Rapid Aging and EMF Exposure

Selections from Natural Health News

Natural Health News: Real EMF Danger

Jul 15, 2010

Real EMF Danger. Vatican radio waves blamed for high cancer risk ... Posted by herbalYODA at 15:49 · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook. Labels: cancer and EMF, EMF. 1 comments: West Coast Family ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Real EMF Danger: Your Brain on a Cell Phone

Jun 05, 2010

(CNN) -- San Francisco, California, likely will become the first U.S. city to require cell phone companies to disclose how much radiation their gadgets emit. The city's board of supervisors voted 10-1 on Tuesday in favor of a law ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Cell Phones, Other EMF Exposure and Your ...

May 01, 2010

MAY IS ELECTROSENSITIVITY MONTH, many states are promoting this as a health education event. Cell Phone Radiation Levels · FCC Consumer Resources: Wireless Devices Even though some people who submit ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: More on health risks of EMF

Feb 14, 2009

Quite a few years ago I presented a program to some nurses in Lewiston, Idaho focused on the health impact of EMF and a coming storm of health problems that would be - more likely than not - unable to be diagnosed by ...

Continue reading →

Rapid Aging and EMF Exposure

Selections from Natural Health News

Natural Health News: Real EMF Danger

Jul 15, 2010

Real EMF Danger. Vatican radio waves blamed for high cancer risk ... Posted by herbalYODA at 15:49 · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook. Labels: cancer and EMF, EMF. 1 comments: West Coast Family ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Real EMF Danger: Your Brain on a Cell Phone

Jun 05, 2010

(CNN) -- San Francisco, California, likely will become the first U.S. city to require cell phone companies to disclose how much radiation their gadgets emit. The city's board of supervisors voted 10-1 on Tuesday in favor of a law ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Cell Phones, Other EMF Exposure and Your ...

May 01, 2010

MAY IS ELECTROSENSITIVITY MONTH, many states are promoting this as a health education event. Cell Phone Radiation Levels · FCC Consumer Resources: Wireless Devices Even though some people who submit ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: More on health risks of EMF

Feb 14, 2009

Quite a few years ago I presented a program to some nurses in Lewiston, Idaho focused on the health impact of EMF and a coming storm of health problems that would be - more likely than not - unable to be diagnosed by ...

Continue reading →

Vegans Low Cholesterol High In Triglycerides ?

Foods High In Triglycerides | ** The guide to triglycerides **

Gin - Vegan Mother's Ruin ?

Plantarians, Vegetarians who avoid dairy and vegans should all enjoy lower than average cholesterol levels but it seems that vegans are not necessarily immune to high trigyceride levels which can be just as damaging. Alcohol, sugary foods and a diet rich in simple carbohydrates, as well as a lack of sufficient exercise, all contribute to higher tryglyceride levels.

London Nutritionist from Foods for Life Health and Nutrition clinic in London's Harley Street and author of The UK Vegetarian Society's V Health program says "Vegetarians and Vegans should never be complacent, better than average is no guarantee of optimal health and vegans are equally bound by the rules of 'whole food not half food, slow food not fast food' like the rest of us. A diet of vegan beer, vegan wine, vegan cupcakes, vegan ice cream, veggieburgers, chips, pizzas and sugar and fat drenched Chinese food will have almost as many detrimental effects to the body as a meat eaters' equivilent diet."

"We don't have to worry about sources of vegetarian omega 3 DHA and EPA essential fatty acids anymore as these are now abundantly available made from sustainably farmed algae but supplements can never match the benefits of a good diet. Vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fibre essential fats all work in such an interactive synergystic way it's generally better to leave it up to nature, just remember variety is the spice of life."

"There's some evidence to suggest that a little red wine is less harmful than other alcohol but all alcohol is a toxin to the body and while the liver is dealing with alcohol it can't be processing fats so  fats are even more likely to be stashed as body fat


Vegetarian Omega 3 DHA * Compare Fish Oil vs Algae omega 3 DHA

Continue reading →

Avoid Brain Injuries: Don’t Forget Your Helmet

(Salt Lake City, UT) – With the state’s recent snowfall, the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) wants to remind the public to stay safe as they enjoy the winter outdoors. In 2009, 440 Utahns – or more than eight people every week – were hospitalized or died from a sports or recreation-related traumatic brain injury (TBI). Ten percent of these TBIs were due to snow sports like skiing and snowboarding, sledding, ice skating, and snowmobiling.

Recent data show the top five causes of sports and recreation-related TBIs in Utah are:

   

   1.  Bicycle crashes (34.3%)  

   2.  Off-highway vehicle/all-terrain vehicle (OHV/ATV) (24.5%), which also includes dirt bikes, dune buggies, snowmobiles, etc.

   3.  Horse/rodeo/large animal (13.0%)

   4.  Snow sports (8%) like skiing, snowboarding, sledding, and ice skating

   5.  Skateboard/in-line skates/scooter (6.8%)

When looked at more closely, the data reveal that snowboarding accounts for half (50%) of all TBIs caused by snow sports, followed by skiing (28.9%), sledding (18.4%), and ice skating (2.6%). Snowmobile crashes account for only 5.9% of all TBIs caused by OHV/ATV crashes.

Three simple steps can help keep you and your family safe this winter.

  •  Wear a helmet when riding a snowmobile, skiing, snowboarding, or sledding. A full two-thirds (66.7%) of those who suffered a TBI in 2009 during these activities were not wearing a helmet.

  •  Complete the Utah State Parks and Recreation Know Before You Go! snowmobile education course. Utah law requires youth ages eight to 16 (or until they get their state-issued driver license) to complete this course before operating a snowmobile. The course costs $30 and is available online at http://stateparks.utah.gov/ohv/education-snowmobile.

  •  Check current avalanche danger and weather conditions before going into Utah’s backcountry. Find it online at http://utahavalanchecenter.org.

Traumatic brain injuries can have dramatic impacts on a person’s ability to lead an active, fulfilling life. Help is available for Utahns who have suffered a TBI and their families by contacting the Brain Injury Association of Utah (BIAU) at 801-716-4993 or by visiting http://biau.org/.

For additional data on sports and recreation-related TBIs, visit http://health.utah.gov/vipp/traumaticBrainInjury/TBIData.html.

 

Media Contact:

Jenny Johnson

Violence & Injury Prevention Program

(o) 801-538-9416 (m) 801-298-1569

Ron Roskos

Brain Injury Association of Utah

(m) 801-979-2799

Continue reading →

UK children and adults lack Vitamin D

Yvonne Bishop-Weston Nutritionist London: 25% UK toddlers lacking Vitamin D

Lack of of Vitamin D linked to depression by Bristol University study.

Ain't no sunshine? Then she's gone! Vitamin D deficiency rocks Britain's health



The Independent - BBC News

Government advice to take supplements? I think you'll find we told you so, many times, but just in case we'll tell you again about the importance of Vitamin D...

Back in 2009 we blogged about a study linking vitamin D to increased health risks , and on numerous other occasions including this one about Nutrients Men aren't getting enough of .

We reported

Vitamin D is Great for bone health but it's so much more: A study in Circulation found that people deficient in D were up to 80 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke. Ask your doctor to test your blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. "You need to be above 30 nanograms per milliliter," said Michael Holick, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of medicine at Boston University, in the report. If you come up short, Holick recommends taking 1,400 IU of vitamin D daily from a supplement and a multivitamin.

Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins, especially for your immune system and for building and maintaining bone health.

Meanwhile Bristol University revealed new research from the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol, which has been charting the health of 14,500 children since their birth in the early 1990s, shows that the link between low levels of vitamin D and depression is established in childhood and that ensuring children have a good intake of vitamin D could help reduce depression in adolescence and adulthood.


Your body makes vitamin D from sunshine - as the song goes (ish) "If there ain't no sunshine, then she's gone, there ain't no vitamin D when she goes away."

"If you spend your time playing nintendo or computer games instead of running about outside, riding in a car instead of on a bike, taking the tube / bus instead of walking through the park, thinking you look cool always wearing dark glasses or if you have dark skin to genetically protect you from a hot equatorial sun and you live in northern Europe or north America then you are going to benefit from a vitamin D supplement. A vitamin D deficiency leaves you with a greater risk of a number of different diseases not just bone problems such as rickets." says Nutritionist in London Yvonne Bishop-Weston


Vitamin D Supplement - Special Offer - Vitashine - Buy Now

Continue reading →

Money: Who Gets Healthcare at What Cost

5% of Americans Made Up 50% of U.S. Healthcare Spending


And the top 1%? They made up one fifth of medical expenditures.


from The Atlantic


"When it comes to America's spiraling health care costs, the country's problems begin with the 5%. In 2008 and 2009, 5% of Americans were responsible for nearly half of the country's medical spending.

Of course, healthcare has its own 1% crisis. In 2009, the top 1% of patients accounted for 21.8% of expenditures.

The figures are from a new study by the Department of Health and Human Services, which examined how different U.S. demographics contributed to medical costs. It looked at the $1.26 trillion spent by civilian, non-institutionalized Americans each year on health care.
The top 5% of spenders paid an annual average of $35,829 in doctors' bills. By comparison, the bottom half paid an average $232 and made up about 3% of total costs.
Aside from the fact that such a tiny fraction of the country was responsible for so much of our expenses, it also found that high spenders often repeated from year to year. Those chronically ill patients skewed white and old and were twice as likely to be on public healtcare as the general population.
The graph below looks at how many people remained in each tranche of healthcare spending in both 2008 and 2009. One fifth of the top 1% of healthcare spenders in 2008 also were in the top 1% a year later. More than a third of those in the top 5% stayed there both years.
According to this follow-up chart, elderly patients, aged 65 or older, made up 13.2% of the population in 2009. But they were 42.9 of the patients among the top 10% of spenders in both 2008 and 2009. Middle-aged Americans made up another 40.1% of that category.
America's healthcare spending crisis is a concentrated phenomenon. The challenge isn't just about making everybody's insurance cheaper (although that would be nice). It's about figuring out how to cut costs, wisely and fairly, for the disastrously ill and preventing diseases before they become chronic. This is America's 5% problem."

My view is that we have moved so far from prevention that it will take years before this urgently needed philosophy returns to US health care process.

Continue reading →

Money: Who Gets Healthcare at What Cost

5% of Americans Made Up 50% of U.S. Healthcare Spending


And the top 1%? They made up one fifth of medical expenditures.


from The Atlantic


"When it comes to America's spiraling health care costs, the country's problems begin with the 5%. In 2008 and 2009, 5% of Americans were responsible for nearly half of the country's medical spending.

Of course, healthcare has its own 1% crisis. In 2009, the top 1% of patients accounted for 21.8% of expenditures.

The figures are from a new study by the Department of Health and Human Services, which examined how different U.S. demographics contributed to medical costs. It looked at the $1.26 trillion spent by civilian, non-institutionalized Americans each year on health care.
The top 5% of spenders paid an annual average of $35,829 in doctors' bills. By comparison, the bottom half paid an average $232 and made up about 3% of total costs.
Aside from the fact that such a tiny fraction of the country was responsible for so much of our expenses, it also found that high spenders often repeated from year to year. Those chronically ill patients skewed white and old and were twice as likely to be on public healtcare as the general population.
The graph below looks at how many people remained in each tranche of healthcare spending in both 2008 and 2009. One fifth of the top 1% of healthcare spenders in 2008 also were in the top 1% a year later. More than a third of those in the top 5% stayed there both years.
According to this follow-up chart, elderly patients, aged 65 or older, made up 13.2% of the population in 2009. But they were 42.9 of the patients among the top 10% of spenders in both 2008 and 2009. Middle-aged Americans made up another 40.1% of that category.
America's healthcare spending crisis is a concentrated phenomenon. The challenge isn't just about making everybody's insurance cheaper (although that would be nice). It's about figuring out how to cut costs, wisely and fairly, for the disastrously ill and preventing diseases before they become chronic. This is America's 5% problem."

My view is that we have moved so far from prevention that it will take years before this urgently needed philosophy returns to US health care process.

Continue reading →

Doctors Required to Report Payments from Drug and Device Firms

UPDATE: 26 January
Dialing for Doctors - 

Financial Ties Bind Medical Societies to Drug and Device Makers

18 January

To head off medical conflicts of interest, the Obama administration is poised to require drug companies to disclose the payments they make to doctors for research, consulting, speaking, travel and entertainment.

Many researchers have found evidence that such payments can influence doctors’ treatment decisions and contribute to higher costs by encouraging the use of more expensive drugs and medical devices.

Consumer advocates and members of Congress say patients may benefit from the new standards, being issued by the government under the new health care law. Officials said the disclosures increased the likelihood that doctors would make decisions in the best interests of patients, without regard to the doctors’ financial interests.  

Read complete article

Continue reading →

Doctors Required to Report Payments from Drug and Device Firms

UPDATE: 26 January
Dialing for Doctors - 

Financial Ties Bind Medical Societies to Drug and Device Makers

18 January

To head off medical conflicts of interest, the Obama administration is poised to require drug companies to disclose the payments they make to doctors for research, consulting, speaking, travel and entertainment.

Many researchers have found evidence that such payments can influence doctors’ treatment decisions and contribute to higher costs by encouraging the use of more expensive drugs and medical devices.

Consumer advocates and members of Congress say patients may benefit from the new standards, being issued by the government under the new health care law. Officials said the disclosures increased the likelihood that doctors would make decisions in the best interests of patients, without regard to the doctors’ financial interests.  

Read complete article

Continue reading →

Energy Drinks

UPDATE:15 January 2012

Once again energy drinks are in the news and it appears that it isn't good (no surprise!).
Agence France-Presse reports that "Australia experts call for energy drink warnings".


We encourage you to check out the almost two dozen articles we have posted on Natural Health News about this subject .  We also invite you to consider our organic natural herbal blend, herbalYODA's sportZtea, in place of these drinks over loaded with caffeine, artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, and worst of all artificial sweeteners like aspartame, acesulfame K, and Splenda.  The sports food bars are not far off with too much sugar and too many GMO ingredients.

Learn more here and here.

Researchers in Australia called for health warnings on caffeine-loaded energy drinks following a spike in the number of people reporting medical problems after drinking them.
Health professionals from the University of Sydney's Medical School and the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre said reports of adverse reactions to drinks like Red Bull and V jumped from just 12 in 2004 to 65 in 2010.
Over the seven years to 2010, 297 calls for assistance were recorded with at least 128 people hospitalised with symptoms including heart palpitations, agitation and stomach upsets.
Of these, 20 people had more serious issues, such as seizures and hallucinations.
The study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday, said the average person affected was 17 years old and that they often mixed energy drinks with alcohol.
"Our study demonstrates the extent of the growing problem in Australia with energy drink consumption and toxicity, particularly among adolescents," the study's authors wrote.
"Given the clear evidence of toxicity and the growing number of hospitalisations associated with consumption of energy drinks... health authorities should increase awareness of the problem, improve package labelling and regulate caffeine content."
They recommended that "labelling and any marketing of these products should include appropriate health warnings and the national poisons hotline number". A can of energy drink may contain up to 300 milligrams of caffeine -- compared to an average 65-120mg for a cup of drip coffee -- and Poisons Centre medical director Naren Gunja called for more thorough regulation.
"Things to look at would be... how much caffeine do these drinks contain, how many can you buy at once, what age should you be when you buy them, should there be an age limit to being sold the drinks," he said.

Originally posted September 2008


Five years ago I released one of my long used herbal formulas on two college campuses to try to provide help to reduce college binge drinking. My formula makes it so you just don't drink too much, and certainly not enough to get drunk.

Learning that many people mix energy drinks with alcohol is also a concern to me.

In addition to the herbs to help stem the tide of drinking, and in relation to developing my sports enhancement formula (ADVENTURX), I revived the sports drink herbal blend I used to mix up for my kids and others years ago.

You can use my organic, herbal 'sportZtea' blend as the basis for your sports drinks while saving money and avoiding stimulants and caffeine. Using the 'tea' with ADVENTURX makes a lot more sense.

Energy drinks: What you need to know
By David Liu, Ph.D.
Sep 28, 2008
Editor's note: Please note that the statement "Energy drinks are soft drinks (meaning with alcohol) that ---" is incorrect. The author meant to say "Energy drinks are soft drinks (meaning without alcohol) that ---." By definition, soft drinks are non-alcoholic beverages! We apologize for the error.
Common Questions and Answers about energy drinks

What are energy drinks?

Energy drinks are soft drinks (meaning without alcohol) that contain caffeine and other stimulants such as ephedrine, guarana, and ginseng. The beverages may not contain more calories than normal soft drinks, but they are often believed to help enhance performance and boost alertness as some studies showed. Energy drinks are often marketed to people under 30, particularly to college students.

Is it true that energy drinks boost alertness and enhance performance?

At least two studies showed significantly improvements in mental and cognitive performance and increase subjective alertness in those who drank an energy drink. In repeated cycling tests in young healthy adults, an energy drink drastically increased upper body muscle endurance.

Are there any dangers to drinking energy drinks?

High doses of caffeine are known to pose a range of short-term side effects. The problem with energy drinks is probably that there is no regulation in the US about caffeine, which is a natural stimulant. Energy drinks may contain caffeine at a level anywhere between from 50 mg to 505 mg per can or bottle, according to a recent Johns Hopkins study. Without paying attention, people may over-ingest caffeine leading to unintentional caffeine intoxication. Normal adverse reactions induced by high doses of caffeine, particularly in those who are sensitive to the compound, include increased heart rate and blood pressure, in severe cases dehydration, and inability of falling into sleep.

One study showed side effects associated with caffeine in energy drinks include insomnia, nervousness, headache, and tachycardia. Four caffeine-related deaths and four seizures have been reported.

When should energy drinks not be used?

Energy drinks should not be used when exercising as fluid loss from sweating and the diuretic activity of caffeine can cause severe dehydration. Energy drinks should not be used in an attempt to offset the effect of alcohol on one's capability of operating a vehicle.

What would happen when energy drinks are combined with alcoholic drinks?

The real danger of caffeine to someone who is drinking is that caffeine could mislead him to believe that he is drinking the right amount of alcohol without realizing that actually he could have been drinking too much.

It is true that caffeine provide alertness. But it does not change the level of alcohol in the blood. Once the stimulant disappears, the depressant effect of the blood alcohol at high concentration would manifest leading to vomiting in one's sleep or respiratory depression.

Both energy drinks and alcohol can be very dehydrating and thus inhibiting the body's ability to metabolize alcohol and boosting the toxicity of alcohol and the hangover.

How safe is it to use energy drinks?

Energy drinks in itself are relatively safe. Most ingredients including ginseng, maltodextrin, inositol, carnitine, creatine, ginkgo biloba, taurine, vitamins and herbs appear to be safe. The only concern is probably caffeine, which varies in its content greatly from brand to brand.

A recent report authored by Reissig CJ, Strain EC, and Griffiths RR at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and published in the Sep 20, 2008 issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence calls for warning labels for energy drinks.

Continue reading →

Energy Drinks

UPDATE:15 January 2012

Once again energy drinks are in the news and it appears that it isn't good (no surprise!).
Agence France-Presse reports that "Australia experts call for energy drink warnings".


We encourage you to check out the almost two dozen articles we have posted on Natural Health News about this subject .  We also invite you to consider our organic natural herbal blend, herbalYODA's sportZtea, in place of these drinks over loaded with caffeine, artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, and worst of all artificial sweeteners like aspartame, acesulfame K, and Splenda.  The sports food bars are not far off with too much sugar and too many GMO ingredients.

Learn more here and here.

Researchers in Australia called for health warnings on caffeine-loaded energy drinks following a spike in the number of people reporting medical problems after drinking them.
Health professionals from the University of Sydney's Medical School and the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre said reports of adverse reactions to drinks like Red Bull and V jumped from just 12 in 2004 to 65 in 2010.
Over the seven years to 2010, 297 calls for assistance were recorded with at least 128 people hospitalised with symptoms including heart palpitations, agitation and stomach upsets.
Of these, 20 people had more serious issues, such as seizures and hallucinations.
The study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday, said the average person affected was 17 years old and that they often mixed energy drinks with alcohol.
"Our study demonstrates the extent of the growing problem in Australia with energy drink consumption and toxicity, particularly among adolescents," the study's authors wrote.
"Given the clear evidence of toxicity and the growing number of hospitalisations associated with consumption of energy drinks... health authorities should increase awareness of the problem, improve package labelling and regulate caffeine content."
They recommended that "labelling and any marketing of these products should include appropriate health warnings and the national poisons hotline number". A can of energy drink may contain up to 300 milligrams of caffeine -- compared to an average 65-120mg for a cup of drip coffee -- and Poisons Centre medical director Naren Gunja called for more thorough regulation.
"Things to look at would be... how much caffeine do these drinks contain, how many can you buy at once, what age should you be when you buy them, should there be an age limit to being sold the drinks," he said.

Originally posted September 2008


Five years ago I released one of my long used herbal formulas on two college campuses to try to provide help to reduce college binge drinking. My formula makes it so you just don't drink too much, and certainly not enough to get drunk.

Learning that many people mix energy drinks with alcohol is also a concern to me.

In addition to the herbs to help stem the tide of drinking, and in relation to developing my sports enhancement formula (ADVENTURX), I revived the sports drink herbal blend I used to mix up for my kids and others years ago.

You can use my organic, herbal 'sportZtea' blend as the basis for your sports drinks while saving money and avoiding stimulants and caffeine. Using the 'tea' with ADVENTURX makes a lot more sense.

Energy drinks: What you need to know
By David Liu, Ph.D.
Sep 28, 2008
Editor's note: Please note that the statement "Energy drinks are soft drinks (meaning with alcohol) that ---" is incorrect. The author meant to say "Energy drinks are soft drinks (meaning without alcohol) that ---." By definition, soft drinks are non-alcoholic beverages! We apologize for the error.
Common Questions and Answers about energy drinks

What are energy drinks?

Energy drinks are soft drinks (meaning without alcohol) that contain caffeine and other stimulants such as ephedrine, guarana, and ginseng. The beverages may not contain more calories than normal soft drinks, but they are often believed to help enhance performance and boost alertness as some studies showed. Energy drinks are often marketed to people under 30, particularly to college students.

Is it true that energy drinks boost alertness and enhance performance?

At least two studies showed significantly improvements in mental and cognitive performance and increase subjective alertness in those who drank an energy drink. In repeated cycling tests in young healthy adults, an energy drink drastically increased upper body muscle endurance.

Are there any dangers to drinking energy drinks?

High doses of caffeine are known to pose a range of short-term side effects. The problem with energy drinks is probably that there is no regulation in the US about caffeine, which is a natural stimulant. Energy drinks may contain caffeine at a level anywhere between from 50 mg to 505 mg per can or bottle, according to a recent Johns Hopkins study. Without paying attention, people may over-ingest caffeine leading to unintentional caffeine intoxication. Normal adverse reactions induced by high doses of caffeine, particularly in those who are sensitive to the compound, include increased heart rate and blood pressure, in severe cases dehydration, and inability of falling into sleep.

One study showed side effects associated with caffeine in energy drinks include insomnia, nervousness, headache, and tachycardia. Four caffeine-related deaths and four seizures have been reported.

When should energy drinks not be used?

Energy drinks should not be used when exercising as fluid loss from sweating and the diuretic activity of caffeine can cause severe dehydration. Energy drinks should not be used in an attempt to offset the effect of alcohol on one's capability of operating a vehicle.

What would happen when energy drinks are combined with alcoholic drinks?

The real danger of caffeine to someone who is drinking is that caffeine could mislead him to believe that he is drinking the right amount of alcohol without realizing that actually he could have been drinking too much.

It is true that caffeine provide alertness. But it does not change the level of alcohol in the blood. Once the stimulant disappears, the depressant effect of the blood alcohol at high concentration would manifest leading to vomiting in one's sleep or respiratory depression.

Both energy drinks and alcohol can be very dehydrating and thus inhibiting the body's ability to metabolize alcohol and boosting the toxicity of alcohol and the hangover.

How safe is it to use energy drinks?

Energy drinks in itself are relatively safe. Most ingredients including ginseng, maltodextrin, inositol, carnitine, creatine, ginkgo biloba, taurine, vitamins and herbs appear to be safe. The only concern is probably caffeine, which varies in its content greatly from brand to brand.

A recent report authored by Reissig CJ, Strain EC, and Griffiths RR at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and published in the Sep 20, 2008 issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence calls for warning labels for energy drinks.

Continue reading →

Helping Babies Start Life With a Healthy Heart

(Salt Lake City, UT) – The image of a beating heart is the image of life. But many babies in Utah and across the nation are born with a congenital heart defect. These include problems with how the heart, its walls, or valves have been formed and are among the most common of all birth defects. In Utah, more than 300 babies are born with heart problems every year.

“This is an important public health concern, and our goal is to make everyone aware of possible prevention measures and early warning signs, said Amy Nance, Program Manager, Utah Department of Health (UDOH) Utah Birth Defect Network (UBDN).

As a group, birth defects are the leading cause of infant mortality in the U.S., and heart defects are the number one killer. January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month, and the UBDN is joining Intermountain Healing Hearts (IHH), a Wasatch Front support group that helps families dealing with the realities of a child born with heart problems.

IHH President Brytten Pettit is the mother of a child born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. She says she’s benefitted from the group and the Utah medical community.

“Today I have a happy, thriving, independent 3-year-old, and we are grateful for every day we spend together. It's no longer about counting the years, it's about making the years count!" said Brytten.

There is hope for children with congenital heart defects. Early detection and treatment can help them live longer and better. Survival has been improving in the last several decades.

There is also hope for prevention. The causes of many heart defects remain a mystery, but the UBDN, University of Utah (U of U), other groups around the country, and hundreds of Utah families are involved in studies to identify preventable causes as part of the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The heart forms in the early weeks of pregnancy, often before a woman realizes she is pregnant,” said Lorenzo Botto, M.D., a geneticist and professor of Pediatrics at the U of U “Diet, lifestyle choices, the environment, health conditions, and medications can all play a role in preventing or causing congenital heart defects,” Botto added.

Studies have shown there are several things women who are pregnant or who may become pregnant can do:

• See a physician prior to pregnancy, especially if there are: health conditions that require medications; metabolic conditions like diabetes, obesity, phenylketonuria (PKU); or a family history of congenital heart defects.
• Diabetic or obese women should make sure their blood sugar is under control and work toward a healthy weight through a nutritious food plan prior to conception.
• Take a folic acid supplement and check with their health care provider to confirm they are getting adequate amounts of all the essential nutrients.
• Avoid all alcohol and illegal/recreational drugs.
• Avoid exposure to smoke, chemicals, and toxins both at work and at home.
• Get regular medical check-ups and learn about their family history and potential genetic risks. 

“Small steps like visiting a health care provider before pregnancy and taking a multivitamin every day can go a long way,” said Nance.

The UBDN works with health care professionals and public health agencies around Utah to encourage prevention and awareness of congenital heart defects among women of childbearing age in the Utah. To learn more, call 866-818-7096 or visit www.health.utah.gov/birthdefect.

Media Contact:

Amy Nance

Program Manager

(801) 883-4661

Continue reading →