Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Gallstones & Obesity

The rise in numbers of children with gallstone problems might be attributed to a current epidemic they are having.

It looks like the current obesity epidemic might have an unexpected side effect -- more gallbladder problems in children.

Childhood obesity is currently at an epidemic level here in the U.S. As a matter of fact, according to the CDC, obesity in children has more than tripled over the last three decades alone. Unfortunately with higher obesity rates, we are also seeing more health problems with kids than we ever saw before. We've known for years that they are having problems with diseases like Type 2 Diabetes and high cholesterol levels... things that used to be seen only in adults. But researchers with Kaiser Permanente Southern California have also found a connection between the obesity problem and gallbladder issues in children.

Up until recently adults were more likely to develop gallstones, with women getting them more often than men. But now researchers have seen a sharp increase in gallbladder removal surgery in children and think obesity is a major cause.

They found that kids aged 10-19, extremely obese girls were 8 times more likely to develop gallbladder disease. For the heaviest boys, they were 3 times more likely. Experts are saying that this highlights another reason to get this obesity epidemic under control since not only will that excess weight affect children now, but can also cause issues throughout the remainder of their lives.

Eat Healthy With Cartoons

Do you want your kids to eat healthier foods? Cartoons might be the answer.

Borrowing a trick that marketers use to get kids to buy just about anything might just get them to eat more fruits and veggies too. The classic struggle between kids and their parents often revolves around getting them to eat healthier foods. They'd rather have cookies and candy and you'd rather they ate fruits and veggies. Well, here come cartoon characters to the rescue.

Researchers found that when elementary school aged children were given a choice between an apple or a cookie for lunch, they were much more likely to pick the apple if it had a cartoon character branding it. In the case of this study, researchers used commonly known characters like the Sesame Street puppet Elmo. Some days they labeled apples with the cartoon characters and other days they didn't. When there weren't any labels on the snacks, 9 out of 10 children picked the cookie. But when the apple had the cartoon character on it, almost 40% of the kids picked the healthier snack. As the researcher put it, advertisers know what attracts a kid's attention and it's time to start fighting fire with fire.

So, if a cartoon character gets them to eat healthier, then by all means use the cartoon character. It could be a cheap and struggle-free way to get your child to eat more of the healthier foods you buy for them.

Exercise Improves Grades

Exercise can help keep your kids fit. But now it looks like it might also help keep them smart as well.

Now that the kids are back to school, it'll soon be time for, yes, grades to come out. But now it looks like one way to help boost those grades could be exercise. It turns out this is another example of the overall health benefits of exercise, especially with children as their brains are developing.

A group of Dutch scientists combed through earlier research on more than 12,000 children from the United States, Canada and South Africa. These researchers found a huge connection between exercise and academic performance. As a matter of fact, they found the more physical activity children had, the better they did on test scores, especially in basic subjects like math, English and reading.

According to the authors of this study, part of the reason this might be happening is because exercise increases the blood and oxygen flow to the brain. This can help increase the hormones that reduce stress and at the same time bring on new nerve cells in the brain which help with academics.

So, in addition to hitting the books and doing their homework, make sure your kids get regular exercise this year. That won't just get them in shape, but might also translate to a better report card.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Get A Blood Test For Hepatitis C

For some of us, especially baby boomers, the government wants you to get a blood test. That blood test would look for Hepatitis C.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just put out a recommendation for those of us born between 1945 and 1965. The recommendation is to get a blood test checking for Hepatitis C, and for a few very good reasons. Those born in that age group account for more than 60% of Americans infected with Hepatitis C. And Deaths from diseases related to this virus have continued to rise, doubling in the last decade alone. According to the CDC, more than 15,000 Americans die each year from illnesses caused by Hepatitis C, mainly liver cancer of cirrhosis.

And since two new drugs have been developed that can treat Hepatitis C more successfully than before, the CDC is hoping to find more baby boomers that don't know they have this oftentimes silent infection.

They think hundreds of thousands of new infections occurred yearly during the 70s and 80s. Some got infected by drug use or blood transfusions. Other risk factors include tattoos, sharing razor blades and toothbrushes.

So to try and find more of the baby boomer generation with this infection before it becomes deadly, they are recommending those born between 1945 and 1965 get a one-time blood test to make sure they don't have Hepatitis C. And if it turns out they do, then starting treatment now can go a long way towards making sure that virus doesn't cause even more issues.

Blood Type Determines Heart Risk

Do you know what your blood type is? You might want to since your blood type could also determine your risk of having a heart attack.

At least that's what one researcher has found out - that some blood types have a greater chance of having a heart attack than others.

A new study out of the Harvard School of Public Health looked at more than 90,000 men and women over 20 years. Researchers found that certain blood types ended up developing heart attacks more often than others. IT turns out that those with blood types A, B or AB have a greater chance of having heart problems than those who have blood type O. And of those blood types that have a higher risk, those with AB had the greatest risk of having a heart attack - 20% increased chance.

Although knowing that your blood type might increase your risk of having a heart attack can help you live a healthier life, doing other things can go a lot further to make sure your heart stays healthy. Quitting smoking, eating right, keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol controlled are some of the best steps you can take. But knowing your blood type is always a good idea anyway, so find out what it is. That'll also help you see which group you fall into.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Backpack Pain

It's that time of the year, time to start getting your kids ready for school. That means buying supplies and something to carry them in, usually a backpack. But getting the right one is key.

Here's the deal, that backpack they use might be causing more pain than you, or they, think. Nowadays, kids are lugging more and more supplies back and forth to school. If you try to pick up their backpack, you'll see that it's pretty packed. Unfortunately, that same pack might be the main reason up to half of 15- to 16-year-olds complain of back pain.

Most doctors and physical therapists recommend a backpack weighing no more than 15% of a student's body weight. That means it shouldn't weigh more than 15 pounds for a 100 pound person. And the most it should ever weigh, regardless of how big someone is, is 20 pounds.

But besides making sure it doesn't weigh too much, there are other things that can help keep it comfortable.

Make sure it has 2 wide, padded shoulder straps. And even though they might think it's geeky, try and get them to use both straps and not just one shoulder at a time. And teach them to stand up straight when using a pack. If they're leaning forward or hunching over, it probably weighs too much.

And try to lighten the load. See if you can convince them to not carry anything they don't need. Just bring home the necessities. Store the rest in their locker.

Encourage your kids to let you know if they have any back pain, or if they get numbness or tingling in their arms. That's a sign of a heavy pack, or one not used correctly.

The key here is to make sure their homework doesn't turn into a bigger pain they they already think it is.

Preschoolers, Violent TV & Sleep

Could what your preschooler watches on TV be keeping him or her from going to sleep later that night?

It seems like shows we might not think of as being violent could actually be too violent for preschoolers. And that violence could be keeping them from getting to sleep at night.

A new study, just published in the journal Pediatrics found that for 3- to 5-year-olds watching violent TV caused a variety of sleep problems. It meant they had more problems falling asleep, ended up waking up more during the night, had more trouble getting up in the morning and ended up being more tired during the day. Of all these issues, the one that happened most often was that children watching more violent TV needed 20 more minutes to fall asleep at night. And that's something that's not only hard on the child, but on the caregiver as well.

But what you might be surprised at is what ended up being categorized as violent TV. According to the authors of this study, even seemingly harmless cartoons like Sponge Bob, could have too much violence for preschoolers. Although older children can understand the rock falling on some cartoon character's head is just pretend, preschoolers don't. And that small, funny to older kids violence, affects the smaller children when they try to get some sleep later on.

The authors of this study recommend that for preschoolers, we stick to the very child friendly shows like Sesame Street or Dora The Explorer. That'll help make sure they, and you, get a good night's sleep.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Just A Spoon Full Of Honey

Just a spoon full of sugar may help the medicine go down, but now it looks like a spoonful of honey might be the best thing to stop a cough.

In head-to-head comparisons with some of the best cough medicine we have, honey actually came out on top.

When your child is coughing, especially if it's keeping everyone up at night, you'd give just about anything to get that cough under control. Up until now that's been either an over-the-counter or prescription cough medicine.

Well now something your mother or grandmother used is coming to the rescue. A simple spoonful of honey looks like it does a better job at getting that cough under control than even those medicines.

In a recent study, researchers compared honey to cough medicine containing the popular ingredient Dextromethophan--that's the DM you see on the cough medicine label. They found that the honey worked as well and sometime better than the bottled cough medicine containing DM. A newer study, just published in the journal Pediatrics, came to the same conclusion.

The major exception here is for children less than one. Because of the rare possibility of honey transmitting Botulism, it shouldn't be given to children this young. But otherwise, for those older than one, a spoonful one hour or so before bedtime should do the trick. And that should help them, and you, get more sleep.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Distracted Walking Dangers

It's a growing and dangerous problem, but it's somethings many of us do on a daily basis.

We're talking about doing distracting things while we are walking. And it's becoming more common and more deadly than ever before.

We're talking about texting, talking on the cell phone, playing video games and such while trying to walk. These types of distractions have lead to a quadrupling of injuries seen in emergency rooms over the last 7 years. Unfortunately, there has also been a rise in the number of pedestrians killed in traffic accidents which are thought to also be because of distracted walking. As an example, in a recent University of Maryland study researchers found that over a 6-year period there were 116 case where pedestrians were killed or seriously injured while wearing headphones. In a third or the cases a warning horn was sounded before the impact, but presumably the pedestrian was too distracted to hear it.

So even though there has been a lot of talk lately about distracted driving, distracted walking is taking its toll too. The solution seems simple, especially since other studies have found that we really can't multitask. Instead we concentrate on one thing at a time. And while we are walking or running, that should be what we concentrate on. Let the phone call, text message or video game wait until you can stop long enough to not get hit, fall off a curb or otherwise injure yourself.