Living with Severe Food Allergies

Check out this article from CNN from the mother of a boy with allergies to milk, wheat, peanuts and eggs. Every trip out of the house is a potential minefield, every relative who says “just one bite won’t hurt” is setting her child up for the possibility of death.

This child’s allergies are so severe that they have to ask for peanut-free airplane rides and mom can’t have a glass of milk and kiss her little one without giving him hives. While there’s hope that he can outgrow at least some of his allergies, it’s likely he’ll face segregated seating in the school cafeteria and some ostracism from kids with “normal” diets.

People who don’t deal with food allergies don’t really understand how difficult and life-changing they can be. While the peanut allergy has become more widespread and more people know what they have to do to help kids with this problem, other food allergies haven’t gotten the same press and can still be met with suspicion or confusion.

It’s important for all people with kids — and those who come in contact with kids — to be aware of their potential allergy problems and to do all they can to keep them healthy and safe.

If you or someone in your family has a food allergy, get information and support from the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network.

Pollution a Big Cause of Death

A researcher at Cornell University says that air, water, and soil pollution can be blamed for 40 percent of deaths worldwide.

Pollution is a big contributor to disease in people, David Pimentel says, and the increasing world population makes disease even worse. Pimentel and colleagues studied 120 published reports on pollution, malnutrition, population growth and other factors for their report, published online in the journal Human Ecology.

They found that about 57 percent of the world’s population is malnourished, compared to just 20 percent in 1950. Half the world’s people live in crowded urban areas, and more than a billion lack safe drinking water. Waterborne illnesses account for 80 percent of all infectious diseases.

More than three million people die each year from air pollution, and microbes in water and soil are becoming more resistant to drugs.

As we in the more developed world think about living healthier lives, its a good idea to stop every now and then and get a little perspective on what healthy living really means.

Convenience Foods Aren’t Really

A very interesting study published in the British Food Journal watched two-income Los Angeles families for four days and looked at what they ate for dinner. The study found that 70 percent of the dinners were home-cooked, but convenience foods dominated.

Most families used some kind of pre-prepared items such as frozen entrees, vegetables, frozen bread products, canned soup or prepared pasta sauce in their meals. On the other hand, less than 15 percent of families had meals consisting entirely of takeout food, and about 5 percent combined takeout with food made at home.

What makes this study so interesting is that people who cooked with convenience foods and those who made meals from scratch took about the same time to cook. Average meal preparation time was 52 minutes, and there was no statistical difference in time between those who used mostly convenience foods and those who used fewer of those products.

There was, however, time saved when you look at hands-on cooking time. Meals made from scratch needed about 34 minutes on hands-on time, while those who used prepared foods could step away from the stove for 10 or 12 of those minutes.

Researchers said the reliance on convenience foods comes more from not having a plan when you go to the grocery store than any actual convenience. And with all the sodium and uncontrollable levels of calories and fat in prepared foods, you’ve got to wonder what that “convenience” is costing.

Is Organic Worth It?

More and more people are choosing organic foods all the time, but this trend leaves a lot of people wondering if the extra expense is really worth it. Many organic foods cost up to twice as much as their conventional counterparts, but experts say there are some organic foods that are worth the money.

The main thing to think about when choosing whether to buy organic is the pesticide load that the conventionally grown produce is likely to have. Some fruits and vegetables are very highly sprayed, while others are not.

The Environmental Working Group’s rankings of the most pesticide-laden foods are pretty universally accepted as the ones that should be followed when choosing foods to buy organic:

• Peaches
• Apples
• Bell peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Pears
• Imported grapes
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Potatoes

If you have a limited food budget but would like to bring some organics into your life, this list is a great place to start.

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.

Are Breast-Fed Babies Smarter?

There are so many wonderful reasons to breast-feed your children. Breast milk helps build up the baby’s immune system and breast feeding can actually help a new mom lose weight? But are brest-fed babies smarter than bottle-fed babies?

New research suggests they are not. The subject has been studied since 1929 and there are still no clear answers, but a study of more than 5,000 American babies seems to indicate that breast-feeding did not have an impact on the future intelligence of the child. Breast-feeding in isolation seemed to have an impact, but when considered with other factors such as the intelligence of the mother, home environment and family income, breast-feeding made little difference.

The idea that other factors are more imprtant was reinforced by looking at siblings where one was breast-fed and one not. They had no major difference in intelligence.

An interesting part of this study is that an increase in about 15 IQ point for the mother made her more than twice as likely to breast-feed. So many it’s smarter mothers breast-feeding who then have smarter babies. Yet another reason to think about breast-feeding if you’re expecting or planning a family.

Source: NewsWise

New Labels for Spinach?

After the recent E.coli outbreak, which has now possibly killed three people and sickened more than 100, officials are talking about labelling spinach with its area of origin in case of future outbreaks.

That way, the whole store wouldn’t have to be cleared of spinach if it was known the outbreak came from California spinach, for instance.

Food and Drug Administration officials say they don’t want to deny access to spinach for customers who want to eat it, but there’s no alternative right now because no one knows which spinach came from which farms.

This is a wise idea to get people to start eating spinach again once it is safe to do so. This will give people assurance that should a similar outbreak happen, it will be easier to pinpoint the source and not have to eliminate the entire supply, which is good for spinach manufacturers and those who like to eat the green stuff.

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