Childhood Diabetes Said To Double By the Year 2020

According to a report recently published by the BBC, childhood obesity is expected to double in the next twenty years. To health care professionals, these statistics, while alarming, are not surprising. Several factors have come into play that may be responsible for the rise in diabetes. Most notably, higher caloric diets packed with corn syrup and simple carbohydrates, combined with a growing population of children who no longer exercise and instead spend hours watching television, playing video games, or simply working at their computers.

The human body has evolved over millions of years to eat and move a certain way. Our bodies have evolved to eat highly nutritious foods that are low in calories but high in fiber and nutrients. Our bodies have also evolved to be physically active. Our prehistoric ancestors moved continuously throughout the day, foraging and hunting. The modern child's lifestyle is very different from the lifestyle of our ancestors. By moving away from whole natural foods and physical activity we are seeing a high cost paid in the health of our children.

We cannot ignore also that health has become a statement about education and financial resources. Poorer neighborhoods often have far more liquor stores and fast food restaurants than groceries selling fresh produce. And even when these healthier stores crop up in urban neighborhoods, the cost is often outside the price range of many poorer families. When I see people like first lady Michelle Obama encouraging the development of neighborhood farms, I am encouraged and hope that these efforts will have a nutritional impact on families who often lack the resources for affordable nutritious food.

Exercise has also become a rare commodity in the inner city. When I first moved to Los Angeles, I could not help but notice that the simple act of riding a bicycle or playing outside is, in certain neighborhoods, extremely dangerous. These factors can help us better understand how the health of an individual is the responsibility of the community at large; our city planners, our health educators, the local city councils and police. Perhaps by looking at the health of the individual as a collective effort, we can begin to move towards creating healthy cities that nurture healthy people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8068941.stm

Where Exercise Is concerned, Moderation Appears To Be Key

Like many Americans, I have watched The Biggest Loser, and been both fascinated and impressed with how the participants are able to change their bodies so dramatically in such a short amount of time. The only problem with the show is that I don't think it demonstrates a healthy way to treat obesity. The training techniques are extreme, painful, and set up the participants up for a series of potential medical problems like exercise-related injuries down the road.

Furthermore, the exercise programs are designed as a kind of military boot camp experience that, aside from being stressful, seems like a very unpleasant way to live. And this is precisely why so many people cannot stay with these kinds of exercise programs and soon give up their gym memberships after the first week.

Research on health and longevity instead suggests that moderate exercise that is enjoyed is the most beneficial. If people truly enjoy their exercise they are more apt to stay with it. Exercise should not be extreme. In fact, extreme sports can be dangerous and lead to physical injuries that last a lifetime.

One of the greatest determining factors as to whether a person remains healthy is education. In fact, educated people consistently show better health, perhaps because educated people are more apt to eat better. They often exercise moderately while remaining active and intellectually curious well into their senior years; all traits we associate with health and longevity.

http://health.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-exercise-ess.html

Link Established Between Asthma and Eczema

This evening while reading the health section of the BBC web site, I came across an article pointing to the link established between eczema and asthma. This surprised me because, within my community of Naturopathic doctors, the link had been established years ago. With eczema, which often starts at a fairly early age, we also see a link between the disease and food allergies, as we do with asthma.

Some of the most common food allergies associated with eczema include wheat, dairy, peanuts, and eggs. Removing these foods from a person's diet can be challenging, but will often yield benefits. Some of the most impressive improvements I see in my patients is when they give up dairy. Almost within a few days I begin to see improvements. With young children, I often see skin allergies begin to emerge when the child begins to eat solid foods, or if the mother is still breast-feeding, problems when the mother eats certain offending foods.

Asthma, like eczema, is often due to an external irritant. Here in Los Angeles where I practice, air quality is such that asthma has become a real problem. Efforts to remove dust from the home, such as using air filters, can help, but so can a diet that takes into account food allergies like dairy and wheat. We also recommend vitamins for support. For the skin we often will add vitamins A, E, and Selenium. For Asthma sufferers, there has been improvement seen with the addition of vitamins D and C, as well as B-vitamins, especially B12.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8055038.stm

Protecting Ourselves Against Swine Flu

Over the last few weeks I have had a rash of people contacting me because of their increasing fears about contracting Swine Flu. And though the disease appears to only yield a minor upper respiratory infection in most, there appear to be other populations far more vulnerable to serious illness. Why was the death toll greater in Mexico? What can we do to protect ourselves now? Will this become a major pandemic? These are just some of the questions that still remain unanswered.

In 1918, one of the worst pandemics in history took the lives of between twenty to one hundred million people. More troubling was the fact that many of those who died had the strongest immune systems. The flu epidemic of 1918 came to be called the Spanish Flu, because it was thought to have originated in Spain (actually, there is strong evidence to suggest that it came from a farm in Kansas that bred livestock for solders during the war).

Years after the epidemic had come to an end, it was discovered that it was in fact caused by the Influenza A H1NI virus, the same strain we see today. That many young and healthy people died in that pandemic has lead many scientists to suspect that a condition known as "cytokine storm" had taken place. This happens when the body's own immune response is so aggressive it results in violent inflammation causing respiratory hemorrhage and death.

Further exasperating the condition, for many people who suffered, was the added iatrogenic deaths caused by doctors who prescribed a combination of aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories. This combination of medications lead to the increased risk for a condition known as Disseminated Inter-vascular Coagulation, whereby the body begins to throw clots resulting in hemorrhages of the lungs and other organs. In fact, so many doctors gave NSAIDS and Aspirin that it is believed that medical intervention may have accounted for many of the deaths.

Today, doctors are prescribing several antiviral medications, most notably Tamaflu. Furthermore, we have a greater understanding of the importance of hygiene today then we did then. Frequent hand washing has been encouraged. But in addition, naturopathic doctors are recommending several supplements to help support immune function, including elderberry, echinacea, and astragalus, to help reduce inflammation and build the immune system. We are also recommending additional supplementation with vitamins C, D, and A, as well as zinc and selenium for additional support.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/health/09flu.html?_r=1&ref=health