Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/jWWe90490ss

When children and teens use food supplements for weight loss, muscle building, and energy stimulation, 40% of the adverse events that occur are associated with severe disability and death.  This sobering statistic comes from studies at the Harvard School of Public Health that reviewed the details of nearly a thousand adverse event reports that were compiled by the FDA over a 10 year period.

The researchers note that many of these products, readily available to anyone of any age online, often contain hidden prescription drugs, FDA- banned substances, toxic heavy metals, and pesticides.  Use of some weight loss and body building agents can trigger testicular cancer, liver destruction, and stroke.  Those supplements sold for sexual enhancement and gi cleansing were twice as likely as others to drive severe illness.

Food and diet supplements live outside the otherwise strict FDA review structure.  You have no idea about the purity and/or safety of these substances.  Don’t use them or let your kids use them.

Flora Or, Yongjoo Kim, Juliana Simms, S. Bryn Austin. Taking Stock of Dietary Supplements’ Harmful Effects on Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults. Journal of Adolescent Health, June 5, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.03.005

#Supplements #FDA

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/jWWe90490ss

When children and teens use food supplements for weight loss, muscle building, and energy stimulation, 40% of the adverse events that occur are associated with severe disability and death.  This sobering statistic comes from studies at the Harvard School of Public Health that reviewed the details of nearly a thousand adverse event reports that were compiled by the FDA over a 10 year period.

The researchers note that many of these products, readily available to anyone of any age online, often contain hidden prescription drugs, FDA- banned substances, toxic heavy metals, and pesticides.  Use of some weight loss and body building agents can trigger testicular cancer, liver destruction, and stroke.  Those supplements sold for sexual enhancement and gi cleansing were twice as likely as others to drive severe illness.

Food and diet supplements live outside the otherwise strict FDA review structure.  You have no idea about the purity and/or safety of these substances.  Don’t use them or let your kids use them.

Flora Or, Yongjoo Kim, Juliana Simms, S. Bryn Austin. Taking Stock of Dietary Supplements’ Harmful Effects on Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults. Journal of Adolescent Health, June 5, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.03.005

#Supplements #FDA

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/9VpiXVEBhHA

Using the internet can produce temporary but also permanent negative changes in your brain’s abilities to focus attention, create and sustain memories, and promote social bonding.  An international collaborative team from Australia’s Western Sydney University, Britain’s Universities of Oxford and Manchester, and Boston’s Harvard Medical School just released this groundbreaking study in the journal World Psychiatry.

Reviewing and summarizing the available literature, the scientists confirm that the internet has monumental impacts on our attention, memory, and social interactions.

The internet powerfully grabs our attention with an endless stream of information as well as unwanted interruptions in our lives.   It definitely fosters informational sophistication but also increases distractibility.  

While the internet places a huge amount of objective, social, and personal information at our fingertips, it is a crutch that dulls our abilities to recall such information “offline” from our own memories.  

The internet is a powerful tool for generating social networks.  The semi-anonymous and often artificial characteristics of many interactions within such networks can be psychologically harmful.  Real world acceptance and rejection can be in your face, but it can also be muted by your own interpretation of other’s actions.  In the online world, other’s opinions of you are concretely quantitated by likes, dislikes, following, friending, and trolling.

The internet is like a robot.  It can be a powerful servant, but, without caution, it becomes a cat and you could become its pet.

Joseph Firth, John Torous, Brendon Stubbs, Josh A. Firth, Genevieve Z. Steiner, Lee Smith, Mario Alvarez‐Jimenez, John Gleeson, Davy Vancampfort, Christopher J. Armitage, Jerome Sarris. The “online brain”: how the Internet may be changing our cognition. World Psychiatry, 2019; 18 (2): 119 DOI: 10.1002/wps.20617

#internet #attention #distractability #memory #acceptance #rejection

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/9VpiXVEBhHA

Using the internet can produce temporary but also permanent negative changes in your brain’s abilities to focus attention, create and sustain memories, and promote social bonding.  An international collaborative team from Australia’s Western Sydney University, Britain’s Universities of Oxford and Manchester, and Boston’s Harvard Medical School just released this groundbreaking study in the journal World Psychiatry.

Reviewing and summarizing the available literature, the scientists confirm that the internet has monumental impacts on our attention, memory, and social interactions.

The internet powerfully grabs our attention with an endless stream of information as well as unwanted interruptions in our lives.   It definitely fosters informational sophistication but also increases distractibility.  

While the internet places a huge amount of objective, social, and personal information at our fingertips, it is a crutch that dulls our abilities to recall such information “offline” from our own memories.  

The internet is a powerful tool for generating social networks.  The semi-anonymous and often artificial characteristics of many interactions within such networks can be psychologically harmful.  Real world acceptance and rejection can be in your face, but it can also be muted by your own interpretation of other’s actions.  In the online world, other’s opinions of you are concretely quantitated by likes, dislikes, following, friending, and trolling.

The internet is like a robot.  It can be a powerful servant, but, without caution, it becomes a cat and you could become its pet.

Joseph Firth, John Torous, Brendon Stubbs, Josh A. Firth, Genevieve Z. Steiner, Lee Smith, Mario Alvarez‐Jimenez, John Gleeson, Davy Vancampfort, Christopher J. Armitage, Jerome Sarris. The “online brain”: how the Internet may be changing our cognition. World Psychiatry, 2019; 18 (2): 119 DOI: 10.1002/wps.20617

#internet #attention #distractability #memory #acceptance #rejection

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/Umk5s22qXZw

The pronouns you use on a first date recounting stories of your past love lives exposes your emotional attachment style for all to see.  Psychologists at the University of California-Riverside have decoded the formula after aggregating 1400 observations derived from seven studies.

The repeated use of the “I’ or “me” words reveals an anxiously avoidant personality type that only cautiously, if at all, enters into lasting and healthy romantic attachments.  Such persons only bond with great difficulty

Those whose conversations are peppered with “we” tend to be more open to relationship building.  Their psychologic outlook in general appears healthier.

So the next time you are Tinderizing your love life or talking up a new potential life-partner, pay attention to their and your pronoun use.  Re-define “we” as thumbs up right swipe and “I” and “me” as a thumbs down left swipe!

William L. Dunlop, Alexander Karan, Dulce Wilkinson, Nicole Harake. Love in the First Degree: Individual Differences in First-Person Pronoun Use and Adult Romantic Attachment Styles. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2019; 194855061984745 DOI: 10.1177/1948550619847455

#pronouns #relationships #lovelife #we #I

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/Umk5s22qXZw

The pronouns you use on a first date recounting stories of your past love lives exposes your emotional attachment style for all to see.  Psychologists at the University of California-Riverside have decoded the formula after aggregating 1400 observations derived from seven studies.

The repeated use of the “I’ or “me” words reveals an anxiously avoidant personality type that only cautiously, if at all, enters into lasting and healthy romantic attachments.  Such persons only bond with great difficulty

Those whose conversations are peppered with “we” tend to be more open to relationship building.  Their psychologic outlook in general appears healthier.

So the next time you are Tinderizing your love life or talking up a new potential life-partner, pay attention to their and your pronoun use.  Re-define “we” as thumbs up right swipe and “I” and “me” as a thumbs down left swipe!

William L. Dunlop, Alexander Karan, Dulce Wilkinson, Nicole Harake. Love in the First Degree: Individual Differences in First-Person Pronoun Use and Adult Romantic Attachment Styles. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2019; 194855061984745 DOI: 10.1177/1948550619847455

#pronouns #relationships #lovelife #we #I

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/nGnwNFZs32g

The all too common sight of smog reminds us that outdoor air is often hazardous.  A just published study from Washington State University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering now alerts us to indoor air pollution dangers.

As our homes become increasing air-tight with more chemical-laden dry wall and insulation, the air we breathe indoors becomes more questionable.

The study looked at a variety of homes built at different times and of different materials.  Most of the houses had higher than normal levels of formaldehyde that increased with increasing room temperatures during any given day.  One source of the formaldehyde was found to be gypsum wallboard.

Since we don’t want to wear gas masks at home, we should all let some fresh air into our homes when that air is in fact safe.  The study also encourages us to spend more time outdoors in open, green spaces away from the urban sprawl so that we can breathe in truly fresh air.

Yibo Huangfu, Nathan M. Lima, Patrick T. O'Keeffe, William M. Kirk, Brian K. Lamb, Shelley N. Pressley, Beiyu Lin, Diane J. Cook, Von P. Walden, Bertram T. Jobson. Diel variation of formaldehyde levels and other VOCs in homes driven by temperature dependent infiltration and emission rates. Building and Environment, 2019; 159: 106153 DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2019.05.031

#pollution #formaldehyde #gypsum

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/nGnwNFZs32g

The all too common sight of smog reminds us that outdoor air is often hazardous.  A just published study from Washington State University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering now alerts us to indoor air pollution dangers.

As our homes become increasing air-tight with more chemical-laden dry wall and insulation, the air we breathe indoors becomes more questionable.

The study looked at a variety of homes built at different times and of different materials.  Most of the houses had higher than normal levels of formaldehyde that increased with increasing room temperatures during any given day.  One source of the formaldehyde was found to be gypsum wallboard.

Since we don’t want to wear gas masks at home, we should all let some fresh air into our homes when that air is in fact safe.  The study also encourages us to spend more time outdoors in open, green spaces away from the urban sprawl so that we can breathe in truly fresh air.

Yibo Huangfu, Nathan M. Lima, Patrick T. O'Keeffe, William M. Kirk, Brian K. Lamb, Shelley N. Pressley, Beiyu Lin, Diane J. Cook, Von P. Walden, Bertram T. Jobson. Diel variation of formaldehyde levels and other VOCs in homes driven by temperature dependent infiltration and emission rates. Building and Environment, 2019; 159: 106153 DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2019.05.031

#pollution #formaldehyde #gypsum

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/yjztmrDgqnc

If you love to eat and you want to enjoy the most flavorful food, take a seat!  If you must consume foul tasting medicine or somewhat bitter vegetables, you’d better stand.  A new study from the University of South Florida’s marketing department studied the ways in which our balance system and our posture during eating affects our perception of food taste.

The investigators distributed luscious bite-sized brownies to 350 participants.  The brownies tasted best to those who ate them while sitting.  The researchers also asked the study subjects to try an over-salted brownie, and those who stood while eating it failed to notice the additional salt and the unpleasant taste.  Food that was too hot or too cold was also more annoying to those sitting versus standing, and overheated coffee was more palatable to those on their feet.

The study also dispelled an urban myth that you never pay attention to your food consumption if you eat standing..  Those subjects who ate while standing actually consumed less food.

You gourmets dining on quality food should do so sitting.  Kids who reject all healthy greens could maybe be fed those foods while standing and they might just eat more of them.

Dipayan Biswas, Courtney Szocs, Annika Abell. Extending the Boundaries of Sensory Marketing and Examining the Sixth Sensory System: Effects of Vestibular Sensations for Sitting versus Standing Postures on Food Taste Perception. Journal of Consumer Research, 2019; DOI: 10.1093/jcr/ucz018

#sitting #standing #eating

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/yjztmrDgqnc

If you love to eat and you want to enjoy the most flavorful food, take a seat!  If you must consume foul tasting medicine or somewhat bitter vegetables, you’d better stand.  A new study from the University of South Florida’s marketing department studied the ways in which our balance system and our posture during eating affects our perception of food taste.

The investigators distributed luscious bite-sized brownies to 350 participants.  The brownies tasted best to those who ate them while sitting.  The researchers also asked the study subjects to try an over-salted brownie, and those who stood while eating it failed to notice the additional salt and the unpleasant taste.  Food that was too hot or too cold was also more annoying to those sitting versus standing, and overheated coffee was more palatable to those on their feet.

The study also dispelled an urban myth that you never pay attention to your food consumption if you eat standing..  Those subjects who ate while standing actually consumed less food.

You gourmets dining on quality food should do so sitting.  Kids who reject all healthy greens could maybe be fed those foods while standing and they might just eat more of them.

Dipayan Biswas, Courtney Szocs, Annika Abell. Extending the Boundaries of Sensory Marketing and Examining the Sixth Sensory System: Effects of Vestibular Sensations for Sitting versus Standing Postures on Food Taste Perception. Journal of Consumer Research, 2019; DOI: 10.1093/jcr/ucz018

#sitting #standing #eating