Health News

Is bottled water safer?

Drinking plenty of water is important for your health, because it maintains bodily functions, carries nutrients to cells and helps you stay hydrated and energized.

But you’ve probably wondered: Is fancy bottled water somehow better for you than plain tap water? And is it even OK to drink tap water without using a water-filtration device?

Many people believe that because bottled water goes through a filtration process that improves its taste, odor and color, it’s also healthier for you. Filtration eliminates possible contaminants such as lead, parasites and byproducts of chlorine, so it’s gotta be better, right?

Well, not really. “While (filters) can reduce exposure to (harmful) elements, it doesn’t necessarily mean bottled water will be better for your overall health,” says Katherine Patton, a registered dietician and certified sports dietician.

In the U.S., tap water is already treated to remove particles, chemicals and bacteria. During the process of treating public water, chlorine is added as a disinfectant, and fluoride is added for its dental health benefits (though there are those who say fluoride does more harm than good).

The Safe Drinking Water Act was put into place in 1974 to ensure that all drinking water that is “actually or potentially designed for drinking use, whether from above-ground or underground sources,” must meet the minimum safety standards established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. So whether you’re drinking water that came from a rural kitchen tap or one in a city restaurant, it should be safe.

Well water, however, is more likely to be contaminated since it doesn’t go through the same treatment and testing as water for public consumption. If the drinking water in your home comes from a well, filter it or hire a company to test its quality before you drink it.

But the water source isn’t your only concern: The pipes it flows through matter, too. Lead pipes can leach lead into water, making it harmful to drink (especially for children and pregnant women). If you aren’t sure whether or not your pipes are made of lead, have your water tested.

And what about microscopic creepy-crawlies? According to the National Sanitation Foundation website, “bottled water is regulated by the FDA, which has established water-quality requirements similar to those established by the EPA for public water supplies. Bottled water products and public water supplies are not required by either agency to be 100% free of contaminants, but the end product should always meet all federal, state or provincial drinking water standards.”

Of course, many people buy bottled water for its taste and portability. But if you’re buying it because you believe it’s safer than tap, you may want to start heading to the sink to fill up your glass.

Source: upwave

Take aspirin before bed to cut morning heart risk

Taking a single aspirin tablet before bed can reduce the risk of suffering a heart attack in the morning, a new trial has suggested

Taking aspirin before going to bed might reduce the risk of suffering a heart attack in the morning, according to a new study.

A trial involving 290 heart attack patients has shown that taking just one 100mg tablet before going to bed was more effective than taking it in the morning.

Researchers found that platelet levels were lower in patents who took the painkiller, which thins the blood and prevents clotting, at night.

Platelets, which lead to the formation of blood clots, tend to reach their peak in the morning.

This means that the risk of heart attack is often at its highest shortly before or just after waking up

Source: Telegraph

 

Nearpod helps revolutionize medical education teaching using mobile devices

One of the most impressive apps for medical education purposes is Nearpod. The premise behind nearpod is simple–to bring the classroom to life with interactive mobile presentations that teachers can create and customize themselves. Nearpod relies on a  cloud based system to distribute interactive presentations to students in a classroom. It is particularly well suited for institutions that own or use tablets regularly (although you can use a phone).

How does it work?

Nearpod allows teachers to upload their presentations and add interactive features such as polls, drawing questions, multiple choice questions and more. These are then distributed to everyone’s device in realtime which the teacher can control.

The teacher can ask a question through the app and then see everyone’s responses. The teacher then has the option to pick a certain answer and show it to everyone or just continue with the presentation. This is easiest explained in the screenshot

 

What are the advantages?

Nearpod has a range of advantages over standard presentations. Perhaps most importantly, presentations can now become interactive and students can engage with content which has been shown to increase learning efficiency. Nearpod also reports detailed statistics and analysis which could potentially be used to identify weak students.

Other advantages include:

  • ability to carry out distance learning
  • access from a web browser
  • ability to share content in real time

What are the limitations?

Setting up a successful Nearpod presentation takes more work than just a standard presentation. It takes additional time and foresight to prepare an interactive presentation using the online tool. There is currently no downloadable app to create nearpod presentations offline. There are occasionally network issues depending on the number of users and stability issues although thankfully these are limited.

What next?

iMedicalApps is going to prepare a detailed explanatory tutorial for how to use Nearpod within the next month so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Source: Medical Apps

 

Women on morning pills twice as likely to have serious eye disease

A new study has suggested that that women who have taken oral contraceptives for three or more years are twice as likely to suffer from glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness which affects nearly 60 million worldwide.

Researchers at University of California, San Francisco, Duke University School of Medicine and Third Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China utilized 2005-2008 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), administered by the Centers for Disease Control, which included 3,406 female participants aged 40 years or older from across the United States who completed the survey’s vision and reproductive health questionnaire and underwent eye exams.

They found that females who had used oral contraceptives, no matter which kind, for longer than three years are 2.05 times more likely to also report that they have the diagnosis of glaucoma.

Although the results of the study do not speak directly to the causative effect of oral contraceptives on the development of glaucoma, it indicates that long-term use of oral contraceptives might be a potential risk factor for glaucoma, and may be considered as part of the risk profile for a patient together with other existing risk factors.

These include factors such as African American- ethnicity, family history of glaucoma, history of increased eye pressure or existing visual field defects.

Source: Business Standard

 

Aldi Rizal, Chain Smoking Toddler, Picks Up Junk Food Addiction

Indonesia’s chain-smoking baby has kicked the habit. Aldi Rizal, the 2-year-old Indonesia boy who picked up the horrific habit of smoking 40 cigarettes a day has picked up a new habit.

The now five-year-old boy has picked up a food addiction. His huge appetite has seen him gorge on junk food and fatty snacks. According to The Sun, Rizal weigh 56 pounds, due to his unhealthy

A new documentary series revisits the family two years later to find out how Rizal is getting on and reveals he has managed to stay off the cigarettes, but he’s still dangerously unhealthy. The young boy’s mother said her son begs for food in the same way he used to beg for cigarettes, and the family struggles not to give in to his tantrums.

“When Ardi first quit smoking he would demand a lot of toys,” his 28-year-old mother, Diane said. “He would bang his head on the wall if he couldn’t get what he wanted… Now I don’t give him cigarettes, but he eats a lot. With so many people living in the house it’s hard to stop him from getting food.”

Nutritionist Fransisca Dewi said the young boy is overweight and his ideal weight should be 17kg to 19kg. He’s 24kg already.

“I think it is difficult for them. The mother says Aldi is a spoilt kid,” Dewi said. “If she wants to forbid him eating, it will be hard. She will need the cooperation from the entire household. One obvious thing is they let him have too much condensed milk. He drinks three cans a day and eats too many carbohydrates.”

Loved ones are now trying, again, to steer the young boy in the right direction, by feeding him a steady diet of fruit and vegetables. Diane said she is trying to persuade her son’s siblings and the rest of the family not to give in and provide him with junk food when she is not around.

Rizal early smoking habits may contribute to his current weight problems, as nicotine affects hormone, insulin and glucose levels in the body.

According to The Mirror, Rizal quit smoking in a rehabilitation program set up by the Indonesian government. Rizal’s smoking habit even caused such outrage that the administration launched a nationwide campaign to end childhood smoking.

During his rehabilitation treatment, Aldi saw psychiatrists who encouraged his mother to keep him busy with playing and taught her about the dangers of smoking. Diane said people still offer her son cigarettes even though he has kicked the habit.

 

Source: Food World News

 

New York City bans tobacco sales to people under age 21

Mayor Bloomberg signed the legislation, which makes the city’s tobacco laws among the nations most stringent

Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed landmark legislation Tuesday banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21, making New York the first large city or state in the country to prohibit sales to young adults.

During a brief ceremony at City Hall, Bloomberg said rising the legal purchase age from 18 to 21 will help prevent young people from experimenting with tobacco at the age when they are most likely to become addicted. City health officials say 80 percent of smokers start before age 21.

The mayor, a former smoker, also signed companion legislation setting a minimum price for all cigarettes sold in the city to $10.50 per pack. That law also bans retailers from offering coupons, 2-for-1 specials or discounts.

In signing the bills, Bloomberg deflected criticism from some retailers that the measures would prove economically harmful and lead to job losses.

“This is an issue of whether we are going to kill people,” Bloomberg said. People who raise the economic argument, he said, “really ought to look in the mirror and be ashamed.”

The ban has limitations in its ability to stop young people from picking up the deadly habit. Teenagers can still possess tobacco legally. Kids will still be able to steal cigarettes from their parents, bum them from friends or buy them from the black-market dealers who are common in many neighborhoods.

But City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said the idea is to make it more inconvenient for young people to get started, especially young teens who had previously had easy access to cigarettes through slightly older peers.

“Right now, an 18-year-old can buy for a 16-year-old,” he said. Once the law takes effect, in 180 days, Farley said, that 16-year-old would “have to find someone in college or out in the workforce.”

Source: Aljazeera America

Stress reduction through meditation could help slow Alzheimer’s progression

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A new study has suggested that the brain changes associated with meditation and stress reduction could play an important role in slowing the progression of age-related cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

First author Rebecca Erwin Wells, MD, MPH, who conducted her research as a fellow in Integrative Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Harvard Medical School, said that they know that as people age, there’s a high correlation between perceived stress and Alzheimer’s disease, so they wanted to know if stress reduction through meditation might improve cognitive reserve.

Wells evaluated adults between the ages of 55 and 90 in BIDMC’s Cognitive Neurology Unit. 14 adults diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment were included in the study.

Participants were randomized two to one either to a group who participated in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) using meditation and yoga, or a control group who received normal care.

The study group met for two hours each week for eight weeks. They also participated in a day-long mindfulness retreat, and were encouraged to continue their practice at home for 15 to 30 minutes per day.

All participants underwent a functional MRI (fMRI) at baseline and then again after eight weeks to determine if there were any changes in the structures of the brain or in brain activity. The neuroimaging was conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Martinos Center.

The results of fMRI imaging showed that the group engaged in MBSR had significantly improved functional connectivity in the areas of the default mode network. Additionally, as expected, both groups experienced atrophy of the hippocampus, but those who practiced MBSR experienced less atrophy.

The study has been published online in journal Neuroscience Letters.

Source: Ani News

 

Preterm birth linked to phthalates in personal products

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Chemicals widely used in household products and toiletries may increase the risk giving birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy, a new study suggests.

Pregnant women exposed to phthalates, a group of hormone-mimicking chemicals found in personal care products and processed foods, may have an increased risk of preterm delivery, a new study suggests.

The study included 130 women in the Boston area who had given birth early, before 37 weeks of pregnancy, and 352 women who delivered at full term between 2006 and 2008. The researchers measured the levels of common phthalates such as DEHP in the women’s urine up to three times during their pregnancies.

They found that women who had the highest levels of phthalate metabolites in their urine had a risk of preterm birth that was two to five times higher when compared with women who had the lowest levels.

What’s more, when the researchers looked only at the 57 women who had “spontaneous preterm delivery,” meaning they didn’t have a medical condition that could explain their early delivery, they found the link between exposure to phthalates and risk of preterm delivery was stronger, according to the study published today (Nov. 18) in JAMA Pediatrics.

“These data provide strong support for taking action in the prevention or reduction of phthalate exposure during pregnancy,” the researchers wrote in their findings.

Phthalates are chemicals widely used in making flexible and durable plastics, and many other products such as adhesives, detergents, soaps, shampoos, hair sprays, perfumes and deodorants. People are exposed to these potentially hormone-disrupting chemicals through contact with phthalate-containing products, and eating certain processed and canned foods.

“For women who are interested in reducing their exposure, reducing use of personal care products, buying phthalate-free [products] when possible, and eating fresher foods may help, although research on that is limited,” said study researcher John Meeker, an associate professor of Environmental Health Sciences at University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Preterm birth, defined as the birth of an infant before 37 weeks of pregnancy, is a leading cause of death or long-term neurological disabilities in children. The rate of preterm birth in the United States has increased by more than a third between 1981 and its peak at 12.8 percent in 2006. The rates slightly decreased in the subsequent years, to about 11.5 percent in 2012, which means one out of every eight children is now born prematurely, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

A recent review of studies looking for what might underlie the increase in preterm birth rates identified risk factors such as increasing maternal age and use of assisted reproduction. However, nearly half of the increase remains unaccounted for, said Shanna Swan, a professor of preventive medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.

The new study provides “strong evidence that environmental chemicals, and phthalates in particular, likely contribute significantly to that unknown and other category,” Swan wrote in an editorial published along with the new study.

The study showed an association, not a cause-and-effect relationship, between phthalates and preterm birth. However, there are reasons to think phthalates could cause preterm births; for example, phthalates may cause inflammation in the uterine lining, the researchers said.

Lab studies have shown that phthalates can cause inflammation, but this needs to be studied in humans. Other ideas about possible mechanisms by which phthalates affect pregnancy involve women’s immune response, oxidative stress, and hormone disruption.

“There’s a list of things phthalates have been shown to do in experimental studies. Much work is left to be done in human observational studies,” Meeker told LiveScience.

Other factors that contribute to higher risks of preterm delivery include smoking, drinking, infection, stress and high blood pressure during pregnancy. A study published in January 2013 in the journal Lancet predicted that current interventions to address known risk factors would decrease preterm birth rates by only 5 percent by 2015.

Exposure to phthalates may be one risk factor that could be prevented by behavioral modification or through policies aiming at reducing the use of phthalates, the researchers said.

Source: Mother Nature Network

How to Buy the Healthiest Yogurt

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Yogurt has earned itself a reputation as a true health-food superstar. But know this: “Yogurt can turn into junk food really quickly,” says Caroline Kaufman, RDN, a nutrition expert in San Francisco and an expert panelist for the Health Must-Eat List. Even if you skip the obvious offenders, like yogurts with crushed cookies or candy toppings, some pile on the sugar and excess calories. With so many choices out there—since 2010 alone, 671 new yogurt products have hit store shelves—how can you be sure you’re choosing wisely? These guidelines will lead you to the standouts.

Keep it simple

To make yogurt, all that’s needed is milk and two live bacterial cultures, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, which turn the milk into yogurt via fermentation. “Beyond that, a few added extras for flavor, like a little sugar or some fruit, are fine,” Kaufman says. Steer clear of products that have long lists of ingredients with things you can’t pronounce or wouldn’t expect to see in yogurt, like hydrogenated oils and artificial sweeteners.

Look for good bugs

Probiotics—good bacteria similar to the ones living in your digestive tract—are yogurt’s key ingredient. These beneficial bugs have been shown to help with digestion and gut health. But surprisingly, not all yogurt sold in stores actually contains “live and active cultures,” as the bacteria in yogurt are known. Some companies heat-treat yogurt after culturing, which kills off bacteria, both good and bad, to make it more shelf-stable and reduce tartness.

Make calcium count

Yogurt is a stellar source of bone-building calcium, but the amount can vary from brand to brand. Aim for one that has at least 15 percent of the daily value for calcium; the yogurts on our list contain anywhere from 15 to 35 percent.

Do a sugar check

Trying to cut back on added sugar? Don’t rely only on the number of grams listed on the label. Yogurt has a fair amount of naturally occurring milk sugar, aka lactose (about 9 grams in a 6-ounce container of plain regular yogurt, and about 7 grams in Greek yogurt), and the sugar figure includes both natural and added sugars. Our shortcut: Avoid any product that lists sugar as the first or second ingredient.

Beware of fake fruit

Adding your own fresh fruit to plain yogurt is always a healthy choice. But sometimes you want the convenience of yogurt with fruit already added. Make sure you see actual fruit on the list of ingredients, ideally before any added sugars, Kaufman advises. “Otherwise it probably just contains a mix of sugar and food coloring or vegetable juice,” she says.

Don’t fear the fat

Opting for nonfat yogurt can help you keep calories and saturated fat in check. But, Kaufman warns, “nonfat doesn’t always mean low in calories. Many nonfat yogurts have a lot of added sugar.” Go for a version that gets most of its sweetness from real fruit, or try adding a teaspoon of honey to plain nonfat yogurt.

If you prefer the taste of a higher-fat yogurt, it’s OK to move up to 1 or 2 percent. “Some new research indicates that saturated fat in dairy might not be the bad guy we once thought,” Kaufman notes. For example, a 2011 study from Brown University found that eating dairy products wasn’t linked to heart attack risk, “possibly because there is other protective nutrients in dairy that balance out the effects of saturated fat,” she says. You can even go for full-fat if you have the cals to spare; just make it your saturated-fat splurge of the day.

Read labels carefully

Luckily, it’s easy to tell if your yogurt includes probiotics. The National Yogurt Association has created a Live & Active Cultures seal for products that contain significant amounts of L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus. (These two bacteria, in particular, must be used in order for a product to be called “yogurt,” per federal regulations. You might see additional cultures listed, but the research on their health benefits is still emerging; a yogurt that contains more cultures isn’t necessarily better for you.) Not every company chooses to carry the seal, so you can also look for “Live and Active Cultures” on the label or L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus in the ingredient list. If a product has been heat-treated after culturing, the company is required to say so on the label.

Source: Health

 

 

Bedroom computers, TV may add to autism sleep issues

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Kids with autism and related disorders are prone to sleep disturbances but a new study finds that screen time, especially in the bedroom, may make their sleep problems worse.

When researchers compared boys with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to other boys, they found that all the kids with bedroom access to media slept fewer hours, but the relationship was twice as strong for the boys with autism.

“In-room media access was associated with about 1.5 fewer hours of sleep per night in the group with autism,” said Christopher R. Engelhardt, who led the study at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

“This association can potentially be problematic, particularly if the reduction in sleep interferes with other daily activities, such as school, homework, interactions with other people, or driving,” he told Reuters Health in an email.

Past studies suggest that up to 80 percent of kids with autism, and related conditions like Asperger syndrome, experience sleep troubles, including difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep through the night. Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) also are known to have a high rate of sleep disturbances.

With both conditions, it’s unclear why sleep is so difficult. Theories include a disruption in sleep-wake cycles that are regulated by the hormone melatonin, which is often deficient in kids with ASDs, Engelhardt and his colleagues write in Pediatrics.

Because kids with autism spectrum disorders, like those with ADHD, also tend to spend a lot of time watching TV and playing video or computer games, the researchers wondered whether that could be contributing to their sleep problems.

So they recruited the parents of 49 boys with autism spectrum disorders, 38 with ADHD and 41 comparison boys with typical development to fill out questionnaires about their children’s bedroom screen access and sleep patterns. All the kids were between ages eight and 17.

Boys with autism who had TV, computers or video games in their bedrooms got less sleep than all the other boys, including boys with autism who didn’t have media in their bedrooms.

Without a TV in their room, boys with autism spent an average of about nine hours sleeping, compared to less than eight hours among kids with an ASD and a bedroom TV.

In contrast, bedroom TVs didn’t seem to make a difference for boys with ADHD or typical development.

Boys with autism with computers in their rooms slept nearly two hours less than boys with autism and no bedroom computer.

A lot of time spent playing video games, regardless of where they were located, was also linked to shorter sleep times among boys with ASDs.

Even for typical children, too much time with TV or video games has been linked to attention problems, hyperactivity, arguments and physical fights, Engelhardt said.

“We can’t say that access to a TV causes less sleep,” only that the two are linked for some kids, he said.

Last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics called for limiting screen time for all kids to one or two hours per day “This is a good recommendation for all children,” Dr. Beth Marlow, Burry Chair in Cognitive Childhood Development and director of the Sleep Disorders Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

“Following this recommendation for kids with (autism spectrum) and ADHD is good, although children with (autism spectrum) or ADHD who are still having difficulty with sleep despite limiting electronics really deserve a sleep evaluation by their pediatrician or sleep specialist.”

Sleep troubles can also stem from anxiety, sleep apnea, pain that the child might not be able to express, gastrointestinal problems or seizures, she said.

For typically developing kids, bedroom TV access doesn’t usually seem to cut into sleep.

“However, (Engelhardt’s) finding for teens with ASD concurs with our clinical impressions – that these teens have difficulty ‘switching off’ videogames,” Michael Gradisar said.

Gradisar is a clinical psychologist who studies technology use and sleep, especially among teens, at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia.

“Many teens have a distorted sense of time passing when playing videogames, however, it may be that this time distortion is stronger for teens with ASD,” he said.

Parents can have a tough time managing how much their children play games or watch TV, he said. “It may take quite some time to do, but one option is for parents to introduce other hobbies and activities into their teens lives, so that videogaming eventually occupies less time.”

People with autism tend to spend more time with media outlets, researchers think, because the electronic worlds have engaging audio and visual features and their social interactions are easy relative to real life interactions.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that parents should take TVs or video games out of their autistic children’s rooms, but might consider limiting or monitoring media consumption, he said.

“Screen media can certainly be good for kids with autism,” he said. “Scientists have long known that video games are great at teaching and reinforcing certain behaviors, so it’s possible that these games can be used to adjust and shape the types of behaviors generally valued by society, such as behaviors intended to help others.”

Source: Reuters