Natural Medicines That May Help With IBS

SUFFERING WITH IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME? SOME NATURAL MEDICINES THAT MAY HELP AND A NEW DIET FROM EUROPE FOR IBS SUFFERERS

IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) is experienced by at least 1 in 5 people. Though not dangerous, it can cause significant pain and discomfort. Its cause is not known and it should not be confused with or is it related to IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) which includes both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

Symptoms of IBS range from:

Diarrhea and or constipation (which sometimes can alternate)
Bloating
Gas pains
Backache
Fatigue

There are a number of natural remedies which work for some IBS sufferers and not others. Sometimes it is a matter of trial and error as to which, if any of these options may help you:

Psyllium – 3 grams, 3 times a day can help to normalize bowel activity in some sufferers and has been shown to reduce IBS symptoms in placebo controlled trials.

Lactase – The enzyme that helps to digest the milk sugar, lactose, can help lactose intolerant sufferers to reduce their IBS symptoms.

Peppermint Oil Softgels – Either alone or in combination with caraway oil, softgels containing either .3ml or 50 mg. of each oil have been shown in placebo-controlled studies to alleviate symptoms of IBS.

Activated Charcoal – Has been shown in blinded, placebo-controlled studies to reduce up to 60% of IBS symptoms in some patients.

Probiotics – Several recent studies have shown that daily consumption of probiotics have been effective in reducing IBS symptoms in sufferers.

Low Fodmaps Diet

Amongst the newest research reported for alleviating IBS symptoms is the use of a novel elimination diet called the Low Fodmaps Diet. This diet is gaining major support in Europe where it was developed.

It has long been thought that certain dietary components can lead to IBS. The Low Fodmaps Diet identifies a protocol for eliminating those foods that are thought to be the most problematic. For more information on the Low Fodmaps Elimination Diet visit the following link: “When Everyday Foods are Hard to Digest”

Best of Health,

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

Are Sweet and Fatty Foods Just As Addictive As Drugs Like Cocaine?

An article written by reporters at Bloomberg.net discusses the data studying just how addictive certain foods can be to our brains.

They state that “Cupcakes may be addictive, just like cocaine.” The article goes on to say that “The data is so overwhelming the field has to accept it” said Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “We are finding tremendous overlap between drugs in the brain and food in the brain.”

MODERN PROCESSED FOODS MAY BE CHANGING THE WAY OUR BRAIN IS WIRED

The article states that “Brain scans of obese people and compulsive eaters reveal brain disturbances similar to those experienced by drug abusers.” It then goes on to say that “Sugars and fats, of course, have always been present in the human diet and our bodies are programmed to crave them.” What has changed is modern processing that creates food with concentrated levels of sugars, unhealthy fats and refined flour, without redeeming levels of fiber or nutrients, obesity experts said. Consumption of large quantities of those processed foods may be changing the way the brain is wired.

Having spent decades studying nutrition and the impact of what we ingest on our body functions and health, there is no doubt in my mind that sugar is addictive. The more you eat, the more you need to continue eating it. The good news is that I have found that just by avoiding sugary products and drinks for as little as 5-7 days, can decrease cravings in many people.

The article goes on to describe the effects of daily feeding of 10% sugar water (similar to soda) to rats and how they begin to abandon their regular, healthy food, to satisfy the craving they develop for the sugar.

And the experiments don’t stop with rats. Read about the measurable effects just a picture of a milk shake can have on people’s brain waves.

We all know about the negative health effects (diabetes, arthritis, heart disease) that eating too much sugar and fat can cause. Now when you couple that knowledge with the fact that addiction to the foods is very likely possible, it may be easier for you to just say “NO” and start cutting these foods and snacks out of your diet for good.

To read the entire article, (which I strongly suggest that you do), please go to:

“Fatty Foods Addictive as Cocaine in Growing Body of Science Research” SEE PART OF ARTICLE BELOW:

~ Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

*****
A growing body of medical research at leading universities and government laboratories suggests that processed foods and sugary drinks made by the likes of PepsiCo Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) aren’t simply unhealthy. They can hijack the brain in ways that resemble addictions to cocaine, nicotine and other drugs. It’s true and many people are sharing their research, forskolin online released a great paper on sugar alternatives.

The idea that food may be addictive was barely on scientists’ radar a decade ago. Now the field is heating up. Lab studies have found sugary drinks and fatty foods can produce addictive behavior in animals. Brain scans of obese people and compulsive eaters meanwhile reveal disturbances in brain reward circuits similar to those experienced by drug abusers.

Twenty-eight scientific studies and papers on food addiction have been published this year, according to a National Library of Medicine database. As the evidence expands, the science of addiction could become a game changer for the 1 trillion food and beverage industries.

If fatty foods, snacks and drinks sweetened with sugar and high fructose corn syrup are proven to be addictive, food companies may face the most drawn-out consumer safety battle since the anti-smoking movement took on the tobacco industry a generation ago.

Fun-for-You

“This could change the legal landscape,” said Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity and a proponent of anti-obesity regulation. “People knew for a long time cigarettes were killing people, but it was only later they learned about nicotine and the intentional manipulation of it.”

Food company executives and lobbyists are quick to counter that nothing has been proven, that nothing is wrong with what PepsiCo Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi calls “fun-for-you” foods, if eaten in moderation. In fact, the companies say they’re making big strides toward offering consumers a wide range of healthier snacking options. Nooyi, for one, is well known for calling attention to PepsiCo’s progress offering healthier fare as she is for driving sales.

Coca-Cola Co. (KO), PepsiCo, Northfield, Illinois-based Kraft and Kellogg Co. of Battle Creek, Michigan, declined to grant interviews with their scientists.

No one disputes that obesity is a fast growing global problem. In the U.S., a third of adults and 17 percent of teens and children are obese, and those numbers are increasing. Across the globe, from Latin America, to Europe to Pacific Island nations, obesity rates are also climbing.

Cost to Society

The cost to society is enormous. A 2009 study of 900,000 people, published in The Lancet, found that moderate obesity reduces life expectancy by two to four years, while severe obesity shortens life expectancy by as much as 10 years. Obesity has been shown to boost the risk of heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and stroke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The costs of treating illnesses associated with obesity were estimated at $147 billion in 2008, according to a 2009 study in Health Affairs.

Sugars and fats, of course have always been present in the human diet and our bodies are programmed to crave them. What has changed is modern processing that creates food with concentrated levels of sugars, unhealthy fats and refined flour, without redeeming levels of fiber or nutrients, obesity experts said. Consumption of large quantities of those processed foods may be changing the way the brain is wired.

A Lot Like Addiction

Those changes look a lot like addiction to some experts. Addiction “is a loaded term, but there are aspects of the modern diet that can elicit behavior that resembles addiction, “said David Ludwig, a Harvard researcher and director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Children’s Hospital Boston. Highly processed foods may cause rapid spikes and declines in blood sugar, increasing cravings, his research has found.

Education, diets and drugs to treat obesity have proven largely ineffective and the new science of obesity may explain why, proponents say. Constant stimulation with tasty, calorie-laden foods may desensitize the brain’s circuitry, leading people to consume greater quantities of junk food to maintain a constant state of pleasure.

In one 2010 study, scientists at Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida, fed rats an array of fatty and sugary products including Hormel Foods Corp. (HRL) bacon, Sara Lee Corp. (SLE) pound cake, The Cheesecake Factory Inc. (CAKE) cheesecake and Pillsbury Co. Creamy Supreme cake frosting. The study measured activity in regions of the brain involved in registering reward and pleasure through electrodes implanted in the rats.

Binge-Eating Rats

The rats that had access to these foods for one hour a day started binge eating, even when more nutritious food was available all day long. Other groups of rats that had access to the sweets and fatty foods for 18 to 23 hours per day became obese, Paul Kenny, the Scripps scientist heading the study wrote in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The results produced the same brain pattern that occurs with escalating intake of cocaine, he wrote.

“To see food do the same thing was mind-boggling,” Kenny later said in an interview.

Researchers are finding that damage to the brain’s reward centers may occur when people eat excessive quantities of food.

Sweet Rewards

In one 2010 study conducted by researchers at the University of Texas in Austin and the Oregon Research Institute, a nonprofit group that studies human behavior, 26 overweight young women were given magnetic resonance imaging scans as they got sips of a milkshake made with Haagen-Dazs ice cream and Hershey Co. (HSY)’s chocolate syrup.

The same women got repeat MRI scans six months later. Those who had gained weight showed reduced activity in the striatum, a region of the brain that registers reward, when they sipped milkshakes the second time, according to the study results, published last year in the Journal of Neuroscience.

“A career of overeating causes blunted reward receipt, and this is exactly what you see with chronic drug abuse,” said Eric Stice, a researcher at the Oregon Research Institute.

Scientists studying food addiction have had to overcome skepticism, even from their peers. In the late 1990s, NIDA’s Volkow, then a drug addiction researcher at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, applied for a National Institute of Health grant to scan obese people to see whether their brain reward centers were affected. Her grant proposal was turned down.

Finding Evidence

“I couldn’t get it funded,” she said in an interview. “The response was, there is no evidence that food produces addictive-like behaviors in the brain.”

Volkow, working with Brookhaven researcher Gene-Jack Wang, cobbled together funding from another government agency to conduct a study using a brain scanning device capable of measuring chemical activity inside the body using radioactive tracers.

Researchers were able to map dopamine receptor levels in the brains of 10 obese volunteers. Dopamine is a chemical produced in the brain that signals reward. Natural boosters of dopamine include exercise and sexual activity, but drugs such as cocaine and heroin also stimulate the chemical in large quantities.

In drug abusers, brain receptors that receive the dopamine signal may become unresponsive with increased drug usage, causing drug abusers to steadily increase their dosage in search of the same high. The Brookhaven study found that the obese people also had lowered levels of dopamine receptors compared with a lean control group.

Addicted to Sugar

The same year, psychologists at Princeton University began studying whether lab rats could become addicted to a 10 percent solution of sugar water, about the same percentage of sugar contained in most soft drinks.

An occasional drink caused no problems for the lab animals. Yet the researchers found dramatic effects when the rats were allowed to drink sugar-water every day. Over time they drank more and more and more while eating less of their usual diet, said Nicole Avena, who began the work as a graduate student at Princeton and is now a neuroscientist at the University of Florida.

The animals also showed withdrawal symptoms, including anxiety, shakes and tremors, when the effect of the sugar was blocked with a drug. The scientists, moreover, were able to determine changes in the levels of dopamine in the brain, similar to those seen in animals on addictive drugs.

Similar Behavior

“We consistently found that the changes we were observing in the rats binging on sugar were like what we would see if the animals were addicted to drugs,” said Avena, who for years worked closely with the late Princeton psychologist, Bartley Hoebel, who died this year.

While the animals didn’t become obese on sugar water alone, they became overweight when Avena and her colleagues offered them water sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup.

A 2007 French experiment stunned researchers when it showed that rats prefer water sweetened with saccharine or sugar to hits of cocaine — exactly the opposite of what existing dogma would have suggested.

“It was a big surprise,” said Serge Ahmed, a neuroscientist who led the research for the French National Research Council at the University of Bordeaux.

Yale’s Brownell helped organize one of the first conferences on food addiction in 2007. Since then, a protégé, Ashley Gearhardt, devised a 25-question survey to help researcher’s spot people with eating habits that resemble addictive behavior.

Pictures of Milkshakes

She and her colleagues used magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activity of women scoring high on the survey. Pictures of milkshakes lit up the same brain regions that become hyperactive in alcoholics anticipating a drink, according to results published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in April.

A photo of a strawberry milkshake

Food addiction research may reinvigorate the search for effective obesity drugs, said Mark Gold, who chairs the psychiatry department at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Gold said the treatments he is working on seek to alter food preferences without suppressing overall appetite.

Developing Treatments

“We are trying to develop treatments that interfere with pathological food preferences,” he said. “Let’s say you are addicted to ice cream, you might come up with a treatment that blocked your interest in ice cream, but doesn’t affect your interest in meat.”

In related work, Shire Plc (SHP), a Dublin-based drug maker, is testing its Vyvanse hyperactivity drug in patients with binge-eating problems.

Not everyone is convinced. Swansea University psychologist David Benton recently published a 16-page rebuttal to sugar addiction studies. The paper, partly funded by the World Sugar Research Organization, which includes Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, the world’s largest soft-drink maker, argues that food doesn’t produce the same kind of intense dopamine release seen with drugs and that blocking certain brain receptors doesn’t produce withdrawal symptoms in binge-eaters as it does in drug abusers.

Industry Response

What’s still unknown is whether the science of food addition has begun to change the thinking among food and beverage companies, which are, after all, primarily in the business of selling the Doritos, Twinkies and other fare people crave.

About 80 percent of New York-based PepsiCo’s marketing budget, for instance, is directed toward pushing salty snacks and sodas. Although companies are quick to point to their healthier offerings, their top executives are constantly called upon to reassure investors those sales of snack foods and sodas are showing steady growth.

“We want to see profit growth and revenue growth,” said Tim Hoyle, director of research at Haverford Trust Co. in Radnor, Pennsylvania, an investor in PepsiCo, the world’s largest snack-food maker. “The health foods are good for headlines but when it gets down to it, the growth drivers are the comfort foods, the Tostitos and the Pepsi-Cola.”

Little wonder that the food industry is pushing hard on the idea that the best way to get a handle on obesity is through voluntary measures and by offering healthier choices. The same tactic worked for awhile, decades ago, for the tobacco industry, which deflected attention from the health risks and addictive nature of cigarettes with “low tar and nicotine” marketing.

Food industry lobbyists don’t buy that argument — or even the idea that food addiction may exist. Said Richard Adamson, a pharmacologist and consultant for the American Beverage Association: “I have never heard of anyone robbing a bank to get money to buy a candy bar or ice cream or pop.”

BIRTH CONTROL PILLS AND THE RISK OF BLOOD CLOTS

Two recent studies have suggested that certain birth control pills that contain the progestin, “Drospirenone” may have 2 to 3 times the risk of causing blood clots (venous thromboembolism, VTE) than other birth control pills that do not contain this form of progestin.

These studies contradict an earlier study that said the risk of VTE is not increased with drospirenone-containing birth control pills.

The FDA is evaluating the situation and will comment once any new information becomes available.

Brand names of birth control pills containing drospirenone are Yaz, Yasmin, Beyaz, and Safyral.

You may want to discuss this information with your physician, especially if you have had any kind of blood clotting issues previously.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

Note: Many women of child-bearing age, who are on birth control pills, also suffer from migraine headaches. If you have not been able to control your migraines, please go to www.migrelief.com for a safe and very effective option.

Lose Weight While Preventing Migraines, PMS & PCOS

Premenstrual Syndrome Symptoms and Prevention

Ginger: a healthy spice with a growing list of important health benefits

In its natural form, ginger root has been used as a “cure” in many cultures for thousands of years, especially in Chinese medicine. Now even conventional, allopathic clinicians and researchers are starting to recognize its benefits. Anti‐inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumor, and antiulcer effects of ginger have been proven in many scientific studies. Ginger contains over 200 hundred natural compounds some of which can help to reduce inflammation, pain, and risk for several chronic conditions according to recent studies.

Here is a shortlist of just some of ginger’s health benefits:

1- Anti-inflammatory
2- Thins the blood and prevents excessive clotting, which could lead to a heart attack or strokes
3- May help prevent or treat migraine headaches
4- Helps prevent motion sickness
5- Reduces symptoms of osteoarthritis
6- Protects the GI tract and helps with indigestion
7- Helps with nausea from both movement, pregnancy and chemotherapy

How can ginger help a migraineur?

Research on the health benefits of ginger

Recently a study published in the journal of Cancer Prevention Research has found that ginger may have potential colon cancer-preventing benefits as well. Many studies on cells have shown that ginger is an anti-inflammatory, like aspirin, but without the side-effects of aspirin. Other studies have shown that ginger prevented the formation of tumors in animals exposed to a carcinogenic chemical.

Now the researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School, found that humans taking two grams of ginger root a day for 4 weeks had 28% less inflammation in their colons, and inflammation is clearly associated with the development of colon cancer.

Ginger is a major component of the diet of some Asian cultures, which easily consume the 2 grams a day of ginger used in this study. This amount is considerably more than American’s consume.

For those interested in supplementing with ginger, a powdered root extract containing 500-1000 mg a day is reasonable. Though there have been no organized long-term studies of the safety of using ginger while pregnant, the long-term use of ginger in Asian diets has not shown any harm during pregnancy.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

Are Supplements Harmful? What Research Says

It is well known by researchers, clinicians and other scientists that if you “tweak” the data enough you can often get it to say or support whatever you want it to.

It is astonishing to me that though we know that pharmaceutical drugs kill tens of thousands of people every year and vitamins and supplements don’t, sensationalized studies like the one recently published in the Archived of Internal Medicine talk about the “harm of multi-vitamins in elderly women” but we hardly ever see studies addressing the thousands of deaths caused by prescription drugs every year.

The drug companies don’t want you to be proactive and responsible for your own health, no matter what they say in public or in their public service announcements. They want you to use drugs. They want you to believe that the only way you will ever get healthy is by using drugs. They want you to believe that despite the thousands of studies showing the benefits of vitamins, minerals and multi-vitamins, that they are what you have to worry about, NOT their synthetic drugs that are known to often cause harm.

I am not anti-prescription drugs. I am anti-bad-prescription drugs of which there are many. On the other hand, I am thankful for those prescription drugs that really do save lives, and are often the only options between life and death.

In this newest attack against vitamin supplements researchers from the University of Maryland, make the sweeping statement that elderly women who take dietary supplements may not live as long as those who don’t.

If you are a lay person and not a scientist or researcher, you have no way of knowing just how accurate or inaccurate these statements are. All you see is a headline that may scare you and that’s exactly what they want. With the “not so hidden message” being “be afraid of vitamins but trust our drugs!”

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

Please read the Council for Responsible Nutrition’s response to the statements made by the researchers who published this study. You will come away with a whole different slant on this topic.

CRN CALLS NEW STUDY ON SUPPLEMENTS AND MORTALITY
“A HUNT FOR HARM”

http://www.crnusa.org/CRNPR11AIM101011.html

THE DRUG ASSOCIATED WITH MICHAEL JACKON’S DEATH

Michael Jackson supposedly was over-dosed with the drug Propofol and it may have caused his death.

Propofol is given intravenously and it causes a hypnotic state and sedation, therefore it is used as an anesthetic allowing patient to go through difficult or painful procedures. It is generally not used as a medication for treating insomnia, which was allegedly Jackson’s problem.

According to one of the companies that markets the drug – “As with any other general anesthetic agent, Propofol should be administered only where appropriately trained staff and facilities for monitoring are available, as well as proper airway management, a supply of supplemental oxygen, artificial ventilation and cardiovascular resuscitation.”

Propofol (INN, marketed as Diprivan by AstraZeneca) is a short-acting, intravenously administered hypnotic agent. Its uses include the induction and maintenance of general anesthesia, sedation for mechanically ventilated adults, and procedural sedation. Propofol is also commonly used in veterinary medicine. Propofol is approved for use in more than 50 countries, and generic versions are available.

Chemically, Propofol is unrelated to barbiturates and has largely replaced sodium thiopental (Pentothal) for induction of anesthesia because recovery from Propofol is more rapid and “clear” when compared with thiopental. Propofol is not considered an analgesic, so opioids such as fentanyl may be combined with Propofol to alleviate pain. Propofol has been referred to as “milk of amnesia” (a pun on milk of magnesia), because of the milk-like appearance of its intravenous preparation.

Contents

Indications

Propofol is used for induction of anesthesia, having largely replaced sodium thiopental for this indication. Propofol is also used to sedate individuals who are receiving mechanical ventilation. In critically ill patients it has been found to be superior to lorazepam both in effectiveness as well as overall cost; as a result, the use of Propofol for this indication is now encouraged whereas the use of lorazepam for this indication is discouraged. Propofol is also used for sedation, for example, prior to endoscopic procedures, and has been found to have less prolonged sedation and a faster recovery time compared to midazolam.

Chemistry

20-mL ampoule of 1% Propofol emulsion, as sold in Australia by Sandoz

Propofol was originally developed in the UK by Imperial Chemical Industries as ICI 35868. Clinical trials followed in 1977, using a form solubilised in cremophor EL. However, due to anaphylactic reactions to cremophor, this formulation was withdrawn from the market and subsequently reformulated as an emulsion of a soya oil/propofol mixture in water. The emulsified formulation was relaunched in 1986 by ICI (now AstraZeneca) under the brand name Diprivan (abbreviated version of diisopropyl intravenous anesthetic). The currently available preparation is 1% Propofol, 10% soybean oil, and 1.2% purified egg phospholipid (emulsifier), with 2.25% of glycerol as a tonicity-adjusting agent, and sodium hydroxide to adjust the pH. Diprivan contains EDTA, a common chelation agent, that also acts alone (bacteriostatically against some bacteria) and synergistically with some other antimicrobial agents. Newer generic formulations contain sodium metabisulfite or benzyl alcohol as antimicrobial agents. Propofol emulsion is a highly opaque white fluid due to the scattering of light from the tiny (~150 nm) oil droplets that it contains.

A water-soluble prodrug form, fospropofol, has recently been developed and tested with positive results. Fospropofol is rapidly broken down by the enzyme alkaline phosphatase to form Propofol. Marketed as Lusedra, this new formulation may not produce the pain at injection site that often occurs with the traditional form of the drug. The US Food and Drug Administration approved the product in 2008.

Mechanism of action

Propofol has been proposed to have several mechanisms of action, both through potentiation of GABA_A receptor activity, thereby slowing the channel-closing time, and also acting as a sodium channel blocker. Recent research has also suggested that the endocannabinoid system may contribute significantly to Propofol’s anesthetic action and to its unique properties.

Pharmacokinetics

Propofol is highly protein-bound in vivo and is metabolized by conjugation in the liver. Its rate of clearance exceeds hepatic blood flow, suggesting an extra hepatic site of elimination as well. The half life of elimination of Propofol has been estimated at between 2 and 24 hours. However, its duration of clinical effect is much shorter, because Propofol is rapidly distributed into peripheral tissues. When used for IV sedation, a single dose of Propofol typically wears off within minutes. Propofol is versatile; the drug can be given for short or prolonged sedation as well as for general anesthesia. Its use is not associated with nausea as is often seen with opioid medications. These characteristics of rapid onset and recovery along with its amnestic effects have led to its widespread use for sedation and anesthesia.

EEG research upon those undergoing general anesthesia with Propofol finds that it causes a prominent reduction in the brain’s information integration capacity at gamma wave band frequencies.

Contraindications and interactions

The respiratory effects of Propofol are potentiated by other respiratory depressants, including benzodiazepines.

As with any other general anesthetic agent, Propofol should be administered only where appropriately trained staff and facilities for monitoring are available, as well as proper airway management, a supply of supplemental oxygen, artificial ventilation and cardiovascular resuscitation.

Adverse effects

Aside from low blood pressure (mainly through vasodilation) and transient apnea following induction doses, one of Propofol’s most frequent side effects is pain on injection, especially in smaller veins. This pain can be mitigated by pretreatment with lidocaine. Patients show great variability in their response to Propofol, at times showing profound sedation with small doses. A more serious but rare side effect is dystonia. Mild myoclonic movements are common, as with other intravenous hypnotic agents. Propofol appears to be safe for use in porphyria, and has not been known to trigger malignant hyperpyrexia.

It has been reported that the euphoria caused by Propofol is unlike that caused by other sedation agents, “I even remember my first experience using Propofol: a young woman who was emerging from a MAC anesthesia looked at me as though I were a masked Brad Pitt and told me that she felt simply wonderful.” —C.F. Ward, M.D.

Propofol has reportedly induced priapism in some individuals.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

Costs of Raising a Child Have Risen in Past 10 Years

I just finished reading an article published in CNN Money about the alarming increase over the last 10 years, in the costs of raising a child.

The double whammy is that wages and income have not risen anywhere near enough to offset these upsetting statistics.

For you parents out there and those of you thinking about becoming parents, I suggest you read this excellent article describing just what has caused this very real, financial dilemma.

CNN MONEY – “THE RISING COST OF RAISING A CHILD”

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

Drugs for Rheumatoid Arthritis & Risk of Skin Cancer

Biological Drugs Used to Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis Increases Risk of Skin Cancer

Do you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis? If you are taking a class of biological drugs referred to as TNF-inhibitors to treat you condition, you may be at a significantly increased risk of developing skin cancer.

An analysis of multiple studies cumulatively following over 40,000 RA patients exposed to the drugs for almost 150,000 patient years found that these TNF-inhibitor drugs did not increase the risk of internal cancers, but did significantly increase the risk of skin cancers, including melanoma.

Additional warnings issued by the FDA addressed the issue of increased risk of bacterial infection in people using TNF-inhibiting drugs.

The FDA required that this warning now be included on the box labels for these drugs. Serious, including fatal, infections are a known risk of TNF-blockers according to the FDA.

If you are using one of these drugs to treat RA, discuss with your physicians the benefits and risks of this type of treatment as well as other options that may be available.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

Bizarre Things Our Bodies Do

Bizarre Things Our Bodies Do…

Reasons for things like HICCUPS, BRAIN FREEZES, LIMBS FALLING ASLEEP, BLACK CIRCLES UNDER THE EYES, EYE TWITCHES, CANKER SORES and MUCH MORE!

There are uncontrollable things that happen to our bodies, that for the most part are not dangerous, but why they happen is a mystery.

This is an entertaining slide show from WebMD that helps to shed some light on these things we have lived with for years.

http://www.webmd.com/brain/slideshow-weird-body-quirks?ecd=wnl_day_091411

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

Does Smoking Marijuana Make You Skinnier?

A recently published study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that rates of obesity are 33% less in people who smoke marijuana at least three times a week compared to non-smokers of marijuana.

The reporting of this study made me smile. First of all, don’t people who smoke marijuana get the munchies and wouldn’t that make them susceptible to weight-gain not weight-loss?

In fact, cannabis (marijuana) is given to cancer patients to help to increase their appetites. So, it is unclear as to why frequent smokers of marijuana are less obese than non-smokers.

One theory is that replacing what may be a compulsive habit of eating too much with pot smoking, may be the reason frequent pot smokers tend to be less obese.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

High Salt & Sedentary Lifestyle Bad for Cognition

HIGH SALT CONSUMPTION COUPLED WITH A SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE MAKES FOR A BAD RECIPE REGARDING COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN PEOPLE OVER 60

A recent study showed that if you are over 60 and want to maintain the healthy memory and cognitive function you currently have……………then get out and exercise!

This new research found that people who consumed over 2500 mg of salt a day and also were sedentary experienced cognitive decline associated with age.

Those who exercised, even in spite of high salt consumption, were much more likely to retain their current cognitive function and less likely to experience age-related cognitive decline.

The best of both worlds would be to exercise consistently and for those 50 and above keep the total mg of salt per day in the 1500-2000 mg range.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S

Which Drugs Increase the Risk of Miscarriage?

WHICH COMMONLY USED DRUGS INCREASE THE RISK OF MISCARRIAGE IN EARLY PREGNANCY AND SHOULD BE AVOIDED IF AT ALL POSSIBLE

Investigators found that in the 52,000 women who were tracked, the use of common pain killers like ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn) and celecoxib (celebrex), these drugs which are commonly referred to as NSAIDS (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) increased the likelihood of miscarriage by 2.4 times. The study which was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal does not definitively prove that these NSAIDS caused the increase in miscarriages, but does agree with some earlier research which came to the same conclusion.

Women who are pregnant and need pain medication may want to ask their physician if acetaminophen is a safer choice. Many painful, inflammatory conditions like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis are known to get better during pregnancy and no medication at all, may be needed.

Curt Hendrix M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.