MaoBah

Recent research has found that regular consumption of nut products during pregnancy raises the odds of your child having asthma symptoms by nearly 50 percent.

About 4 percent of American children have food allergies, and roughly 3 million people in the U.S. are allergic to peanuts or tree nuts. It’s already recommended that children under 3 not be given nuts or nut products, because their immune systems are still developing and may be more susceptible to allergens.

Daily consumption of nut products increases the odds that a child will have wheezing by 42 percent, shortness of breath by 58 percent, and steroid use to ease asthma symptoms by 62 percent.

Overall, the odds of developing asthma symptoms for a child whose mother ate nuts daily are 47 percent higher.

As I write this article, I’m running my tongue on one of the three sores I have right now. This actually causes stress sometimes. A friend of mine was also complaining about having them, so I decided to write an article about canker sores and its causes and treatment.

First of all, what are these sores? Well, they are small, white sores that form in the mouth of a person. They commonly appear inside the cheeks, under the tongue, or on your gums. If left untreated, they go away in seven to ten days.

Possible causes of canker sores are:

• fatigue
• food allergies
• menstrual periods
• stress
• weakened immune system
• biting the tongue or cheek or lips
• chewing sharp bits of food such as nachos
• nutritional problems or deficiencies
• genetics

Some doctors recommend applying ice to the canker sore, avoiding food that is irritating, and rinsing your mouth with over-the-counter preparations such as diluted hydrogen peroxide or elixir of Benadryl. Some people find relief by rinsing the mouth with a solution of ½ teaspoon of salt in 8 ounces of water.

In my case, I go to a drugstore and ask if they have canker sore drops. It’s medicine specifically for these types of mouth sores. You use a cotton bud and dip it into the solution, then put it on the sore for 20 seconds. That would be 20 secods of excrutiating pain, but after that the sore is healed. 

Plastic releases trace amounts of some of its ingredients as it is exposed to heat or stress or when it ages. Of particular concern are bisphenol-a (BPA), used to strengthen some plastics, and phthalates, used to soften others.

These chemicals are used in hundreds of household items; BPA is in everything from baby bottles to can linings, while phthalates are found in children’s toys as well as vinyl shower curtains. They enter your body through the food, water and bits of dust you consume, or are simply absorbed through your skin.

BPA and phthalates are endocrine disrupters, which mimic hormones. Estrogen and other hormones in relatively tiny amounts can cause vast changes, so researchers worry that BPA and phthalates could do the same, especially in young children.

To cut down on your exposure, avoid plastic bottles and toys labeled with the numbers 3 or 7, which often contain BPA or phthalates, and canned foods, especially those with acidic contents like tomatoes. You should also avoid heating plastic in microwaves.

Eating a few portions of  broccoli every week can actually protect men from having prostate cancer later in their life. Researchers believe that a substance called isothiocyanate in the broccoli sparks hundreds of genetic changes, activating some genes that fight cancer and switching off others that fuel tumors.

Prostate cancer kills more men than any other kind except for lung cancer. Each year, 680,000 men worldwide are diagnosed with the disease and about 220,000 will die from it.

The benefit derived from broccoli would likely also be available from other cruciferous vegetables that contain isothiocyanate, including Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, arugula, watercress and horseradish. So stop setting those green vegetables aside, because they can do wonders for your health more than you think.

Big uh-oh and gulp for me and fans of flip flops (think of your precious pricey Havaianas for this one.)

They may actually throw off your stride and cause pain in your lower legs and feet and this is according to researchers at Auburn University in Alabama.

Researchers recruited 39 college-age men and women, and measured how the participants walked on a special platform wearing thong flip-flops. On another day, the same participants walked across the platform wearing their own athletic shoes.

When the participants wore flip-flops, they took shorter strides and their heels hit the ground with less vertical force. When people walk in flip-flops, they apparently alter their gait, which may explain why lower leg and foot problems can occur in people who wear such shoes frequently.

I also did extra research on this issue, because I just couldn’t believe it. But here is what one site quoted:

Tony Bruno — a certified Muscle Activation Techniques Specialist — wearing flip-flops can not only cause dysfunctional changes and pain in your foot, these changes can resonate all the way up to your head, neck and jaw.

This happens because your toes try to grip into bottom of the flip-flop to hold them on your feet.  Look at your toes in flip-flops. The distal part of your toe is trying to flex down (planter flex) to hold the flip-flop on, while the other part of your toe (middle) is trying to bridge up (dorsi flex). 

 I don’t think they’re saying we should banish flip-flops from our lives and collection forever, but maybe wearing them once in a while instead of every single day can be good for our lovely feet and bring comfort to our legs as well.

Washing fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of food poisoning, but researchers recently found out that disease-causing microbes can evade some chemical sanitizers. These bacteria can make their way inside the leaves of lettuce, spinach and other vegetables and fruit, where surface treatments cannot reach them. Microbes can also organize themselves into tightly knit packs called biofilms to protect themselves from harm.

Biofilms can harbor multiple versions of infectious, disease-causing bacteria, such as Salmonella and E. coli.

Researchers suggested that irradiation, a food treatment that exposes food to a source of electron beams, could effectively kill internalized pathogens that are beyond the reach of conventional chemical sanitizers.

Irradiation disrupts the genetic material of living cells, inactivating parasites and destroying pathogens and insects in food.

Skipping breakfast is bad, and we all know that; especially if you’re a teenager. You skip the most important meal of the day, and you are more likely to be obese. It is said that this maybe be one of the causes of rising obesity in young people.

A study was conducted, and it was about following the breakfast habits of teenagers. Those who skipped the meal became five pounds heavier on average, and they also ate less healthily during the day, not to mention exercised less.

The obesity rate for adolescents has tripled over the past 20 years.

Researchers have found that the production of previtamin D3 in your skin varies depending on several factors, which include skin type, weather conditions, and sunscreen use. During the winter at latitudes above 35 degrees, there is minimal previtamin D3 production in the skin. Darker skin pigmentation, application of sunscreen, aging and clothing can also have a dramatic effect on previtamin D3 production. However, at the other end of the scale, excessive exposure to sunlight does not result in vitamin D overdose, because previtamin D3 and vitamin D3 are photolyzed to biologically inert chemicals before they can build up to dangerous levels.

Here’s an article that is specifically for those women trying or eager to get pregnant. Hope this helps. I was too tired to talk about the whole thing, so I decided to get the article. I was never a big fan of acupuncture, but something tells me I should go and try it. Not to get pregnant of course! No way! Still not ready for that. But I heard it could do wonders for your health and body, so why not give it a try. It is said to be cheaper than IVF.

It sounds far-fetched — sticking needles in women to help them become pregnant — but a scientific review suggests that acupuncture might improve the odds of conceiving if done right before or after embryos are placed in the womb.

The surprising finding is far from proven, and there are only theories for how and why acupuncture might work. However, some fertility specialists say they are hopeful that this relatively inexpensive and simple treatment might ultimately prove to be a useful add-on to traditional methods.

Acupuncture involves placing very thin needles at specific points on the body to try to control pain and reduce stress. In fertility treatment, it is thought to increase blood flow to the uterus, relax the cervix and inhibit "fight or flight" stress hormones that can make it tougher for an embryo to implant, Manheimer said.

The analysis pools results from seven studies on 1,366 women in the United States, Germany, Australia and Denmark who are having in vitro fertilization, or IVF. It involves mixing sperm and eggs in a lab dish to create embryos that are placed in the womb.

Women were randomly assigned to receive IVF alone, IVF with acupuncture within a day of embryo transfer, or IVF plus sham acupuncture, in which needles were placed too shallowly or in spots not thought to matter.

Individually, only three of the studies found acupuncture beneficial, three found a trend toward benefit and one found no benefit. When results of these smaller studies were pooled, researchers found that the odds of conceiving went up about 65 percent for women given acupuncture.

Experts warn against focusing on that number, because this type of analysis with pooled results is not proof that acupuncture helps at all, let alone by how much. IVF results in pregnancy about 35 percent of the time. Adding acupuncture might boost that to around 45 percent, the researchers said.

Dr. Ann Trevino, a 37-year-old family physician who recently moved to Houston, is pregnant, and a believer. She had three unsuccessful pregnancy attempts with intrauterine insemination before trying acupuncture with IVF at a fertility clinic in San Antonio where she used to live.

Acupuncturist Kirsten Karchmer said she places about a dozen needles in the ears, hands, feet, lower legs, abdomen and sometimes the lower back. It costs $500 a month for treatments twice a week, and patients typically go for three months, she said.

IVF costs around $12,000 per attempt, so a treatment that improves its effectiveness might save money in the long run, Manheimer said.

Drinking too little milk and having few exposure to sunlight and exercise can affect children. In fact, it can lead to anti-bone trifecta, which eventually results in rickets.

This can be prevented, thanks to research that shows the normal bone density for children of various ages.

Also, data shows that even a ten percent deficit in bone mass after adolescent years can increase risks of having osteoporosis and fractures as high as 50 percent, and this is according to the president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.