Health

“When my middle son was twelve, he was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and then Tourette Syndrome. Confined to our home by the horror of his illness, a lifelong placement seemed his likely fate — until I learned that a strep infection might be the cause (a disorder known as PANDAS). Most doctors said I was wrong; but I was right, and two doctors helped me cure him. He is now fully recovered.” –Beth Alison Maloney

The book is, Saving Sammy: Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD by Beth Alison Maloney and hit the shelves in 2009. She has recently appeared on The Today Show and The Bonnie Hunt Show to share her powerful and inspiring story of a parent’s relentless quest to help their suffering child. It also serves as an essential tool in spreading information on a disorder that is not well known by both the parenting and medical communities.

PANDAS, is an abbreviation for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections. The disorder has been controversial within the medical field but with the help of this book and a new “got strep?” campaign from The PANDAS Foundation, strides are being made for a more widespread understanding.

The latest issue of Scientific American Mind includes an article titled, “From Throat to Mind” by Erica Westily. The opening sentence of the article is “The case for strep throat-induced mental illness grows stronger.” It cites “compelling” research from Columbia University.

“As a parent, I am inspired because we all will have our battles and issues. Few will be of this magnitude, but whether my child has problems at school, the Y, summer camp or whatever, this story reminds me that there is no effort too great to expend on the beautiful creatures that are our children.” Kevin Price, M.D. - General Surgeon, Southern Maine Medical Center, Biddeford, Maine.

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Available at Amazon.com

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Hard on the heels of worries about BPA in cans and bottles, the University of Rochester Medical Center made waves last week with a study on the potentially feminizing effects of phthalates. Here’s the money sentence of the release: “A study of 145 preschool children reports, for the first time, that when the concentrations of two common phthalates in mothers’ prenatal urine are elevated their sons are less likely to play with male-typical toys and games, such as trucks and play fighting.”

Great! So phthalates, which are found everywhere, in plastics, in food, in your body, everywhere, are going to give us girlie-boys? Not so fast, study lead author Shanna H. Swan: Forbes.com contributor Trevor Butterworth has seen you before. He points out that Shanna Swan has been a prominent voice in the recent rise of worries over phthalates thanks to a widely reported-on 2005 study by Shanna Swan:

“Swan claimed that levels of certain phthalate metabolites in pregnant women correlated with a lower anogenital index in their male children (the AGI is a measurement of the distance from the anus to the base of the penis, divided by the weight at the time of measurement)

There wasn’t a consensus as to what a normal range for AGI was in baby boys or whether it is significant, but there was evidence that a shorter AGI correlated with a slower rate of testicular descent in animals. When a National Institutes of Health expert panel later evaluated her study, it didn’t find her evidence wholly convincing. All the babies in the study had normal genitalia with no sign of defects.

In short, there were no grounds for panic. But Swan wrote an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle claiming that “In-utero exposures to phthalates can lead to birth defects and genital malformations … in baby boys.” It didn’t matter that her study never even considered this hypothesis, or that such a claim wouldn’t have passed peer review based on the data she provided: Environmental activists and journalists seized on her public comments as proof the public was at risk. Phthalates and Shanna Swan suddenly became the poster boy and girl for deformed penises.”

This most recent study involved Swan going back to the mothers of the boys in her 2005 study and asking questions about the way they play, a method Butterworth (and UrbanBaby) finds suspect. Phthalates may indeed turn out to have feminizing effects on humans (much research has already been published on their effects on frogs), but Butterworth points out that better research than Swan’s needs to be done to pinpoint just what’s going on. Until then, no need to panic. Or push trucks on your boys.

Let’s put aside the question of whether or not you want to get the H1N1 vaccine because that is one spicy meatball, and for the time being assume you want to get it for yourself or your children. The first few flu-vaccine clinics last weekend were swamped with patients seeking the vaccine, waiting hours on line according to the San Francisco Chronicle. There will be more clinics in November, and only time will tell what the waits there will be like.

Vaccine events vary in each city; you can supposedly go to your city’s public health department website (here is a list of California health departments) for more information. Many of the sites are all but useless, with a lot of information on covering your mouth when you cough but not much about where to get the vaccine they keep advising you to get. San Francisco’s site is typical in that it tells you to call your primary care provider and ask about vaccines, but the San Franicsco health department’s swine flu Twitter feed has more up-to-date information, and SF residents can also call 311 for updates. Contra Costa’s public health department site is a welcome contrast from SF’s, with detailed info on upcoming drive-through flu clinics.

Many Walgreens, Rite Aid, and CVS MinuteClinic locations also have the H1N1 shots; call the stores nearest you to ask. Kaiser patients can phone 800-573-5811 to find out where to go get the shot. Walgreens also has dedicated flu shot clinics. Flu.gov has a ton of information and links that will panic you and make you say “Just tell me where to get the shot! Argh!” Hmm, maybe you’re better off calling your primary care physician after all.

Just when you thought it was safe to make a decision about circumcision, New York Magazine presents one of the most panoramic views of the foreskin debate imaginable. The piece starts with the basics: how is a circumcision performed? Who is on the other end of the sharp cutting instruments, a doctor or a mohel?

Then comes the ammunition on both sides of the either/or question. How much does it hurt? What complications can ensue? And is it true that circumcision reduces the rates of both cancer and AIDS?

Finally, New York leaves the realm of information that, while valuable, we’ve heard before, and wades into the truly fascinating nitty gritty. Female correspondents weigh in on the aesthetic appeal of the uncut penis: is it hot or hideous? And one man who chose to undergo the procedure as an adult explains why–and why he’s happier this way.

Whatever the state of your son’s penis, this is fascinating reading, and an excellent summing up of the arguments for and against the cut. Though the even-handedness of the treatment may not change minds one way or another, it will provide plenty of support for whatever position you’ve already taken. Oh, and if you can view the surgical instruments of circumcision and not get a little faint, you’re a stronger woman than me.

There’s a new version of the ABCs to learn these days, only it doesn’t have a catchy tune, is associated with plenty of health hazards and contains letter combos such as DEHP, BBP (phthalates) and PVC (vinyl). It’s hard enough keeping track of what these mean, let alone which products contain them.

Enter HealthyStuff.org, a new website from the Ecology Center, a Michigan-based, non-profit environmental organization. The site just released the biggest database ever of independent tests of toxic chemicals found in everyday products. It covers 5,000 consumer items, including toys from its two-year-old predecessor, HealthyToys.org. Car seats, cars, back-to-school products, pet accessories, even women’s handbags, were all put to the test. Researchers were looking for the presence of lead, cadmium, bromine, mercury and arsenic plus phthalates and PVCs. Each subject is rated - high, medium or low - according to the level of toxic chemicals found. Below are some highlights from the database:

*More than half of the car seats tested contained one or more hazardous chemicals.
*56% of back-to-school supplies contained PVCs and 22% contained detectable levels of lead.
*Lead was detected in 75% of the more than 100 plastic women’s handbags tested.

And don’t worry, for the non-chem majors, Healthystuff.org details the health risks posed by the various toxic chemicals for which it’s testing. One great feature of the site: You can nominate products you believe Healthystuff.org should evaluate.

Power to the people.

In his article “Eat Your Peas. Or Don’t. Whatever,” New York Times food critic and author Frank Bruni describes the extremes to which young children are straying - obesity on one end of the spectrum, an obsession with being thin on the other. These are subjects Bruni knows something about. In his recent memoir, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater, Bruni, a man who makes his living eating, chronicles his bouts with bulimia and struggles with fluctuating weight. In the Eat Your Peas article, he discusses the challenge for parents in this age of extremes. It’s “how to coach children away from unhealthy eating without sowing panic; how to make them conscious of their intake without making them too self-conscious about its consequences.”

We asked Lynn Grefe, CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association, how to accomplish this. She offers the following advice:

Dieting
A parent who is constantly dieting isn’t setting a good example. “The right example is to eat in a healthy fashion and not to set up food as the culprit … There’s really no such thing as bad foods. It’s about the moderation of foods.” (The exception: You truly do have a health issue and need to be on a diet.)

Liquid detox/Cleansing diets
A quick word on these fad diets of the moment which promise a “cleanse” after a certain period of drinking various concoctions. “It’s not healthy. It’s not the way that we’re supposed to be living.”

Talking the talk
A parent who is always asking if she’s fat or whether certain clothes make her butt look big is sending the wrong message. The focus is shifted to weight rather than “ who we are as people.” Teach kids that they should be healthy for the size that fits their body.

Walking the walk
“If a parent is on a treadmill for three hours watching TV, then what kind of signal is she sending to her child? That’s not moderation.” (The exception: You’re training for the marathon.) “People who are doing extremes in their own life, then, of course, those extremes are going to run down on the kids.” Obviously, exercise in and of itself is fine and part of a healthy lifestyle.

Enjoying food
Put the joy back into mealtime. “It’s terrible that people are setting food up as the enemy. Food is supposed to be a joyous time. We sit down to meals. We break bread. It’s supposed to be a nice time where we meet and compare notes and ask, ‘How was your day?’”

Adding perspective
If your DD comes home and tells you her BFF won’t eat any sugar, explain that that’s not a healthy approach. Try not to criticize the friend but rather the behavior. You might also want to suggest that the food restriction in question may be related to a health issue.

Being aware
“No child should be losing her self-esteem over this. And that’s what’s happening. Even if they don’t develop an eating disorder, girls think they’re never perfect. They never feel quite right. We should be measuring the size of our hearts and not the size of our hips.”

For more info., visit nationaleatingdisorders.org.

The world of infertility is all too often one where questions far outnumber answers, and, to be more specific, answers that actually make sense. In a revolutionary new book entitled, Making Babies: A Proven 3-Month Program for Maximum Fertility, authors Dr. Sami David and Jill Blakeway champion an approach that combines the best of Eastern and Western medicine. David and Blakeway represent a sort of dream team in the field of fertility treatments. He is a reproductive endocrinologist who was the first doctor in New York state to perform a successful IVF and who now focuses on more conservative practices. Blakeway, whom The New York Times once dubbed “a fertility goddess,” is a licensed acupuncturist and board-certified herbalist.

Blakeway says, “Our book is a plea for people to invest some effort in their reproductive health in order to have a healthy baby. The things that appear to be shortcuts aren’t necessarily shortcuts.” She and David explain why their complementary approach can lead to a successful pregnancy and healthy baby, even as so many doctors are overeager to go the IVF and drug route:

Diagnosis & due diligence: There is a rush to use assisted reproductive techniques, and so the underlying medical problem causing the infertility often goes undetected. Dr. David says, “In no other field of medicine does a doctor start treating a person and not know what he’s treating.” He can recount story after story of patients plagued by infertility, who, it turns out, have an easily diagnosable and treatable medical condition - bacteria in the semen, a woman with anti-bodies to sperm, an infection impeding implantation, endometriosis.

Remembering men: Forty percent of infertility is male-related infertility. Doctors need to investigate that avenue so the “appropriate person” can see the doctor and be treated. Blakeway notes that male infertility also responds very well to Chinese medicine.

Fertility types: One size does not fit all. By identifying which of the five fertility types - tired, dry, stuck, pale or waterlogged - you are, and in what way you “fall out of balance,” you can select appropriate conception strategies. Find out your type by taking a simple quiz at makingbabiesprogram.com.

Acupuncture: Acupuncture can correct hormone imbalances, increase blood flow to the uterus (making it optimal for implantation), increase blood flow to the ovaries and relieve stress. Blakeway and David point to research which shows acupuncture can significantly increase success rates of IVF.

Chinese herbs: These can also increase blood flow to the ovaries and uterus and encourage the building of a healthy endometrium plus follicle growth and development.

Lifestyle changes: Certain adjustments to your diet, exercise and sleep regimens can also affect fertility. And then there are the things you might not readily think of, including how the heat from a computer laptop battery, cell phones and Propecia, to name a few, can affect sperm production.

Making Babies is available at amazon.com.

There are no particular health or nutritional benefits to choosing organic produce and meat over conventionally produced food, said the UK’s Food Standards Agency. The agency conducted a yearlong study in which it reviewed 162 scientific papers published over the last 50 years, and found that a “small number” of nutritional differences existed between the two types of food, but the differences were “unlikely to be of any public health relevance.”

Conventional food producers, who have long maintained that organic had no advantages over its product besides snob appeal, were no doubt overjoyed. Meanwhile, consumers who spent an estimated $48 billion on organic food in 2007, are both put out and confused. Were they wasting their money all this time?

No, say study critics, who point out that the FSA ignored significant differences in vitamins and minerals between organic and conventional produce. Beta-carotene, for example, was found to be as much as 53 percent higher in organic produce, which the agency apparently discounts as unimportant.

Even more distressing is the fact that the FSA’s report failed to take into account the environmental damage wrought by chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as the potential health problems caused by pesticide residues on food. After all, you can take a vitamin pill to get all the beta-carotene you need, but you can’t remove toxins from the body once they’ve already caused damage. And since children are at more risk from pesticide residue than adults for a variety of reasons, that organic apple starts to look a lot more appealing, no matter what the FSA says.

It’s long been theorized that breastfeeding an infant has a protective effect against autism, but 2007 work by neuroscientist Michael Merzenich casts doubt on that theory. In the study, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Merzenich found that in rats, introducing environmental toxins at the same levels found in breastmilk contributed to a significant deterioration of the brain. Merzenich fears that the toxins already present in our environment are being delivered to babies via breastmilk, contributing to the precipitous rise of autism diagnoses.

Environmental toxins like PCBs, though they have been banned for decades, are found in high concentrations in the human bodies, and leach into breastmilk. PCBEs, a close cousin of PCBs, are still being produced and are also found in human tissues. Merzenich concludes that these toxins, along with other factors like a genetic predisposition for developmental disorders, should convince researchers to take a second look at breastfeeding.

Find more at ucsf.edu.

You’ve cut out brie, sushi and your monthly highlights all in the name of a healthy pregnancy. Oh, the sacrifices. Yet, you still feel the need to clean up your act.New company Nine Naturals introduces Oh Baby! shampoo and conditioner, products specifically designed for pregnant women. NN nixes phthalates and other potentially dangerous chemicals typically found in shampoos. (The jury is still out, but phthalates have been linked to low birth weight, shorter gestational periods and even reproductive birth defects.) Oh Baby! is pared down to just nine ingredients (think peppermint and rosemary oils) from the typical 25. Natural moisturizers revive dry pregnancy and postpartum hair.

Soap’s on.

Available at ninenaturals.com