Actress Glenn Close arrives for the 84th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 26, 2012, in Hollywood, Calif. Close, also known for her mental health advocacy, will be a keynote speaker at an international conference on reducing stigma surrounding mental illness to be held in Ottawa in June. (Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images)

Award-winning actress Glenn Close will be a keynote speaker at an international conference on reducing stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness being held in Ottawa June 4–6.

The 5th International Stigma Conference—Together Against Stigma: Changing How We See Mental Illness—will bring together mental health researchers, policy makers, and service users from around the world.

That there is mental illness in my family puts us squarely at the heart of the global human family.—Glenn Close

In 2009, Close helped launch Bring Change 2 Mind, a U.S. based anti-stigma organization that works to remove misconceptions about mental illness.

Close’s younger sister, Jessie, and Jessie’s son, Calen, both live with mental illness. Fifty-six-year-old Jessie was diagnosed as bipolar at age 47. The illness began when she was a teenager but went years undiagnosed. Calen suffers from schizophrenia.

Jessie and Calen will also be guest speakers at the conference.

“That there is mental illness in my family puts us squarely at the heart of the global human family,” said Close in a press release.

“I am honoured to be a part of this year’s International Stigma Conference and am thrilled to also be celebrating the formation of Bring Change 2 Mind’s distinguished Advisory Council, who will aid us in translating the science of stigma and discrimination into powerful, informed messaging.”

Close, who has received six Oscar nominations, three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and three Tony Awards, is also known for her role as a mental health advocate.

This year she received the National Association of Broadcasters Educational Foundation’s Leadership Award for her work with Bring Change 2 Mind.

The Stigma Conference is hosted by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) and the World Psychiatric Association Scientific Section on Stigma and Mental Illness.

In welcoming Close to the conference, Micheal Pietrus, director of MHCC’s anti-stigma initiative Opening Minds, noted that “her commitment to fighting stigma and removing misconceptions about mental illness is inspiring to us all.”

Opening Minds is the largest systematic effort to reduce the stigma of mental illness in Canadian history, according to the MHCC.

The initiative is working to evaluate anti-stigma programs across Canada to determine their effectiveness at changing negative attitudes and behaviours related to mental illnesses. The successful programs are being replicated elsewhere in the country.

To decrease stigma, Opening Minds is also working with journalism schools and the media to identify myths and misconceptions associated with mental illness.

More than seven million Canadians will experience a mental health problem this year.

According to the MHCC, researchers have found that stigma is a major barrier preventing more than two-thirds of people with mental illnesses from seeking help, and “Many people living with a mental illness say the stigma they face is often worse than the illness itself.”

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Make time to spend with your children on a regular basis so that they grow up to be happy and balanced. (Don Arnold/Getty Images)

Lost in the hustle and bustle of life, we parents often forget about the importance of our purpose: to be good parents. As a parent, it is important to ask yourself if you have been paying enough attention to your child.

According to Russian sociologists, more than 18 percent of Russian parents said they believe their interests and activities are more important in comparison with those of their children. About a third of the parents consider their children’s activities uninteresting. 

Approximately 15 percent felt the need to force themselves to show interest out of a sense of obligation. Only 4 percent acknowledged that their main responsibility includes feeding and appropriately dressing the child.

This parental indifference can be seriously traumatizing to children. Chronic lack of attention and support from parents may first develop aggressiveness in the child in order to attract the parents’ attention. Later on, the indifference can lead to a state of isolation and alienation in the child. 

If we listen to complaints and requests for assistance with reluctance, we may convince the child that there is no place to get for support. Subsequently, these children may be in a long-term state of deep depression, which may affect their ability to build social relationships in the future. 

Psychologists believe that children who are in a state of depression have an increased risk of alcohol and drug addiction, physical illness, and even suicide attempts. These symptoms may persist for their entire adult life.

Psychologists advise eating dinner together without distractions such as television and creating a friendly family atmosphere.

At least once a month, we can arrange to spend an entire day dedicated to our child.

At least once a month, arrange to spend a day dedicated to the child. On this day, try to serve meals chosen by the child. If possible, take a walk to where the “boss of the day” wants to go, and join the child in playing his or her favorite games.

While your children are still with you, do not miss the chance to invest attention, love, and true life principles in your children. 

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Mental health charity Mind's Infoline offers information on types of mental health problems, where to get help, drug and alternative treatments and advocacy. (Courtesy of Mind)

Rising unemployment and economic uncertainty has caused an increase in helpline calls to a leading UK mental health charity, which is struggling to cope with the huge demand.

Since the start of the recession, enquiries to mental health charity Mind’s Infoline and legal advice service have doubled. In 2011-2012 advisers dealt with 40,000 phone calls and e-mail enquiries about where to seek mental health care, advice about medications, and the rights of patients in psychiatric hospitals. Yet the helplines are too stretched to handle the volume of calls, with 40 per cent going unanswered.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, is concerned that sufficient resources are lacking to deal with every cry for help. “The era of austerity shows little sign of abating and more and more people need our help. At the same time the local Mind network is facing the challenging situation of increased demand for services and potential cuts to funding,” he said in a statement.

Highlighting the problem during Mental Health Awareness week, Farmer said that the weekday Infoline, which is funded by donations, needs an additional adviser to meet the growing demand from the public. “We urge people to support Mind in any way they can,” he said.

Many users of the Infoline find the service invaluable. One anonymous caller said in an e-mail: “Thank you so much for your help, you are an absolute angel. I knew you would be able to point me in the right direction because I called last year when I was experiencing depression and feeling suicidal and you really helped me.”

Service user Sandra said after being treated for cancer and depression, “I believe the help and support I received from Tyneside Mind played a major part in my recovery.”

Ad for mental health charity Mind campaign. (Courtesy of Mind)

Another mental health charity, SANE, is feeling the strain on its services. Chief executive Marjorie Wallace CBE, said in a statement on the SANE website, “At SANE we are already living with the serious consequences that recession can have on people’s mental health and are finding it difficult to meet the need.”

Wallace said that the increase in the number of people contacting the SANE helpline with depression and anxiety due to financial uncertainty, is disturbing.

“A vicious circle is being created with cuts to mental health services coinciding with increased demand, especially for psychological counselling, leaving people with no one to turn to at times of crisis,” Wallace said.

One anonymous caller to SANE’s helpline commented in an e-mail on the effect of financial hardship: “I suffer from depression, anxiety but my benefits are now paid at a reduced rate. It means I don’t have enough left to live on after I have paid my bills. And for whatever reason not eating or not getting enough sleep seems to make the depression worse. Each day I am finding it harder and harder to keep going.”

About 10 million people in the UK are affected by a mental health problem at any one time, according to government statistics.

Mental Health Awareness week runs from May 21 to 27.

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Sophie Prosser and her baby daughter Florence. Sophie found that she couldn't cope with the demands of early motherhood. (Courtesy of NSPCC)

Urgent action is needed to support vulnerable new mothers and their babies, a UK leading children’s charity says.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is calling on the government to ensure sufficient resources are made available for postnatal provision.

“We appreciate times are tough financially but failing to provide vital support to new mums is a false economy,” Chris Cuthbert, the NSPCC’s head of strategy and development for children under one, said in a statement.

Cuthbert’s remarks come following a recent NSPCC survey, which shows that new mothers are struggling to cope with the emotional demands of motherhood. They need more professional advice before the birth on coping with post-natal challenges.

More than half of mums surveyed expressed feelings of isolation, with no one to turn in the eight weeks after birth.

The online poll also revealed that three-quarters of mothers feel that they were not given enough guidance or support from professional services during pregnancy to help them understand anxiety and post-natal depression. They also wanted advice on coping with sleep deprivation and a crying baby. 

Cuthbert said, “The interaction between mother and baby is very powerful and vitally important for a child’s development.”

Yet the survey shows that many mothers are struggling to develop a healthy bond with their baby. Two-fifths admitted getting angry with their baby and one-fifth said they were frequently very upset by their baby’s crying.

“The emotional health and wellbeing of new mothers and their babies is an urgent public health issue,” Cuthbert said.

Cuthbert warns of the effect of stressed new mums on their babies and the troubling social implications. “Damage done at this stage of their lives can prevent them reaching their full potential, which also has a knock-on effect on society as a whole,” he said.

Antenatal education is currently limited primarily to physical aspects, such as the choice of pain relief during labour.

The NSPCC is calling for antenatal education to include the practicalities of caring for a baby and to prepare parents-to-be for the emotional challenges they will face so that they can become the best possible parents.

One mum has taken the brave step of sharing her difficult experience of the early stages of motherhood. Initially, Sophie Prosser, mother to Florence, was happy to hear the news that she was pregnant. “I felt like my world was complete,” she said in a statement. 

Yet, coping with a painful pelvic infection, and subsequent depression, Sophie soon hated being pregnant. Sophie’s depression increased after Florence was born and she felt unsupported in hospital. She said that nurses did give her a pack of leaflets on contraception, meningitis and “what’s normal and what’s not normal. But nobody came and went through everything with me.”

“Nobody told me it would be that difficult to cope with a new baby.”

Things got worse when she took baby Florence home. 

“The first couple of weeks were a blur really, but I know they weren’t good. I found it very stressful when the baby cried,” Sophie said. Even with the support from a midwife and Sophie’s partner, feelings of despair and hatred towards Florence mounted.

“I ignored her screams and I yelled at her. I was hateful towards her and said quite openly how much I hated her.”

Months later, with the help of her family, Sophie started the process of bonding with her daughter. But the feelings of guilt still haunt her.

“I was very ashamed of admitting I had such a problem. I probably could have got help earlier if I had bitten the bullet and let someone know. When I did get help my doctors were amazing.

“I just wish I could have got help from the start,“ Sophie said.

“There was a sad irony in that last week’s NSPCC survey claiming that two out of five new mothers need help was published in the same week a mother with a history of postnatal depression fatally smothered two of her babies and attempted suicide.”

The NSPCC’s free advice leaflet for new parents can be downloaded from http://www.nspcc.org.uk/

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A patient looks through a window of the door in the Serbsky State Scientific Centre for Social and Forensic Psychiatry in Moscow. Could modern psychiatry treaments be doing more harm than good, asks Des Spence. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images)

Modern psychiatry has lost its way. Mental health issues and chronic mental health should be a priority for all societies and stigma challenged at every level. But, according to the US Centres for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), a staggering 25 per cent of the population are considered to have a “mental illness”.[1] 

This is a figure so large that the only conclusion is psychiatry is medicalising normality and engaged in rampant overdiagnosis. 

Psychiatric diagnosis 

Psychiatry is also intentionally complicit in the medication of hundreds of millions of men, women and children. Much of the responsibility for mass production mental illness rests with the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) used to make psychiatric diagnosis, owned and written by the American Psychiatric Association. This publication has loosened diagnostic criteria and defined highly questionable “new” conditions. 

The mental health field is a profit nirvana—Dr. Des Spence

The DSM mental health model is biological, with all behaviours simply explained away as some biochemical neurotransmitter “chemical imbalance”. Of course it then follows that these can be treated with lucrative branded pharmaceutical drugs. And America’s DSM is assuming a worldwide cultural dominance in mental health policy. 

Now this mental health industrial complex is aggressively exporting these ideas to the developing world by “Big Pharma” marketing gunboats. 

There is a new version DSM in the pipeline, DSM-5. So what to expect? 

The definition of mental illness is opinion and not hard facts. And these defining opinions are drawn from a small group of psychiatric oligarchs who author the DSM. Yet this opinion is tainted, for many psychiatrists have financial links to the pharmaceutical industry. For example, the diagnosis of ADHD exploded in the USA in recent decades and in some States 15 per cent of children are labelled and 5.6 per cent of children forced to take psychoactive medications, according to the CDC.[ 2] Despite the fact that there is little long term data about the potential negative consequences of these addictive medications. 

Big business 

Today, ADHD is big business. A report by industry analysis specialists, GlobalData, currently assesses the market’s worth at $4 billion (£2.4 billion) and set to double in the next decade [3]. Yet in 2008 it was revealed in the British Medical Journal that the world’s ADHD experts for Harvard had received $4.2 million (£2.5 million) in undisclosed payments.[4] The mental health field is a profit nirvana, with vast number of “patients” on multiple and life long medications. Yet an essay in March 2012 in PLOS Medicine journal identified that 70 per cent of the authors of the new DSM have links and conflicts of interest. Should we really trust their opinions? [5] 

Will the new DSM-5 in any way challenge overdiagnosis and over treatment of mental illness? No. New proposals seem intent on ever loosening diagnosis and recatagorising normal behaviour as illness. Even gambling, internet pornography and sex were considered for on inclusion as behavioural addictions. Also, new proposals will see the natural pain of bereavement reclassified as clinical “depression” should it last longer than two weeks. [6] 

Read on …  But has the march of the medicalisation of mood and the ubiquitous prescription of antidepressants improved mental health in the USA?

Comedian Stephen Fry launches a campaign 'Get It Off Your Chest' to encourage men to seek help for mental health problems in 2009 in London. (Tim Whitby/Getty Images)

People with mental health difficulties are becoming more accepted in British society and experiencing less discrimination, according to new research.

The study led by King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) was an evaluation of the first year of the “Time to Change” campaign, England’s largest ever initiative to change attitudes and behaviour towards mental health and end the associated stigma.

Encouraging results of the study, undertaken between 2008-2009, show that the number of people reporting no mental health discrimination has improved by 4 per cent. Study participants, adults who were selected at random from NHS records, also reported 20 per cent less unfair treatment in their lives including in employment, relationships, medical health, and education, amongst others. 

“These are very promising early findings and suggest less discrimination in several important aspects of the people’s everyday lives,” the co-lead researcher Dr Claire Henderson from the Health Services and Population Research (HSPR) Department at the IoP said in a statement.

Henderson acknowledged that people with mental health problems are often stigmatised and hoped that the outlook signified a positive trend for the future with sustainable results.

While the research, published in May’s Psychiatric Services journal, noted improved social inclusion for people with mental health problems, study participants nevertheless reported little change in discrimination by health professionals in mental health and NHS psychiatric services.

Time to Change aims to improve public attitudes towards people with mental health problems and reduce discrimination both by 5 per cent, according to its website. 

The programme features a nationwide media and marketing campaign and mental health service user led projects to raise awareness of the issues and engage communities in discussions and challenge prejudices. Work to improve policy and practice around mental health discrimination in organisations across the board has also been taking place.

At the outset of Time to Change its “Stigma Shout” survey showed that 87 per cent of people with mental health problems had experienced negative effects of stigma and discrimination on their lives. 

Sue Baker, director of Time to Change, said in a statement, “It is tragic that nine out of ten people with mental health problems in England report discrimination.” The stigma and exclusion on top of psychological and emotional difficulties compounds the problem and “are life limiting for millions of people and, for some, life threatening experiences,” Baker said.

When Stephen, a 19-year-old blogger on the Time to Change website, who is diagnosed with type II bipolar disorder (BPD), was discussing attitudes towards mental illness with his fellow psychology students he was shocked at “not only how little they knew but their preconceived notions of “nutjobs” and “crazies,” like they could spot someone with mental health issues like we have a bell round our necks [sic],” he said. The onset of BPD led to his isolation. “The few friends I had previously became more distant, I distinctly remember how they told me “it’s all in my head” and to “snap out of it,”’ he blogged.

Another anonymous blogger also experienced a lack of empathy from fellow psychology A Level students. “I remember getting so angry when my classmates laughed through a documentary about people with agrophobia, and when the teachers made light of schizophrenia.”

“Once the understanding is there, we can all stand up and not be ashamed of ourselves, then it makes the rest of the population realise that we are just like them but with something extra,” he states on the website.

The Time to Change programme is run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.

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Sun Awareness Week urges sunbathers to take UV protection more seriously. (David Heckerd/AFP/Getty Images)

A UK health organisation is launching a free mobile phone application this week to help curb overexposure to the sun and reduce the risks of skin cancer.

The British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) is concerned with the nation’s relaxed attitudes towards sun exposure and Sun Awareness Week this week marks its annual campaign to raise knowledge of skin cancer with the launch of The World UV App.

The app gives personalised sun protection advice, a daily ultraviolet radiation forecast, including peak strength from the sun, for more than10,000 locations worldwide. 

Kimberley Carter of the BAD said in a statement, “It educates people about the different skin types and helps them identify how well their own skin copes in the sun, so that they can protect themselves appropriately.”

Different UV levels affect different skin types in different ways, therefore “it can be hard to know what the risk of getting sunburnt will be,” Carter said.

Out of 1,000 people surveyed on a skin cancer awareness tour last summer almost three-quarters believed that people look healthier with a suntan, even those who had experienced sunburn themselves more than 30 times. Over 90 per cent of people admitted they had been sunburnt, with more than half of them several times. 

“Not everyone’s skin offers the same level of protection in the sun,” said the BAD president Dr Stephen Jones in a statement, explaining that knowing your own skin type is vital to understanding the risks of sun exposure. “For example, people with pale skin who burn easily or those with a close family history of skin cancer are at greater risk of sun damage and need to take extra steps to protect themselves.” 

BAD is warning that melanoma is the second most common cancer type in 15 to 34 year olds with malignant melanoma now the fastest rising common cancer in the UK. 

Dr Jones said, “Not only should we be increasing the emphasis on prevention to bring incidence levels down, we should be pushing early detection messages too – so that people know what to look out for if the prevention message comes too late.” 

Almost a quarter of British women holidaying abroad in hot countries are ignoring sunscreen protection despite most having been sunburnt. 

Also to mark Sun Awareness Week – April 30th – May 6th 2012 Macmillan Cancer Support released results from a poll, revealing that 22 per cent of women don’t use suntan lotion, with a quarter of those saying they don’t burn, and the rest because lotion is too expensive or doesn’t work. This is in spite of the fact that 79 per cent of women surveyed have experienced severe sunburn in the past.

With many people about to go on their annual escape to the sun, Macmillan Cancer Support is urging the public to increase its awareness of the importance of sun protection. 

Carol Goodman, a Macmillan Information Nurse specialist is concerned with the number of women choosing to forego sunscreen. “(They) are putting themselves at risk of skin cancer by not wearing any suntan lotion abroad. Over two and a half thousand people die of skin cancer every year and so it is a real issue,” she said in a statement.

The online survey of 1,500 women aged over 18 also showed that there is little awareness of the dangers of sunburnt skin, with 45 per cent thinking that after sun lotion could reduce damage caused by over-exposure to the sun.

“Remember there is no such thing as a healthy tan however good it makes us look or feel,” said Goodman.

The ‘Children of the 90s’ study questioned 14,000 pregnant women about their health and lifestyle and studied their children over the last 21 years to determine the health of young people. (Graeme Robertson/Getty Images)

A ground breaking long-term study started in the 1990s to provide a resource for investigating the health and wellbeing of young people has celebrated its 21st birthday this week.

Fourteen thousand pregnant women from the Bristol area took part in what is known as the “Children of the 90s” study to improve the health of young people by examining various factors affecting them and their children.

The mothers completed questionnaires about the diet, lifestyle, behaviours, wellbeing, and health of both themselves and their young ones. When the children reached the age of seven they were questioned, examined, scanned, measured and weighed; they also gave samples of blood, urine, hair, nail clippings, and baby teeth every year or two up to the present. The parents’ health factors have also been monitored closely.

Professor Jean Golding, who initiated the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) at the University of Bristol in 1991 and was awarded an OBE for her work on the project, has paid tribute to the parents and children who participated in the research. “They, together with our research staff have already achieved so much that has changed the lives of children all over the world,” Golding said in a statement.

“The unique aspect in ALSPAC is the extraordinary range of data that has been collected,” said the current scientific director of ALSPAC, professor George Davey-Smith, in a video on the ALSPAC website.

One distinctive feature of the study is that data was collected even though it was not known what it might be used for. “For example, the placenta we collected 21 years ago when the recruiters to the study gave birth were stored and no one was really doing any research on them, but recently several groups have been utilising placentas for doing work on them,” Davey-Smith said. “Jean Golding’s amazing vision when she set the study up was to include everything you could.” 

ALSPAC data is being used for research in many countries around the world besides the UK such as, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and in Europe. 

Davey-Smith said that the aim of the research was to produce findings that improve public healthcare or influence government policy.

Some of the results of the study have included:

• Pregnant women who ate omega-3 rich fish had children with higher-than-average IQs, language abilities and better eyesight.
• Stress in pregnancy could lead to asthma and allergies, dyslexia and autism in their children.
• Asthma and allergies in children were more prevalent when women took frequent doses of paracetamol in the late stages of pregnancy; the use of eczema creams containing peanut oil were also found to increase allergies.
• Air fresheners and aerosols, and frequent use of household cleaning products were associated with diarrhoea, earache and allergies in babies. 
• Children who have 15 minutes of exercise a day showed a lower risk of childhood obesity.
• Youngsters who watch more than eight hours of television a week have a greater risk of adult obesity.

Golding told Bristol newspaper The Post that the scientific study has confirmed what her grandmother already knew: “She would always say put a baby to sleep on its back, that babies should get some sunshine and that fish was good for the eyes and the brain, and not to worry about a bit of dirt because it is good for them. What we have done is show that it is true.”

Having secured funds of £6 million to continue the study, it will now focus on the next generation: the babies of the original children and also expand to studying the mothers and fathers of the first babies in more detail. Davey-Smith is hopeful that “by integrating new technologies” the ALSPAC study will become “even more a world leading resource than it is”.

Cattle graze in a pasture August 17, near Willow Springs, Wisconsin. The FDA has called on drug companies to voluntarily curb the use of antibiotics that are given to farm animals. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called on drug companies to voluntarily curb the use of antibiotics that are given to farm animals, which scientists have said can lead to drug-resistant bacteria in humans.

Farmers have been giving antibiotics to animals through their feed for decades, but some of these drugs are also used widely in the treatment of human illnesses. The drugs are fed to healthy pigs, livestock, and chickens so that the animals will bulk up and stay healthy in packed barns.

Scientists have said that this practice can lead to the creation of highly drug-resistant bacteria and can spread to people who work with or eat the animals. There has been worry over such kinds of bacteria if it spreads to humans, because it could be very difficult to treat and could have deadly implications.

For several decades, the FDA has criticized administering large quantities of antibiotics such as penicillin and tetracyclines to animals, saying that it is a dangerous and unnecessary practice.

The agency said on Wednesday that it would not outright ban the practice of giving drugs to animals, but would work with drug companies, farmers, and veterinarians.

“It is critical that we take action to protect public health,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg in a statement on Wednesday.

The new practice of judiciously administering antibiotics “will ensure farmers and veterinarians can care for animals, while ensuring the medicines people need remain safe and effective,” Hamburg said.

“We are also reaching out to animal producers who operate on a smaller scale or in remote locations to help ensure the drugs they need to protect the health of their animals are still available,” she added.

The FDA wants drug-makers to change product labels and remove the use of antibiotics for growth promotion in animals. The agency gave drug companies 3 months to come up with a plan and 3 years to start getting rid of practices involving growth promotion. It also said that therapeutic drug treatment on animals should require the consent of veterinarians.

The move would be voluntary on the part of drug companies and livestock producers because the FDA said the legal hurdles in administering an outright ban on the practice would take years to overcome.

Avinash Kar, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, wrote that the FDA “doesn’t actually require the livestock industry to do anything to stop endangering human health” and added that it “is an ineffective response to the alarming rise in antibiotic resistance.”

Kar noted that around 80 percent of the antibiotics that are sold in the United States are solely for livestock, meaning that the pharmaceutical industry would not easily rescind the practice of giving drugs to animals over profits.

“Even if a couple of actors make the right moves out of the goodness of their hearts, that won’t ensure change in the whole industry, which is the level at which change is required,” he added.

Many people are affected by insomnia, which can create mood swings, depression, fatigue, and anxiety. (photos.com)

Remember that song? It was written in 1965, and here we are in 2012 with sleep difficulties reaching epidemic proportions. Women, men, and even children are affected by this stressful condition.

A good night’s rest is the foundation of health and well-being. Growing evidence points to lack of sleep as a contributor to declining physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Along with good eating habits, happy and healthy relationships, enjoyable work, and exercise, goes a good night’s rest as an imperative ingredient in our health regime.

Some people fall asleep easily and then wake up at 3 a.m., while others take many hours to fall asleep. These are the two common patterns. Anything less than seven hours of sleep is considered not enough. Even those of us who are good sleepers may not be getting enough rest.

I believe that most of these difficulties are due to stress and to some of the substances we consume. So what can we do to cut down on stress levels, and what are some substances we should avoid to safeguard our sleep?

Substances to Avoid

Coffee, soda, and alcohol: These substances affect our energy, be it in a stimulating or sedative way. Try drinking water or herbal teas, which contribute to well-being and create balance in the body, mind, and spirit, rather than a roller-coaster effect.

Sugar: The impact of sugar is a spike in energy followed by a letdown and a vicious cycle of ups and downs. There are many healthy treats that you can find in a health food store that can satisfy one’s sweet tooth without causing damage.

Stress

In addition, we need to avoid stress. We’ve all heard and said this common refrain: “I’m so stressed out.” Hearing and saying this comment can be stressful in and of itself .

How do we eliminate the toxin of stress? We can empower ourselves to significantly decrease its impact on our lives by doing things that ease stress levels. Here are some of my stress busters:

1. Restorative yoga (gentle yoga)
2. Exercise
3. Dancing
4. Music
5. Conversation with positive-minded people
6. Journal writing
7. Positive affirmations
8. Relaxing herbal teas, such as chamomile
9. Rescue Remedy or other Bach Flower Remedies
10. Aromatherapy
11. Massage
12. Altruism
13. Acupuncture

It’s important to start seeing how wondrous you are and how deserving you are of putting the best substances into your being so that you can maintain optimum health, which includes a great night’s sleep. Once your body is in a healthier state, your sleep patterns will improve naturally.

Tips for Enhancing Sleep

1. Keep a regular schedule for going to sleep and getting up.
2. Do not eat a heavy meal before bedtime.
3. Keep sound and light out of your bedroom as much as possible.
4. Take a relaxing bath prior to going to bed.
5. Use natural products instead of prescription medication or over-the-counter drugs.
6. Do some breathing exercises and listen to relaxation tapes.
7. Do not listen to the news before bedtime.

A report by UK doctors has found that second-hand smoke causes over 20,000 cases of chest infections in children every year. (Laurent Fievet/AFP/Getty Images)

“Mummy and Daddy please stop smoking”, is a wish nearly all children have and they are willing to make considerable sacrifices to help their parents quit, a recent government survey shows.

The survey, commissioned by the Department of Health on children’s attitudes to smoking, found that 98 per cent of children with a smoking parent want them to give up and almost three-quarters are worried about their parents dying as a result of tobacco use.

More than half of the 1,000 8- to 13-year-olds surveyed would be prepared to give up pocket money, seven out of 10 would promise to do their homework every night and go to bed on time, and one-third would even give up Christmas presents.

The youngsters also revealed that they want to live in a smoke-free environment, with about 80 per cent opposed to parents smoking in front of them at home and in the car.

The survey gives backing to an NHS television and radio advertising campaign launched at the weekend to highlight the dangers of second-hand smoke exposure to children.

Based on research published by the Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians, the adverts show that smoking out of an open window at home or in a car does not protect children from the damaging effects of cigarette smoke, most of which is in the form of invisible, odourless gases.

The report, Passive smoking and children, found that about 2 million children are exposed to second-hand smoke in the home, and many more outside the home, and that this is having a huge impact on their health. Thousands of children develop lung infections, middle ear infections, and asthma each year, leading to more than 300,000 GP visits and about 9,500 hospital admissions, costing the NHS about £23.3 million. Passive smoking was also linked to 40 cot deaths, which is one in five of all cot deaths that occur annually.

The Advisory Group is calling for measures to limit children’s exposure to passive smoking, emphasising that young people can only be protected when smoking among adults is reduced. It makes recommendations for increasing public awareness of the dangers of second-hand smoke through media campaigns and calls for a new strategy to prevent the uptake of smoking in young people. 

Children who live with smokers have a 90 per cent chance of becoming smokers themselves.

The chair, professor John Britton, said in a statement: “It’s about taking smoking completely out of children’s lives.”

This view is echoed by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), which supports the policy recommendations in this report.

The president of the RCPCH, professor Terence Stephenson, is calling for new approaches to address this problem. He said in a statement: “We should be making cars totally smoke-free if there are children travelling in them.”

The Chief Medical Officer for England, professor Sir Liam Donaldson, also welcomes the recommendations, as they aligns with the government’s 10-year tobacco control strategy for England, A Smoke-free Future.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said in a statement: “We all know smoking kills but not enough people realise the serious effect that second-hand smoke can have on the health of others, particularly children.”

He hopes that the national advertising campaign will “encourage people to protect others from second-hand smoke”. Lansley admits the government needs to do more. So from this Friday, as part of the strategy, large shops will no longer be allowed to have tobacco displays. The next move will be a consultation on plain packaging for tobacco later in spring.

“Tobacco is a legal product. If the government doesn’t want children exposed to even a whiff of smoke they will have to amend the smoking ban to allow designated smoking rooms in pubs and clubs. That is the only sensible solution.

“Meanwhile, are they going to ban barbecues and bonfires?”

Sleep-disordered breathing in children can lead to increased hyperactivity, aggressiveness, and problems in relationships with other children. (Photos.com)

When sleeping children don’t breathe properly, it can lead to serious behavioral and emotional problems, according to a new study.

Sleep-disordered breathing includes a variety of conditions. Among them are snoring, mouth-breathing, and sleep apnea. An estimated one child in 10 snores regularly, and a smaller number suffer from the other conditions.

In a new study, published in Pediatrics, parents were asked about their children’s breathing from infancy up to about age six. They also filled out a behavior questionnaire at ages four and seven.

Researchers led by Karen Bonuck, at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York, sifted through the data.

“The central finding overall is that sleep-disordered breathing is associated with a 50 percent increase in adverse neurobehavioral outcomes,” Bonuck said.

Those “adverse neurobehavioral outcomes” most notably include hyperactivity, but also aggressiveness and problems in relationships with other children.

Sleep-disordered breathing is associated with a 50 percent increase in adverse neurobehavioral outcomes.

—Researcher Karen Bonuck

Bonuck says the more significant the breathing problems were, the more serious the behavioral issues were likely to be.

“What we found was the worst outcomes were seen in the children with the worst symptoms.”

“Before this study, certainly we knew of a lot of the adverse effects in terms of behavior, growth, cognition,” she said.

“The difference with our study is we studied lots of kids, we followed them for nearly six years, and these were a general population.”

Bonuck notes that some earlier studies tracked children for a shorter period of time, or were limited, for example, to tonsillectomy patients.

Researchers found that cognitive decline was more rapid in areas where air quality was worse. (Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images)

A new research paper links a specific kind of pollution to faster rates of cognitive decline.

Several years ago a massive survey of women called the Nurses’ Health Study began collecting data on memory, thinking skills, and other cognitive measures.

Jennifer Weuve of the Rush Institute of Healthy Aging in Chicago combined that data with information about air quality where the women lived.

In particular, she compared the level of particulate matter in the air with the change in cognitive scores over several years.

“The most important finding of our study is that women who were exposed to higher levels of ambient particulate matter over the long term experienced more decline in their cognitive scores over the four-year period that we followed them up.”

If cognitive decline was more rapid where air quality was worse, how could the pollution be causing the loss of mental skills and function?

Weuve says that the tiny particulates in the air might be getting into the brain directly.

They’re so small—10 microns, one-thousandth of a millimetre—that they can evade the body’s usual defences and may be able to reach the brain either via the lungs or through the sinus passages in the head.

“Several studies have found that these particles—at least some of them—can actually get into the brain where they can cause inflammation and might even trigger some of those microscopic changes that are typical of Alzheimer’s Disease.”

Or it may be a more indirect effect. Numerous studies have identified an association between air pollution and cardiovascular disease, and the cognitive decline may be a result of damage to the blood supply.

For example, research published in the same journal as Weuve’s paper, the Archives of Internal Medicine, found a higher risk of stroke on days when there were more particulates in the air. The fine particles were mainly from vehicle exhausts.

And a new study in the journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA, combined results of 34 studies and found a statistically significant association between heart attack risk and a wide range of air pollutants, excepting ozone.

The researchers say that as a risk factor for heart attack, air pollution isn’t as dangerous as things like smoking and high blood pressure, but on the other hand, air pollution, especially for those in urban areas and industrialized countries, is an unavoidable part of daily life.

Researchers have found high levels of arsenic, a metallic element that has been linked to cancer, in infant formula sweetened with organic brown rice syrup. (Photos.com)

Scientists are warning parents to avoid some infant formulas that may contain high levels of arsenic, an extremely poisonous metallic element that has been shown to cause cancer.

The hazardous baby formulas are sweetened with arsenic-containing organic brown rice syrup, which some manufacturers are starting to use in place of high-fructose corn syrup or other sweeteners.

Many processed food products today are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. But concerns that corn syrup might be contributing to obesity has led many food manufacturers to turn to organic brown rice syrup, believing it to be a healthier alternative to the high-fructose corn syrup.

Now, researchers say that brown rice syrup may be an unintended source of arsenic, a highly toxic metallic element that’s been shown to increase the risk of cancer when present in drinking water.

A researcher at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire, Brian Jackson, says scientists were curious about the amount of arsenic in foods consumed by babies.

“Because of their low body weight, if they are exposed to arsenic, then they are exposed to a disproportionately high exposure rate on a high kilogram body weight basis,” Jackson said.

Read the label on baby food products and think twice before purchasing infant foods that contain organic rice syrup.

Researcher Brian Jackson

Jackson, who led the study, and colleagues randomly purchased more than a dozen baby formulas to test them for the presence of arsenic. He says almost all the formulas contained very low or trace amounts of arsenic, including those that had rice starch.

“And then I selected two other formulas that I found in a local supermarket, brought those back to the lab, tested them, and they turned out to be 20 to 30 times higher than any of the other formulas that we tested.

“So when we get an anomalous result like that, we retested this and got the same results again. And at that point I turned a jar around and looked at the label and the first ingredients in that label were organic brown rice syrup,” Jackson said.

Researchers found high levels of inorganic arsenic, the most toxic form, in soy-based formula.

When the rice is fermented to make organic rice syrup, Jackson says the arsenic dissolves easily in the watery brew and becomes part of the syrup.

For this reason, Jackson urges parents to read the label on baby food products and think twice before purchasing infant foods that contain organic rice syrup.

“I would recommend that. Obviously the amount of arsenic—it varies in rice depending upon the cultivar of rice, where the rice is grown—so you are going to get that same variation in brown rice syrups. It’s true that rice as a grain takes up more arsenic than other grains,” Jackson said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a statement saying it is not aware of any baby formulas that contain organic brown rice syrup.

An agency spokeswoman said FDA regulators are studying arsenic in all rice and rice products and could issue recalls after the report is completed later this year.

An article on arsenic concentrations in baby food and other products is published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

TV personality Sangita Patel struts her stuff on the runway during The Heart Truth fashion show last March in Toronto. The Heart Truth is a national public health education campaign by the Heart and Stroke Foundation to raise awareness that heart disease and stroke is the number one killer of women in Canada. This year’s fashion show will take place on March 7. (Heart & Stroke Foundation)

Cardiovascular disease can debilitate or kill.

As startling as that sounds, this is the message the Heart and Stroke Foundation is conveying through their controversial media campaign, “Make Death Wait.”

Dubious advertising aside, one fact is unequivocal: the foundation is putting the spotlight on women.

It is now an irrefutable fact that cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one killer of Canadian women—taking more women ’s lives than all forms of cancer combined—and the foundation wants to reverse this trend.

It’s a real concern that women’s heart health has not kept pace with men’s.

Dr. Beth Abramson, Heart and Stroke Foundation

So for Heart Month this February, if women are to take away anything it is this: know the warning signs of an impending heart attack or stroke.

These include acute chest pain; shortness of breath; sudden weakness, numbing, tingling in any part of the body; visual disturbances; impaired or slurred speech; abrupt “thunderclap”-like headache or unusual, persistent headaches; loss of balance, or an unexpected fall.

These symptoms can act as an internal life-alert system. Furthermore, understanding the differences between male and female symptoms of a heart attack or stroke can be essential and cautionary.

Not just a ‘man’s disease’

The Heart and Stroke Foundation and American Heart Association want to dispel the myth that CVD is a man’s disease.

While chest pain is a common symptom for men, statistics documented in the Journal of the American Medical Association and American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care reveal that in some cases, as high as 43 percent of women “reported no chest pain before having their heart attacks, and those who did report it described the sensation as pressure, aching, or tightness instead of specific pain.”

For women, the most common symptoms reported were unexplained or unusual fatigue (71 percent) and sleep disturbance (48 percent).

Symptoms of CVD tend to be not well-recognized in women and physicians often miss the diagnosis.

Dr. Beth Abramson, cardiologist and spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, has said “it’s a real concern that women’s heart health has not kept pace with men’s.”

According to Health Canada’s “Women and Heart Health” report, “women are under-represented in heart health research and prevention studies. The lack of data and the consequent difficulty of determining appropriate interventions for women hamper their ability to deal with heart disease.”

In a more extensive study, Health Canada finds that “this omission has had far-reaching consequences for accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and prevention of cardiovascular disease for women. Using male norms and standards for CVD results in numerous and potentially fatal ‘pitfalls’ in both diagnosis and treatment.”

New research in BC

In October 2011, Providence Health Care and University of British Columbia announced establishment of a research program—the first of its kind in B.C.—focusing on the impact of gender-based differences in the manifestation of CVD.

According to a media statement, a team led by Dr. Karin Humphries “will focus on researching the detection and early treatment of cardiovascular disease and finding new ways to improve the education of physicians, women, and their families on heart disease and stroke.”

In addition to health promotion, prevention, and research, rapid assessments in clinical practice or emergency departments can mean the difference between life and death.

The Public Health Agency of Canada’s Stroke Highlights 2011 Report, “Tracking Heart Disease and Stroke in Canada,” confirms this is a concern.

It states, “Hospital and death data under-report the true number of strokes in Canada.”

The more facts acquired regarding health, disability, and mortality rates among women with CVD, the better the opportunity of reducing the consequential effects or misdiagnosis of a heart attack or stroke.

Anne Pillsbury dedicates this article to her late father, a medical doctor known among his friends as “Dr. Peter,” who enjoyed a healthy heart through his 95 years, and recently passed away with a peaceful heart.

There is no evidence to suggest that ionic footbaths help to eliminate toxic elements from the body through the feet, urine, or hair, according to a recent study. (Photos.com)

There is no convincing evidence that ionic footbaths, promoted as a way to remove toxins from the body and costing as much as $75 for a session, actually do what they claim, a recent study has found.

In fact, this kind of so-called detox is not without harm, warns a water expert.

Researchers from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM) and the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Pharmacy conducted a series of tests running a footbath with and without feet and analyzing the water for differences in the level of potentially toxic elements (PTEs).

They first measured the water after running the machine without feet using both distilled and tap water.

They then did weekly measurements with the help of six healthy participants who used the machine with tap water once a week for four weeks.

“Whether or not the feet were there, the composition of the water was pretty much the same,” said study co-author naturopathic doctor Dugald Seely, director of research and clinical epidemiology at the CCNM and executive director of CCNM’s Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre.

“There was no significant difference in terms of any of the toxic elements being leached out into the water,” he said, listing heavy lead, cadmium, and arsenic as the main PTEs among those tested for.

Seely said the water showed a significant increase in some of the same elements present in the metal array used in the footbath to generate an electric current in the water.

“What we found over time was that the array was corroding,” he said.

He noted that it was elements from this corrosion that caused the water to become dirty and cloudy and change colour, and “there was no evidence that any of these [elements] were coming from the feet directly.”

The study also tested urine and hair samples from the participants at different time points to see whether the body was eliminating toxins faster than normal due to use of the footbath.

Again, “there is no evidence to suggest that the machine increased the body’s ability to excrete the heavy metals,” said Seely, noting that the footbath studied was one of the more common machines on the market.

The study was published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health.

Meanwhile, in an email to The Epoch Times, Kevin Wong, executive director of the Canadian Water Quality Association, warned consumers against potential health and safety risks.

“The consumer may be willingly allowing themselves to be exposed to harmful chemicals being released into the water,” he said. “We just don’t know what these units use for the electrodes.”

Wong added that “the technologies may not be CSA-certified in the electrical portions, further putting the consumer at risk.”

Moreover, “the concept of leaching anything out of the body should be taken with extreme caution since this type of chemistry does not distinguish between ‘bad’ and ‘good’ molecules,” Wong said.

He said he would opt for approaches such as those that stimulate the liver and bile production and that support kidney and bowel function.

Jeff Wilpon, COO of the New York Mets, jogs to a seminar at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 8, 2011. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Was my suggestion several years ago of ways to fight the obesity epidemic provocative? Since nothing was working, I proposed using money as an incentive and taxing the obese. 

After all, for centuries money has been a great motivator. In fact, those with millions sometimes cheat, steal, and lie to get more. But no one thought I should be awarded the Nobel Prize for this idea. 

Some readers said I should go back to medical school and learn something about eating disorders, or they wondered if I had even graduated. Others denounced me as obesophobic and said I should get the stupidity award for suggesting such a demeaning tax.

But was I a dunce or just a trifle ahead of the times? A few years later, Iris Evans, Alberta’s new health minister, stated that people needed a new approach to being svelte. She suggested financial incentives such as a tax write-off to lose weight.

Now, an article in the Economist magazine reports that in these tough economic times, companies are using both soft and strong-arm approaches to improve the health of employees.

For instance, at the General Electric office in suburban Connecticut, employees are forbidden to smoke on company property. The office gym has personal trainers, and outside the cafeteria, a sign shows the number of calories in various foods. In fact, the salad bar has color-coded tongs to indicate which salad dressing should be used sparingly.

Why is this happening? It’s happening because corporations are in the business of making money for shareholders, and unhealthy employees are a drag on profits. Since 1980, the number of adults who are obese has doubled, and the cost of health premiums has more than doubled.

Now companies are concentrating on money incentives to help decrease this cost. For instance, Humana, a health insurer, recently launched a program that rewards healthy behavior with points that can be used at hotels or for electronic gadgets.

Corporations are taking clues from specialists in human behavior. Behaviorists have convinced companies that humans are not rational actors. If given the choice of good health or the enjoyment of a pizza, pizza wins. But they also claim this behavior can be manipulated so that employees make wiser health choices.

Large companies such as IBM are also in the forefront of financial incentives. IBM employees receive $150 for exercising and eating more-nutritious meals. Its plan may include entire families. Companies know that it’s six times more expensive to care for a child with diabetes than one without this disease.

Today’s corporations have learned that some patients with diabetes will follow an enhanced wellness lifestyle for $4, another requires $20 to get the wellness adrenaline flowing, while still others see the benefit because they don’t want to have a leg amputated due to diabetic complications.

But some companies believe that offering carrots to employees isn’t enough incentive to lose weight. At Safeway, a grocery food chain, employee health premiums decrease if employees keep their weight and cholesterol blood level under control. This means the unhealthy are penalized. 

Things are also getting tougher at General Electric. GE Capital initially offered incentives to those who stopped smoking. Now those who continue smoking must pay $650 more for health insurance. 

This tough approach does not mean these corporations or this journalist are obesophobic. Rather, as Shakespeare wrote, “Diseases desperate grown 
by desperate appliance are reliev’d, or not at all.” [Hamlet]

I have great empathy for those who are obese due to genetics. But this applies to very few of the population. Genetics doesn’t explain how a nation, particularly the United States, could develop an epidemic of obesity in less than a lifetime. 

Dr. Gifford-Jones is a medical journalist with a private medical practice in Toronto. His website is DocGiff.com. He may be contacted at Info@docgiff.com.

Four out of ten police officers in North America suffer from some sort of sleep disorder. (The Epoch Times)

Because of the combination of obesity and having an erratic schedule, many police officers suffer from sleep problems. This increases the odds of their having diabetes, depression, and occupational injuries.

A new study has found that four out of ten North American police officers surveyed have some sort of sleep disorder. The researchers say the result can be impaired job performance, as well as a variety of health problems.

Charles Czeisler, a leading sleep researcher at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, screened police officers in the United States and Canada for possible sleep disorders.

“Forty percent of the nearly 5,000 police officers we studied screened positive for at least one sleep disorder,” Czeisler said. “In this group of thousands of police officers, we found that one-third of them screened positive for obstructive sleep apnea.”

That made apnea the most common sleep disorder by far.

In obstructive sleep apnea, a person repeatedly stops breathing for a brief moment during sleep. That interrupts sleep and often makes it impossible to get the deep sleep one needs to be fully rested.

This study found both health and job consequences for police officers with sleep disorders.

“Those who screened positive for obstructive sleep apnea had a 61 percent greater odds of having diabetes and had a 148 percent increased odds of reporting that they had been diagnosed with depression. They also had 22 percent greater odds of having an occupational injury,” Czeisler said.

Rotating shifts have something to do with the large number of police officers with sleep problems. Working days one week and nights the next can scramble anyone’s sleep. But Czeisler says that’s not the only cause.

“The single greatest risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea is obesity. And in fact we found that four out of five police officers were overweight or obese.”

One of the agencies in this study, the Massachusetts State Police, had much lower rates of obstructive sleep apnea. Their cops also had a significantly lower rate of obesity than other officers in the study. Czeisler says Massachusetts required its state troopers to pass a fitness test and equipped all police barracks with a fitness center.

The researchers say they think the fitness program resulted in lower rates of obesity. That, in turn, could help reduce the rate of sleep apnea. The Massachusetts program could become a model for other police agencies to reduce obesity rates and sleep apnea among their officers.

Each cigarette smoked in a car doubles the airborne nicotine concentration. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

What’s the best way this holiday season to expose your child to nicotine and the cancer-causing compounds in tobacco smoke? A report in the British Medical Association Journal says it’s very easy. Take your children for a car ride, keep the windows closed, and smoke cigarettes.

Dr. Patrick Breysse, a researcher at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, studied the cars of 17 smokers who commuted to work for 30 minutes or longer. He reports that nicotine concentrations were 50 percent higher than those found in restaurants and bars that permitted smoking. For each cigarette smoked in a car, there was a doubling of the airborne nicotine concentration.

This finding shouldn’t be shocking. After all, the car’s airtight and compact interior is a small space compared to other locations. Now that smoking is banned in restaurants and many public places, it’s one of the last bastions of smokers.

This smoking madness started with Sir Walter Raleigh, a favorite courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, when he introduced tobacco to England. If he tried this today, health authorities would immediately ban it as a hazardous substance.

Now we know that, in addition to nicotine, tobacco contains 4,000 chemicals of which 40 are known to be carcinogenic to humans. It’s ironic that no one would swallow a pill that has this lethal mixture, yet millions of people willingly smoke cigarettes that contain it all.

The facts are appalling. Every year, tobacco kills at least 3 million people worldwide. Today, 90 percent of lung cancer deaths, 30 percent of all cancers, 80 percent of chronic bronchitis and emphysema, and 25 percent of heart disease and stroke are due to tobacco.

But what surprised me is that researchers make no mention in their report of other hazards of smoking in a car with windows shut. Time and time again we tell drivers not to drink alcohol and drive. But what about the driving hazard associated with smoking?

Smoking a cigarette produces carbon monoxide (CO), an odorless, colorless pollutant. We’ve all heard of depressed people using carbon monoxide to commit suicide by running a car in a closed garage. It doesn’t take too long to depart this planet when this powerful gas robs the body of oxygen.

Normally, our bodies contains from 0 to 8 parts per million (ppm) of CO. Smokers can have from 20 to 59 ppm of CO depending on the number of cigarettes smoked during a 24-hour period. But in a closed car, CO can reach significantly higher levels.

A study in Seattle showed that smokers had a 50 percent greater risk of being in automobile accidents than non-smokers.

Increased concentrations of carbon monoxide in the blood initially cause headache, dizziness, nausea, and fatigue. So it’s not surprising that a study in Seattle showed that smokers had a 50 percent greater risk of being in automobile accidents than non-smokers.

I don’t know how many people are killed in car accidents due to increased amounts of CO in cars. But I’d bet it’s more than we think and rarely considered as the cause of these deaths.

It’s not just in cars that CO causes trouble. One woman was admitted to hospital complaining of chest pain and mental confusion. She admitted smoking two packs of cigarettes daily and was also an ardent bingo player. A few days later, she had recovered, but doctors were not aware of what had caused her symptoms.

Shortly thereafter, her doctor visited the local bingo hall to help raise money for a charitable organization. He said he had never seen such a smoke-filled atmosphere. Of the 310 players, 304 were smoking! He then realized his patient was suffering from the “bingo brain syndrome” due to excessive amounts of CO gas. Laboratory study later confirmed this diagnosis.

This holiday season we should all know that smoking causes lung cancer, other respiratory diseases, and cardiovascular problems. Before you light up in a car, remember that it can also be setting the stage for a fatal traffic accident. This is one tragedy you can prevent.

My best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012.

Dr. Gifford-Jones is a medical journalist with a private medical practice in Toronto. His website is DocGiff.com. He may be contacted at Info@docgiff.com.

Brenda Wisehart smokes a menthol cigarette in Miami, Fla., in this file photo. A recent report calls into question research data from Philip Morris that determined additives in cigarettes are not toxic. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you; but consider that a cigarette is more than just tobacco leaves.

By conservative estimates, according to research commercial cigarettes contain about 600 chemicals and additives— ammonia, DDT, chloroform, benzene, arsenic, and lead, just to name a few.

While some components are undoubtedly toxic, the health risks associated with smoke inhalation from other additives (such as menthol, sugars, and various herbs) are not as clear. These ingredients contribute to the unique character of a particular cigarette, and allow manufacturers to modify the sensory and pharmacological properties of their products.

In 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took a closer look at these additives with an eye toward safety and possible regulation. But the jury, it seemed, was already in.

Anticipating the impending eventuality of additive regulation, the tobacco industry conducted several studies in the late 1990s. Philip Morris’s Project MIX examined three combinations of 333 cigarette additives for possible toxicity. In 2002, analysts published a report in Food and Chemical Toxicology concluding that there was no evidence of substantial toxicity attributable to the additives.

A study published last week in PLoS Medicine draws a different conclusion. Analyzing the same data collected in Project MIX, researchers from the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, and the University of California at San Francisco, found that these additives contribute a great deal to cigarette toxicity.

According to researcher Stanton Glantz, professor of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, Philip Morris worked politically to get the regulations they wanted.

“If you simply take their own data and interpret it properly, you have strong evidence that putting the additives in the cigarettes increases the toxicity of the smoke,” said Glantz in a video for SciVee.

In the PLoS study, Glantz and his colleagues examined previously secret industry documents that revealed changes in analytical protocols after initial findings indicated a clear additive-associated increase in cigarette toxicity. They found that industry analysts intentionally obscured laboratory data in their presentation to get the results they wanted.

“This is a very important conclusion from a regulatory perspective because if Phillip Morris could convince the FDA that putting these additives in cigarettes didn’t really affect their toxicity, than there would be no reason to regulate these additives, or demand that they be taken out,” observed Glantz.

In addition to suspicious presentation of data, researchers found other methodological red flags in the MIX Project. For example, MIX used screening tests designed to give yes or no answers as a method to describe dose response measurements. In their animal toxicology studies, MIX tests were done with such low sample sizes that, according to Glantz, no regulatory agency could use it to evaluate safety.

Researchers said that larger sample sizes would probably have detected a much broader range of adverse effects attributed to additives than identified in the journal publication, suggesting that the published papers “substantially underestimate the toxic potential combination of cigarette smoke and additives.”

So why didn’t the peer review process catch such glaring problems? Glantz says that Food and Chemical Toxicologies has very strong ties with big tobacco, and the industry knew this journal would protect their interests.

The PLoS report recommends that the FDA and similar agencies conduct their own independent analysis of Project MIX data, and Glantz advises regulators to ban cigarette additives until the tobacco companies come forward with “well-powered, well-designed studies demonstrating safety.” Given the data found in Project MIX, researchers say it’s highly unlikely.

“You really can’t take anything at face value from a cigarette company,” said Glantz.

Water is refreshing, and common sense tells us that drinking it can make you feel much better if you are thirsty. (Photos.com)

I came across the online article “EU Bans Claim That Water Can Prevent Dehydration” on Nov. 18 in The Telegraph. In short, it tells us that EU bureaucrats have forbidden companies that sell bottled water from claiming that water can prevent dehydration. 

I’ve not read the ruling, just the report, but it seems to be a decision that has taken considerable time and resources and was motivated more by politics than anything else.

I honestly believe that maintaining hydration is one of the simplest, easiest, and cheapest things individuals can do to maintain their energy and vitality. I have seen countless individuals with low fluid intakes experience considerable uplift in their general well-being just by increasing their consumption of water and other beverages. 

The EU ruling brought to mind a practice known as evidence-based medicine or EBM. This is a term that is generally taken to mean medicine that has a solid research base to support it. However, should we dispense with things that have no evidence to support them even though they seem the right thing to do, and experience shows them to be broadly beneficial?

If we do dispense with such things, then we doctors better shut up shop because the great majority of medical practice is not supported by rigorous scientific evidence. Surgery is a prime example. When someone comes in with the signs and symptoms of an infected appendix, surgeons do not wait for randomized controlled trials before they operate. 

Neither do they wait for sufficient supportive evidence before they take steps to stem significant bleeding sustained during injury. They just get on with saving people’s lives even in the absence of evidence.

Some years ago, I read a letter in the British Medical Journal from James Michelson, professor of orthopedic surgery at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. What he wrote should remind us all of why EBM should not be the only evidence in town. It highlights why common sense also has a role in medicine. The following is an extract from that letter.

“In the course of practice in orthopedic surgery (although not documented in the literature), it has been my experience (those of you who adhere to the EBM doctrines hopefully will excuse this phraseology) that when I hit my finger with a hammer (or mallet, for that matter), my finger hurts. It is even worse if I use a power tool (like drilling through the finger). 

“My question: How many times do I have to do this before I can say that I have sufficient evidence to potentially causally link the hammer blow to my finger hurting? And what do I use as the control?”

One of my teachers in medical school once noted that fields such as orthopedic surgery were very difficult for some physicians to master because such fields required the exercise of common sense.

Professor Michelson has a point. And those who believe the EU’s action—banning the claim that water can combat dehydration—is nonsense also have a point.

Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and author with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His website is DrBriffa.com.

Mr. Li Qing Yun (1677–1933) died at the age of 256 years old. He had 24 wives, and lived through nine emperors in the Qing Dynasty. (Public Domain)

According to legend, Mr. Li Qing Yun (1677–1933) was a Chinese medicine physician, herbal expert, qigong master, and tactical consultant. He was said to have lived through nine emperors in the Qing Dynasty to be 256 years old.

His May 1933 obituary in Time Magazine, titled “Tortoise-Pigeon-Dog,” revealed Li’s secrets of longevity: “Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog.”

Mr. Li is said to have had quite unusual habits in his daily living. He did not drink hard liquor or smoke and ate his meals at regular times. He was a vegetarian and frequently drank wolfberry (also known as goji berry) tea.

He slept early and got up early. When he had time, he sat up straight with his eyes closed and hands in his lap, at times not moving at all for a few hours.

In his spare time, Li played cards, managing to lose enough money every time for his opponent’s meals for that day. Because of his generosity and levelheaded demeanor, everyone liked to be with him.

Mr. Li spent his whole life studying Chinese herbs and discovering the secrets of longevity, traveling through provinces of China and as far as Thailand to gather herbs and treat illnesses.

Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog.

While it is unclear whether Li actually lived as long as is believed, what little we know of his habits fit with modern science’s findings about longevity.

Research

Dan Buettner, author of “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest,” researches the science of longevity. In his book and in a 2009 TED talk, he examined the lifestyle habits of four geographically distinct populations around the world.

All of these groups—Californian Adventists, Okinawans, Sardinians, and Costa Ricans—live to be over 100 years of age at a far greater rate than most people, or they live a dozen years longer than average. He calls the places where these groups live “blue zones.”

According to Buettner’s research, all blue-zone groups eat a vegetable-based diet. The group of Adventists in Loma Linda, California, eat plenty of legumes and greens as mentioned in the Bible. Herders living the in the highlands of Sardinia eat an unleavened whole grain bread, cheese from grass-fed animals, and a special wine.

Buettner found that low-calorie diets help in extending life, as demonstrated by a group of healthy elderly Okinawans who practice a Confucian rule of stopping eating when one is 80 percent full.

Perhaps Li’s wolfberry tea played a crucial part in his health. After hearing Li’s story, medical researchers from Britain and France conducted an in-depth study of wolfberry and found that it contains an unknown vitamin called “Vitamin X,” also known as the “beauty vitamin.” Their experiments confirmed that wolfberry inhibits the accumulation of fat and promotes new liver cells, lowers blood glucose and cholesterol, and so on.

Wolfberry performs a role of rejuvenation: It activates the brain cells and endocrine glands; enhances the secretion of hormones; and removes toxins accumulated in the blood, which can help maintain a normal function of body tissues and organs.

Meditation

Researchers have found numerous benefits to regular meditation. Neuroscientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School asked two groups of stressed-out high-tech employees to either meditate over eight weeks or live as they normally do.

They found that the meditators “showed a pronounced shift in activity to the left frontal lobe,” reads a 2003 Psychology Today article. “This mental shift decreases the negative effects of stress, mild depression, and anxiety. There is also less activity in the amygdala, where the brain processes fear.”

Meditation also reduces brain shrinkage due to aging and enhances mood.

Aside from meditation, Buettner found that regularly scheduled downtime undoes inflammation, which is a reaction to stress. The Adventists in California strictly adhere to their 24-hour Sabbath and spend the time reflecting, praying, and enjoying their social circles.

Community

Buettner also found that community is a huge factor in the longevity of blue-zone groups. Typical Okinawans have many close friends, with whom they share everything. Sardinian highlanders have a reverence for the elderly not found in modern Western societies. The Adventists put family first.

A sense of belonging and having healthy friends and family encourage the individual to live healthily as well.

In “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell examined a group of Italians called the Rosetans, who migrated to an area west of Bangor, Pennsylvania. Across the board, they had lower incidents of heart disease and generally lived long, healthy lives. After experiments, it was determined that their secret was not genetics or even diet (41 percent of their diet came from fat).

“The Rosetans had created a powerful, protective social structure capable of insulating them from the pressures of the modern world,” Gladwell wrote. “The Rosetans were healthy because of where they were from, because of the world they had created for themselves in their tiny little town in the hills.”

Purposeful Living

In his travels, Buettner came across a common theme among blue-zone groups: None of them had the concept of retirement. As it turns out, to keep going makes it easier to keep going.

Interestingly, none of these centenarians exercise purposely as we Westerners who go to the gym do. “They simply live active lives that warrant physical activity,” Buettner said. They all walk, cook, and do chores manually, and many of them garden.

Based on an article about Li Qing Yun from Kan Zhong Guo (Secret China).

School children look at a display showing how much sugar is in soft drinks and juices on Nov. 12, 2010 in San Francisco, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

What will it take to eliminate the current obesity epidemic in children? There’s no easy answer, and every year, children are putting on more pounds. So why not try a new approach—a grassroots approach?

This is what Dr. Stafford Dobbin, a wily Irishman and family physician, decided to try in Canada’s Niagara region. It should set a standard for the nation.

Dr. Dobbin, a graduate of Queen’s University in Belfast and a family doctor, has a hero. It’s professor Frank Pantridge, a cardiologist in Belfast, who invented the cardiac ambulance. Pantridge was the first to realize that if ambulances carried defibrillators, countless lives of coronary victims would be saved in Northern Ireland and elsewhere.

Inspired by his work, Dr. Dobbin established Heart Niagara in 1977 and the Niagara Healthy School Program in 1987. His purpose was the primary prevention of coronary heart disease and obesity in children at an early age in school to save them later on from the complications of hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease. It was a mammoth undertaking for a small city without a big budget.

Students were initially disinterested in the project. But eventually, when they understood it involved a simple finger prick to check blood cholesterol level, all of them wanted it done.

But one result revealed how many were not tuned in to obesity. The students did not think they were overweight. Nor did their overweight parents believe there was a weight problem.

So what has Heart Niagara accomplished? Between 2002 and 2011, Don Gibson and Karen Stearne and a small staff have enrolled 50,000 children. Currently, with the help of the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, they are registering data on 4,000 ninth graders every year in every high school in the Niagara Region.

The examination includes body weight, measurement of waist circumference, body mass index, blood pressure, and blood cholesterol. And every year, several hundred children are referred to their family physicians because of the red flag of future cardiovascular risk or other problem.

It’s shocking that this research discovered that 5 percent of young children in this community have significant elevated blood cholesterol levels. A significant number of 14- and 15-year-old children have at least one cardiovascular risk factor such as high body mass index. The old saying in Ulster, Ireland, proved to be true in Canada as well: “Children start digging their graves with their teeth.”

Much of what Heart Niagara and The Hospital for Sick Children have found is not new. Many studies show that if two parents are obese, 75 percent of their children will be overweight. Moreover, it’s well known that cardiovascular risk factors are due to faulty eating habits, lack of exercise, too much TV, and poor economic status.

But Heart Niagara has made an entire community aware of the link between early-age obesity and later cardiovascular problems. By identifying these red flags early, they have created a healthier Niagara. And it is a proven fact that an obese child will most certainly become an obese adult at great expense to society.

I asked Dobbin why this project had received so little notice from government and public health organizations and why his pleas for financial help had gone unanswered. His reply didn’t surprise me. He said, “If this project had been done in Toronto or another large center it would have been a different story.” Niagara Falls may have the world-famous falls, but little medical clout.

For years, Heart Niagara has been operating on a shoestring budget. What he has proven is that it’s not the size of the dog in a fight that counts, but rather the size of the fight in the dog.

Lack of restful sleep may have a physiological basis. (Photos.com)

Here in the U.K., the days are noticeably shorter, and this time of year will herald for some the advent of low spirits or sometimes full-blown depression known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

I’ve noticed that many people dislike the winter because they may have to struggle to get up in the morning. A lot of people say they hate having to get up in the dark. A recent study suggests that this phenomenon and SAD might have a common root.

This study, published in the October issue of Journal of Affective Disorders, assessed individuals who exhibited evidence of delayed-phase sleep phenomenon (DPSP). This condition is characterized by individuals having difficulty falling asleep at night and rising in the morning.

The researchers looked for evidence of SAD in individuals with DPSP and compared this with controls (those without DPSP). They found that those with DPSP were more than three times more likely to have SAD.

Those with DPSP were also found to be more likely to experience seasonality in appetite, fatigue, and body weight. In other words, those with DPSP were prone to experience increased fatigue, enhanced appetite, and weight gain in the winter—something that is common with individuals suffering from SAD.

The authors of this study conclude that SAD and DPSP are often to be found together in the same person, and this supports the idea that they may share a common mechanism.

Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and author with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His website is DrBriffa.com

The industrial chemical BPA has been used to make hard plastic bottles and the lining of food cans for decades. After studies indicated that the chemical could play a role in cancers, heart disease, and abnormal brain development in children, its use in baby bottles was curtailed in the United States.

The Breast Cancer Fund has now released a report about BPA in canned foods marketed specifically to children.

Rachel Gibson, like many working mothers, wants to feed her children the best food she can find, so for a snack, she chooses organic food in a glass container but still has doubts.

“I am pretty certain that the cap, the lining on this part, probably has bisphenol A in it because there is some sort of epoxy that is used for that,” she said.

Her concern is legitimate—Bisphenol A, or BPA, has been linked to breast and prostate cancer and other diseases in animal studies.

The Breast Cancer Fund works to eliminate environmental health hazards that cause cancer. The advocacy group released a report showing high levels of BPA in canned food marketed to children.

Connie Engel is with the Breast Cancer Fund. “The Breast Cancer Fund tested popular canned food items marketed to kids and found out that every single one contained BPA,” she said. “The highest levels were found in Campbell’s Disney Princess and Campbell’s Toy Story soups.”

Engel says BPA in the can lining migrates into the food.

Dr. Leena Hilakivi-Clarke is a researcher at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University. She says animal studies show a direct link between BPA and breast cancer.

“Basically 90 percent of humans, when the BPA levels are measured, are positive, so one can find levels of BPA in most people,” Dr. Hilakivi said.

Dr. Hilakivi says cancer can take 50 years to develop. She’s more concerned about Type 2 diabetes in children and notes that BPA affects children and adults differently.

“I think that in both there is an increase risk … for Type 2 diabetes, but children in general are much more susceptible to exposure of endocrine disruptors, and the most sensitive are pregnant women and their unborn fetuses,” she said.

Besides cancer and diabetes, other studies have linked BPA to infertility, early puberty in girls, and obesity.

Many of the medical findings on BPA have been contested, and studies continue. Some U.S. states have banned BPA in baby bottles, children’s toys, and utensils.

A spokesman for Campbell’s, the company with the highest BPA levels in the study, has said it is confident in the safety of its products. He said evidence shows BPA in can linings poses no threat to human health.

Annie’s, another company cited in the study, says it is looking for an alternative to BPA.

Watching 'SpongeBob' adversely affected kids concentration, learning, and problem-solving. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)

Four-year-olds’ ability to concentrate, learn, and solve problems slows after watching fast-paced cartoons, according to a new study.

Young children have difficulty learning immediately after watching fast-paced television cartoons full of images and activities that are not possible in real life, according to a new study.

It’s what some people are calling the “SpongeBob effect.” SpongeBob SquarePants is a cartoon character whose surreal and improbable undersea adventures are watched by children around the world. 



University of Virginia researchers wanted to find out whether watching “SpongeBob” affected kids’ ability to learn immediately after seeing the show. 


To find out, a group of 4-year-old children watched either a short video of “SpongeBob” or a slower-paced and more realistic animated show called “Caillou.”



A third group of children spent time drawing instead of watching television. 



Afterward, explains researcher Angeline Lillard, they all took standardized tests designed to measure their ability to concentrate, learn, and solve problems—what psychologists call “executive function.”



“And what we found is that children who had been in the “SpongeBob” group were performing only about half as well as the other children. So they were at about 50 percent capacity.”



The 4-year-olds in this study are at a critical age when the prefrontal cortex is still developing. That is the part of the brain where problem-solving and related functions are located. 



Lillard says one reason why a show like “SpongeBob SquarePants” might affect learning is its combination of speed and content. 



“It’s fast-paced and it’s fantastical. So the child is needing to process all this new stuff really, really fast, and it’s difficult to process since it doesn’t really happen in real life.”



“But I would say that parents might want to think about when children watch such shows and perhaps how frequently they watch them as well because they are certainly compromised immediately afterwards.”



Lillard’s study is published in the journal Pediatrics.

A crane lifts a large piece of rubble from the debris of the World Trade Center. (Doug Kanter/AFP/Getty Images)

Nearly 3,000 people died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. But the twin towers’ collapse and their smoldering ruins also exposed thousands of rescuers, firefighters, and cleanup crews to toxic ash and smoke.

Ten years later, medical researchers say many of these people are suffering higher-than-normal rates of serious disease and psychological problems.

When the World Trade Center towers collapsed into the neighborhood below on September 11, 2001, roiling clouds of smoke and dust filled the air with toxic chemicals. New York City’s police and firefighters ran into those toxic clouds to save whomever they could.

Now, studies show that large numbers of these rescuers and cleanup workers are likely to suffer illnesses related to their 9/11 experience for the rest of their lives.

Dr. Michael Crane, who heads the World Trade Center Health Program at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, says some 20,000 Sept. 11 responders have been treated in the program. Dr. Crane contributed to a study published in the medical journal Lancet on the 9/11 health problems.

“Asthma, from the irritation of the bronchial tubes; rhinitis, the inflammation of the nose; laryngitis; sinusitis, the fever and face pain and the nasal stuffiness that it brings—all of these are now chronic,” Crane said.

Ken George was a recovery worker who spent 700 hours in the dust and debris with fellow responders.

“Every morning I wake up, I’ve got to take 33 pills within the course of the day,” George said. “At 47-years-old, I have lungs of an 80-year-old man that would have been a smoker. People say you have to forget about 9/11, and I say, ‘How could I forget about 9/11 when every morning I got to take this medication and walk around with an oxygen tank?’”

Doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital also noticed that a lot of the responders suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and extreme anxiety.

“Our population has a similar rate of these symptoms to people who’ve been in recent wars,” Crane added.

Another study links exposure to the toxins with cancer.

“Our findings show that there is an increased cancer [risk] in the World Trade Center- exposed New York City firefighters,” said Dr. David Prezant of Einstein College of Medicine. “We found an increase of 19 percent in the cancer likelihood.”

The cancer study has lasted only seven years, a short time when cancers can take up to 20 years to develop. Dr. Prezant wants more of those exposed to the toxins from the twin towers to be screened for cancer.

Lumens in the Light Lounge at the British Science Museum. In winter, addition of bright lights enhances well-being. (Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)

It’s an extremely gray (and rainy) day here in London as I write this, which reminds me that autumn and winter are not too far away.

Some look to the colder, darker seasons with some trepidation because they find that general vitality and mood take a dive at this time. At its worst, this phenomenon can manifest as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). However, some individuals are not affected badly enough to warrant this diagnosis and are sometimes classified as having subsyndromal SAD (S-SAD).

A Swedish study published in March in Depression Research and Treatment reported that individuals with SAD and S-SAD were treated with bright-light therapy. In this study, individuals were exposed to 10 days of treatment in a light room.

I am not able to find in the study details regarding how much time individuals spent in the light room each day. Mood, fatigue, and well-being were rated before the light therapy, immediately after, and then a month later.

However, a much better control might have been exposed to a light room in which the quality of the light is known not to have benefits in the treating SAD or S-SAD.

This design flaw aside, the study did give some interesting results. In individuals with either SAD or S-SAD, light therapy led to improvement in scores of fatigue, daytime sleepiness, and health-related quality of life. What is more, the benefits were still apparent a month after the treatment stopped.

The researchers subdivided the group into three categories according to symptoms:

• Mildly depressed and not sleepy
• Mildly depressed and sleepy
• Depressed and sleepy

The researchers go on to suggest that individuals with SAD or S-SAD symptoms might be categorized according to their predominant symptoms as follows:

• Simple winter fatigue
• Simple winter fatigue with sleepiness
• Winter depression

I don’t know whether these terms will stick. The important thing is that all three groups benefitted from the light therapy. The study does supply support for the notion that many individuals may benefit from getting more light in the winter, even if they do not have symptoms that, strictly speaking, put them in the SAD category.

Getting more light exposure during the day in the winter is one tactic that may help. However, there are days (like today, here in London) when this is not realistic. The cold can be another barrier, as can a busy, office-based work schedule.

In such cases, a light device may prove a good investment. I have one at home. My subjective experience is that it has really helped me through the winter. Nothing scientific about my experience, of course, but then again, this does not matter to me—I feel it helps.

Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and author with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His website is DrBriffa.com

Cell-phone use by children and adolescents poses health risks. (Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images)

The use of mobile phones is increasing among children and adolescents. Experts warn of the dangers, since children are more vulnerable to radiation.

In a recent study, an international research team concluded that mobile-phone use among children does not increase the risk of developing brain tumors.

Parents who might be breathing a sigh of relief at this should think twice. According to one Swedish expert, we cannot trust these results, and she is not the only one saying so.

According to professor Maria Feychting, Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institute (KI), who led the Swedish part of the Cefalo study, the results show no increased risk of developing a brain tumor among young cell phone users.

The basis for this study is standardized interviews with 352 children and adolescents between the ages of 7 and 19 in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland who have developed brain tumors between 2004 and 2008.

Results showed that children who had their own cell-phone subscriptions for more than 2.8 years were more than twice as likely to develop brain tumors.

Journalist and author Mona Nilsson has followed cell-phone risk studies for many years, and she does not find the results of the Cefalo study reassuring.

On the contrary, the results are very worrying. The study shows the opposite, that mobile-phone use increases the risk of brain tumors, even at relatively low use by today’s standards.

Nilsson believes that the scientists dismiss their own findings in the study and that these are the same scientists who tried to smooth over the increased brain-tumor risk in the international WHO study a year ago.

The scientists dismiss their own results on the basis that the Swedish statistics on brain tumors overall do not show an increasing trend. That’s like saying that smoking is not dangerous for youths based on the fact that lung-cancer statistics did not go up during the period when it became common for young people to smoke.

All cancer experts know that it takes several years for cancer to develop and show up in statistics.

This way of presenting the results is a gross betrayal of children and parents. Unfortunately, it reflects the enormous financial interests associated with research on mobile-phone health hazards.

The Cefalo study has also been called into question by professors Devra Davis and Ronald Herberman. Davis is a cancer specialist and has written several books on cancer. In 2010, she wrote the book “Disconnect” about the health hazards associated with mobile-phone use.

SWIM SAFELY: Swimming is great exercise, but does your health-club pool meet hygienic standards? (Photos.com)

So you’ve decided to get into shape and join the local health club? No one can fault that idea. But remember, for most things in life, including health clubs, there are pluses and minuses that result in unintended consequences.

Health clubs by necessity have a large number of hot, perspiring, less-than-clean bodies. So you don’t need to be an infectious-disease specialist to know there’s potential infection everywhere. This means that the health club, its clients, and you must take precautionary measures seriously.

It’s hard to decipher the brains of some people. For instance, a female patient of mine stopped going to a fitness center in downtown Toronto. She was tired of repeatedly finding used razor blades on the floor of the shower. This was an expensive upscale club used by the so-called elite of the city!

But the big problem today is the possibility of contacting a staphylococcal infection, particularly a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection. MRSA infections are usually picked up by exposure to dirty towels, mats, and gym equipment. A lack of individual hygiene often triggers these infections.

For instance, my female patient passed along another hygienic tidbit to me. She informed me that few of the women at the club bothered to wipe off equipment after using it. It’s the old story: “Let someone else do it.” Never assume it’s been done.

Good sense also means placing a towel over mats, never sharing towels, and washing hands often with an alcohol-based spray or wipe.

MRSA infections are usually transferred through small open cuts or wounds. But there may not be any significant warning signs of infection. For some people, the symptoms can resemble the flu and associated with a mild fever.

Others develop a rash or a large pimple, which increases in size, becomes painful, and produces pus. If the infection enters the bloodstream, it can be fatal. So seek medical attention if there’s any doubt.

What about a dip in the club’s swimming pool? The majority of health-club pools are well-supervised and tested for bacterial contamination. But outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness due to bacteria and viral infections can occur if hygienic standards are not followed.

For instance, the U.S. Center for Disease Control reported in May 2010 that health authorities inspected 3,666 health clubs in 13 U.S. states. This resulted in closure of 10 percent of the health club pools. Inadequate circulation, poor filtration systems, and faulty disinfection procedures were the main problems. One wonders how many people use the bathroom, fail to wash their hands, and then enter the pool.

Don’t forget to wear adequate eye protection if you’re playing tennis, squash, and racquetball. North Americans suffer about 45,000 eye injuries a year during recreational activities. It’s not surprising that catastrophic injuries occur, sometimes causing blindness, when balls strike the eye at a speed of from 50 to 110 miles per hour.

If you place too much on a camel’s back, it eventually lies down. The same effect can happen to muscles and tendons. It can occur even if you are working with a professional trainer.

One of my 60-year-old patients decided it was time to get in shape. She hired a trainer as a precaution. This is usually a prudent move. But at each visit to my office, she confided with pride that more and more weights were being added each week to her leg exercises.

I thought she was pushing her luck at her age and advised her that overwork and too much weight might cause injury. It did. She was left with permanent muscle damage that made walking more difficult.

Before joining a health club, see your doctor for a checkup, particularly if you suffer from risk factors such as heart disease, asthma, and other chronic conditions. Then enjoy, but watch for razor blades in the shower stalls.

Dr. Gifford-Jones is a medical journalist with a private medical practice in Toronto. His website is DocGiff.com He may be contacted at Info@docgiff.com

RISKY PRACTICE: A woman smokes a shisha (water pipe) in a cafe in Dubai. (Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images)

A typical one-hour session of smoking shisha involves inhaling 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled with a single cigarette, according to a study by the World Health Organization (WHO). Shisha, also known as the Turkish water pipe, narghile, hookah, or hubbly-bubbly, contains tobacco and is classed in the same category as cigarettes. It is subject to the smoking ban, enforced in England in July 2007 and is illegal to smoke it in indoor public places.

Smoking shisha has increased in popularity over the last few years, despite the smoking ban. In the borough of Westminster in London, the number of shisha cafés has risen by 68 percent since 2007. More cafés have sprung up because business owners are able to get around the ban by having their cafés half uncovered or by providing patio seating or garden terraces.

How Does a Water Pipe Work?

Smoking a water pipe involves using a long pipe with a flexible tube connected to a conduit, which is submerged in water. Flavored tobacco is placed on the head of the water pipe and then heated by putting charcoal on top of it. The other end of the tube is the pipe part, which is placed in the user’s mouth to inhale from.

When the pipe is sucked, the smoke is drawn through the conduit and underwater. The smoke rises up above the water, through the pipe into the user’s mouth. Typically, cigarette smokers take 8 to 12 puffs over about 5 to 7 minutes and inhale about a pint of smoke. Shisha smoking sessions usually last 20 to 80 minutes and smokers may take 50 to 200 puffs, which range from about 5 ounces to 1 quart of smoke each, according to the WHO. A shisha smoker may inhale as much smoke in one session as a cigarette smoker would inhale if her or she consumed 100 or more cigarettes.

What is the Attraction?

The tobacco smoked in a water pipe is flavored with fruit molasses so the residual, redolent smoke is sweet and therefore can be misconstrued as being safer than smoking cigarettes. Because the smoke is infused with fruity flavors like strawberry, apple, cherry, grape, and so on, the smoke produced is aromatic, attracting teenagers and young adults who may not usually smoke cigarettes.

It is seen as a socially cool and trendy pastime, but more disturbingly, most people consider shisha smoking to be harmless. Shisha can now be found on many university campuses across the U.K. in bars that serve shisha outdoors, as it is cheaper than a round at the pub. One shisha usually costs between $11 and $24 and is often shared by two or three people. It could last all evening as long as the coal is replaced every time it burns out.

Porsche Design has just launched its own high-end water pipe made from aluminum, stainless steel, and glass and is available only in Harrods in Knightsbridge, further endorsing the image of shisha as being a fashionable thing to do or own.

The water pipe has been used to smoke tobacco for centuries, primarily in Northern Africa and Asia. It is often used as a decorative object and is a prominent part of Middle Eastern culture. Smoking shisha is a social activity, similar to how beer and wine is consumed in Europe. The negative effects of shisha have only recently emerged.

Health Risks

The WHO guidelines state: “The smoke that emerges from a water pipe contains numerous toxicants knows to cause lung cancer and heart disease.” Professor Robert West, director of Tobacco Studies at University College London, explained in an interview: “Smoke from tobacco contains a number of known carcinogens, which damage the DNA in the cells. The problem arises if the DNA is damaged in such a way that it turns off its capacity to control cell division. Just one damaged cell can divide and multiply uncontrollably and can quite quickly develop into a large tumor. This … causes lung cancer.”

NOT RECOMMENDED: Sleeping while exposed to electrical devices may disturb sleep. (Caroline Pankert/AFP/Getty Images)

The sleep environment plays an extremely important role in the ability to achieve and sustain normal, restorative sleep patterns. Many factors in the environment contribute to or detract from sleep quality, including ambient light, noise, temperature, humidity, air quality, odors, perfumes, bed and mattress quality, electromagnetic fields (EMF), Wi-Fi, and electrical pollution.

These factors can play a role, singly or in combination, preventing or interfering with healthy sleep patterns.

The sleep environment must be thoroughly reviewed, and details regarding the placement of windows, electrical devices, and other fixtures must be closely examined. Particular attention should be paid to the impact of shared beds and bedrooms when spouses, partners, or roommates have conflicting environmental sleeping preferences.

Room air should move and be exchanged, replenishing during sleep either naturally through an outside facing window or by fans or ventilation systems. The need for supportive pillows for the head and legs should be considered in each case. Window dressings should exclude most outdoor light without interrupting airflow.

Too much or too little noise can be a factor. Particular attention should be paid to early childhood experience and personal preferences. Knowing how an individual slept (or didn’t sleep) as a child may also shed light on the current sleep problem.

If the early childhood environment was conducive to sleep, what factors are different now? Was the early childhood environment noisy, quiet, hot, cold, or stuffy? Bedroom windows that faced away from noisy streets in childhood may indicate a need for a similar environment as an adult.

Earplugs should be considered only if the environment is unavoidably noisy but should be considered a temporary solution. A new environment may need to be found.

Recent investigations suggest that electromagnetic fields (EMF), including home Wi-Fi, cell phones, wireless phones, smart meters, and electrical appliances in close proximity to the bedroom, particularly at the head of the bed, can disturb sleep. These appliances may need to be moved or disconnected (if they draw current) during sleep hours.

All home wireless devices, Wi-Fi, wireless phones, and cell phones should be turned off or repositioned in a distant location from the bedroom at night.

Wireless phone base stations emit EMFs on a continuous basis, and these fields travel directly through most walls, floors, and ceilings. Cell phones emit radiation in a pulsed format when they are turned on, even when they are not in use. EMF exposure from these devices drops precipitously with distance, which is why they should be kept as far away from the body as possible.

All wired electrical devices (drawing a current), including alarm clocks and electric blankets, emit EMFs and should not be in close proximity to the body (particularly the head) during the hours of sleep. Turning these devices off at night, moving them away from the head, or replacing them with non-electric analog devices should be considered.

Exposure to at least 30 minutes of intense sunlight (without sunglasses or sun block) during the midday is one of the most important methods of re-establishing the biological circadian rhythms of the sleep-wake cycle. Direct sunlight at midday has many benefits, including the efficient production of vitamin D and the suppression of melatonin.

Regular daily exposure to sunlight (not through glass) improves sleep ability at night. Similarly, the use of intensely bright lights at night should be avoided, since this may cause greater circadian asynchrony.

This is the seventh of a 10-part series.

Next week: Insomnia and behavior.

Dr. Whitmont is a classical homeopathic physician and internist who practices in New York. His website is HomeopathicMD.com

The most common childhood food allergy causes are peanuts, milk, and shellfish. (Photos.com)

More children in the United States might have food allergies than previously estimated, according to a new study in Pediatrics published early online on June 20.

Led by Dr. Ruchi Gupta at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, a team of researchers surveyed over 40,000 U.S. households with children.

They found that almost eight percent of children—nearly six million individuals under 18 years old—have food allergies. That is double the percentage estimated from the 2007 National Health Interview Survey.

Of these children, 30.4 percent have multiple allergies, and close to 40 percent have histories of severe reactions, with the most common causes being peanuts, milk, and shellfish.

"The large, population-based nature of this study shows that pediatric food allergy is a significant and growing problem in our society," says Gupta in a press release. "Based on our data, about 1 in every 13 children has a food allergy. What’s more, nearly 2 out of every 5 affected children suffer from a severe food-allergy."

"For these children, accidental ingestion of an allergenic food may lead to difficulty breathing, a sharp drop in blood pressure, and even death," she added. "Now that we understand just how far-reaching the problem of food allergy truly is, we can begin taking the necessary steps to keep these children safe."

The researchers also found differences in the odds of possessing and being formally diagnosed with a food allergy based on race, income, and geographic distribution.

Asian and black children have higher odds of having a food allergy compared to non-Hispanic white children, but have lower odds of receiving a medical diagnosis.

The researchers found that those living outside the Midwest compared to those living within to have higher odds of having a food allergy.

"By understanding why some children are affected by food allergy while others are not, we can begin to better focus our efforts on finding a cure," says Gupta.

MELANOMA PROTECTION: These beachgoers are reducing their changes of getting melanoma by increasing their sun exposure. (Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty Images)

I almost fell off my office chair when I read an article on May 24 in the Daily Mail: “Yes! A dose of sun CAN protect you against skin cancer,” by oncologist (cancer specialist) professor Angus Dalgleish.

Dalgleish has a particular interest in malignant melanoma. In the article, he draws our attention to the links between vitamin D and cancer, including the link between low vitamin D levels and melanoma.

He warns that the anti-sun propaganda many us have been familiar with for much of our lives may well have led to a chronic deficiency of vitamin D. The implication is clear: Our advice about sun exposure may be contributing to increasing cancer incidence, including melanoma.

In April, I wrote about the relationship between sunlight and melanoma, and presented some observations from dermatologist Dr. Sam Shuster including these facts:

•  The relationship between melanoma and latitude is small and inconsistent (in other words, locations closer to the equator with more sunlight exposure do not see significantly increased malignant melanoma incidence).
•  Malignant melanoma incidence and death from this condition are lower in individuals with increased sunlight exposure (11 studies are cited as evidence to support this).
• Incidence of malignant melanoma is not reduced and can be increased by sunscreen use.
• Melanoma risk associated with sunbed use is “small and inconsistent.”
• Inducing malignant melanoma in the laboratory using ultraviolet light is difficult (in contrast to other less-aggressive and more-treatable skin cancers).

I don’t know Angus Dalgleish personally, but my suspicion is he is a man who thinks for himself and is interested in giving the best care and advice possible to his patients. I also think it’s probably true that he and his department receive no funding from the manufacturers of sunscreen.

Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and author with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His website is DrBriffa.com

A man speaks on his mobile phone on May 31, in New York City. In a new report by 31 scientists meeting at the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO/IARC) it was found that using a mobile phone may increase your risk for certain kinds of brain cancers. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The World Health Organization (WHO), on Tuesday, placed cell phones on a list of items that could potentially cause a malignant type of brain cancer.

The agency’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) panel said that the electromagnetic radiation emitted from cellular phones is “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

The panel, which consists of 31 scientists from 14 countries, including the United States, based its conclusions on evidence that was published in studies that showed that cell phone use could increase the risk of glioma, a rare but malignant form of brain cancer.

“Given the potential consequences for public health of this classification and findings,” said IARC Director Christopher Wild in a statement, “it is important that additional research be conducted into the long-term, heavy use of mobile phones.”

In the interim, “It is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as hands-free devices or texting,” he added.

The WHO previously said that there are no risks of brain cancer associated with cell phone usage.

The ruling counts all devices that emit radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation in general, but the conclusions would mainly affect cellular phones.

The IARC concluded that “there could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cell phones and cancer risk.”

However, scientists admitted that they could not find a clear correlation between cell phone radiation and brain cancer.

Industry group CTIA—The Wireless Association, said the IARC’s claims that cell phones are potentially carcinogenic are unclear.

John Walls, the vice president of the group, said the panel “conducts numerous reviews and in the past has given the same score to, for example, pickled vegetables and coffee.”

Walls pointed to a previous conclusion made by the United States Federal Communications Commission and the Food and Drug Administration, which said there is no evidence that proves cell phones or wireless devices are linked to brain cancer or health problems.

(Martha Rosenberg)

Over five years ago, the Chicago Tribune reported that tuna was unequivocally contaminated with mercury. “The tuna industry has failed to adequately warn consumers about the risks of eating canned tuna, while federal regulators have been reluctant to include the fish in their mercury advisories—at times amid heavy lobbying by industry,” said the paper.

Three years later, the New York Times found similar contamination in area sushi.

But rather than a safer product, clearer warnings, or regulatory distance between federal officials and the industry they are supposed to oversee, tuna fish consumers have gotten nothing but more studies.

And this year Consumer Reports says every tuna sample tested at an outside lab “contained measurable levels of mercury, ranging from 0.018 to 0.774 parts per million. The Food and Drug Administration can take legal action to pull products containing 1 part per million or more from the market. (It never has, according to an FDA spokesman.)”

In fact, mercury-filled tuna is so rampant in the food supply it was what inspired Fischer Stevens to make the Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove,” about the Japanese dolphin-fishing industry. He personally came down with mercury poisoning, he told NBCLA, after eating tuna three or four times a week. His experience caused him to investigate the entire seafood industry.

Nor is much of the meat necessarily safe. Even though you can cook pathogens like E. coli, salmonella, listeria, and campylobacter out, veterinary drugs, pesticides, and heavy metals like copper and arsenic remain after cooking, says a government report.

According to a 2010 Office of Inspector General report, of 23 pesticides designated by the EPA and FDA as high-risk, the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service only tests for one.

Four carcasses contaminated with “violative levels of veterinary drugs” were released onto the public dinner plate in just six months, says the report.

“Farmers are prohibited from selling milk for human consumption from cows that have been medicated with antibiotics (as well as other drugs) until the withdrawal period is over; so instead of just disposing of this tainted milk, producers feed it to their calves,” says the report, sounding more like an animal-activist group than the U.S. government.

“When the calves are slaughtered, the drug residue from the feed or milk remains in their meat, which is then sold to consumers,” the report says.

FDA records corroborate the OIM report, finding that Templeton Feed & Grain and Darr Feedlots recently sold antibiotic-tainted animal feed and that Land Dairy and Martin Feed Lot sold cows with the antibiotic sulfamethazine in their livers to be sold as human food.

While consumers are told to cook meat thoroughly to remove pathogens that are eliminated by intense heat, there are dangers from overcooking. Dripping fat from frying, broiling, and grilling beef, pork, poultry, and even fish can produce cancer-causing compounds called heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, says the National Cancer Institute. These compounds are linked to stomach, colon, bladder, and several other cancers and to be avoided.

Processed foods like luncheon meat, ham, and hot dogs are pretreated with nitrites to kill food-borne germs and maintain a “natural” color (like the “natural” color of mass-farmed salmon, given a coloring agent at fish farms).

But nitrites become nitrosamines, which are well-known carcinogens that are best given wide berth. Replacing meat pathogens with nitrosamines doesn’t make meat products any safer, say health professionals.

Martha Rosenberg is a health reporter and author who lives in Chicago.

Sensitization to ragweed has risen by 15 percent in the United States, according to the nation's largest-ever cross-sectional study, conducted by Quest Diagnostics Health Trends. (Sue Sweeney/Wikimedia)

Allergies have increased in the United States mostly due to increases in ragweed and mold sensitivities, according to preliminary results from the nation’s largest-ever cross-sectional study, conducted by Quest Diagnostics Health Trends.

Called “Allergies Across America,” the four-year analysis of almost 14 million allergy tests from more than two million patient visits shows that sensitization to the two substances rose most out of the 11 most common allergens tested: 15 percent for ragweed and 12 percent for mold.

The combined increase for all of the allergens together, including house dust mites, cats, dogs, and certain foods, was 5.8 percent.

"We believe this is the first large national study to show that the growing prevalence of allergies, suggested by other studies, is largely due to increases in environment-based allergens previously associated with climate change," said study author Dr. Stanley J. Naides at Quest Diagnostics In a press release.

"Given concerns about a warming climate, additional research is needed to confirm these findings and assess the possible implications for public health."

Previous research has shown that warmer temperatures can lead to longer blooming seasons, leading to an increase in some allergens, such as ragweed. Another study reported on earlier this year by The Epoch Times revealed that the ragweed season was almost one month longer in 2009 than in 1995 in higher latitudes of North America.

A warmer climate may also lead to higher levels of mold, which is a precipitation-affected aeroallergen, according to Quest Diagnostics.

The new study also ranked the 30 worst big cities for ragweed with Phoenix at the top with 29.3 percent, and Las Vegas with 25.7 percent, while Miami had the lowest with 10.8 percent and San Francisco had 11.4 percent. The top cities had sensitization levels almost triple those at the low end of the ranking.

Dr. Princess Ogbogu, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at The Ohio State University, said a longer research period is needed, and noted that the study did not include sensitivities to grass and tree pollen. “It's hard to say that it's 100% climate change,” she said, according to News-Medical.

However, she added that the study was based on blood testing which has a false positive rate of around 15 to 20 percent.

BRUSHING WITH SOAP: For those who brushed their teeth with soap, what were your results?

Several months ago, I started brushing my teeth with soap. Why? Because I’m of Scottish background, and I don’t enjoy paying dental bills. Nor do I find it pleasant to have dentists scraping plaque from my teeth every six months.

Besides, a medical report said that soap not only removes plaque, but also stops cavities and protects gums. So how did my experiment turn out?

My first reaction to the book Good Teeth From Birth to Death, by Gerald F. Judd, was,

“Come on, Dr. Judd, you must be kidding! Who would ever brush their teeth with soap?”

But Judd was no nut. He was a retired professor of chemistry at Purdue University. Since I admire people who challenge well-established theories that may be wrong, I didn’t toss his report into the wastepaper basket. After some thought, what he said seemed to make sense.

Judd believed that it’s acid that destroys the tooth’s enamel and that cavities would vanish if people rinsed acids from their mouths quickly with tap water.

He also claimed that bacteria cannot damage the tooth’s hard outer enamel that is composed of calcium hydroxylapatite. His proof was that bones and teeth are resistant to earth-bound organisms. He appears to be right, as we’ve all seen pictures of skeletons with teeth intact unearthed after hundreds of years.

But why soap to clean teeth? Judd claimed that glycerin is present in all toothpastes, and it is so sticky that it requires 27 washes to remove it. If teeth remain coated with glycerin and are not clean, enamel cannot be built up.

He added, “Soap, in addition to removing plaque, destroys bacteria and viruses.” So why wouldn’t this penny-pinching Scot cross toothpaste off his shopping list?

I was not the only one to stop using toothpaste. Many readers claim they too joined the experiment. But some had to stop because soap made them gag. I also received hundreds of e-mails asking, “What kind of soap?”

I didn’t scream out “just plain, ordinary, white bar soap” but wanted to after the first few dozen queries.

So what’s the result? I admit I hoped to hit a home run with this experiment, as dentists suggested awards for me other than the Nobel Prize. So it grieves me that I can’t write a headline, “Dentists Put Out of Business! No More Scraping.” But although soap didn’t hit a home run, it did not strike out.

I kept my eye on a few easily observed lower front teeth, the incisors, and the canine tooth, where plaque invariably forms. Soap, in my case, had no effect on keeping plaque off the canine tooth. But it was 90 percent effective on the incisors.

Why this was the case I have no idea. Maybe I used the wrong soap. Olay happened to be in the bathroom. Many readers said they were using Ivory and other brands.

But Judd indicated that any plain white bar soap would do. Unfortunately, Judd has died, and I’ve never found a way to reach the departed. But I wish I could ask him why soap for me isn’t the total answer. And I wonder if any readers got a home run with soap.

So what will I do? For one thing, I doubt if I will ever use toothpaste again as it only required a few days to get used to the taste of soap. Besides, I no longer have to pack toothpaste when I travel. Soap is also cheap and available, and that fits my Scottish heritage!

I’ll also continue using soap, as it does not contain fluoride. Along with Judd, I believe that the fluoridation of water and the use of fluoride toothpaste is a useless, dangerous, biological poison. So do Sweden, Germany, Norway, Holland, Denmark, and France—not exactly backward nations.

Dr. Gifford-Jones is a medical journalist with a private medical practice in Toronto.

His website is DocGiff.com He may be contacted at Info@docgiff.com

HAND DISINFECTANT: Alcohol gel and regular soap for hand washing are both good disinfectants. Anti-bacterial soaps and wipes with triclosan have potential long-term reproductive and neurological side effects. (Claudio Santana/AFP/Getty Images)

A key part of the U.S. government’s “Fight Bac” campaign involves the use of anti-bacterial soaps. Dispensers can be found in schools, offices, and airports. Some hotels even supply packets of antibacterial wipes for guests to use before touching the telephone!

The FDA has acknowledged that the antibacterial chemical triclosan, used in these soaps, is no more effective than regular soap and water at preventing infections. The agency also expressed concern about the development of antibiotic resistance from using antibacterial products and triclosan’s potential long-term health effects.

Animal studies have shown that triclosan can interfere with hormones critical for normal development and function of the brain and reproductive system, resulting in altered behavior, learning disabilities, or infertility.

The FDA has said it will be moving forward on additional regulatory action in the future but gave no indication that it would abandon its Fight Bac campaign in favor of promoting superfoods that build natural immunity, like raw milk and cod liver oil.

Sally Fallon Morell, M.A., and Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., are board members of The Weston A. Price Foundation.

Source: Westonaprice.org/caustic-commentary/2161-caustic-commentary-spring-2011

DECREASING MELANOMA RISK: Sun exposure actually diminishes likelihood of developing melanoma. (Photos.com)

Recently, the weather in London has been glorious and warm. However, an article that appeared in The Daily Mail on April 6 cast a shadow. It concerns the tragic death of a 21-year-old woman from malignant melanoma.

We’re told that that the victim hated the sun and did her utmost to protect herself from it. Yet she still ended up succumbing to malignant melanoma. The subtext message was that any amount of sun is hazardous.

Is it true that exposing the skin to ultraviolet light causes malignant melanoma? I know this link is constantly made, but does it stand up to scrutiny?

In July 2008, the British Medical Journal ran an article by Dr. Sam Shuster (a dermatologist) in which he dissects some pertinent research regarding the link between sunlight exposure and malignant melanoma. Following are some of the points made in this article.

Some forms of skin cancer (relatively harmless basal cell and squamous cell cancers) tend to occur in sun-exposed parts of the body, but 75 percent of malignant melanomas do not.

The relationship with latitude is small and inconsistent. In other words, locations closer to the equator with more sunlight exposure do not see significantly increased malignant melanoma incidence.

Malignant melanoma incidence and death from this condition are lower in individuals with increased sunlight exposure. Eleven studies are cited as evidence to support this.

Incidence of malignant melanoma is not reduced and can be increased by sunscreen use.

Malignant melanoma risk associated with sunbed use is “small and inconsistent.”

Inducing malignant melanoma in the laboratory using ultraviolet light is difficult (in contrast to basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas).

In short, the relationship between sunlight exposure and malignant melanoma is far from clear-cut. There is even some evidence that sunlight exposure might help protect against this condition.

It’s important to bear this in mind when reading stories like the one I mentioned above. The “sunlight at any dose is dangerous” subtext comes from the belief that sunlight is a major cause of melanoma. This appears to be inaccurate.

The balance of evidence suggests some protective effect. Taking this at face value, is it possible that this woman’s death was not in spite of her fear of the sun, but partly because of it?

Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and author with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His website is DrBriffa.com

FUKUSHIMA: The nuclear power plant before the disaster. (Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images)

Since Japan’s nuclear plants started spewing out radioactive material, millions of North Americans have suddenly become aware of potassium iodide (KI; potassium is “kalium” in Latin, and kalium is the name and abbreviation in the periodic table of elements).

How much will KI protect us from radioactive particles? Who should take it and who should not?

During a nuclear explosion or meltdown, radioactive iodine (I-131) enters the atmosphere, and it has a malignant effect on the thyroid gland.

The thyroid normally obtains iodine from iodized salt and shellfish to produce the hormone thyroxin (T4). This hormone acts much like the accelerator of a car, controlling heart rate, temperature, and energy level. Too much of it causes hyperthyroidism, and too little causes hypothyroidism.

Fortunately, KI is extremely effective against I-131 and works as a blocking agent. KI quickly saturates the thyroid with ample amounts of good iodine, leaving no room for radioactive I-131.

What doesn’t KI do? There’s a general misconception among the public that KI will protect the entire body from radiation. It doesn’t. Rather, KI’s role is to prevent the development of thyroid malignancy, but it has no effect on preventing other cancers. Nor does it have any power to prevent radioactive material from entering the body or to nurse an injured thyroid gland or other glands back to normal.

Unfortunately, there’s no magic radiation antidote to protect us from all forms of radiation exposure. Nor does KI strengthen our immune system against radioactive material.

From a personal standpoint, I have a major interest in nuclear fallout, as I live in Toronto, a relatively short distance from Pickering’s nuclear plant. So should I rush out and purchase potassium iodide? To find out, I called several pharmacies to see if I could purchase KI. I was in for a few surprises.

Some pharmacists replied they were not certain if a doctor’s prescription was needed; others said it was. At the end of many calls, none had KI capsules to sell, with or without a prescription. But KI could be ordered, and this would take two days. So if Pickering blew up while I was writing this column, I would be in trouble.

There are just too many unanswered questions.

Sources in the United States told me that some states have stockpiles of KI. But no terrorist worth his salt is going to announce the date of an attack. Nor will there be any advance warning if an earthquake strikes Pickering. Moreover, KI should be taken two hours before exposure to I-131.

In the confusion and terror that strikes following a radioactive blowout, it’s highly unlikely people would get this protection handed to them. And how many will have enough foresight to purchase KI before a nuclear disaster?

People who have an allergy to iodine or shellfish should not take KI. And it’s vital to never consume tincture of iodine. This could be fatal. There is a good reason for the poison warning on the bottle.

Authorities say that the amount of radioactivity coming from Japan is so small that it will not endanger life.

Let’s hope that no one in the West has to face too much radioactive material. But if significant radioactivity comes from Japan, we will all need more than KI. In addition to I-131, a nuclear disaster emits 400 other radioactive particles that contaminate the air, the food, and the water.

In that case, just hope you’re at the North Pole with a southerly wind blowing.

Dr. Gifford-Jones is a medical journalist with a private medical practice in Toronto.

His website is DocGiff.com. He may be contacted at Info@docgiff.com

FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT: The nuclear reactors in this plant are damaged and are leaking radioactive materials. (JIJI Press/AFP/Getty Images)

As of March 14, three of the four reactors in the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear plant in Japan have exploded. The dangerously damaged state of the reactors, including cracked containment shields around reactors No. 2 and No. 3 and fire in reactor No. 4, is increasing the threat of radiation escaping and spreading.

Spent radiation rods, even more radioactively active than the ones in use, were blown up when the roof was blown off the reactor. (Prisonplanet.com/newly-released-images-show-devastated-nuclear-reactors.html)

Japan is already dispensing potassium iodide to its citizens to protect their thyroids from radioactive iodine. The thyroid must be saturated with non-radioactive iodine before exposure or within 6 hours of exposure to 50 rems or more of radioactivity.

Children under 18 and fetuses in utero are most at risk because their cells are dividing quickly and vulnerable to DNA damage.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website (bt.cdc.gov/radiation/ki.asp) posted the following: “Adults older than 40 years should not take KI [potassium iodide] unless public health officials say that contamination with a very large dose of radioactive iodine is expected. …

"[They] have the lowest chance of developing thyroid cancer or thyroid injury after contamination with radioactive iodine. They also have a greater chance of having allergic reactions to KI.”

Dosages, risks, and side effects are also found on the CDC site.

Although the media is telling everyone there is nothing to worry about and don’t bother with the pills, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin said, “It was right to be prepared.” Her advice contradicted Kelly Huston of the California Emergency Management Agency, who said, “People don’t need to buy the pills.” (Newsone.com/nation/casey-gane-mccalla/surgeon-says-ca-residents-are-right-to-prepare-for-radiation/) 

Many people have already bought up all the potassium iodide they could find. Supplies are already gone from major sources. Stockpiles were sufficient for populations within 10 miles of U.S. reactors, not for radioactive clouds coming across the ocean.

Potassium iodide is an over-the-counter supplement. Failing that, there is Lugol’s solution, a prescription item, and also kelp or kelp powder, a natural substance.

There is unsettling evidence that pollution from Asia does reach United States. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the California Air Resources Board discovered lead from China’s smokestacks in air currents over the West Coast.

Other studies in previous years have found that Asian pollution is cyclical, and more comes over to the West Coast in the spring. Right now, March 16, there is a strong wind over the Pacific.

The actual amount of radiation being blown over is not known, but another strategy is to stay inside. Today, radiation on the West Coast is found to be two to ten times that of the East Coast. (Politifi.com/news/Gamma-radiation-levels-on-West-Coast-2-to-10-times-levels-on-East-Coast-1759480.html)

Before increasing your iodine intake, please check with your physician.

FOREST: Time spent walking through the woods and forest glades has positive effects on health. (Photos.com)

Research in Japan has demonstrated that being in green spaces improves a person’s immune system. In Japan, when possible, people leave the city for a day in the woods for “forest bathing,” “shinrinyoku” in Japanese.

In two studies—one included 260 healthy people and another 12 people—it was deduced that forest bathing, which is walking through woods and forest glades, lowers the pulse and blood pressure. The effects lasted a month. Tests of the subjects’ saliva showed decreased levels of cortisol, meaning they were less stressed.

The test subjects were divided into two groups: those who stayed in an urban environment and those sent to a forested area. Both groups engaged in the same activities and ate the same diet. It is thought that the chemical phytoncides, an oil that defends trees from insects and decomposition, somehow affect the chemicals in the human brain.

In other studies, it was demonstrated that there was an increase in natural killer cells that fight cancer, an increase in white blood cells, and a reduction of glucose levels in diabetics.

Professor Qing Li, president of the Japanese Society of Forest Medicine said forest bathing “can have preventative effect on cancer generation and development.”

An article in The Epoch Times (Sept. 24, 2010) mentions that research has shown that tranquil scenes calm the brain by changing its blood flow. There are also more connections being made among different parts of the brain.

Japanese scientists have also concluded that the feel of the sun, the scent of trees, and the sound of water can have a calming effect.

Getting in touch with nature is being used as therapy and education elsewhere. Eeva Karjalainen of the Finnish Forest Research Institute, which deals with socially sustainable forest management, supports the findings and says that forest visits promote physical and mental health by reducing stress.

The U.K. has 42 care farms, Norway has 400, and the Netherlands 600. The U.K. farms are part of a wider school of thought in ecotherapy: Even walking can be a useful therapy. U.K. studies have shown that 71 percent of people who take a “green walk” feel less depressed.

A school in the south of England has its young students spend a portion of their day in the greenery. It has been observed that the children will seek out their own small spaces in addition to experiencing and learning about nature.

In the United States, there have been studies about the positive effects of green spaces on hyperactivity and ADHD. Maybe we all need a little patch of green to call our own.

The research may have been funded by those with a vested interest, but perhaps we really should stop and smell the roses. And the fir trees!

Elissa Michele Zacher is a writer with publications in apt (an online literary magazine), The Northeast Poetry Journal, and in the Freedom Press. Her poetry and articles are based on her travels, family, and observations.

LIGHT THERAPY: Visitors sit in the Light Lounge in London. (John D. McHugh/AFP/Getty Images)

I saw an individual in practice recently who told me she recently had a bout of low mood that was out of character and not for any obvious reason.

The issue started around mid-December 2010, but she recently improved. My first thought was that this lady was suffering from seasonal affective disorder (SAD). It is well-known that as the winter arrives and the days get shorter, some people are prone to depression precipitated by lack of sunlight.

I mentioned this to her, and she told me her sister had remarked that all she needed was “a holiday somewhere sunny in the winter.” I remarked that perhaps her sister had a point. My patient remarked, quite rightly, that this is not always practical.

Getting more light in the winter doesn’t necessarily mean relocating to somewhere sunny. It could mean bringing in light from a sunlight-simulating device. Evidence published in Depression and Anxiety journal in March 2009 suggests that light from the blue part of the visual spectrum appears to be most important for mood maintenance.

While light therapy does appear to have potential in combating depression of a seasonal nature, there is some evidence that it might help combat non-seasonal depression too. In a study published in January in the Archives of General Psychiatry, blue-light therapy was tested in a group of individuals aged 60 or older diagnosed with major depressive disorder. The depression was non-seasonal in nature.

Treatment consisted of bright-blue-light therapy (about 7,500 lux) for an hour each morning. This was compared to a control treatment of dim red light (about 50 lux) for the same time. Treatment was for a total of three weeks, and individuals were assessed for three weeks following treatment.

Depression scores reduced significantly in the group receiving blue light compared to those getting the control treatment.

Sleep improved, and individuals ended up getting out of bed sooner after waking in the morning.

Some biochemical parameters were also checked. Levels of the stress hormone cortisol came down considerably in the evening in response to bright-blue light. And levels of melatonin (the chief neurochemical responsible for sleep) increased more rapidly after exposure to blue light.

All in all, these results suggest that bright-blue-light therapy might have benefits for mood and sleep even in those who do not appear to be suffering from SAD.

Another study published in August 2005 in Issues in Mental Health Nursing, confined to women, also found that blue-light therapy improved mood and energy in individuals suffering from non-seasonal depression.

This evidence supports the observation that light has benefits for mood and general well-being. The evidence may cause some of us to increase our efforts to get adequate light exposure throughout the year, either in the form of sunlight or an appropriate light device.

Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and author with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His website is DrBriffa.com

SMOKING DAMAGES DNA: Researchers found that smoking can damage DNA within minutes. (Geierunited/Wikimedia Commons)

Researchers have long known the role that chemical substances in tobacco smoke play in causing cancer, but now a landmark study is the first to detail how such substances in cigarettes cause DNA damage. What’s more, the study reports, this genetic damage occurs within minutes—not years—after cigarette smoke is inhaled in the lungs.

In research performed at the University of Minnesota on harmful substances in tobacco smoke, specifically polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), scientists found that human smokers developed extremely high levels of PAH in an alarming measure of time—15–30 minutes after volunteers in the study smoked.

In conducting their research, the scientists added phenanthrene—a labeled PAH—to cigarettes and tracked it in the bloodstream of 12 volunteer smokers. The study found phenanthrene quickly forms a toxic substance in the blood known to damage DNA, which leads to mutations that can cause cancer.

“This study is unique,” Dr. Stephen Hecht of the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota, an author of the study, said in a statement.

“The results reported here should serve as a stark warning to those who are considering starting to smoke cigarettes,” he added.

Findings of the study were published recently in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.

Dr. Hecht and his research team indicate that lung cancer kills approximately 3,000 people daily in the United States, the vast majority of them dying prematurely because of smoking. Smoking is also associated with other cancers, in addition to respiratory and heart disease and other illnesses.

Michael Dabney, a former bioscience communicator at the University of California, San Diego, is a freelance writer based in Chula Vista, Calif., specializing in science and education.

Postmenopausal women who smoke or used to smoke are more likely to develop breast cancer, according to a study in the British Medical Journal published on March 1, and there is even a link between breast cancer and passive smoking, in women exposed to environmental cigarette smoke as children or adults.

A group of American researchers analyzed data of almost 80,000 women, aged 50 to 79, collected at 40 clinical centers in the United States, including details of smoking habits, such as the age they started or quit and the number of cigarettes smoked per day.

Information on passive smoking was also gathered, for example exposure at work, home, and social settings, both as a child and adult.

The team found that 3,250 of these postmenopausal women developed breast cancer within the 10-year study period. There was an elevated risk of breast cancer of 9 percent in former smokers and 16 percent in current smokers, especially in those women who smoked more cigarettes per day over a longer duration and from an early age.

There is a suggestive association between breast cancer and extensive passive smoking, but further research is required, the team said.

“Finally, we observed a 32 percent excess risk of breast cancer associated with the most extensive exposure to passive smoking among women who had never been active smokers," the researchers stated in the study.

"Our findings highlight the need for interventions to prevent initiation of smoking, especially at an early age, and to encourage smoking cessation at all ages.”

Children with low vitamin D levels may be more likely to develop allergies, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. (Photos.com)

A team of American researchers looked at 3,136 children and adolescents, compared with 3,454 adults, to measure serum vitamin D levels and sensitivity to 17 different allergens. Children were also assessed for other factors that could affect the results, including milk intake, obesity, and socio-economic status.

The researchers found that sensitivity to 11 of the allergens was more frequent in children deficient in vitamin D, specifically environmental allergens such as ragweed and dog, and food allergens like peanuts. However, no association was found between allergies and vitamin D in the adults.

Dr. Michal Melamed at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York said the study is correlational and does not prove that a deficiency of vitamin D causes childhood allergies.

However, she recommends that children consume sufficient amounts of vitamin D.

"The latest dietary recommendations calling for children to take in 600 IU of vitamin D daily should keep them from becoming vitamin D deficient," Melamed said in a press release.

Some physicians have questioned whether the above-recmmended dose of vitamin D is adequate.

Allergy season may lengthen due to recent latitudinal warming in Central North America, which has increased the length of the ragweed (Ambrosia spp.) pollen season, according to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, Feb. 21.

Ragweed pollen is a major allergen. Of the Americans allergic to pollen-producing plants, 75 percent are sensitive to ragweed, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA).

Mike Tringale, vice president of AAFA, said this equates to 35 million hay fever sufferers out of the 50 million Americans with allergies, according to Scientific American.

In the new study, the team of North American researchers found that higher latitudes are warming faster than middle latitudes in North America, causing a proportionate increase in the duration of the ragweed pollen season.

Season length mainly increased with the delay in first frost of the fall season and a longer frost free period due to latitudinal effects.

"It's not just theoretical," said lead researcher Lewis Ziska, a plant physiologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's crop system and global change laboratory, according to Scientific American. "We are seeing a signal based on what in fact the [U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] is predicting."

Tringale said a longer season is dangerous because it can tax hay fever sufferers' immune systems. Allergies can sometimes also trigger asthma attacks.

"With the longer season, with the creeping breadth of the geographic footprint of the season, and with more powerful plants producing more pollen, it's a triple threat," Tringale said, according to Scientific American. "Now you've got yourself a much wider population that could potentially be affected that might not have been affected before."

A man applies sun tan lotion during a visit to the beach June 20, 2006 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Researchers from the Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) surveyed 545 participants via telephone to evaluate how demographic, medical, psychological, social, and knowledge factors correlate with sun protection and sunbathing practices in first-degree relatives (FDRs) of melanoma patients.

The scientists found that FDRs who practiced higher sun protection had a higher level of education and greater concerns about “photo-aging” from harmful sunlight, amongst other correlations.

Those FDRs who practiced higher sunbathing tended to be younger females, who used sunscreen less and perceived more benefits from sunbathing, such as a good suntan.

The research team concluded that intervention might be necessary for family members at risk of melanoma to change habits and perceptions.

"To reduce the incidence of melanoma, we need to reduce the perceived benefits of sunbathing and to increase the use of sun protection,” said lead researcher Dr. Sharon Manne, according to Cancer Research UK.

Jessica Harris, senior health information officer at the UK charity said that people at risk can still enjoy a safer lifestyle when it comes to sun exposure.

"Enjoying the sun safely and avoiding sunburn reduces the risk of skin cancer," Harris said. "Sunburn is a clear sign your skin has been damaged by the sun's UV rays."

She noted that "having a family history of melanoma increases the risk of the disease," meaning that it is important for relatives of people who have the cancer, people with fair skin, fair or red hair, and with many moles or freckles to "know how they can lower the chances of developing skin cancer."

See Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Malignant Melanoma?

Cannabis use, researchers have found a connection between the onset of psychotic illness through the use of cannabis at a young age. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Researchers have found a link between the onset of psychotic illness and the use of cannabis at a young age, according to a study published online in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry on Feb. 7.

In this study, results were re-analyzed from 20,000 patients with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders in 83 previous studies. The researchers hoped to distinguish whether cannabis advances the onset of severe mental illness, rather than abuse of other psychoactive substances such as alcohol.

Lead author Dr. Matthew Large from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia said according to a press release that substance use is very common in people treated in mental health settings, and schizophrenics are more likely to use substances than other people in the community.

The study found that schizophrenia is brought on earlier by an average of 2.7 years in cannabis users and 2 years in broad substance users, compared with non-users. However, alcohol was not associated with a significantly earlier age at onset of psychosis.

“The results of this study provide strong evidence that stopping or reducing cannabis use could delay or even prevent some cases of psychosis,” Large said.

He said that even if psychosis is inevitable, a delay of two to three years in its onset “could allow many patients to achieve important developmental milestones of late adolescence and early adulthood that could lower long-term disability arising from psychotic disorders.”

“The results of this study confirm the need for an ongoing public health warning about the potentially harmful effects of cannabis,” Large concluded, according to the release.

However, the causality underlying the relationship between cannabis and mental illness has not been revealed: Does cannabis cause schizophrenia, or does it bring it out in vulnerable people? Either way, cannabis is clearly associated with psychosis.

The study suggests that using cannabis precipitates schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, perhaps by disrupting brain development or an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. The findings do not support the theory that people who develop schizophrenia are more likely to use substances, because alcohol use was not associated with a younger age at onset of psychosis.