Vonnies Health Spot

PRACTICE SUN SAFETY FOR LIFETIME PROTECTION

The Skin Cancer Foundation, www.skincancer.org, recently released tips on ways to protect yourself and your family. Remember too that sun not only causes cancer, but it is also the No. 1 skin-aging element in our environment; and none of us want to walk around with wrinkled, leathery skin, do we?


DID YOU KNOW ... ?

• Year-round sun protection is important?

• The sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation can penetrate many types of clothes?

• It can also go through automobile and residential windows?

• It can damage your eyes, contributing to cataracts, macular degeneration, and eyelid cancers?

• When you're on snow or ice, your face and eyes are at almost twice the risk of UV damage because of reflected glare?


THINGS YOU CAN DO TO IMPROVE PROTECTION

• Protect yourself and your family all year round, not just in the summer.

• Seek the shade, especially between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

• Do not allow yourself or loved ones to get sunburned. Sunburn is actually radiation burn.

• Avoid tanning and UV tanning booths.

• Use a sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher every day.
Apply 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of sunscreen to ALL EXPOSED AREAS (and don't forget your feet and between your toes, if you wear sandals) 30 minutes before going outside. Reapply every two hours or after swimming or excessive sweating.

• Cover up with clothing, including a broad-brimmed hat and UV-blocking sunglasses.

• Keep newborns out of the sun. Sunscreens should be used on babies over the age of six months.

• Examine your skin head-to-toe every month.

• See your doctor every year for a professional skin exam.


PRODUCTS TO HELP PROTECT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY

Recently, to combat these hidden dangers, The Skin Cancer Foundation expanded its Seal of Recommendation program. For more than two decades, the Foundation has granted the Seal to products containing SPF 15+ sunscreen that meet the highest standards for safety and effectiveness. Now, in recognition of the need for extra forms of sun protection, several other types of products have been awarded the Seal as well, including ...

• A UV- protective automobile window film

• A UV-protective residential window film

• A UV-blocking face mask

• A UV-blocking deck and patio awning

• A laundry product that can be added to detergent to increase UV protection in clothing

• Sunglasses that protect against UV and high-energy visible light

More than 200 products in the U.S. and some 20 abroad currently have qualified for the Seal. For a list of these products, call 1-800SKIN-490, or send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to:
The Skin Cancer Foundation
245 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1403
New York, NY 10016

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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.

FOLK REMEDIES THAT HAVE BEEN PROVEN TO WORK

HONEY
One simple folk remedy that seems to actually work better than over-the-counter medicines is honey for coughs. In January 2008, the Food and Drug Administration said that over-the-counter cough medications posed unacceptable risks to children under the age of two, so the news about honey is welcome news indeed. Three years before, the American College of Chest physicians declared that over-the-counter cough remedies were largely ineffective for people of any age.

In a 2007 study published by the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 105 children ages two to 18 who suffered from upper-respiratory infections received no treatment, honey, or a honey-flavored OTC cough suppressant. Parents then rated their children’s cough symptoms and quality of sleep. Those treated with honey did best. The researchers said that honey might soothe irritated membranes in the back of the throat, and has well-established antioxidant and antiviral effects.

The dosage given by the researchers was ½ teaspoon for children two to five years old, 1 teaspoon to children six to 11, and 2 teaspoons to those ages 12 to 18. The higher amount is a reasonable dose for adults as well. A smaller dose might be appropriate for babies between one and two years of age, but absolutely DO NOT give honey to infants under one year of age. It can cause infant botulism, a rare but potentially fatal ailment.

CRANBERRIES
While skeptics have long maintained that the benefits of drinking cranberry juice have more to do with the bladder-flushing effects of water in the juice or the inhospitably acidic urine created by juices such as cranberry juice, than with the actual components of the berry itself, research has shown otherwise.

In a series of lab tests, an Israeli team found that it kept infectious bacteria from sticking to the bladder wall. Juice from blueberries, which are closely related to cranberries, also worked. But several other fruit juices, such as grapefruit, mango, orange, and pineapple had no such effect. A 2008 analysis of 10 such studies comparing cranberry products with a placebo, other juices, or water found that a daily dose of cranberry juice or capsules significantly reduced bladder infections, especially in women who suffer from them frequently.

It’s still not clear whether the juice, tablets, or capsules are the most effective or what the optimal dose might be, but drinking cranberry juice as soon as symptoms appear — burning sensation on urination, difficulty urinating, a sense of bladder fullness, ongoing discomfort — may clear up an early infection. If symptoms worsen, however, or last for more than a day or two, see your doctor.

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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.

LOVE YOUR KITTY, LOVE HER E. COLI … EUWWW!

When I was a kid and had cats and dogs around the house, my mother was always reluctant to let them inside. The inveterate animal lover that I have been, even from the cradle, wanted all my pets indoors at night so there was a nightly, emotional tug-of-war about whether my pets could come in or not. I could never understand my mother’s resistance. She would say, “Animals are dirty. They make the house dirty.” In my child’s perception of things, I didn’t see that at all. It seemed like a very weak excuse to me, just to make us all miserable. (Strangely, in her later years, my mother has done an about-face and has quite a few pets that she treats like her children, to my delight and amusement.)

Anyway, my mother’s legacy lives on, in a watered-down way, in me. I still make sure that my animals are inside, safe, warm and cozy at night. But one of the first things my new kittens learn is that the kitchen table and counter tops are definitely off-limits. So are the bathroom counter tops. All other spaces are permitted as long as they don’t start clawing. What the little cuties do when I’m not at home is a whole other matter.

Now a report in the Journal of Infectious Disease (Vol. 197, No. 2), vindicates my mother somewhat. The report titled “Escherichia coli Colonization Patterns Among Human Household Members and Pets, With Attention to Acute Urinary Tract Infection” says that our systems have the ability to clone the bacteria that is spread when kitty explores the higher reaches of your kitchen, carrying on her dainty paws the residue of her latest visit to her litter box.

The study’s subjects were human volunteers, recruited from the staff and visitors at a Minneapolis Veteran’s Administration hospital, and their pets — 48 dogs and 25 cats. Not every fecal sample from people and pets had the so-called extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli, and even fewer people had acute urinary tract infections during the study.

But in households where people and pets all had E. coli, the bacteria were genetic clones of one another. That meant the person had given the bug to the cat or vice versa. In some cases, researchers said, the animal might have been an intermediate host between two infected humans. They said in conclusion: “Within-household sharing of E. coli … is common and can involve any combination of humans and pets.”

Granted, the study was small and we don’t know how well controls were instituted, but I’m including it in my blog as a cautionary tale, and I suggest that it might be a good idea to make sure your table and counter tops are cleaned with a sanitizer of some kind before preparing each meal. Also be fastidious about washing your hands after cleaning the litter box.

And if our little furry friends could read medical literature, I’m sure they would do the same for our germs.

Take a look at www.catwatchnewsletter.com for more information.

BABY TALK YOUR BABY TO ENCOURAGE LEARNING

“Learning a language is one of the most critical things an infant has to do, because communication with other people is tremendously important,” says Carnegie Mellon University Psychology Professor Erik Thiessen.

I baby talked my little ones when they were still around. But I didn’t do it because I thought I was helping them learn to speak, I did it because cute little critters bring that component of my personality to the surface. Even nowadays, with the kids grown and out the door, I baby talk my pets who do stand-in duty for the kids who used to fill the house. As a matter of fact, the reigning school of thought in those days was that I might be doing harm by speaking to my infants in baby talk, but my mother’s instinct told me that just couldn’t be so and I continued to do so as long as it seemed appropriate.

So now the latest studies seem to show that I was doing the right thing after all. Most adults speak to infants using so-called infant-directed speech: short, simple sentences coupled with higher pitch and exaggerated intonation. Researchers have long known that babies prefer to be spoken to in this manner. Thiessen’s research has revealed that infant-directed speech also helps infants learn words more quickly than normal adult speech does.

In a series of experiments, he and his colleagues exposed eight-month-old infants to fluent speech made up of nonsense words. The researchers assessed whether, after listening to the fluent speech for less than two minutes, infants had been able to learn the words. The infants who were exposed to fluent speech with exaggerated intonation contour characteristic of infant-directed speech learned to identify the words more quickly than infants who heard fluent speech spoken in a more monotone fashion.

This study may also explain why many adults struggle to learn a second language even though they are able to use their own language effortlessly. Children, after all, learn to speak practically from scratch, and most experts believe infants are more adept than adults at language learning.

The study was published in the March 2008 issue of the journal Infancy. Thiessen is the director of Carnegie Mellon’s Infant Language and Learning Lab, which studies how children are able to learn so much so quickly during their first few years of life. For more information, go to www.psy.cmu.edu/~thiessen/labpage.html 

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Photo credits: baby close-up, Melissa King; baby and mom with apple, NiDerLander, both on LuckyOliver.com

COFFEE AS A HEALTH DRINK?

I guess by now just about all of us have been exposed to the concept that coffee is no longer the guilt-causing beverage it used to be. When I was younger I suffered from fibrocystic breast lumps. They were quite uncomfortable, not to mention a little disconcerting, so I took myself off to the doctor for a breast cancer screening, only to be told that those aching little buggers were nothing to worry about, but that I should cut back on my coffee drinking and wear nice tight, binding bras with plenty of support.

No problem on the latter, but on the former dictum I dragged my feet. One of my most basic daily pleasures is a good cuppa java first thing in the morning and then again several times throughout the day when I felt like rewarding or comforting myself. So I continued to enjoy my vice in secret … at least secret from my MD.

Now, as is often the case, I find that my instincts were working just fine and that coffee is actually a health drink rather than the baddy it had been made out to be in the past. Science has discovered recently that coffee is loaded with antioxidants and just two cups a day can translate into 25 percent reduced risk of colon cancer, 80 percent drop in liver cirrhosis risk and around 50 percent risk of gallstones.

“Overall, the research shows that coffee is far more healthful than it is harmful,” says Tomas DePaulis, PhD, research scientist at Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Coffee Studies, which conducts its own medical research and tracks coffee studies from around the world. “For most people, very little bad comes from drinking it, but a lot of good.”

Harvard researchers calculate that men slash their risk of developing diabetes by 54 percent and women by 30 percent if they can manage to drink six cups of coffee a day. But that’s a bit much for even me, the veteran coffee drinker. There is some evidence that coffee may help manage asthma and even control attacks when medication is unavailable, stop a headache (Here! Here!), boost mood and even prevent cavities (hmmmm).

So what is it in coffee that can have such a beneficial effect? Caffeine? Antioxidants (which, by the way, become more potent during the roasting process)? Or other mysterious properties? In a word, “yes” to all of the above. As a matter of fact, Parkinson’s drugs that contain a derivative of caffeine are in the developmental stage. Excedrin and Anacin both contain 120 milligrams of caffeine … what you would get in a good-sized cuppa.

STIMULANT
Anyone who has had to burn the midnight oil knows that a good strong cup of coffee chases away the cobwebs and helps keep us going when the stakes are high. Professional athletes have found that coffee is beneficial when they push themselves to better their stats. “What caffeine likely does is stimulate the brain and nervous system to do things differently,” says Terry Graham, PhD, of the University of Guelph in Canada. “That may include signaling you to ignore fatigue or recruit extra units of muscle for intense athletic performance. Caffeine may even have a direct effect on muscles themselves, causing them to produce a stronger contraction. But what’s amazing about it is that unlike performance-enhancing manipulation some athletes do that are specific for strength or sprinting or endurance, studies show that caffeine positively enhances all of these things.”

CHILDREN & COFFEE
“A recent study from Brazil found that children who drink coffee with milk every day are less likely to have depression than other children,” says DePaulis. “In fact, no studies show that coffee in reasonable amounts is in any way harmful to children.”

ANTIOXIDANTS IN COFFEE
Coffee contains a lot of other benefits besides caffeine, however. “Coffee is loaded with antioxidants, including a group of compounds called quinines that when administered to lab rats, increases their insulin sensitivity,” says Graham, who has studied the effects of caffeine and coffee for nearly two decades. Increased sensitivity improves the body’s response to insulin. And these same healthful antioxidants are available in decaffeinated coffee and tea too.

“We don’t know exactly why coffee is beneficial for diabetes,” says lead researcher Frank Hu, MD. “It is possible that both caffeine and other compounds play important roles. Coffee has large amounts of antioxidants such as chlorogenic acid, tocopherols, and minerals such as magnesium. All these components have been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.”

COFFEE AS A DENTAL PROTECTANT?
There is another compound called trigonelline, which gives coffee its aroma and bitter taste, that Italian researchers tell us contains antibacterial and anti-adhesive properties, thereby helping prevent dental cavities from forming.

THE CAVEATS
There are some cases where coffee should be avoided. There are some people who don’t tolerate coffee well. How much is too much? Whatever your individual body cannot tolerate. If you begin to suffer from nervousness, hand trembling and rapid heartbeat, it’s a good idea to drink decaf, tea or cut back altogether. Coffee may also raise cholesterol levels in some people and may contribute to artery clogging. The most common groups of people usually advised to limit or avoid coffee are pregnant women, heart patients and those at risk for osteoporosis.

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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.

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Photo credits: Costa Rican coffee fields-Martin Harrison, iStockphoto.com; coffee machine-Nikolai Okhitin, LuckyOliver.com; cowboy-DaydreamGirl, iStockphoto.com; woman with cup-LuckyOliver.com
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WATCH FOR MY NEW BOOK

OUT IN FEBRUARY 2008

VONNIES HEALTH SPOT
VOLUME ONE

FLU VACCINE INHALERS? YES, ON THE HORIZON

In the last few years, the bird flu virus has been in the news a lot. There were fears in the world medical community that a pandemic might overrun the planet. Authorities in many countries put safeguards in place to prevent the spread from one continent to another. Wild migrating bird flocks were monitored carefully. In European countries there were worries about running short of vaccine if an epidemic hit, because the vaccine has a very short shelf life.

Then a PhD student at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, Jean-Pierre Amorij, announced at the end of 2007 all that could change. In his thesis he describes a way of storing flu vaccine in powder form. It can then be stored for at least a year—more than enough time to build up stocks.

SUGARS ARE THE SECRET
During his four-year program, Amorij examined all kinds of methods for long-term storage of the flu vaccine. The answer came in what is known as freeze-drying. A protein molecule, such as a vaccine, can be frozen between millions of sugar molecules. These molecules bunch together like miniscule balls around the vaccine, protecting it, so it can be stored stably in dried form. He used special sugars for the process, inulin and trehalose and searched for 18 months to find the freeze-drying process that was exactly right. 

“The biggest problem was choosing the right freezing speed and the right sugar,” says Amorij. But he managed it, with the results looking like sugar used for frosting cakes.

ONE BENEFIT? EASE OF APPLICATION
Freeze-dried flu vaccine not only has a longer shelf-life, it is also easier to use.  The powdered vaccine can be swallowed or inhaled, so there will be no more need for injection needles. You don’t need to have medical personnel involved and distribution can be a lot faster, making it possible to immunize large groups of people in a short time. “Inhaling the vaccine is by far the most effective …” Amorij says. “The immune reaction was even more powerful than with an injection.” According to him, the powder is particularly suited to inhalation. It is very light and stays suspended so it can penetrate deep into the lungs. That makes absorption even more efficient.

WHEN WILL IT BE AVAILABLE?
To date only laboratory tests have been run. “So far we’ve tested it only on mice. The tests on people still have to take place. If everything goes well, then that could happen within five years. If there are a few setbacks, it could take 10 years. One thing is certain, though, it’s on its way.”

Amorij was awarded his PhD on January 4, 2008.

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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.

DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR

The following ideas are scientifically correct, right?

>People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day
>People use only 10 percent of their brains
>Eating turkey makes us sleepy
>Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster and coarser
>Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
>Hair and fingernails continue to grow after we die

Wrong. These are some commonly held medical myths that have been around as long as some of us have lived and longer. At Indiana State University School of Medicine researchers decided to investigate some myths that most of us have grown up with.

“We got fired up about this because we knew that physicians accepted these beliefs and were passing this information along to their patients. And these beliefs are frequently cited in the popular media,” says co-author Aaron Carroll, MD, MS, assistant professor of pediatrics and a Regenstrief Institute, Inc. affiliated scientist.

Co-author Rachel Vreeman, MD, a pediatrics research fellow, says, “Whenever we talk about this work, doctors at first express disbelief that these things are not true. But after we carefully lay out medical evidence, they are very willing to accept that these beliefs are actually false.”

>People should drink at least eight
glasses of water a day
The first belief they explored, that people should drink at least eight glass of water a day has been promoted as healthful as well as a useful dieting or weight control strategy.

“When we examined this belief, we found that there is no medical evidence to suggest that you need that much water,” said Dr. Vreeman. The myth can be traced back to a 1945 recommendation from the Nutrition Council that a person should consume the equivalent of eight glasses (64 ounces) of fluid a day. But an important part of the Council’s recommendation has been lost over the years—the large amount of fluid contained in food, especially fruits and vegetables, as well as in the coffee and soda people drink each day should be included  as part of the 64-ounce total. And conversely, the study authors noted that drinking excess water can be dangerous, resulting in water intoxication and even death.

>People use only 10 percent of their brains
This statement has been erroneously credited to Albert Einstein and is often cited by everyone from physicians to popular comedians. The study authors found that there are a lot of ways to disprove this belief. MRI scans, PET scans and other imaging studies show no dormant areas of the brain, and even viewing individual neurons or cells reveals no inactive areas of the brain. Metabolic studies of how brain cells process chemicals show no nonfunctioning areas.

Carroll and Vreeman think this myth probably originated with self-improvement experts in the early 1900s who wanted to convince people that they had yet not reached their full potential. By paying these possible descendants of snake-oil salesmen, one was supposed learn how to be able to tap into the 90 percent not being used.

>Eating turkey makes us sleepy
Both Dr. Vreeman and Dr. Carroll admit that they believed that eating turkey makes one especially drowsy. Scientific evidence supports that tryptophan, which is contained in turkey, can cause drowsiness. But they found that turkey doesn’t contain an exceptional amount of tryptophan. In fact, turkey, chicken, and ground beef contain about the same amount of tryptophan. Protein sources like pork and Swiss cheese contain more tryptophan per gram than turkey.

So why do people believe eating turkey makes them sleepy but never feel that way after a burger or pork chop? Again, this is a belief that the media, and other pop culture icons frequently repeat, popularizing the myth in spite of the easily accessible data on percentage of tryptophan in various products. Most likely, according to the study authors, this myth gained credence because turkey is often consumed during large, heavy dinners. It’s the total content of the meal that makes one feel lethargic.

>Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
Even before Abe Lincoln was told that reading in dim candlelight was bad for his eyes, people have believed that reading in dim light causes permanent eye damage. Generation after generation of parents have warned children (future physicians included) caught reading with flashlights under their blankets that reading in poor light ruins your vision. The study authors found no evidence that reading in dim light causes permanent eye damage. It is true, they say, that eyestrain can occur in dim light, causing some temporarily decreased acuity, but after the are rested the eyes return to their full potential.

>Shaving hair causes it to grow
back faster and coarser
The two researchers also explored a frequently held belief related to hair—that shaved hair grows back faster, coarser and darker. They found a 1928 randomized clinical trial, which compared hair growth in shaved patches to growth in nonshaved patches. The hair that replaced the shaved hair was no darker or thicker, and didn’t grow in faster. So why has this myth persisted almost 80 years after it was disproved and in the light of more recent studies which confirm the 1928 work? Again, optical illusions may be partially responsible, according to the study authors. When hair first comes in after being shaved, it grows with a blunt edge on top. Over time, the blunt edge gets worn so it may seem thicker than it actually is. Sun naturally bleaches hair over time, so hair, which is just emerging after an individual has shaved seems darker, but actually is no darker than any new hair growth.

>Hair and fingernails continue
to grow after we die
Another hair-related myth is that fingernails and hair grow after death. Most physicians the study authors queried initially assumed this belief was true. But when they thought about it, they knew it couldn’t possibly be valid. This myth likely persists because of an optical illusion—and because it’s just so creepy.

A Lighthearted Way of Teaching Future Experts to Question Common "Knowledge"
Why have these myths been perpetuated? Dr. Carroll and Dr. Vreeman believe it’s because they are repeated to us by experts. “Until someone takes the time to question and look for evidence, medical myths will remain accepted beliefs. We have tried to show through science and research why certain widely accepted beliefs are untrue. To some extent this is what we do in our regular jobs every day, teaching medical students and residents (physicians in training) to question what they hear,” said Dr. Carroll. “This study was a lighthearted way to remind people that first they might believe things because they have heard them from other people, especially from experts; and second, staying current is not just a matter of adding new knowledge onto the things we already believe. Sometimes you really have to look back on things already in your head or things you already believe to be true and reinvestigate or investigate for the first time whether those things [really] are true,” said Dr. Vreeman.

Dr. Vreeman and Dr. Carroll, who are with Children’s Health Services Research in the IU School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics, are currently working on a book examining dozens of other popular medical beliefs to see if they are true, false or unproven. So was your mother correct when she said your chewing gum would stay in your stomach for seven years? Dr. Carroll and Dr. Vreeman, both pediatricians with Riley Hospital for Children, one of the nation’s leading centers of excellence in pediatric medicine, will let you know in 2008.

This research, entitled “Medical Myths Even Doctors Believe” was published in the Christmas issue of the British Medical Journal.

Adapted from materials provided by Indiana University.

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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HAS FAR-REACHING & EXPENSIVE CONSEQUENCES, SOCIAL AS WELL AS MONETARY

Recent studies show that children who have suffered intimate partner violence (IPV), even if indirectly through watching their mother being abused, have higher medical needs than children who have not been exposed. Even if indirect exposure to violence occurred and ended while the child was still in the womb, medical needs remained higher than in people who had not experienced IPV.

The study, headed by principal investigator Robert S. Thompson, MD, senior investigator at Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle, Washington, processed 11 years of data. The study compared medical records and utilization data from 631 children of mothers with a history of IPV with those of 760 children whose mothers had not experienced IPV. The mothers participated in a randomly sampled telephone survey of Group Health female members aged 18 to 64 and provided the information regarding their lifetime history with IPV. The study defines IPV as both physical abuse (slapping, hitting, forced sex) and nonphysical abuse (threats, controlling behavior and chronic disparaging remarks).

“Children are the other victims when intimate partner violence occurs in the home,” said lead author Frederick P. Rivara, MD, MPH. “This study shows that children require more health care—especially for mental health—when their mothers are victims of such violence.”

Previous studies have shown that children exposed to IPV in the home have increased risk for many problems, including also being abused at home; school problems; poor health; risk-taking behavior; and becoming perpetrators of violence themselves. The current study is the largest ever to examine the link between mother’s exposure to IPV and their children’s health utilization and costs. The study is also unique in that it examined a large middle-class population and one that is very representative of Seattle.

The authors recommend that health-care providers routinely screen women for IPV and provide appropriate referrals to community agencies and mental health care both for mothers and children. The authors of the study state that such interventions are unlikely to be cost effective in the short term, because the victims’ increased health care utilization seems to be higher for years after IPV stops. “Nonetheless, such services are necessary to attend appropriately and responsibly to the long-term consequences of violence.”

“Intimate partner violence harms everyone in our society, and it must be viewed as not acceptable either for women or their children,” Rivara added.

Scientists from Group Health Center for Health Studies, Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, and Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute conducted the study, which appeared in the journal Pediatrics. The research was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Health Services arm of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

In addition to Rivara, authors of the paper include: Melissa L. Anderson, MS; Paul Fishman, PhD; Robert J. Reid, MD, PhD; David Carrell, PhD; Robert S. Thompson, MD; and Amy Bonomi, now at Ohio State University.

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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.