Back from the unknown
Kids starved of sun...Rebecca Lynch | 7th July 2012 6:35 AM
The warning comes as greater sun safety awareness, increasingly indoor-focused lifestyles and a growing African population have resulted in more Ipswich children suffering vitamin D deficiencies.
The pediatrician, who asked not to be named to protect his clients, said children most at risk of developing a deficiency did not go outside enough, or had darker skin and thus required increased exposure.
"The issue we're having is two-fold; first, it's with refugees from Sudan and other parts of Africa who are breastfeeding children and don't have enough vitamin D themselves," he said.
"There was a particularly severe case at the hospital of a small child who had rickets.
"The other group are children and teens who never leave their bedrooms. They play video games and don't go outside, and are usually very pale."
A deficiency could cause the "demineralisation of bones, osteoporosis and can have an effect on mental health".
He said children could avoid developing a deficiency by playing outside for a short time. "If they don't have a deficiency, they can prevent one by receiving about 20 minutes of sunlight on the face and arms daily," he said.
Laura Vassett, mother of six-year-old Molly Smith (pictured), said her kids loved playing in the sun. "Molly loves to go outside and play in the backyard or the park," she said. "She and her brothers might play a few iPhone games but nothing beats the outdoors for them."
DAILY DOSE OF 'D'
- Ultraviolet radiation from the sun is the best source of Vitamin D, according to Cancer Council Australia.
- The risk of skin cancer from sun exposure needs to be balanced with the importance of maintaining vitamin D levels.
- Most people can maintain adequate vitamin D levels with six to 20 minutes of exposure to sunlight on their face and arms outside of the peak UV period from 10am to 3pm.
- At-risk groups include people with darker skin who may need more exposure, people who cover their skin and breastfed babies with vitamin D deficient mothers.
Coconut Water: Hype Or Healthy?
Why coconut water?
Makers of coconut water claim their product is a healthy alternative to sports drinks because it not only hydrates, but also helps replenish electrolytes like potassium, sodium and magnesium.
According to WebMD, coconut water has been used as a way to rehydrate after exercise or illness, used as an emergency substitute for IV solutions, and may be a good storage solution for a tooth that has been knocked out until someone can see a dentist. Some substances in coconut water could theoretically have antioxidant benefits in the body. But before you race out and stock up, consider that though coconut drink has a strong A-list backing, it also lacks scientific support.
Scientific evidence is limited
Despite the health claims of coconut water followers, the scientific evidence is limited. WebMd says there are a couple of small studies that suggest coconut water may reduce the risk of heart attack and may significantly lower blood pressure, but that the celebrity-extolled drink has not been well-studied as a treatment and that there is no documented evidence to clearly prove the health benefits of coconut water.
New report finds false labeling
More drink for thought: ConsumerLab.com recently tested the Zico, Vita Coco, and O.N.E. brands of coconut water and found that the only product that actually contained what the label listed was Zico. According to CNN.com, "the sugar and potassium content in the other two brands, Vita Coco and O.N.E., also matched the label. But the amounts of sodium and magnesium -- two nutrients key to hydration -- were as much as 82% and 35% lower, respectively, than the listed amount."
Don't be deceived
If you are a hardcore fitness fanatic who works out long and hard, coconut water isn't going to replenish your electrolytes like a sports recovery drink specially formulated for athletes. However, if you like the way coconut water tastes and you want a little something extra after a modest workout, it won't hurt. Just beware that you may be just as well off drinking plain water. Bonnie Taub-Dix, a registered dietician and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, told CNN: "When something like this becomes wildly popular, people have a tendency to look at the claims rather than reality."
http://www.sheknows.com/authors/michele-borboa-ms/articles
Couch Potato? Too Much TV Leads To Heart Issues, Diabetes
Aside from sleep, watching TV is the most common daily activity for Americans. In fact, prolonged television viewing is the most prevalent and pervasive sedentary behavior in industrialized countries and has been associated with morbidity and mortality. The study's team quantified for the first time how much the passive act of TV watching contributed to conditions like diabetes and heart disease, as well as to premature death.
For every two hours of TV watching, the researchers found the risk of type 2 diabetes increased by 20% over 8.5 years of follow-up, the risk of heart disease rose by 15% over a decade and the odds of dying from any cause increased 13% during a seven year follow-up.
Based on disease incidence in the US, the team estimates that among 100,000 individuals per year, each two-hour hike in TV viewing per day brings 176 new cases of type 2 diabetes, 38 new cases of fatal cardiovascular disease, and 104 new cases of all-cause mortality.
Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health, who lead the analysis of past data sets, didn't explicitly say why TV time was associated with poor health, but the potential connections are no mystery.
Hu explains:
"Excessive TV watching is related to decreased physical activity, decreased consumption of health foods, and increased caloric intake. Now we know that excessive TV watching may do more damage than other types of sedentary behaviors, so it's a good idea to ask how much time people spend in front of the TV and for doctors to give advice not only about exercise but about how to reduce TV watching."
Television watching tends to promote other unhealthy activities like snacking on junk food and eating fewer fresh fruits and veggies. All of these are known risk factors for diabetes and heart disease, conditions that can contribute to early death.
In 2008, there were an estimated 327 million television sets in the US. An adult who watches three hours of TV a day is far more likely to be obese than an adult who watches less than one hour.
A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey released in October 1995 found 4.7 million children between the ages of 6-17 (11% of this age group) to be severely overweight, more than twice the rate during the 1960's. The main culprits: inactivity (these same children average more than 22 hours of television-viewing a week) and a high-calorie diet. A 1991 study showed that there was an average of 200 junk food ads in four hours of children's Saturday morning cartoons.
Exercise doesn't necessarily make up for long sessions in front of the tube. When comparing groups of adults who exercised the same amount, but watched varying amounts of TV, those who watched more TV were still at a higher risk of dying during the study.
Sources: The Journal of the American Medical Association and The US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention
Written by Sy Kraft
Copyright: Medical News Today
Thyroid Cancer Risk May Increase Due to Multiple Dental X-Rays
According to research conducted by UK and Kuwaiti investigators, and recently reported on in the journal Acta Oncologica, the risk of thyroid cancer increases with multiple exposure to dental x-rays.
The thyroid gland is sensitive to radiation, and radiation exposure is a known cause of thyroid cancer. But dental x-rays have long been overlooked as a source of radiation, given the low dose of the radiation used.
Repeated exposure, however, now appears to be correlated to an increased risk of thyroid cancer, and according to the researchers, their findings correlate to previous research that has found an increased risk of thyroid cancer in dentists, dental assistants, and x-ray workers.
The researchers found that study subjects who had up to four dental X-rays had more than double the risk of developing thyroid cancer than those who had never had a dental x-ray. Those who had between five and nine X-rays had a risk more than four times normal. And the greatest risk was for those with ten or more X-rays, whose risk was more than five times that of someone who had not received dental x-rays.
Lead investigator Dr. Anjum Memon has said that the implications of the findings are especially important, given the increased rate of thyroid cancer in the past 30 years. In the US, for example, thyroid cancer is the fastest growing form of cancer, and in the United Kingdom, the thyroid cancer rate has doubled from 1.4 per 100,000 in 1975, to 2.9 per 100,000 in 2006.The researchers are cautioning, however, that the topic requires further research and study, especially to get a better estimate of the radiation doses and number of exposures that are more associated with an increased risk.
What Can You Do?
Given this new information, what should you do to help protect yourself against thyroid cancer?
According to the study author Dr. Memon: "Our study highlights the concern that, like chest or other upper body X-rays, dental X-rays should be prescribed when the patient has a specific clinical need, and not as part of routine check-up or when registering with a dentist. 'So, one of the first things you can do is to make sure that you get dental x-rays only when your dentist has a specific need for them, and not just as a routine part of treatment, i.e., routine annual x-rays, or a routine dental x-ray with every checkup.
Second, and this is a recommendation that I've been making for years here at the site and in my books: Ask the dentist to protect you with a lead thyroid collar when doing any x-rays. This is a recommendation that you'll also hear from About.com's guide to Dentistry, Shawn Watson, who says: "Before you have x-rays taken at your dental office, make sure the protective lead vest, that is placed over your body prior to taking an x-ray, has a thyroid collar." (My own dentist didn't even have a thyroid collar for the longest time. He used to look at me a bit strangely when I would ask that he protect my thyroid for dental x-rays. I would end up pulling the lead apron up so that it would go right up to my chin. Now he has an actual thyroid shield on his lead apron, thankfully!)
Third, if you have young children, minimize their exposure to any unnecessary dental x-rays, and insist that their dentists and orthodontists also use a thyroid collar. Children are especially susceptible to thyroid-damaging radiation, so you'll want to ensure they are not subjected to routine or unneeded dental x-rays. And for children, any essential x-rays should only be conducted with use of the appropriate lead thyroid collar.
Does Exercise Really Boost Your Metabolism? by Liz Neporent
You're likely to get the greatest afterburn from a long, hard weight-training workout. In one study, fit men who completed a super-high intensity, 90-minute strength workout, performing 60 sets with little rest in between, experienced an 11 percent metabolism increase for about two hours after the workout. The next morning, 15 hours after the workout, their metabolism was still elevated by a substantial 9 percent, which translated into about 150 extra calories burned. While these numbers are impressive, the workouts were far longer and more strenuous than most people can handle or tolerate on a regular basis without injury or burnout. During a more typical workout -- say, three sets of ten exercises -- researchers say a generous guesstimate for afterburn add up to no more than 50 to 75 calories total.
Still, that's a decent return on investment, and it's a considerably greater afterburn bonus than most people appear to enjoy from cardio workout. For the amount of aerobic exercise most people do -- about 30 to 45 minutes -- the afterburn appears to be less than 50 calories. Still, even such a miniscule boost is nice; five days a week could theoretically add up to a 3-pound weight loss over the course of a year with zero additional effort.
Weight training produces a greater afterburn than cardio exercise because it's a more intense type of workout and possibly because it elevates hormones, such as epinephrine, that simulate metabolic rate. It's also possible that the microscopic tissue damage caused by weight lifting may compel the body to expend extra energy for tissue repair.
So what about a more permanent elevation in metabolism? Is it possible that exercise can actually shift the number of calories you burn all the time by changing your body composition?
Lifting weights builds muscle, and the more muscle you have, the more calories your body will burn at rest. All true, but it takes a lot of extra muscle to dramatically rev up your resting metabolic rate. Although you may have heard that you burn an extra 50 or 100 calories per day for each pound of muscle you build, that figure isn't supported by science. The number is probably closer to 10 to 15 calories, so you really can't expect to see much of an increase in metabolic rate with the typical 3- to 4-pound increase in muscle mass.
It's actually unclear what you can expect to see. Weight-training studies have produced radically different findings. For example, some show an increase in fat-free mass of up to 4 pounds over 12 to 16 weeks, along with a boost in resting metabolism of up to 10 percent, or 160 calories a day. Others show no increase at all in resting metabolism over three to four months, despite increases in fat-free mass. Still, other studies show a slight increase in metabolism despite no increase in fat-free mass and no detectible increases in fat-free mass or metabolism.
One possible reason the data is all over the place is that most studies last just a few months, which isn't enough time for many people to build enough muscle to result in a significant metabolism spike. In many cases, the increase may be so small as to be within the margin of error for measurement. Also, fat-free mass isn't the same thing as muscle; increases in fat-free mass may, in part, reflect increases in water content, not muscle.
You're most likely to get a dramatic metabolism boost if you lift weights consistently for a couple of years and gain more than the typical few pounds of muscle. It's worth it, too, since many experts believe that even a paltry extra 40 calories burned a day could make a real difference in weight control.
But say you do get a metabolism boost from packing on muscle. That doesn't mean you can pat yourself on the back and park your butt for the rest of the day. In some research, a metabolic boost proved to be irrelevant because subjects became less active during the rest of the day. Even though their resting metabolic rates increased, the total number of daily calories they burned did not.
Besides, exercise probably plays its greatest role as you age -- something that's far more important than any temporary boosts or small long-term increases. Sedentary people tend to lose at least one-third of their muscle from age 30 to age 70, but consistent weight lifting may offset most of the decline. With more muscle and a resting metabolic rate than doesn't grind to a halt with advancing age, you're less likely to gain fat.
Back from Hell: Treating PTSD with Massage and Other Bodywork Therapies
The article is well worth reading, and is excerpted in part below:
Traumatized in war, often faced with family and job relationship difficulties, and also frequently confronted with government bureaucracy, veterans deal with high levels of anger. One study stated, "Anger management intervention is an integral part of post-traumatic stress disorder treatment in the Department of Veterans Affairs facilities across the country."11 The presence of intense anger, along with other deep emotions, can cause a veteran -- triggered during therapy -- to undergo an explosive emotional release. "PTSD may cause a person to fly into a rage for no apparent reason or strike out in fear at inappropriate targets."12
"Vets tend to have a more violent type of reaction if a memory comes up," explained Chris Smith, director of education at the Colorado School of Healing Arts in Lakewood, Colorado. Smith, who is also a massage therapist and instructor for the school's 100-hour program in Trauma Touch Therapy, explained, "It takes a therapist who can stay grounded and isn't afraid of the intense emotional outbursts." Because of their war-time experiences, she said, veterans in therapy may tend to be "less resourced" in how to handle stress and "more hyperaroused" than other trauma clients.
According to some therapists who work closely with veterans, the VA and other group programs provide only limited help for veterans. After a certain amount of time has passed, these therapists say talking about the trauma in a group setting can become a useless "rehashing" of the horrors. To emerge from the sense of victimization may likely demand hard, individual work in therapy on the part of the patient. It generally requires facilitation by an extremely grounded and well-versed therapist. If the veteran chooses to try an alternative therapy, such as massage, the process will likely necessitate participation not only in bodywork sessions, but also in simultaneous sessions with a psychotherapist.
One massage therapist who has worked with veterans visited a VA hospital to learn more about PTSD and observed that many of the veterans were in extremely serious condition. "For many vets, the only answer is a great deal of isolation and seclusion and often medication that can have so many other side effects. They often cope by removing stimulation as much as possible," she said.
It seems like a good time to re-mention the fabulous Claude Anshin Thomas passage in his book, At Hell's Gate (see sidebar), about suffering not being the enemy. Click this link to bring back that earlier blog entry.