Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/rU2V0Knw6ZE

Pregnant women will suffer colds and may get the flu despite receiving the flu vaccines.  When that occurs, the babies they are carrying are more likely to develop excessive neural sensitivity.  That in turn leads to agitation for infants and toddlers and attention deficits and even serious psychosis such as schizophrenia later in life.

A study by University of Colorado pediatricians and psychiatrists reveals that this problem may be prevented by sufficient levels of the essential B vitamin choline.  Choline is necessary for the synthesis of the cell membranes of neurons and the sheaths of nerves.

While choline is found in some foods including eggs, red meat, and liver, 75% of pregnant women fail to consume the recommended daily 450 milligrams of this nutrient.  Unfortunately, prenatal vitamins do not contain choline.

Pregnant women should take a 500 mg choline supplement daily for at least the first 16 weeks of pregnancy.  Choline may be obtained from most drugstores and online.

Robert Freedman, Sharon K. Hunter, Amanda J. Law, Brandie D. Wagner, Angelo D'Alessandro, Uwe Christians, Kathleen Noonan, Anna Wyrwa, M. Camille Hoffman. Higher Gestational Choline Levels in Maternal Infection Are Protective for Infant Brain Development. The Journal of Pediatrics, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.12.010

#Choline #neuropathy #agitation #ADHD #psychosis #schizophrenia #pregnancy

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Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/OxOPYMo9fdk

The knee takes a beating in many athletic contests, and anterior cruciate ligament repair is a frequent operative event in the world of sports medicine.  During recovery, though, there tends to be a loss of muscle mass and bone density despite good rehabilitation therapy.

Orthopedic surgeons at Houston’s Methodist Hospital report to the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine that precise and cyclic limitation of blood flow to the healing limbs during postoperative rehabilitation exercises reduced if not eliminated the loss of both muscle and bone mass.  An automated tourniquet was used to reduce the blood flow by about 80% on an intermittent basis.

Researchers across the country and around the world are now studying this phenomenon to better understand the underlying reasons for the benefit.  If you are contemplating an ACL repair, ask your orthopod about this tourniquet technique.

American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. "Blood flow restriction therapy may protect against bone loss following ACL reconstruction." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 March 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190316162205.htm.

#ACL #anteriorcruciateligament #sportsmedicine #musclewasting #osteoporosis

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/yPUzPyQOAVw

Ninety percent of the most popular prescription medications in the US contain one or more ingredients that may make you sick.  Now, I’m not talking about the main or so-called active ingredient but rather about the inactive ingredients that are added to pills, capsules, and liquids to improve shelf life, absorption, and taste.

A study just released by collaborators from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and MIT analyzed some 42,000 oral medications and their nearly 350,000 inactive ingredients.  The investigators pinpointed 3 troublesome inactive ingredients that appear most often.  

Forty-five percent of medications contain lactose, 33% contain one or another food dye, and up to 0.1% contain peanut oil.  This latter ingredient that could be life threatening for those with peanut allergies.  

To make matters worse, there are countless versions of the same prescription drug by different manufacturers that contain different inactive ingredients.  If you are an allergic individual, check drug labels and question your pharmacist about the inactive ingredients in the medication you are given.   

Those with allergies should always have an antihistamine like Benadryl handy, and those with severe allergies should carry Epipens or their generic equivalents.

Daniel Reker, Steven M. Blum, Christoph Steiger, Kevin E. Anger, Jamie M. Sommer, John Fanikos and Giovanni Traverso. Inactive” ingredients in oral medications. Science Translational Medicine, 2019 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aau6753

#inactiveingredients #allergy #fooddye #lactose #peanut

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Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/o7vWyfz-n7w

Sit-stand desks, so-called SSDs, are no miracle.  This conclusion stems from a University of Pittsburgh meta-analysis of some 53 studies.

The Pitt bioengineers conclude that these convertible desks do drive less sitting, can improve back pain issues, may make their users somewhat more comfortable, and can lower your blood pressure a bit.  They will not help you lose weight, and their safe use requires attention to how you are positioned such as desk height, monitor height, posture, and use of an anti-fatigue mat on which to stand.

These devices aren’t cheap.  Prices range from the bare-bones model at $175 to the luxury liners with push button controls that run nearly $1000.  Before making a final purchase, you might like to try one out by purchasing from a merchant with liberal return policies.

April J. Chambers, Michelle M. Robertson, Nancy A. Baker. The effect of sit-stand desks on office worker behavioral and health outcomes: A scoping review. Applied Ergonomics, 2019; 78: 37 DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2019.01.015

#standingdesks #sittingstandingdesks #dieting #ergonomics #footmat

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/o7vWyfz-n7w

Sit-stand desks, so-called SSDs, are no miracle.  This conclusion stems from a University of Pittsburgh meta-analysis of some 53 studies.

The Pitt bioengineers conclude that these convertible desks do drive less sitting, can improve back pain issues, may make their users somewhat more comfortable, and can lower your blood pressure a bit.  They will not help you lose weight, and their safe use requires attention to how you are positioned such as desk height, monitor height, posture, and use of an anti-fatigue mat on which to stand.

These devices aren’t cheap.  Prices range from the bare-bones model at $175 to the luxury liners with push button controls that run nearly $1000.  Before making a final purchase, you might like to try one out by purchasing from a merchant with liberal return policies.

April J. Chambers, Michelle M. Robertson, Nancy A. Baker. The effect of sit-stand desks on office worker behavioral and health outcomes: A scoping review. Applied Ergonomics, 2019; 78: 37 DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2019.01.015

#standingdesks #sittingstandingdesks #dieting #ergonomics #footmat

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/yPUzPyQOAVw

Ninety percent of the most popular prescription medications in the US contain one or more ingredients that may make you sick.  Now, I’m not talking about the main or so-called active ingredient but rather about the inactive ingredients that are added to pills, capsules, and liquids to improve shelf life, absorption, and taste.

A study just released by collaborators from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and MIT analyzed some 42,000 oral medications and their nearly 350,000 inactive ingredients.  The investigators pinpointed 3 troublesome inactive ingredients that appear most often.  

Forty-five percent of medications contain lactose, 33% contain one or another food dye, and up to 0.1% contain peanut oil.  This latter ingredient that could be life threatening for those with peanut allergies.  

To make matters worse, there are countless versions of the same prescription drug by different manufacturers that contain different inactive ingredients.  If you are an allergic individual, check drug labels and question your pharmacist about the inactive ingredients in the medication you are given.   

Those with allergies should always have an antihistamine like Benadryl handy, and those with severe allergies should carry Epipens or their generic equivalents.

Daniel Reker, Steven M. Blum, Christoph Steiger, Kevin E. Anger, Jamie M. Sommer, John Fanikos and Giovanni Traverso. Inactive” ingredients in oral medications. Science Translational Medicine, 2019 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aau6753

#inactiveingredients #allergy #fooddye #lactose #peanut

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Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/5PFjaUwlKzQ

We can neutralize our stress and anxiety with song, a stuffed animal, and even another person.  Psychologists at Yale and Cornell present this stress antidote adding that a safety signal triggers an entirely different neural network than that through which behavioral therapy operates.

Subjects, both human and mice, were exposed to both threatening objects and non-threatening ones separately.  Including the non-threatening safety item in a threatening scenario neutralized the stress.

With the holidays upon us soon to be followed by the tax season, I’d pick a safety signal, a portable happy place, to help you through the anxiety maze.  Know you’re not alone: 1 in 3 Americans have disabling anxiety and fear.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191209161336.htm 

#Safetysignal #Fear #anxiety #happyplace

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/5PFjaUwlKzQ

We can neutralize our stress and anxiety with song, a stuffed animal, and even another person.  Psychologists at Yale and Cornell present this stress antidote adding that a safety signal triggers an entirely different neural network than that through which behavioral therapy operates.

Subjects, both human and mice, were exposed to both threatening objects and non-threatening ones separately.  Including the non-threatening safety item in a threatening scenario neutralized the stress.

With the holidays upon us soon to be followed by the tax season, I’d pick a safety signal, a portable happy place, to help you through the anxiety maze.  Know you’re not alone: 1 in 3 Americans have disabling anxiety and fear.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191209161336.htm 

#Safetysignal #Fear #anxiety #happyplace

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/XZ5zruOCTWI

Australians, forever known as industrial strength meat eaters, have found a way to continue their habit while still eating heart healthy.  Enter the Mediterranean-Pork diet.  

It fuses the typical med diet of fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains and olive oils with 2-3 weekly servings of fresh lean pork,  Research at the University of South Australia shows that participants following the Med-Pork plan actually have higher cognitive function than those on a typical low-fat offering.

The bonus: producing pork versus beef generates significantly fewer greenhouse gases.

It’s time to import this tasty, healthy diet to the US.  Mix up a delicious salad, and put the other white meat, pork, on the barbie.

Alexandra T. Wade, Courtney R. Davis, Kathryn A. Dyer, Jonathan M. Hodgson, Richard J. Woodman, Hannah A. D. Keage, Karen J. Murphy. A Mediterranean Diet with Fresh, Lean Pork Improves Processing Speed and Mood: Cognitive Findings from the MedPork Randomised Controlled Trial. Nutrients, 2019; 11 (7): 1521 DOI: 10.3390/nu11071521

Pork #Mediterraneandiet #australia #healthyeating

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/XZ5zruOCTWI

Australians, forever known as industrial strength meat eaters, have found a way to continue their habit while still eating heart healthy.  Enter the Mediterranean-Pork diet.  

It fuses the typical med diet of fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains and olive oils with 2-3 weekly servings of fresh lean pork,  Research at the University of South Australia shows that participants following the Med-Pork plan actually have higher cognitive function than those on a typical low-fat offering.

The bonus: producing pork versus beef generates significantly fewer greenhouse gases.

It’s time to import this tasty, healthy diet to the US.  Mix up a delicious salad, and put the other white meat, pork, on the barbie.

Alexandra T. Wade, Courtney R. Davis, Kathryn A. Dyer, Jonathan M. Hodgson, Richard J. Woodman, Hannah A. D. Keage, Karen J. Murphy. A Mediterranean Diet with Fresh, Lean Pork Improves Processing Speed and Mood: Cognitive Findings from the MedPork Randomised Controlled Trial. Nutrients, 2019; 11 (7): 1521 DOI: 10.3390/nu11071521

Pork #Mediterraneandiet #australia #healthyeating