You’ve probably heard the saying that you are what you eat, but now it looks like what you eat could affect your kids as well.
It looks like what a mother-to-be eats while pregnant can have a big impact on their child’s chances of having weight problems later in life.
For years we’ve been focusing on children’s diet and exercise habits to try and fix the ongoing obesity epidemic. And while these are very important to maintaining a healthy weight, especially in kids, scientists are also starting to focus on what happens in the womb during pregnancy.
A new study found that what a mom eats while pregnant can have a very important impact on a child’s weight---even years later. A poor diet during pregnancy causes what are known as epigenetic changes in a child’s DNA. These changes can cause the fetus to lay down more fat cells and this increase in fat cells can have a lifelong effect not only on a child’s weight but on how he or she will respond to exercise. As a matter of fact, scientists involved in this study were able to “pick”---based on the changes a mom’s diet caused---which kids would be overweight 6 and even 9 years later.
So, in addition to taking enough folic acid, not drinking alcohol and quitting smoking while pregnant, now it looks like one of the best ways to help your child stay healthy later in life is to make sure, as a mom-to-be, you are eating a healthy diet yourself.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Kids' Sports Teams Safety
It's getting closer to summer which means it's time to start gearing up for sports teams and sports camps. However, with injuries on the rise, it's more important than ever to make sure your children stay safe.
Getting involved in sports, especially during the slow summer months is a great way for your kids to not only stay healthy, but to also develop healthy workout habits. But a little bit of protection goes a long way towards keeping them safe.
April is National Facial Protection Month. So, it's a good time to remind your children that even in sports you probably won't think much about getting mouth and tooth injuries, you still should use a mouth guard. It turns out about half of the 85,000 baseball injuries that occur every year for kids, happen to the mouth, face and head. Having a mouth guard, along with a helmet could protect them from a large percentage of these injuries.
Also, the American Academy of Pediatrics has other tips for keeping kids safe during sporting events. Besides the usual keeping hydrated, resting when tired and wearing the proper gear, they also recommend two big things. One, if it hurts to do something, then stop doing it, at least until you don't have any more pain. It's better to sit out a little bit now then to have an injury that will plague your kids all their life. Two, reduce the stress. Remind them and remember yourselves that the most important part of sports is simply to have fun. To much pressure on winning can take its toll and will certainly make things less fun for them and for you.
Getting involved in sports, especially during the slow summer months is a great way for your kids to not only stay healthy, but to also develop healthy workout habits. But a little bit of protection goes a long way towards keeping them safe.
April is National Facial Protection Month. So, it's a good time to remind your children that even in sports you probably won't think much about getting mouth and tooth injuries, you still should use a mouth guard. It turns out about half of the 85,000 baseball injuries that occur every year for kids, happen to the mouth, face and head. Having a mouth guard, along with a helmet could protect them from a large percentage of these injuries.
Also, the American Academy of Pediatrics has other tips for keeping kids safe during sporting events. Besides the usual keeping hydrated, resting when tired and wearing the proper gear, they also recommend two big things. One, if it hurts to do something, then stop doing it, at least until you don't have any more pain. It's better to sit out a little bit now then to have an injury that will plague your kids all their life. Two, reduce the stress. Remind them and remember yourselves that the most important part of sports is simply to have fun. To much pressure on winning can take its toll and will certainly make things less fun for them and for you.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Hookah Pipe Risks
When it comes to smoking, the good news is that cigarette smoking is on the decline, the bad news is that more people are using a hookah pipe, but what they don’t know about them could cause major health problems.
College students in particular are starting to pick up the hookah pipe habit.
If you’re not familiar with a hookah pipe, it’s a type of water pipe used for centuries mostly in the Middle East. It uses a tobacco blend, with flavors added. And since the smoke passes through water before it’s inhaled, some think it isn’t all that bad for you.
WRONG! As I’ve said before, tobacco is tobacco is tobacco, no matter how you smoke it. In the case of a hookah pipe the water does nothing to stop the cancer causing parts of tobacco from getting in your lungs. To make matters even worse, since hookah sessions typically last an hour or so, you are getting up to 100 times more tobacco in your lungs than you would from just one cigarette. But even if you only hang out in a hookah lounge, but don’t smoke, you still can’t escape. Although you might not be smoking, you are inhaling an amazing amount of second hand smoke. And now we know that second hand smoke by itself can cause cancer.
Hopefully this fad will fade quickly as more people, and especially college students, realize what most experts say, that smoking is smoking no matter how you do it.
College students in particular are starting to pick up the hookah pipe habit.
If you’re not familiar with a hookah pipe, it’s a type of water pipe used for centuries mostly in the Middle East. It uses a tobacco blend, with flavors added. And since the smoke passes through water before it’s inhaled, some think it isn’t all that bad for you.
WRONG! As I’ve said before, tobacco is tobacco is tobacco, no matter how you smoke it. In the case of a hookah pipe the water does nothing to stop the cancer causing parts of tobacco from getting in your lungs. To make matters even worse, since hookah sessions typically last an hour or so, you are getting up to 100 times more tobacco in your lungs than you would from just one cigarette. But even if you only hang out in a hookah lounge, but don’t smoke, you still can’t escape. Although you might not be smoking, you are inhaling an amazing amount of second hand smoke. And now we know that second hand smoke by itself can cause cancer.
Hopefully this fad will fade quickly as more people, and especially college students, realize what most experts say, that smoking is smoking no matter how you do it.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
BMI vs. BAI
When it comes to staying healthy and maintaining a good weight, you've probably heard of a BMI, but how about a BAI?
BAI is a more accurate way to see if you're holding onto a healthy weight or not, and you'll probably hear a lot more about it in the new future. It's called the BAI - Body Adiposity Index.
For years we've been hearing about the Body Mass Index, or BMI, as a good way to figure out where we sit on the weight spectrum. High BMIs, above 25, meant being overweight or even obese. However, the BMI method has problems. If you're muscular, it gives you one that is too high, if you're old, one that could be too low. So, for many, it isn't all that accurate.
Now, the BAI steps in. It's a much more accurate way to show whether you're in a healthy weight range. The "A" stands for Adiposity, a measurement of your Adipose tissue, otherwise known as your fat tissue. The good part of this newer measurement is that it better estimates your percentage of body fat using your height, weight and waist measurement. Even for those the BMI misses, the muscle bound or elderly, this new index can give a fairly accurate estimate of their body fat.
The goal, body fat wise, is to be between 16% and 26% for women and 12% to 22% for men. The best way to calculate where you fall is to go to www.intmath.com/functions-and-graphs/bmi-bai-comparison.php for the BAI calculator.
BAI is a more accurate way to see if you're holding onto a healthy weight or not, and you'll probably hear a lot more about it in the new future. It's called the BAI - Body Adiposity Index.
For years we've been hearing about the Body Mass Index, or BMI, as a good way to figure out where we sit on the weight spectrum. High BMIs, above 25, meant being overweight or even obese. However, the BMI method has problems. If you're muscular, it gives you one that is too high, if you're old, one that could be too low. So, for many, it isn't all that accurate.
Now, the BAI steps in. It's a much more accurate way to show whether you're in a healthy weight range. The "A" stands for Adiposity, a measurement of your Adipose tissue, otherwise known as your fat tissue. The good part of this newer measurement is that it better estimates your percentage of body fat using your height, weight and waist measurement. Even for those the BMI misses, the muscle bound or elderly, this new index can give a fairly accurate estimate of their body fat.
The goal, body fat wise, is to be between 16% and 26% for women and 12% to 22% for men. The best way to calculate where you fall is to go to www.intmath.com/functions-and-graphs/bmi-bai-comparison.php for the BAI calculator.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Summer Vacation & Your Health
It might seem early, but it's about time to start thinking about what to do for summer vacation.
If your plans include traveling, then listen up!
Experiencing other cultures and bringing back that special souvenir is what traveling is all about. Getting sick on your trip isn’t.
Most important is to figure out what kind of health concerns are in the area you’re going to. One quick way is to go online to the CDC’s “travel health site”. You can find this information under the "links we mentioned" section of KRDO.com.
If vaccinations are required, start them now. Some require more than one shot and some vaccines need to be special ordered, so they take time to get.
Next, figure out what medicines to take with you. Get an ample supply of your prescriptions meds. For traveler’s diarrhea, a common problem, this might need anything from Pepto-Bismol to antibiotics.
And none of us expects anything to go wrong on our trip, but accidents do happen, so taking a first aid kit is “essential.” Depending on where you go, this might only contain band aids and Tylenol, or, if exploring more remote areas, be better supplied, with even IV solutions and your own needles.
But trust me, nothing will have you experience your destinations culture up close and personal like having a toothache and trying to find a local dentist. So, go visit one here before your trip, that way you know all your teeth are in good shape, saving you big headaches, or toothaches, later on.
But the most “important” point to remember is to have fun. It’s your vacation; just prepare a little now to make it a smooth one.
If your plans include traveling, then listen up!
Experiencing other cultures and bringing back that special souvenir is what traveling is all about. Getting sick on your trip isn’t.
Most important is to figure out what kind of health concerns are in the area you’re going to. One quick way is to go online to the CDC’s “travel health site”. You can find this information under the "links we mentioned" section of KRDO.com.
If vaccinations are required, start them now. Some require more than one shot and some vaccines need to be special ordered, so they take time to get.
Next, figure out what medicines to take with you. Get an ample supply of your prescriptions meds. For traveler’s diarrhea, a common problem, this might need anything from Pepto-Bismol to antibiotics.
And none of us expects anything to go wrong on our trip, but accidents do happen, so taking a first aid kit is “essential.” Depending on where you go, this might only contain band aids and Tylenol, or, if exploring more remote areas, be better supplied, with even IV solutions and your own needles.
But trust me, nothing will have you experience your destinations culture up close and personal like having a toothache and trying to find a local dentist. So, go visit one here before your trip, that way you know all your teeth are in good shape, saving you big headaches, or toothaches, later on.
But the most “important” point to remember is to have fun. It’s your vacation; just prepare a little now to make it a smooth one.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Migraines & Heart Defects
Do migraines and heart defects go hand-in-hand. Researchers say they might, especially for children.
A lot of children suffer from migraines and it looks like some of these migraines might be caused by a common heart defect---one that someone might have and not even know it.
Right now, it's estimated that 15% of children have migraine headaches. About 1/3 of them have what are called auras with these headaches. Auras are a type of early warning migraine sufferers get letting them know the headache is about to start. It's usually includes visual disturbances, like flashing lights, but can also be weakness or even hallucinations.
Well, researchers just discovered that in the children they examined with aura type migraines, 1/2 of them had a hole in their heart known as a patent foramen ovale or PFO. This PFO heart defect is much more common than you'd think and in fact about 1-out-of-4 of us has it and will never know. It's not usually a problem and people live normal lives with it, but if it is associated with a migraine, researchers feel repairing that hole might help get rid of the migraines as well. Stay tuned for future studies on this.
A lot of children suffer from migraines and it looks like some of these migraines might be caused by a common heart defect---one that someone might have and not even know it.
Right now, it's estimated that 15% of children have migraine headaches. About 1/3 of them have what are called auras with these headaches. Auras are a type of early warning migraine sufferers get letting them know the headache is about to start. It's usually includes visual disturbances, like flashing lights, but can also be weakness or even hallucinations.
Well, researchers just discovered that in the children they examined with aura type migraines, 1/2 of them had a hole in their heart known as a patent foramen ovale or PFO. This PFO heart defect is much more common than you'd think and in fact about 1-out-of-4 of us has it and will never know. It's not usually a problem and people live normal lives with it, but if it is associated with a migraine, researchers feel repairing that hole might help get rid of the migraines as well. Stay tuned for future studies on this.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Fasting & Heart Health
New research is showing that fasting may help keep your heart healthy.
Although researchers don't have all the answers "yet", they have found that small amounts of routine fasting could be healthy for you.
Fasting has been practiced for centuries by various cultures for a variety of different reasons, ranging from religious observations to political protests. Some have also done it for health reasons, thinking that fasting helps clear the body of toxins. Now we are finding out how fasting might be healthy, if done correctly.
Cardiologists from the Intermountain Medical Center just released a study where they looked at what happened when volunteers fasted for 24 hours. And the findings surprised even them.
Since fasting causes hunger and stress on our bodies, our bodies respond by releasing cholesterol so we can use it as fuel. That means that while fasting we burn fat. And with fewer fat cells we can better fight off diabetes and heart disease.
But the researchers caution that it's too early to simply start fasting. They aren't sure how often or for how long you need to fast to get these benefits. Time, and more studies, will tell.
Although researchers don't have all the answers "yet", they have found that small amounts of routine fasting could be healthy for you.
Fasting has been practiced for centuries by various cultures for a variety of different reasons, ranging from religious observations to political protests. Some have also done it for health reasons, thinking that fasting helps clear the body of toxins. Now we are finding out how fasting might be healthy, if done correctly.
Cardiologists from the Intermountain Medical Center just released a study where they looked at what happened when volunteers fasted for 24 hours. And the findings surprised even them.
Since fasting causes hunger and stress on our bodies, our bodies respond by releasing cholesterol so we can use it as fuel. That means that while fasting we burn fat. And with fewer fat cells we can better fight off diabetes and heart disease.
But the researchers caution that it's too early to simply start fasting. They aren't sure how often or for how long you need to fast to get these benefits. Time, and more studies, will tell.
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