PROBIOTICS HELPFUL IN CHILDREN WITH STOMACH AILMENTS
By Susan Brady
Published: Monday, 29 November 2010
The search for remedies for common ailments is an ongoing pharmaceutical imperative. There is money to be made, but recent events - recalls and overdosing - has led to the questioning and wisdom of heading to the medicine chest shelf as soon as the first nose runs or stomachache occurs. Not everyone wants the latest antibiotic or cold remedy, particularly for their children. Some actively seek out alternative remedies and/or revive external treatments, like the mentholatum ointment and mustard packs that their mothers and grandmothers used. And sometimes, they just head to the kitchen.
There is a wealth of curative remedies in your kitchen, from honey for coughs and chicken soup for a cold, to peppermint or ginger tea for an upset stomach. And now you can add yogurt to that list, at least for certain types of diarrhea or stomach viruses.
Probiotics - live cultures that are a type of "good" bacteria - are added to foods and are helpful in keeping the digestive system on track, as well as boosting your immune system. Yogurt is the most common source of probiotics in our everyday lives, and a recent report in the December issue of Pediatrics stated that through randomized trials, "probiotics were modestly effective in treating healthy children with antibiotic-associated diarrhea or acute viral gastroenteritis." There was also some benefit shown for children suffering from colic, chronic ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome, although more research is needed to confirm these findings.
Study authors wrote, "Probiotics taken early during diarrhea from a viral infection may shorten the illness in otherwise healthy children. And probiotics also may prevent diarrhea in children who are taking antibiotics, which can sometimes cause the condition."
As a non-drug, natural approach, exchanging antibiotics for probiotics seems like it could be a safer option for parents not wanting to give harsh drugs to their young children. The results speak volumes for the complementary - in addition to Western practices instead of alternative medicine being practiced in place of more popular methods - medicine movement.
EXERCISE DURING PREGNANCY BENEFITS FETUSES AS WELL AS MOTHERS
Studies have shown that exercise has a positive effect on mothers-to-be, and no detrimental impact on their developing offspring.
A new study further extends the knowledge of research in this area and has found that not only do women benefit from exercise in pregnancy, but their fetuses do too.
These findings are contained in a new study entitled, Effects of Maternal Exercise on the Fetal Heart. It was conducted by Linda E. May of the Department of Anatomy, Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (KCUMB), Kansas City, MO; Kathleen F. Gustafson, Anda Popescu and Mihai Popescu of the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center, KUMC, Kansas City, KS; and William B. Drake, Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Mercy Hospital/UMKC School of Medicine, Kansas City, MO. Dr. May will present her team's findings at the 121st annual meeting of the American Physiological Society (APS; www.the-APS.org/press), part of the Experimental Biology 2008 scientific conference. Research support was provided by HBIC pilot Funds and KCUMB intramural grants.
The Study
The researchers hypothesized that maternal exercise during pregnancy can have a beneficial effect on fetal cardiac programming by reducing fetal heart rate and increasing heart rate variability. As a result, a key component of the research involved magnetocardiography (MCG), the magnetic correlate of an electrocardiogram (ECG). MCG is a safe, non-invasive method to record the magnetic field surrounding the electrical currents generated by the fetal heart and nervous system. In addition to measures of heart rate and variability, the MCG allows for the study of the cardiac waveforms to measure of cardiac time intervals.
For the study, fetal recordings were obtained from 24 weeks to term. Maternal and fetal events were recorded in real time. Fetal movements such as breathing, body and mouth movements were recorded using the MCG in order to determine fetal state and to track heart rate accelerations. The recordings were done at four-week intervals. The data were derived from fetal MCG conducted in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy and in the postnatal period. The data captured was used to measure fetal heart rate (HR) as derived from the fetal MCG recordings.
Ten women participated in the study. Each was classified as either an exerciser (n=5) or control (n=5). The women were grouped according to the frequency, intensity, and length of physical activity they engaged in (i.e., moderate-to-heavy intensity aerobic activity for 30 minutes per session three times per week or the metabolic equivalent).
Findings: The researchers found -
- There were significantly lower heart rates among fetuses that had been exposed to maternal exercise. The heart rates among non-exposed fetuses were higher, regardless of the fetal activity or the gestational age.
- At each stage of gestation the differences between the fetal heart rates of the two groups were statistically significant (p<0.05 using a t-test with equal variances).
- The analysis of short- and long-term heart variability at 28, 32 and 36 weeks of gestation in exercise-exposed vs. non-exercise-exposed fetuses were statistically different at 32 wks. This trend is still seen at 36 wks, however it is not significant.
Conclusions
According to Dr. May, "This study suggests that a mother who exercises may not only be imparting health benefits to her own heart, but to her developing baby's heart as well. As a result of this pilot study, we plan to continue the study to include more pregnant women."
HIGH LEVELS OF 'GOOD' CHOLESTEROL MAY CUT BOWEL CANCER RISK
ScienceDaily (Mar. 7, 2011) - High levels of "good" (high density lipoprotein) HDL cholesterol seem to cut the risk of bowel cancer, suggests research published online in Gut.
The association is independent of other potentially cancer-inducing markers of inflammation in the blood.
he researchers base their findings on participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. This is tracking the long term impact of diet on the development of cancer in more than half a million people in 10 European countries, including the UK.
Some 1,200 people who developed bowel and rectal cancers -- 779 bowel and 459 rectal cancer -- after agreeing to take part in EPIC were matched with another 1,200 participants of the same age, gender, and nationality.
Blood samples taken when they joined the study, and the dietary questionnaires these participants had completed, were compared to see if there were any discernible differences between the two groups.
The analysis showed that those who had the highest levels of HDL cholesterol, and another blood fat, apolipoprotein A, or apoA -- a component of HDL cholesterol -- had the lowest risk of developing bowel cancer.
Each rise of 16.6 mg/dl in HDL and of 32 mg/dl in apoA reduced the risk of bowel cancer by 22% and 18%, respectively, after taking account of diet, lifestyle, and weight.
But HDL and apoA levels had no impact on the risk of rectal cancer.
After excluding those who had only been monitored for two years, as they may have already been undergoing cancerous changes when they joined the study, only levels of HDL were associated with a reduction in bowel cancer risk.
The association remained intact, irrespective of other indicators of inflammation, insulin resistance, and oxygen free radicals levels, all of which are associated with the development of cancer.
The authors explain that low HDL levels have been linked to higher levels of proteins involved in inflammation, while higher levels of proteins that dampen down the inflammatory response have also been linked to high HDL levels.
The pro inflammatory proteins boost cell growth and proliferation while curbing cell death, so HDL may alter the inflammatory process in some way, they suggest.
