Combat the Blues by Going Green?

Outdoor activities might be the key to lifting your spirits: English mental health charity Mind is claiming that “ecotherapy” will help those with mental health problems.

The chief executive of Mind, Paul Farmer, was quoted in a recent article as saying that ecotherapy is “a credible, clinically-valid treatment option and needs to be prescribed by GPs, especially when for many people access to treatments other than anti-depressants is extremely limited.”

Mind recently commissioned several studies on ecotherapy, and have released the results in conjunction with “Mind Week” (May 12-19).

One of the studies suggested that levels of depression and anxiety could be lowered with a 30-minute outdoor walk. Another suggested that “green activities” in general could be successful in lifting depression.

Mind said that antidepressant prescriptions are currently at an all-time high (over 31 million were written in 2006). The charity believes that ecotherapy could be and effective alternative to these medicinal treatments, which tend to be expensive and many of which come with a set of mild side effects. Ecotherapy, in contrast, is inexpensive, readily available, and has no negative side effects (…well, if you don’t count prolonged exposure to sunlight).

Dairy Ads On Weight Loss to End

The Federal Trade Commission has said the National Dairy Council will stop running advertisements saying that consuming three dairy products a day can help people lose weight.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group that supports a vegan diet, had complained about the advertisements in 2005, saying the claims that dairy products helped people burn more fat weren’t supported by science and that the ads had misleading claims.

The FTC did not require the Dairy Council to stop running the ads, but the group has said it will revamp its message, though it still supports the science that was behind the original ads. New ads will focus on how dairy can help support a healthy lifestyle and will not include claims about weight loss.

The US Department of Agriculture approved the ads but says it does not object to pulling back from the claims about weight loss. Recent changes in the nutritional guidelines for Americans encourage eating three servings of dairy a day.

To find out more about the benefits of milk and dairy that aren’t related to weight loss, check out Think about your drink.

FDA Approves Patch for Parkinson’s

Yesterday the Food and Drug Administration announced approval of Neupro, a skin patch designed to treat the early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

The patches include the drug rotigotine, which mimics the chemical dopamine. In Parkinson’s patients, brain cells that produce dopamine die, leading to the physical symptoms of shaking, stiffness, slow movement and impaired balance.

The patch is thought to be better than the oral drugs currently available because there is no dropping off of effectiveness through the day as their is with pills on the market. Potential side effects include sudden sleep, hallucinations and decreased blood pressure when standing up.

More common side effects included sensitivity where the patch was applied, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, insomnia and drowsiness.

“Cocaine” Pulled from Store Shelves

The energy drink Cocaine is being pulled from stores shelves after the company failed to reply to a complaint from the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA said the company was marketing the drink as an alternative to illegal drugs with phrases like “Liquid Cocaine” and “Speed in a Can” on its website. The company said that was like saying “celibacy is an alternative to premarital sex” and that everyone knows they are not the same thing.

The company said it would like to keep the name but will change the name to avoid legal action. A new name should be announced within a week, and the company hopes to have the product back on the market in a few weeks.

Several states had already taken action to halt the sale of Cocaine in their states, and distributors and retailers in Connecticut can return unsold product for a full refund because the company did not properly register the beverage in that state.

A company spokesperson said there are no illegal drugs in Cocaine and that their customers are not drug users, but they did like the tongue-in-cheek name.

Do Pesticides Make Kids Dumb?

A new study from Indiana suggests that the time of year a child is conceived could affect the child’s future academic performance.

Children in the study who were conceived in the summer months scored lower on the state’s standardized tests for math and reading than children conceived at other times of year did.

Researchers said babies conceived in the summer months have higher exposure to pesticides and nitrates in fertilizer when their brains are developing than do children who are conceived at other times of year. Those chemicals likely alter the mother’s hormones and affect the development of the brain.

Researchers say the evidence is not conclusive that pesticides and chemical fertilizers are making kids dumber, but that if more research shows the same thing, its likely some big public health initiatives will be in the works to cut pesticide use for the sake of future generations. Now it’s not just the health of the planet that’s affected when we choose organic, but the health of our children as well.

In the meantime, older kids face dangerous pollutants when they ride the bus each day, from the particulates in diesel gas. The fumes can cause headaches and dizziness and have been linked to development of asthma and lung cancer. But schools with old buses that don’t meet emissions standards often can’t afford the filters that would make the air cleaner for kids.