Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Teething Pain Product Warning

Teething can be a tough time for kids and parents. But the FDA is warning against using one product in particular to cut down on teething pain.

The warning is against using certain over-the-counter teething gels and liquids. That's because they contain an ingredient that can be dangerous for children.

Having a teething child can be very frustrating. You know they are in pain and you want to do what you can to help them out. Sometimes that means reaching for teething pain remedies you can get over the counter. These liquids and gels work because they contain the numbing ingredient benzocaine. According to the FDA, common ones include Anbesol, Hurricaine, Orajel, Baby Orajel and Orabase.

The problem is that this ingredient, benzocaine, although it's very effective at numbing the gums, it can also lead to a rare and potentially fatal condition called "Methemoglobinemia." Again, this is a rare side effect of the benzocaine, but when it happens, it cuts down on the amount of oxygen a baby's blood supply can carry. That can cause serious problems. Since 2006, when the FDA first issued this warning, they have gotten reports of 29 cases of this problem caused by the benzocaine in these numbing agents. 15 of those happened in children less than 2 years old. This newest warning is that the FDA recommends that parents and caregivers not use these products for children younger than 2. Instead they recommend the good old fashioned refrigerated teething rings or gum rubbing with a finger to help handle that inevitable teething pain.

Late Shift & Your Health

If you are a late night worker, listen up. You might need to keep a closer eye on your health.

It's because new information is showing that late shift work could up your chances of having a heart attack or stroke.

In this new study, researchers found it's not so much where you work, but more "when" you work that could be taking its toll on your health.

This study, published in the British Medical Journal, found that the risk of having one or two problems in particular, heart attacks or strokes, went up in those working irregular shifts. In other words, working anything other than normal daytime regular hours caused these problems with your health. Of the two, it mostly increased your chances of having a heart attack. This was true for any type of shift work, daytime, nighttime and in between. But it was even worse for those working night shifts.

Although they haven't quite figured out what is causing this, experts think it might have to do with shift workers getting less sleep, less physical activity and having worse eating habits. But it could also be due to the way shift work disrupts your circadian rhythm. This can have an affect on the body's heart rate and blood pressure which can then lead to an increased risk of a heart attack or stroke.

So if you do work shift work, the best thing you can do for yourself if realize it might be raising your risk of health problems. It's even more important for shift workers to manage their blood pressure, cholesterol and overall health by exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet, especially when you're staring down those donuts at 2 a.m.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

TV & Computer Screens & Depression

You might want to think twice about falling asleep watching TV, at least if you want to avoid depression.

It looks like that late night watching may be impacting our brains in more ways than one. And it might be increasing your chances of developing depression.

That's the conclusion from neuroscientists at Ohio State Medical Center. They say that an increase in the number of people with depression over the last 50 years coincides with an increase in our exposure to late night artificial light, like that given off by a TV or a computer screen late at night. Studying how hamsters adapted to late night lighting, these researchers found they developed a hamster's equivalent of depression, similar to the ways humans would. And this happened after only a few weeks with that dim light at night. But they also found changes to the actual structure of their brains from the depression and its similar to what they have seen before in humans suffering from the same thing.

They feel that night time light, from a TV or computer, is what is causing these changes and part of the reason behind an increase in depression nationwide.

The good news is that this is reversible. Once the late night dim lights were taken away, the hamsters went back to normal after only a few weeks. So for us humans, the message here is that if you are a late night computer person or a TV watcher, especially as you fall asleep, you might need to give yourself a break for a couple of weeks every now and then to keep depression at bay.

Inactivity Could Kill You

Want to save your own life? Then maybe you need to move around more during the day.

The reason it might save your life is because of inactivity. Our lack of movement during the day is as dangerous to our health as smoking.

That's the latest conclusion from researchers looking to see how much our lifestyle is affecting our health. In a new report, just published in the Journal Lancet, these researchers have estimated that about 1 out of every 3 or us aren't doing enough physical activity during the day. That's probably not a big surprise to most of us. But that lack of activity is causing 5.3 million deaths each year. That's right up there with the number of deaths we see from things like heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. And to put it in a different light, these researchers say that's the same number of deaths that smoking causes.

In a different study researchers also found that as many as 1 in 3 adults worldwide aren't getting enough physical activity. Those numbers are even higher here in the U.S., with almost half of us not getting enough exercise.

So, what does this mean for you and your family? It mostly means that we all need to get up and move more. One current recommendation is 150 minutes of moderate exercise, like brisk walking, every week. If you spread that out to 5 days, that's 30 minutes per day. Put aside time to do this, it could be one of the best things you do for your health and for your life.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

How We Walk & Dementia

Could the way a person walks be a clue to the start of dementia?

It looks like the way someone walks, or more precisely changes in how they walk, may be an early sign of Alzheimer's Disease. And since finding Alzheimer's early on can mean starting treatment earlier, that treatment might be more successful.

A new study just presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference has found that certain subtle changes in how someone walks gave researchers clues about who might be developing early dementia.

Here's how that connection works. The brain controls how we walk by communicating among different areas. If that communication gets interfered with, then someone might start to have very small changes in the way they walk. And one reason it might get interfered with is because of Alzheimer's.

In a recent study out of the Mayo Clinic, researchers found that certain types of changes were more likely to mean early Alzheimer's. Those who started walking with a lower cadence and velocity along with a decrease in the length of the stride also ended up having more dementia.

The good news is that this is a very inexpensive test that can be done outside the clinical environment. If you notice a loved one slowing down and taking smaller walking strides over what they normally used to do, you might want to bring it up to the doctor to see if more robust testing is needed.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

New Diet Drug

The FDA has approved a new diet drug. But how effective and, more importantly, how safe is it?

The drug is now called qsymia; formerly qnexa.

Qsymia was approved because it did prove to be effective at helping overweight or obeses study participants lose up to 10% of their body weight. And along with diet and exercise, the manufacturers of this medicine say it could go a long way toward alleviating health problems associated with obesity, like diabetes and high blood pressure.

But this medicine, like all medicines, has side effects. It was initially disapproved back in 2010 because of heart and psychiatric side effects. At that time, the FDA thought those side effects were bad enough to not approve the drug. But now the FDA has approved qsymia for obese or overweight people with a body mass index, BMI, over 27 who also suffer from weight related health conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes. In this case, the FDA has most likely felt the benefits of losing weight using qsymia outweighed the potential dangerous side effects.

The key here is to use the medicine in conjunction with diet and exercise. It's not a magic pill by any stretch of the imagination. For many using this pill, they might need to be on it long term since coming off of it could mean putting the weight right back on. And it's not expected to be covered by most insurance companies, at least not yet.

Lose Weight, Keep A Diary

Do you want to lose a pound or two? Keeping a diary might help.

We're particularly talking about keeping a food diary, a food journal. That might be one key to losing a few pounds.

Losing weight is something most of us want to do at some time or another. But often that can be easier said than done. Part of the reason might be that we aren't ever really sure how much we are eating. And that's where a food journal comes into play.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle looked at how successful different self monitoring techniques were at helping overweight or obese volunteers lose weight.

They found that by keeping a food journal, eating out less and not skipping meals during the day helped the most. Those eating out even once per week didn't lose as much weight. That may be because we tend to eat more and higher calorie meals when we eat out. Those skipping meals are probably also more likely to grab high calorie snacks during the day.

But one of the more successful techniques used to lose weight in this study was using a food journal. Since we often don't accurately remember what we ate during the day the food journal will help keep us honest. That means writing down everything you eat, meals and snacks. And it doesn't matter where you write it down. Use a smart phone app, a piece of paper or even a small note pad. What matters is keeping track of what you eat during the day. You'll be surprised at how all the little things you eat add up to a lot of calories and those extra pounds none of us want.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Kids Save You From Colds

Parenting is one of the most important jobs you could ever do. But sometimes being a parent also means having more colds floating around the house.

Being a parent has its good parts and its not so good parts. But now it looks like having children might actually protect you from catching a cold.

As we say in medicine, children tend to be a walking petri dish. In other words, they pick up just about every cold and flu out there, especially during the winter months. And when they pick them up, they bring them home.

But a new study, just published in Psychosomatic Medicine, has found that, believe it or not, parents actually have a lower risk of catching a cold because of their children. This happened even after the parents in the study had the cold virus sprayed directly into their noses. So, even though the virus was in their body, they were less likely to get colds than non parents. And this protection from colds went up with the number of kids in the house.

Although researchers aren't exactly sure why this is happening, they think it might have to do with our responses to infections and things in our bodies known as cytokines that give us immunity to things like colds. Parents tend to have cytokines that worked better at fighting off the common cold.

So this next cold and flu season if you don't get sick, you might just want to thank your children.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Live Longer? Stand More

Do you want to live a longer, healthier life? Maybe standing more is the answer.

It looks like the more you sit during the day, the more likely you are to die early on.

Decades ago, hardly anyone sat all day long. But now we sit in the car on our way to work, then sit at work all day, then sit to get back home. And once we're home, we sit to watch TV.

Now it looks like all of that sitting is taking its toll.

Researchers just found that there is a link between how much time we spend standing every day and our chances of dying. They found that if we could limit sitting to under 3 hours a day, then we'd live 2 years longer. And you can add another 1.4 years by cutting back TV time to less than 2 hours a day as well.

The thinking is that sitting decreases your overall physical activity and can affect your metabolic function during the day --- that can increase your changes of an early death. And since most of our sitting during the day happens at work, making small changes might help. Like getting up to talk to coworkers instead of emailing or calling them, taking a small walk during your lunch break and standing up for a few minutes every hour can all help contribute to the amount of time you stand during the day.

So when you can, stand up, or better yet, walk around. That could make all the difference in the world, especially later in life.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Dogs, Cats & Your Child's Health

Want to help your children grow up healthy? Maybe the answer is to get a dog or cat.

It looks like dogs and cats might actually protect children from illness, especially during the first year of life.

A new study looked at children from birth to 12 months to see how many respiratory infections they had and how bad those infections were. Researchers found that having dogs and/or cats in the house also cut down on how bad these respiratory infections were. Of the two, having a dog in the house gave the children the lowest risk of infection. Cats came next. And those with kids without a cat or a dog had the highest risk of a respiratory infection during that first year of life.

Experts think this is because having pets in the house during these early months helps mature the immune system. And by having a more mature immune system that allows these children to better fight off respiratory problems. With dogs in particular, the more contact children had with them, the better protection they had.

So if you own a cat or a dog, or are thinking of getting one, and have small children, besides getting some life lessons in caring for animals, your children might also get some protection from the normal respiratory problems all kids get.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Sleep & Your Immune System

Our immune system is important for keeping us healthy, but something most of us don't get is also needed to keep it healthy.

It turns out that among other things, poor sleep can drastically affect your immune system.

Most of us know that with a strong immune system, we stand the best chance of fighting off the almost constant onslaught of cold and flu illnesses. But sometimes our immune system isn't strong enough to fight the fight. And that usually means we get a cold, the flu or some other illness.

Part of the reason our immune system gets overwhelmed is because of things going on in our lives that help weaken it, like excess stress or other illnesses. But now we are finding out just how important sleep is in keeping our immune system strong.

A new study found that sleep deprivation caused the body to produce white blood cells which were an indication that the body was undergoing stress. This stress takes a toll on the body's immune system. Prior research has also shown that a lack of sleep can also increase a person's chances of developing diabetes, high blood pressure and even increase your chances of becoming obese.

So although sleep is important to staying awake the next day at work or school, it's also important to staying healthy and to keeping a strong immune system going.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Kitty Litter Boxes Liked To Suicide?

There are many causes of depression and suicide, but could one of them be hiding out in your cat's litter box?

As surprising as it sounds, something inside kitty litter boxes might increase a woman's risk of suicide.

For years women have been advised to not empty cat litter boxes while they were pregnant. The reason is because cat feces can contain a common parasite called Toxoplasma Gondii, which is also spread through undercooked meat or unwashed vegetables. And if a pregnant woman gets infected with this parasite it can cause still births or brain damage in their unborn baby.

But we weren't really sure if it caused any problems in women themselves. Well, it looks like it might increase their chances of committing suicide. Researchers looking at over 45,000 women in Denmark found that those handling cat litter boxes had higher levels of antibodies produced from a Toxoplama infection. And those with higher Toxoplasma infection rates were also 1 1/2 times more likely to commit suicide.

The researchers involved in this study think that somehow this small parasite changes the brain a little bit and that small change can lead to emotional and behavioral issues which could lead to a higher risk of suicide.

Since they just studied women, it's not known how this parasite affects men, but the message is the same for everyone... after changing kitty litter boxes, simply wash your hands, especially before handling any food.

Giving Kids Foods They're Allergic To

When it comes to kids and food allergies, the important thing is to keep them away from what sets off their symptoms. But that's not always happening.

When it comes to food allergies, especially to things like peanuts, keeping the food item away from the child is important to their health and safety. But a new study is finding that some parents and caregivers are actually intentionally giving them small amounts of what they are allergic to and this can cause big problems.

As a matter of fact, a recent study found that 1 in 9 food allergy emergencies was not because of a child accidentally getting a hold of the food. Instead, researchers involved in the study think it's because parents and caregivers purposefully gave their children food they knew they were allergic to.

Although they aren't sure why this is happening, some of the researchers involved think it's because parents might be testing their children to see if they've outgrown the allergy... a dangerous practice that can be life-threatening.

On top of this, the researchers also found that when it came to accidental exposures, over half of them occurred when food was being supplied by caretakers other than the parents. This includes grandparents and other relatives who might be watching the child for a few days and are not familiar with these types of allergies.

So the bottom line here is to educate everyone that might be giving a food-allergic child food, including relatives. And when it comes to finding out if they've outgrown their allergy, talk with their doctor to see if some testing in a controlled, safe environment, like a hospital or allergy clinic, can be done.