Your World and You: Tips to Improve Your Family’s Health – Issue 16 (Premium)
Environmental and Nutritional Tips to Improve Your Family’s Health
This feature highlights reports, studies, and feedback from families 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.
- One in ten city children allergic to milk, eggs or peanuts
- A clue to some childhood obesity: antidepressant use by pregnant moms can result in increased weight in boys
- Nasty phthalates in the news again
- A simple spice for depression?
- Ten body wash and soap bars that are truly all-natural and non-toxic
- The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism
[am4show have=’g1;’ guest_error=’Premium Article Guest Message’ user_error=’Premium Article Basic Message’ ]
One in ten city children allergic to milk, eggs or peanuts
A study in the US finds one in ten children living in large cities has a “major allergy” to milk, eggs and peanuts, and 55% are “sensitive” to the foods. The cities studied were Baltimore, Boston, New York City and St. Louis,
Scientists at Johns Hopkins “suspect exposure to pollutants might be to blame –especially for children who have not built up immunities from common bacteria which are prevalent in nature but rare in the concrete jungle.”
The researchers tracked the first five years of 516 children living in Baltimore, Boston, New York City and St. Louis, measuring their exposure to allergens each year while tracking their diets and general health.
In the UK, those living in the country had less allergy than those in busy cities.
See the article “City children more likely to suffer food allergies” published in The Telegraph.
A clue to some childhood obesity: antidepressant use by pregnant moms can result in increased weight in boys
Use of SSRI antidepressants(selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) during pregnancy has a number of potential impacts on the unborn child including future autism and developmental delays. Another undesirable possibility based on a study in 2013 is children – boys in particular—being overweight by age seven.
Researchers showed that a higher incidence of boys whose mothers were on SSRIs while pregnant were overweight at age seven than those whose mom’s did not take an SSRI, including people who were depressed as well as those with depression who did not take the medication. Click for the research abstract “Prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and childhood overweight at 7 years of age.”
See also our article Taking this While Pregnant Increases Risk for Autism and Developmental Delays in Boys
Nasty phthalates in the news again
The Environmental News Service reports that most babies born prematurely, and one-third of full-term infants, are exposed to chemicals found in vinyl “at a potentially harmful level.” The research was conducted in Finland.
Babies were studied from the day of birth until 14 months of age. Exposure to several phthalates were looked at. The chemicals, considered hormone disruptors, have been linked to health effects in animal tests and some human studies, including altered male genitalia, attention and learning problems and asthma.
The sources of the phthalates in the babies are unknown. But some researchers suspect that they came from hospital equipment or household materials.
For preterm babies, 80% of the infants born before 37 week and 30 percent of the full-term infants had levels of four phthalate metabolites in their urine that exceeded adult guidelines, based on hormone effects, set by the European Food Safety Authority.
Scientific American carried the story here.
A simple spice for depression?
Turmeric, also known as curcumin, is a popular spice in the East. It has multiple beneficial properties and a new one has now been documented: a treatment for major and atypical depression.
In a study just released, 56 individuals with major depressive disorder were treated with curcumin (500 mg twice daily) or placebo for 8 weeks. The greatest improvement in mood compared to placebo was during the 4-to 8-week period.
Be sure to look for organic turmeric, as standard spices can be contaminated with pesticides and other agents. Check at natural food stores on Amazon. Organic India has a turmeric product in capsules that should be good quality. Remember that the study focused on a total of 1 gm per day.
9 body wash and soap bars that are truly all-natural and non-toxic
Baby Hugo Naturals Handcrafted Soaps
Be Green Bath and Body Products
Biggs & Featherbelle Momma Bar
Consonant Body Organic Skincare
The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism
A popular book, this account by an exceptional mother, Kristine Barnett, is an inspiring reminder that sometimes we need to pave our own way and celebrate our children’s special qualities, whether mainstream or not. Read a brief summary here.
“Jacob has an IQ higher than Einstein’s, a photographic memory, and he taught himself calculus in two weeks. At nine he started working on an original theory in astrophysics that experts believe may someday put him in line for a Nobel Prize, and at age twelve he became a paid researcher in quantum physics. But the story of Kristine’s journey with Jake is all the more remarkable because his extraordinary mind was almost lost to autism.”
[/am4show]