To Your HealthTYH Archives

October 22, 2002 [Volume 3, Issue 21]

 

To Your Health is brought to you by:

ChiroFind


This issue features a number of articles you will want to share with your family, friends and co-workers. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to them via e-mail. If you have received this e-mail newsletter from someone else, you may subscribe free of charge and begin receiving your own copy by going to:

https://www.chiroweb.com/newsletter/TYH/subscribe.php

 

In this issue of To Your Health:


Another Benefit of Breastfeeding

Despite the wealth of evidence suggesting that breastfeeding is beneficial for children and their mothers, the length of time spent breastfeeding each child is decreasing in the United States. At the same time, breast cancer rates are rising, especially in younger women.

Utilizing information from nearly 50 studies from 30 countries all over the world, the authors of a recent study in The Lancet compared the number of children and months spent breastfeeding between 50,000 women with invasive breast cancer and 100,000 cancer-free women.

The risk for breast cancer dropped almost 5% for each year a mother spent breastfeeding her children. Additionally, each childbirth reduced her risk for breast cancer by 7%. Thus, a woman with three children, all of whom were breastfed for a year, would be about 35% less likely to have breast cancer than a woman who had not had children or breastfed.

If you plan on having kids, consider breastfeeding instead of using infant formula. In addition to preventing breast cancer, breastfeeding may protect your baby against infection, high cholesterol, allergies, obesity, and developmental problems. Evidence suggests that women who breastfeed also return to their prepregnancy weight faster than other mothers.

Reference: Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer. Breast cancer and breastfeeding: Collaborative reanalysis of individual data from 47 epidemiological studies in 30 countries, including 50,302 women with breast cancer and 96,973 women without the disease. The Lancet 2002:360, pp. 187-195.

For more information about women's health, go to https://www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/women.


Less Colds Following Warm-Ups

Exercise can't cure the common cold. In fact, intensely vigorous exercise, such as running a marathon, lowers the body's ability to fight germs. But moderately active adults may suffer fewer colds than their more sedentary counterparts, according to a recent study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

The study investigated the number of common colds in more than 500 people of varying activity levels. For one year, researchers tracked these individuals for the number of upper-respiratory tract infections and total moderate-vigorous levels of activity.

The most active individuals in the study suffered an average of 23% fewer colds per year than the least active people. In the fall, the difference was the most noticeable, with 32% less risk for a cold in the most active group. Forty percent of all colds in this study were reported in the fall.

Regular physical activity appears to stimulate our immune systems to help fight off germs, which may reduce risk for future colds. Be sure to exercise regularly, not only for fewer colds, but to boost self-esteem and overall health. Talk to your doctor of chiropractic about the workout that's right for you.

Reference: Matthews CE, Ockene IS, Freedson PS, et al. Moderate to vigorous physical activity and risk of upper-respiratory tract infection. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2002:34(8), pp. 1242-1248.

For more about the benefits of exercise, go to https://www.chiroweb.com/tyh/sports.html.


Which Foods Improve Memory?

Had any "senior moments" lately? The odds are that as you get older, you'll lose some of your short-term memory. Good nutrition is known to affect memory; studies have shown that eating carbohydrates can improve recollection. A recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition evaluated whether eating protein and fat similarly affect cognitive performance.

Twenty-two elderly men and women, ages 61-79, completed three verbal memory tests following the consumption of one of four drinks, containing either no nutrients or carbohydrates, fat, or protein only. Each person was tested after consumption of each of the four drinks on four separate days (one drink per day). The verbal memory tests involved word/paragraph recall immediately after ingestion or one hour later.

All three nutrient drinks improved delayed and immediate memory on one test, with the most significant improvements an hour after consumption. Only protein reduced forgetfulness on a separate test immediately after ingestion. The no-calorie drink had no effect on cognitive performance, adding proof that the nutrients, not the liquid, offered the benefits.

Try to eat small, regular meals for constant energy and a good memory. The foods you eat may provide your brain with the boost it needs to function at its best. Also, to avoid long-term memory problems, be sure to eat a balanced diet and take a daily multivitamin supplement.

Reference: Kaplan RJ, Greenwood CE, Winocur G, et al. Dietary protein, carbohydrate, and fat enhance memory performance in the healthy elderly. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2001:74, pp. 687-693.

To read more studies on good nutrition, check out https://www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/nutrition.


Dog-Gone Allergies!

Your pet may fetch the morning paper for you, or may just be a great lap companion and good friend. Did you know that your pet might also help reduce the likelihood your children will develop allergies?

Pets have been said to raise or lower a child's risk for allergies, depending on whom you talk with. To investigate the relationship between infants' exposure to pets and allergies later in life, close to 500 babies were followed from birth until 6-7 years of age in a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The children were tested for both indoor (dog, cat, dust mite) and outdoor (blue grass, ragweed) allergies using a skin prick and a blood test.

Any exposure to two or more cats or dogs before age 1 significantly reduced risk for allergies at age 6-7. For both the skin prick and blood tests, more than twice as many children with no dog or cat exposure as an infant tested positive for an allergy than kids who had been around two or more pets. After considering other factors like parental smoking and bedroom allergen levels, two or more pets reduced the odds for allergies about 75% based on the skin prick and 67% based on the blood test.

By introducing your babies to dogs and cats early on, you may lower their chances for developing annoying allergies down the road. Children with allergies are also more prone to develop asthma - a more serious respiratory condition. So simply preventing allergies may in turn ward off asthma.

Reference: Ownby DR, Johnson CC, Peterson EL. Exposure to dogs and cats in the first year of life and risk of allergic sensitization at 6 to 7 years of age. Journal of the American Medical Association 2002:288(8), pp. 963-972.

To find out more pediatric health facts, go to https://www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/pediatrics.


 

This edition of the To Your Health newsletter is co-sponsored by:


Thank you for subscribing to To Your Health. If you have received this newsletter in error or wish to unsubscribe, you may remove your name from our e-mail subscription list at https://www.chiroweb.com/newsletter/TYH/unsubscribe.php.

Visit Dynamic Chiropractic's "Ask a Doctor of Chiropractic" forum at https://www.chiroweb.com/find/ask.html, where 15 doctors of chiropractic are waiting to answer any of your health questions.

If you have any questions regarding your subscription, please complete this form at https://www.chiroweb.com/newsletterhelp/TYH.

This newsletter conforms to the requirements set by Bill S 1618 Title III, passed by the 105th U.S. Congress.




To report inappropriate ads,