Childen and vaccination pain levels

If you have ever sat with a child having multiple vaccinations then you will know it can be a traumatic experience for all concerned. Now some new research may help reduce the pain levels, and make it an easier experience all round.

The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto has carried out a study that reveals that if you give a child the least painful vaccine first, then that can reduce overall pain from multiple injections. If you want to pass this on to your doctor or clinic, the order they found most effective was to give the primary vaccine for diphtheria, polio, tetanus, pertussis, and Haemophilus influenzae type b (DPTaP-Hib) and the final shot was the pneumococcal conjugatevaccine. Giving them in this order definitely resulted in less overall pain than getting the pneumococcal vaccine first as this one causes most pain reaction.

As some parents do refuse vaccinations for their children because of the pain they cause, this could be a simple way of overcoming this problem. If you are interested, they measured the pain levels in two ways; first using the child’s facial expressions, body movements, and crying and also asked the parents to rate their child’s pain. Based on my own experience, I would just have used a sound meter!

Prostate and pomegranates

There’s new hope for men with prostate cancer when their disease doesn’t respond adequately to standard medical care. According to the results of a six year study just published in the Journal of Urology, pomegranate juice can lower PSA levels and slow down the progress of prostate cancer.

This was a two-stage clinical trial where each research subject had a rising prostate specific antigen (PSA) level after surgery or radiation therapy greater than 0.2 ng/ml and less than 5 ng/ml. The study participants were given eight ounces of pomegranate juice to drink daily for several years. Then patients who remained in the study and drinking pomegranate juice were compared to those no longer participating in the juice regimen.

Though both these groups of men with prostate cancer had demonstrated similar mean PSA doubling times at baseline when the study began, there was a clear and important difference in the groups after 56 months. The researchers are cautious about suggesting pomegranate juice could prevent prostate cancer, but anyone receiving treatment could add it to their diet and be getting a range of other health benefits.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK and over the last 30 years rates in Great Britain have almost tripled, although much of the increase is due to increased detection through widespread use of the PSA test. Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in UK men, after lung cancer, though happily the survival rate has more than doubled. Around 7 in 10 newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients now survive beyond five years whereas in the 1970s it was only 3 in 10.

Pomegranate juice benefits for everyone As it has very good antioxidant properties, it has been evaluated for its usefulness in fighting certain forms of cancer and been tentatively shown to reduce incidence of breast and skin cancer. It has many health benefits particularly for heart disease, heart attacks and stroke.

These include:

• it works well as a blood thinner
• is an agent for promoting blood flow to the heart
• reduces plaque in the arteries
• raises “good” levels of cholesterol
• helps lower “bad” cholesterol

Swine Flu prevention – 6 ways to help yourself

Although Gordon Brown assures us Britain is well prepared to deal with an outbreak of Swine Flu, I am always happier to take proactive action myself and there are some simple measures we can all take. They are not guaranteed to prevent you getting it, but they will certainly help.

The symptoms are of course very similar to any other flu you might experience: fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and fatigue so report to your doctor if you have these. However, what you also need to do is focus on strengthening your own immune response to prevent infection getting a hold and developing.

1 This time of year I usually have stopped taking Echinacea, but it is my first port of call to build up my defences and if you can get Echinacea tincture that is the most effective in my opinion. Boots produce their own and there is an excellent one made by Bioforce from helath stores. Take it daily for three weeks then a week off.

2 Next increase the amount of vitamin C you are taking, at least 1 gram a day in two 500mg doses is the most effective. Have as natural and unprocessed diet as you can, and juicing your fruit and vegetables gets you the maximum vitamins from them.

3 Your body requires oxygen for every cell to function properly because viruses can neither survive nor thrive in it. Therefore, the best defence against microbes, germs, harmful bacteria and viruses, such as the swine influenza virus, is to keep the body oxygenated. Add in eggs to your diet as they are excellent for improving your oxygen absorption. See the healthy bites item on eggs below.

4 Are you breathing deeply enough? Shallow breathing will not bring enough oxygen into so your system, and being out in the fresh air every day is a must. Walking at a moderate pace while breathing in for a count of six, and out for a count of six, is one of the simplest ways to do this. If you find a count of six difficult, reduce it to four, or if it becomes easy increase to six or eight.

5 Limit foods and substances that stress the body such as sugar, caffeine, alcohol, smoking, too much red meat and processed foods high in saturated and hydrogenated fats. 6 Finally, go back to basic hygiene and wash your hands in hot soapy water frequently and carry hand gel when you are out and use it after contact with others such as a handshake – and contact in public places with stair rails, lift buttons and so on.

It may all seem like a nonsense, but people have died from not taking this seriously. The good habits outlined here will help protect you, and if you maintain them you will have a solid barrier to prevent future infection.

Britain’s third biggest cancer – New genetic link

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK with 36,500 people being diagnosed each year. It is also the second greatest cause of cancer death, currently around 100 people each day.

Anything that can help identify and treat a disease which kills over 15,000 people a year is very welcome and now a joint study funded by Cancer Research UK has found a genetic variant which they believe can promote the development of bowel cancer.

The study involved scientists in the UK, Spain and The Netherlands and sheds new light on how this disease develops and could lead to new treatments being designed. Common genetic variants that give people a higher risk of bowel cancer have already been identified, but scientists didn’t know how they might be driving cancer development. This new study goes one step further by showing how a precise DNA sequence could cause the biological changes that ultimately lead to cancer.

They identified 10 different genetic variants that increasedbowel cancer risk, concluding that people who had all the variants were at six times higher risk of developing it. They honed in on the genetic variant that conferred the strongest risk of bowel cancer, hypothesising that it was therefore key to driving cancer development. Laboratory experiments supported the scientists’ theory, showing the key genetic variant stopped the nearby SMAD7 gene turning on properly, and that disrupting this gene promoted cancer development. The SMAD7 gene is normally involved in cell growth and death so, by reducing the gene’s effect, the variant allows cancerous cells to grow.

Although the extra risk from having this DNA is modest, it is still highly significant because a large proportion of the population have the variant as part of their genetic makeup. Understanding cancer development in such detail will help in the search for new drugs, as any steps identified in the cancer process are potential places to intervene with treatments and research is now reaching a point where cancer drugs will be able to be targeted at the individual’s own genes for maximum effectiveness.

Cholesterol screening for two year olds in the USA

Often in health matters we follow the USA, but this is one case where I sincerely hope we don’t. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is recommending cholesterol screening for children as young as two if there are weight issues or a family history of heart attacks or high cholesterol.

That might sound like a good health preventive, except that the response if high cholesterol is found is to recommend statin drugs, not dietary changes. Statins work by blocking the action of a certain enzyme in the liver which is needed to make cholesterol. Proponents say there is growing evidence that the first signs of heart disease show up in childhood – which is true – but their claim that cholesterol-lowering drugs, called statins, may be their best hope of lowering their risk of early heart attack is much more controversial.

Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, a member of the AAP nutrition committee, has said that “The risk of giving statins at a lower age is less than the benefit you’re going to get out of it”. A statement that is seriously undermined when he went on to say that there is not “a whole lot” of data on pediatric use of cholesterol-lowering drugs. So how on earth can he recommend it foThe use of statins in adults is currently under debate, so why on earth promote a drug that has been shown to actually cause heart problems in healthy subjects? Last year, US researchers at the University of Illinois examined the effects of the statin drug Lipitor on subjects with no history of heart problems. After taking the drug for three to six months, some subjects showed deterioration in at least one marker for heart function, and a smaller number were found to have deterioration in three different heart function markers. Natural Alternatives|:

Statins have been heavily promoted to reduce cholesterol, but there are plenty of healthy alternatives instead. CoQ10, artichoke leaf, red yeast rice and sugar cane are all being used to reduce cholesterol and if you have a history of heart disease in your family, or are concerned about your cholesterol levels – or those of your children – then these are some other things you can try:

* Follow a low-glycaemic diet (low processed carbohydrates), which lowers cholesterol

* Eat foods containing high levels of beta-sitosterol, found in most plants, especially soybeans, as they can reduce cholesterol by at least 10 per cent

* Take omega-3 fatty-acid supplements, preferably with vitamin B6

* Eat a high-fibre diet based on vegetables, fruits and nuts and oat bran, apple pectin and psyllium are especially helpful

* Try blue-green algae supplements; they contain large amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids which may reduce cholesterol

* Garlic lowers cholesterol so cook frequently with it

More proof that attitude is all you need for healthy ageing

Those who have heard me speak about healthy living know I often quote the statistic that optimists live on average 7.5 years longer than pessimists – so it pays to be cheerful. Now some new research has shown that the children of parents who live to be 100 are on average more outgoing, agreeable, and less neurotic. As children usually inherit both longevity and personality traits from their parents it seems your attitude not only increase your own lifespan, but those of your offspring as well.

The research was done at New England Centenarian Study at Boston University Medical Center and their chief finding was that long life was linked to being more outgoing, sociable and friendly. With those attitudes people are able to manage stress better, and your ability to successfully do that definitely improves your health and your longevity. Less outgoing and more neurotic or nervous people in the study were found to be less able to handle stress than the more cheerful subjects. This unique study is the first to study the children of centenarians and from a questionnaire they measured qualities such as neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.

Children is not quite accurate as the average age of the participants was 75, not unusual in parents around 100 years old. The women participants rated higher on the agreeableness scale, but on all other factors men and women scored equally. It has been observed in previous research that centenarians tend to have sunny dispositions, which is just as well as who wants to be miserable for 100 years?

In Okinawa, it is known that these particular Japanese people live longer than their countrymen and Nobuyoshi Hirose, an expert on ageing, put it down to the fact that they are all likeable, sociable people. Plus we know that eating less meat and having a strong sense of purpose in your life also increases your life expectancy – and the quality of it

Short of emigrating, just do what you can to keep cheerful and be as sociable as you can – and never mind if your children think it’s undignified!

Oh really? Stressed parents have kids with cavities

You know how I love the way scientists like to tell us the blindingly obvious and then couch it in terms of a great discovery? Well, here’s one I found earlier on one of my health forums. A team of scientists from The Ohio State University looked at the stress levels of parents whose young children either had no cavities or so many cavities that the children had to be anaesthetized before they could be treated.

I know you will find this hard to believe, but apparently the researchers found a correlation between the parents’ status, education levels, income, and their stress levels. So those who were single parents on a low income were more stressed than two parent families with a good income and that the higher the parents’ stress level was, then the greater number of cavities the children had. Could that be down to poor diet because of a low income I wonder? Their final conclusion – which is a real breakthrough – is that when the parents could afford to get their childs teeth seen to by a dentist their own stress levels went down. Their ‘suggestion’ is that dentists need to find ways to help low income families afford their services so they can reduce their stress levels – oh really?

Folic acid can boost birth weight for healthier babies

I mentioned a few weeks ago the benefits of Omega-3 for premature babies and now there is further help to boost your baby’s birth weight by over 60 grams – and this is very good news for their long-term health. The British Journal of Nutrition has reported that supplementing the mother’s diet with of 400 micrograms of folic acid during the pregnancy is important for two reasons:

The prime reason is that babies with a low birth weight (defined as less than 5lb 8oz) have an increased risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, ADD and depression later in life and sadly their number is increasing. Secondly, being underweight indicates that they have not had their maximum growth potential in the womb as this is dependent on their receiving the correct balance of nutrients during the pregnancy and folic acid has an essential role to play in the normal production of protein, lipids and DNA. Taking the supplement while already pregnant was seen to result in a 40 per cent lower risk of having a child with low birth weight and in fact was even more marked in women having their second child as when they supplemented before conception they saw a 240g higher birth weight compared with first time mothers who didn’t take folic acid at all.

It is recommended in the UK that women take a 400 microgram folic acid supplement daily from the time of conception to the 12th week of pregnancy, in order to cut the rate of neural tube defects such as spina bifida. This is in addition to the 200 micrograms of folate that should be obtained from a healthy diet from sources like brown rice, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, peas, and – interestingly – low calorie beer. Unfortunately, it seems that more than 90 per cent of women looking to start a family don’t have anywhere near this amount and so potentially are putting their children’s’ future health at risk.

Rheumatoid arthritis on increase among women

The overall rate of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been decreasing for 40 years, currently down to 2.1 million from the 3 million recorded in 1995. However, it has substantially increased among women according to a study done at the Mayo Clinic and presented the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals in San Francisco.

RA is a chronic inflammation of the joints caused when the body’s immune system destroys its own tissue, unlike osteoarthritis, which is caused by external damage to joints and connective tissue. Throughout the world, RA is generally more common in women than in men, which suggests that hormones may be playing a part. This is borne out by the fact that it usually goes into remission during pregnancy, and is very unusual for the disease to begin at that time. However, in the few weeks after delivery, women with RA often experience a relapse and there is a much higher frequency of development of RA. This may be because prolactin, the hormone which is responsible for milk production, enhances inflammation which is a key factor in RA.

Surprisingly, RA is also a relatively modern disease as it was unknown in Europe before 1800 which suggests either environmental or nutritional factors have played a part in its spread. It was first documented in North America where Native American skeletons dating back several thousand years show evidence of RA and they currently have the highest incidence of the disease anywhere in the world. Certainly RA is much less common in underdeveloped countries and rural areas with virtually no cases in Africa, China and Indonesia though it is found in those groups which move to an urban lifestyle in the city and change both their environment and their diet.

Until 1994 the rate of RA amongst women was only 36 per 100,000, but by 2005 it had grown to 54 per 100,000 while the rate amongst men for the same period stayed constant. This increase has prompted the researchers at the Mayo clinic to now investigate further to try and establish what has caused this rise.

Conventional treatment for RA usually involves painkillers such as paracetamol or NSAID’s such as ibuprofen to reduce inflammation which may relieve pain and swelling. Prescribed drugs such as sulfasalazine and methotrexate work to slow down the disease process and delay joint damage though they are often given in multiples and you will often have to experiment with different dosages and mixes. There are now four new medicines, infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab and rituximab, on the market which your doctor may prescribe if previous medications haven’t worked. Unfortunately, various medical studies have repeatedly shown that taking traditional painkilling drugs like ibuprofen and diclofenac have a 55% and 24% increased risk of heart attack respectively and can also increase your risk of peptic ulcers, diabetes and breast cancer.

There are also many self-help measures you can take to ease the symptoms, but not to eradicate the disease. Start with a simple hot water bottle, or ice pack, to relieve swelling and pain and try to find the right balance for you between exercise and rest. You may be recommended to see a physiotherapist and you need to try and keep your joints supple with some exercise, and swimming is ideal as it puts no strain on them. Being overweight will cause extra problems for your joints

Professor David L Scott, of Kings College Hospital, London did a study on patients who used complementary and alternative medicines and found it was over half of the UK and other Western countries who were using homoeopathy, acupuncture and aromatherapy to ease their RA symptoms. The first trial of homeopathic treatment with RA was published in a mainstream medical journal in 1980 on patients from Glasgow. It showed the patients had significant improvements in pain, joint tenderness and stiffness and two other trials in Germany showed equally positive results. Acupuncture has long been proven to be able to relieve pain – often being used instead of an anaesthetic in childbirth and clinical operations. A qualified aromatherapist will be able to create a mix of oils that can soothe pain and inflammation as well as helping relax and distress you.

HRT & Cancer confirmation

HRT is a thorny subject, with its advocates and detractors in equal numbers. I have been on HRT for 6 months many years ago, and know what it can do, but I also have seen much research on the damage it can wreak. New studies in recent months had pointedout the dangers of side effects such as strokes, blood clots, brain shrinkage, dementia, and even gallbladder disease, but the greatest danger comes from its role in promoting cancer.

The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported that when women are taken off HRT their cancer risk is dramatically reduced. A new study was conducted by UCLA oncologist Dr. Roman Chelbowski, and he found that the rate of breast cancer in postmenopausal women dramatically dropped in the first two years after they stopped using HRT, and then continued to reduce each year afterwards. Women in the study who also took hormone supplements of oestrogen and progestin had double the chance of developing cancer over five years, compared to women who weren’t on any form of HRT.

My view is that if you take HRT knowing the risks that is your business, but I do urge you not to fall into the trap of taking HRT long-term, which is what many doctors advocate. The risks increase, and the benefits decrease, the longer you are on it so make sure you have a definite schedule. Menopausal symptoms may be alleviated, but the menopause itself can’t be avoided, HRT or not.

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