Secret to Reduce Hospital Acquired Infections

Health4Media.com -

Yet more evidence that all you need is water to vastly improve the effectiveness of the National Health Service. So many patients are left water tantalisingly out of their reach.

The trouble is that from an operational point of view the last thing they want is bed bound patients going to the toilet regularly, the irony is that the patient could be sent home earlier getting well more quickly if they practiced patient centered medicine more often.

The results of the recent study in an NHS hospital showed:

20% reduction in time spent in hospital

97% reduction in dehydration

100% reduction in hospital acquired infections

"If these results were repeated across the NHS as a whole it would show a £5 Billion saving and a major increase in patient satisfaction with their care in hospital." say the manufacturers of a new contraption that makes water more accessable to patients in hospital.

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Mainstream Medicine Catches on to Nutritionists Tools

Probiotics and health - Nutritionists have been using probiotics for many years to great effect (to relieve IBS, and other digestive problems and support the immune system) . Now mainstream medicine are finally catching on to the use of therapeutic strain probiotics as tool to treat patients digestive problems and counter the detrimental effects of anti-biotics.

Now a new scientific review by the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF), Probiotics and health – summing up the evidence, draws together complex probiotic research and shows accumulating evidence to support the health benefits of probiotics in some areas. The results of this review are a valuable tool for health professionals which will underpin consistent health advice.

The BNF has examined around 100 original research studies and reviews on probiotics and health. Sian Porter, spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association says: “We welcome BNF’s efforts to bring together the evidence on probiotics and clear the confusion. This review is a useful, up-to-date resource for dietitians to support their evidence based advice on the use of probiotics for different health conditions, to both individuals and the public”.

A complex science
‘Probiotics’ is an extremely complex topic, and this often leads to consumers being exposed to conflicting advice. Dr Elisabeth Weichselbaum, Nutrition Scientist and author of the BNF review says: “Probiotics seem to work in a very strain specific manner - speaking about ‘probiotics’ in general may be as misleading as speaking about ‘pills’ and their effects on health. If a certain strain has been found to affect a certain health outcome, such as IBS, it would be misleading to state that ‘all probiotics’ are effective in relieving IBS symptoms.”

The BNF review shows that each single probiotic strain has to be tested for each single health outcome. To be effective, probiotics need to influence the balance of the human gut microflora. Probiotics must be able to survive their passage through the gastro-intestinal tract, be taken regularly, and in the right dose. Dr Weichselbaum adds: “Scientists are also now becoming increasingly aware that it is important to test whether the food or drink in which probiotics are given is an effective vehicle for delivering health benefits.”

Promise for irritable bowel syndrome
Between 3-25% of the population complains of the uncomfortable symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), so it is no wonder that sufferers are interested in whether probiotics can help. Professor Glenn Gibson, Professor of Food Microbiology at the University of Reading, is optimistic: “The science shows promising results for the use of probiotics in IBS. The studies have looked at many different strains of bacteria but we need more studies to find out which strains are most effective, and to make sure any benefits found are not the result of a placebo effect.”

Established benefits for diarrhoea
The potential for probiotics to help in the prevention and treatment of diarrhoea has been widely studied.

Antibiotic-associated diarrhoea
Dr Weichselbaum says: “The prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea has a good science-base for some probiotic strains. Two strains called S. boulardii and L. rhamnosus GG have been shown to cut the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea by more than a half.”

Dr Mary Hickson, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust adds: “Certain strains of bacteria have good evidence to show they prevent antibiotic associated diarrhoea and Clostridium difficile diarrhoea. Providing products containing these strains to hospital patients may help to reduce these detrimental side effects and so reduce healthcare costs”.

Buy Probiotics

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World Diabetes Day 14th November

A cure for Diabetes?

Take 6 people and reverse their diabetes just through Diet?

We live in a crazy world where many people consider Nutritionists to be like witch doctors - our faith in modern medicine is all consuming but "the facts", "the truth" doesn't add up to optimum health.

Drugs are killing people.

Processed food is killing people.

If you really want to get well then try this approach, if it doesn't work what have you got to lose? You'll still be on the drugs. You'll still be ill.

If it does work, with the supervision of your doctor you can gradually wean yourself off any drugs that you don't need any more.

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Childrens Health and Nutrition Findings

From the Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday

Experts agree that what children eat from birth to five years old matters even more than their diet later on in childhood. But many little ones are not getting the nutrition they need to support their rapid growth and development. Nutritional problems are common among this age group, including iron deficiency anaemia and deficiencies of vitamin A, D, B6, folate, calcium and zinc; constipation is widespread, as are dental caries.

Almost a quarter of UK pre-school children are overweight or obese, with about ten per cent underweight, according to paediatric dietician Judy More, writing in the Journal of Family Health Care.

Poor diet also has a marked effect on education. The ‘Children of the 90s’ longitudinal study by the Institute of Education at the University of Bristol, which is following more than 14,000 families with babies born between April 1991 and December 1992, showed that children who ate a diet of ‘junk’ food (high in fat and sugar, eg, crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks, highly processed food, and takeaways) at the age of three made poorer progress than average at school between the ages of six and ten.

This year, a survey of 1,000 parents by the Infant and Toddler Forum found nearly a third of under-threes eat at least one takeaway a week, and 19 per cent are given takeaways or adult ready meals every day. A staggering 20 per cent of babies aged nine to 12 months were given a takeaway once a week.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1225227/Health-notes-The-ABC-healthier-children.html#ixzz0WHxY6zTG

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