the results. Half of the participants took antibiotics for two days to clear out some of their existing gut bacteria. Then, they swallowed 60 FMT capsules chockfull of gut bacteria from healthy donors who had been confirmed to be good sleepers. These bacteria were isolated from fecal samples from the donors. Two weeks later, this group took a booster dose of 20 capsules.

The other half of the participants instead took placebo pills in place of the antibiotics and FMT capsules.

The researchers used an overnight sleep assessment called a polysomnography, which records brain waves, eye movements, heart rate, oxygen levels and breathing patterns, to assess the participants. The results showed that sleep efficiency in the FMT group jumped from 79% before the transplant to 93% one month after treatment, on average. The placebo group’s sleep efficiency barely changed, shifting from about 85% to 87%.

“Additionally, the treated group woke up less throughout the night. Their time spent awake after initially falling asleep fell from 79 to 17 minutes, while the same metric increased from 37 to 42 minutes in the placebo group,” the study reported.

Who knew? Are you ready to swallow 80 poop pills? No thanks, but then again, why not?

At least, now you know.

NOTE: If you have a consumer problem, contact me at [email protected] (“Consumer” in subject line), and, with the power of the press, maybe I can help.

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