The ABCs for combating the cold and flu season

Source: Dumex

With cold and flu season in full swing, parents who pay attention to hygiene and nutrition can boost the odds that their children will stay healthy - or at least healthier than last year.

Some of the techniques may be surprising and, better yet, take much less time than you think.

"Probably the most important thing is to tell kids to wash their hands frequently," said Dr. Jim King, a family physician in Selmer, Tenn., who is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians' board of directors.

Germ-laden hands are the most common source of bacteria, he added, and frequent hand-washing will reduce the number of colds and infections.

Encourage your kids to wash their hands after using the bathroom, playing with toys shared by other children and when they get home from school, King said. To enlist their support, set up a chart system with gold stars or, for older children, other appropriate rewards.

Also, "teach kids not to always be touching their faces and their mouths," said Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin, Texas, and author of Baby 411.

"Germs will live on surfaces such as the desk or doorknob for several hours," Brown said. So if kids touch a contaminated surface and then their face, mouth or nose, they can easily spread germs, she added.

"As kids get older, they tend to share food and drinks," Brown continued, saying that should also be discouraged. The reason: Sharing food and drinks can also spread germs, and "you can end up getting strep throat or mono," he said.

Then there's the inevitable showdown over bedtimes. But be sure to enforce reasonable ones, King and Brown agreed.

Most children don't get enough sleep, boosting their risk of getting sick. For 5- to 9-year-olds, 10 or 11 hours of sleep is needed, Brown and King said. 10- to 14-year-olds need nine or 10 hours, and 14- to 18-year-olds need eight or nine hours.

Getting kids to go to bed has always seemed like mission impossible. "But if you remind them how crummy they feel in the morning when the alarm goes off [if they haven't gotten enough sleep], they might be a little bit more reasonable," Brown said.

King urges parents to "get kids up at the same time every day, too." This will help establish a regular sleep-wake pattern. He encourages this practice even on weekends, although he acknowledges it's not easy - especially with teens who think they have a right to sleep in when school's out.

Brown also suggests talking to your child about the value of nutritious eating. And develop a policy that limits buying food from school vending machines or from fast-food operations.

Finally, encourage your child to get regular physical activity. The best way is to lead by example, Brown said.

"Go for a nightly walk, a nightly bike ride, or walk the dog together. Incorporate exercise into family time," he suggested.

Healthy Forever & Ever

Pregnant women miss a key nutrient

Many women understand the dietary benefits of folic acid and calcium with vitamin D, but some could be missing DHA Omega-3, a fatty acid found in fish and a nutrient important for a baby's development.

DHA Omega-3 aids in the growth of a baby's brain, heart and eyes. Consumption of this nutrient also lowers the risk of pre-term birth and postpartum depression.

Sixty-eight percent of women say their doctor has never told them about DHA, according to a Kelton Research survey sponsored by the Society for Women's Health Research in Washington, D.C.

The survey reveals 72 percent of women have no clue how to include DHA in their diet.

Cold-water oily fish, like mackerel, herring, and salmon, are the best sources of DHA.

This can be problematic for pregnant women because some seafood contains mercury and other contaminants harmful to nervous system development in unborn infants.

Women can eat certain types of eggs, soymilk, nutrition bars, and other foods supplemented with algal-based DHA to avoid consuming too much mercury while still getting the DHA benefits.

Experts recommend consumption of 300 milligrams of DHA per day for expectant and new mothers.

Source:DUMEX

Healthy Forever & Ever

Fasting: Heart Healthy?

Monthly Fasting May Tune the Ticker
Thank You ...Marilynn Marchionne, Associated Press
Dec. 11, 2007

Mormons have less heart disease -- something doctors have long chalked up to their religion's ban on smoking. New research suggests that another of their "clean living" habits also may be helping their hearts: fasting for one day each month.

A study in Utah, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is based, found that people who skipped meals once a month were about 40 percent less likely to be diagnosed with clogged arteries than those who did not regularly fast.

People did not have to "get religion" to benefit: non-Mormons who regularly took breaks from food also were less likely to have clogged arteries, scientists found.

They concede that their study is far from proof that periodic fasting is good for anyone, but said the benefit they observed poses a theory that deserves further testing.

"It might suggest these are people who just control eating habits better," and that this discipline extends to other areas of their lives that improves their health, said Benjamin Horne, a heart disease researcher from Intermountain Medical Center and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

He led the study and reported results at a recent American Heart Association conference. The research was partly funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Roughly 70 percent of Utah residents are Mormons, whose religion advises abstaining from food on the first Sunday of each month, Horne said.

Researchers got the idea to study fasting after analyzing medical records of patients who had X-ray exams to check for blocked heart arteries between 1994 and 2002 in the Intermountain Health Collaborative Study, a health registry. Of these patients, 4,629 could be diagnosed as clearly having or lacking heart disease -- an artery at least 70 percent clogged.

Researchers saw a typical pattern: only 61 percent of Mormons had heart disease compared to 66 percent of non-Mormons. They thought tobacco use probably accounted for the difference. But after taking smoking into account, they still saw a lower rate of heart disease among Mormons and designed a survey to explore why.

It asked about Mormons' religious practices: monthly fasting; avoiding tea, coffee and alcohol; taking a weekly day of rest; going to church, and donating time or money to charity.

Among the 515 people surveyed, only fasting made a significant difference in heart risks: 59 percent of periodic meal skippers were diagnosed with heart disease versus 67 percent of the others.

The difference persisted even when researchers took weight, age and conditions like diabetes or high cholesterol or blood pressure into account. About 8 percent of those surveyed were not Mormons, and those who regularly fasted had lower rates of heart disease, too.

Horne speculated that when people take a break from food, it forces the body to dip into fat reserves to burn calories. It also keeps the body from being constantly exposed to sugar and having to make insulin to metabolize it. When people develop diabetes, insulin-producing cells become less sensitive to cues from eating, so fasting may provide brief rests that resensitize these cells and make them work better, he said.

But he and other doctors cautioned that skipping meals is not advised for diabetics -- it could cause dangerous swings in blood sugar.

Also for dieters, "the news is not as good as you might think" on fasting, said Dr. Raymond Gibbons of the Mayo Clinic, a former heart association president.

"Fasting resets the metabolic rate," slowing it down to adjust to less food and forcing the body to store calories as soon as people resume eating, Gibbons said.



healthy heart...healthy body

Healthy Forever & Ever