Your World and You: Tips to Improve Your Family’s Health – Issue 59 (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
- Misleading report title: “Only 1 in 10 outgrow ADHD”
- Dysfunctional brain regulation of appetite happens BEFORE developing obesity
- Differences in gut microbiota in autism may be due to dietary preferences
- Poor diabetes control in kids tied to high risk for severe COVID-19
- Hearing loss from common loud noises? There’s a new approach
- Looking for advice on gluten-free foods?
- Study links gut microbiome and aggressive prostate cancer
- Air pollution and exercise: When to do more–or less
- Using functional medicine for metabolic syndrome
- Frequent consumption of peanuts by cancer patients may increase risk of cancer spread
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Misleading report title: “Only 1 in 10 outgrow ADHD”
The new report in the American Journal of Psychiatry claims that the great majority of adults do not outgrow ADHD, as previously has been suggested.
In this current study, it is proposed that ADHD symptoms wax and wane during adulthood. The lead researcher, Margaret Sibley, said these “flares” when ADHD symptoms appear could be due to “stress, the wrong environment, and not having a healthy lifestyle of proper sleep, healthy eating, and regular exercise. Also, if a person is not taking the time to manage symptoms and really understand what works best for them, then the symptoms are probably going to get more out of control.”
Apparently, nine out of ten people who had an ADHD diagnosis when younger, still show some symptoms when the above “environmental” factors are encountered. This is a strange conclusion because when ADHD is identified in children using conventional approaches, factors such as “lifestyle, the wrong environment, healthy eating and stress are usually ignored.!Instead, medications are focused on.
Dysfunctional brain regulation of appetite happens before developing obesity
You may wonder why some people are obese and seem unable to control their eating habits, while others don’t have that problem. To a great extent, the answer lies in the brain. New research found that the networks in the brain that communicate satiety (feeling full, satisfied) and appetite (hunger, desire for food) are altered before a person develops obesity. Bottom line? Their overeating and resulting obesity can be a consequence of their brain dysfunction.
Gut microbiota differences in autism may be due to dietary preferences
It’s like the old chicken and the egg question. Research suggests that autism spectrum disorder may be at least partly caused by differences in the composition of the gut microbiota, based on the observation that certain types of microbes are more common in people with autism. But a new study suggests that the link may actually work the other way around: the diversity in species found in the guts of children with autism may be due to their restricted dietary preferences associated with autism, rather than the cause of their symptoms.
Poor diabetes control in kids tied to high risk for severe COVID-19
Children with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes have a 10 times higher risk of COVID-19-related complications and death compared to those with well-controlled diabetes, according to a study presented virtually at ENDO 2021, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting.
“This study shows keeping diabetic children’s blood sugar under control is more important than ever during the pandemic,” said lead author Manish Raisingani, M.D.
Hearing loss from common loud noises? There’s a new approach
Exposure to loud noise, such as a firecracker or an ear-splitting concert, is the most common preventable cause of hearing loss. Research suggests that 12% or more of the world population is at risk for noise-induced loss of hearing.
Loud sounds can cause a loss of auditory nerve cells in the inner ear, which are responsible for sending acoustic information to the brain, resulting in hearing difficulty. However, the mechanism behind this hearing loss is not fully understood.
Now, a new study from Keck Medicine of USC links this type of inner ear nerve damage to a condition known as endolymphatic hydrops, a buildup of fluid in the inner ear, showing that these both occur at noise exposure levels people might encounter in their daily life.
Researchers also found that treating the resulting fluid buildup with a readily available saline solution lessened nerve damage in the inner ear.
Looking for advice on gluten-free foods?
Going gluten-free can be very challenging, especially in the beginning. But there are wonderful resources to help you navigate the change. One of the best sites is from the Celiac Disease Foundation. See their website for a focus on topics such as:
- Naturally gluten-free foods
- Gluten-free substitutes
- Cereal
- Oats
- Soups and sauces
- Produce (prepared)
- Reading labels
- Gluten-free candy list (!)
- ALSO: Tips on eating out and recipes
We suggest you take advantage of other online resources and consider joining forums or Facebook groups for additional support.
Study links gut microbiome and aggressive prostate cancer
Researchers have uncovered how diet and lifestyle modifications may lower the risk of this lethal disease. Cleveland Clinic researchers have shown for the first time that diet-associated molecules in the gut are associated with aggressive prostate cancer, suggesting dietary interventions may help reduce risk. Findings from the study were published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
The researchers found that men with elevated levels of a metabolite called phenylacetylglutamine (PAGln) were approximately two or three times more likely to be diagnosed with lethal prostate cancer. This metabolite is produced when microbes in the gut break down phenylalanine, an amino acid found in many plant- and animal-based protein sources like meat, beans and soy.
In addition to PAGln, researchers also discovered that elevated levels of two nutrients abundant in animal products, including red meat, egg yolks and high-fat dairy products, called choline and betaine, also were linked with increased risk for aggressive prostate cancer. While these nutrients and gut metabolites have been studied previously in heart disease and stroke, this is the first time that gut microbiome metabolites have been studied clinically in relation to prostate cancer outcomes.
Use Functional Medicine for Metabolic syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that occur together, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. These conditions include increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels.
Having just one of these conditions doesn’t mean you have metabolic syndrome. But it does mean you have a greater risk of serious disease. And if you develop more of these conditions, your risk of complications, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, rises even higher.
Metabolic syndrome is increasingly common, and up to one-third of U.S. adults have it. If you have metabolic syndrome or any of its components, aggressive lifestyle changes can delay or even prevent the development of serious health problems.
Read about lifestyle interventions
Frequent consumption of peanuts by cancer patients may increase risk of cancer spread
his information is technical: A study by University of Liverpool researchers has identified new factors accompanying previous findings that frequent consumption of peanuts by cancer patients could increase risk of cancer spread.
The study, published in Carcinogenesis, shows that peanut agglutinin (PNA) — a carbohydrate-binding protein that rapidly enters into the blood circulation after peanuts are eaten — interacts with blood vascular wall (endothelial) cells to produce molecules called cytokines.
The cytokines in question, IL-6 and MCP-1 are well-known promoters of cancer metastasis. The increased cytokine production causes other endothelial cells to express more cell surface adhesion molecules, making them more attractive to the circulating tumor cells and thus potentially promoting metastasis.
This interaction triggers changes in the larger protein, resulting in underlying adhesion molecules on the surface of the cancer cell to become exposed, making the cancer cells stickier and easier to attach themselves to the blood vessels. It also allows the cancer cells to form small clumps that prolong the survival of cancer cells in the body’s circulation. Many epithelial cancers spread to the other organs through traveling through the bloodstream.
“Although further research and investigation are still needed, these studies suggest that very frequent consumption of peanuts by cancer patients might increase the risk of metastatic spread.”
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