Raziel asks what diseases can be spread by saliva, scratching, and general attacks by mentally ill people.

Regarding saliva, there are many diseases that can be transmitted through it. A cold, the flu, herpes, Epstein-Barr Virus (this causes infectious mononucleosis, "the Kissing Disease"), citomegalovirus... Most of this are mild or asymptomatic. Rabies is also transmitted through saliva.

As for scratching, it's very unlikely. The ammount that would be innoculated is probably very small. However, the Hepatitis B virus is very resistant to the environment (it can survive a long time out of the organism) and very efficient (you need only a few particles for infection). Luckily, there's a a vaccine that involves one shot and two boosters (at 1 month & 6 months). It's in theory also possible to be infected by HIV, but I doubt it happens in practice. If you poke yourself with a needle with HIV infected blood, there's only a 0.3% chance of infection WITHOUT prophylaxis (they give you antiretrovirals to prevent an infection). A scratch is probably less likely, tho I'd still recommend prophylaxis.

Msquared has three questions.

1) Benefits of white tea and black tea (iced tea is generally just cool, flavoured, and sweetend black tea).

Green tea, white tea and black tea are all from the same plant. The difference is in the process and what leaves are used (white uses immature leaves).

Unsweetend and without milk, black tea has practically no calories, proteins, sodium or fat. It is a good source for manganese (a mineral). It contains 20-100 mg of caffeine (depends on the length of infusion).

It probably provides the same benefits as green tea (as the antioxidants in green tea are changed into other antioxidants that are still beneficial).

Here are some specific benefits I found: lowers cardiovascular disease risk, lowers cancer risk (thanks to antioxidants), improves heart attack recovery, and might strengthen immune system.

White tea is better at giving those same benefits since the tea leaves are processed less. It may be rich in fluoride which will help fight against plaque. It is also more expensive.

2) Benefits of eating fish.

Fish is good because it contains polyunsaturated and essential fatty acids (like omega-3). They're good for your heart. For you vegans out there, you can also get omega-3 from olive oil, canola oil, walnuts, flaxseed, tofu, soybeans, legumes, leafy green vegetables (spinach), whole grains, and sprouts.

There are also risks for eating fish as they might be contaminated with mercury and PCBs. So, no overeating fish either... especially for children and pregnant women.

3) And the most fun question. Health benefits to masturbation!

For men, a study showed that the more orgasms you have in your life, the less chances of getting prostate cancer. So, masturbate every day for a healthy prostate!

For women, it reduces menstrual cramps.

Masturbation seems to strengthen the immune system. It might also help people who have insomnia sleep.

That's it for today. If you have any questions either send me a message or post them on the Health Forum. Any follow up questions, information or corrections (I might make mistakes, so please correct me if you see an error!) you can either post it here or you can send me a message.