Your World and You: Tips to Improve Your Family’s Health – Issue 37 (Premium)
Environmental and Nutritional Tips to Improve Your Family’s Health
This feature highlights reports, studies, and feedback on efforts that can make a positive impact in our quest for health. Topics we cover in this issue are included below. We invite you to share material with us that you think would be of interest to our readers.
Articles in this issue:
- Induced labor not associated with autism risk
- An urgent call for warning label on foods containing synthetic dyes
- On a restricted diet? Use this resource to find recipes
- Sorting out the harm from e-cigarettes
- Simple tips to switch to a Mediterranean diet
- Autism cases in kindergarten jump by 7% in California
- Gym equipment exposes users to dangerous chemicals
- All natural homemade cleaning products
- Prenatal maternal smoking associated with increased TS and chronic tic disorders
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Induced labor not associated with autism risk
Follow-up of all live births in Sweden between 1992 and 2005 were analyzed related to induced labor and the later development of autism. Researchers suggest risk for autism should not factor into the clinical decision about whether to induce labor.
Association of Labor Induction With Offspring Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder
An urgent call for warning on foods containing synthetic dyes
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has written to the FDA calling for warning labels on foods with synthetic dyes. The suggested wording: WARNING: This food contains synthetic food colorings that may impair the behavior of some children.”
The letter shares a testimonial that CSPI received from Erica Stewart from Chicago, Illinois. She reported that she “took her son to several doctors in an attempt to ameliorate his severe emotional and behavioral problems. Several doctors diagnosed him with ADHD and autism; one doctor hospitalized him and prescribed to him heavy dosages of Zoloft. Only after her son stopped eating foods and beverages containing Red No. 40 did she see any meaningful improvement. The costs associated with the needless doctor visits, medications, and hospitalization could have been entirely avoided had she read warning labels on foods that associated dyes with adverse behavioral issues in children.
“As long as dyes are permitted, only a warning label will provide consumers with the appropriate information to enable them to make the association between foods containing these dyes and their children’s behavioral symptoms. The FDA has mandated such labeling in the past on several occasions. For the same reason, labeling is necessary in the context of food dyes.”
On a restricted diet? Use this resource to find recipes
This guide from FoodsMatter offers a way to find recipes that match your specific needs. Check out recipes for starters, soups and light lunch from FoodsMatter using their guide to find what you need. Restrictions included on certain recipes are specified in this key:
- CF – Corn free;
- DF – Dairy free;
- EF – Egg free;
- GF – Gluten free;
- LF – Lactose Free;
- NiF – Nighshade free;
- NuF – Nut free;
- SF – Soya free;
- WF – Wheat free
- Corn-free substitutes given
- NB DF/Dairy free means cow’s milk free, not animal milk free
Sorting out the harm from e-cigarettes
While previous studies have found that electronic cigarettes emit toxic compounds, a new study has pinpointed the source of these emissions and shown how factors such as the temperature, type, and age of the device play a role in emission levels, information that could be valuable to both manufacturers and regulators seeking to minimize the health impacts of these increasingly popular devices.
Full article from ScienceDaily here
Simple tips to switch to a Mediterranean diet
Authors of new research on benefits of the Mediterranean diet suggest a shift to this approach can be done in steps. “The main thing I would do is start using only olive oil or canola oil in my kitchen,” Bloomfield said. Eat more chicken and fish and less red meat, and more nuts instead of potato chips, she added. Diekman suggested adding more vegetable to dishes, and topping cereals, salads and even meat with fruits. Next, add some beans to meat dishes or in place of meats.
Read about new research on the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet
Autism cases in kindergarten jump by 7% in California
The Sacramento Bee reported: More than 97,000 California public school students have been diagnosed as autistic, a number that has risen seven-fold since 2001, according to the latest special education data from the California Department of Education.
The figure represent a jump of about 6,500, or 7 percent, from 2014-15 to 2015-16.
Gym equipment exposes users to dangerous chemicals
Researchers at Boston University School of Public Health found that popular gymnastics equipment contains flame-retardant chemicals that have been linked to increased risks of ADHD, cancer and brain development delays.
“While prior studies have found high levels of such retardants in the air and dust of gyms, the new study, which analyzed foam pits in 11 U.S. gyms, found that 89 percent of pit cubes sampled contained flame-retardants. Foam pits routinely are used to safely teach new skills.
In addition, the study found that exposures among a team of 11 collegiate gymnasts were linked to the flame-retardants in their gymnastics-training environment, with higher levels of those chemicals in their urine after practice than before practice. The markers of the chemicals in urine samples were the same as the flame-retardants found in pit cubes in the gym’s loose-foam pit.
The most common flame retardant found was TPHP, a suspected developmental disrupter. There was a 50-percent increase in the average level of urinary metabolite of TPHP in the gymnasts’ urine collected after practice, compared to before practice.”
All natural homemade cleaning products
Use the slide show on this link to find easy homemade cleaning products for:
Dish soap| Glass cleaner | Wooden floor cleaner | Greasy pot rescue | Sink cleaner | Sticky residue remover
(Includes some safety advice at the end) Tips here
Prenatal maternal smoking associated with increased Tourette’s and chronic tic disorders
Heavy smoking was associated with a 66% increased risk of Tourette syndrome and chronic tic disorders in research published in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry . It is also associated with a twofold increased risk of Tourette’s and chronic tic disorders along with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Both light and heavy smoking were associated with over a twofold increased risk of TS/CT with any non-ADHD psychiatric comorbidity.
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