October 25, 2000 [Volume 1, Issue 25]

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In this issue of To Your Health:

• Abdominal Training Helps the Low Back
• Trends in Teenage Eating Habits: The News Isn't Good
• Low-Fat Diet Won't Hinder Childhood Growth
• Zinc Relieves Cold Symptoms

Ask any professional bodybuilder this question: When you're onstage during a competition, what's the most important muscle group to showcase to the judges? Now here's the response you'll most often hear: abdominals. Chiseled arms, legs and pectorals are impressive, but if the abdominals aren't equally impressive, chances are you won't be crowned Mr. or Ms. Olympia anytime soon.

Firm, defined abdominal muscles are considered important on an asthetic level, but research also points to their value in promoting wellness, specifically by protecting the low back from injury. Case in point: a study in the journal Physical Therapy, in which eight healthy men with no prior incidence of low back injury or back pain performed four different abdominal (curl-up) exercises. One exercise involved a stable surface (curl-ups on a padded bench with the knees flexed); three other exercises utilized varying moveable surfaces (feet flat on floor, torso supported over a gym ball; feet on bench at the same height as the ball; and feet flat on the floor, ball replaced with a round wobble board).

Results: Performing the curl-up exercise on any of the three moveable surfaces appeared to increase abdominal muscle activity compared with exercise using a stable surface, most likely the result of the increased need to enhance spine stability and whole-body stability to reduce the risk of falling off the moveable surface.

So keep those abs in shape! You'll look better, feel better, and you'll be protecting the abdominal muscles, the low back and the spine against injury. Ask your doctor of chiropractic for more information.

Reference: Vera-Garcia FJ, Grenier SG, McGill SM. Abdominal muscle response during curl-ups on both stable and labile surfaces. Physical Therapy, June 2000: Vol. 80, No. 6, pp564-69.

For more information on low back pain, go to https://www.chiroweb.com/tyh/backpain.html

Trends in Teenage Eating Habits: The News Isn't Good

Excessive weight gain during childhood is associated with adult onset diabetes, adolescent and adult high blood pressure, and adult cardiovascular disease. Inadequate consumption of healthy foods, especially fruits and vegetables, can also contribute to vitamin and mineral deficiencies and increase the risk for numerous disorders, including several forms of cancer.

Too many children aren't getting enough fruits and vegetables in their daily diet, but they are eating plenty of chips, fries, candy, soft drinks and other non-nutritive, high-calorie snack foods. A recent study analyzed data from four U.S. Department of Agriculture national surveys (12,498 teenagers) and noted several disturbing trends in eating habits:

• A higher percentage of energy from fat than present dietary guidelines recommend;
  
  
• increased consumption of higher-fat potato dishes and mixed dishes (pizza, macaroni and cheese, etc.);
  
  
• inadequate fiber, raw fruit and vegetable (non-potato) consumption;
  
  
• decreased milk consumption (low-fat replaced by high-fat); and
  
  
• a substantial increase in consumption of soft drinks and non-citrus juices/drinks.

If you're a parent, teach your children the essentials of proper nutrition and the negative impact poor diet can have on their future health and wellness.

Reference: Cavadini C, Siega-Riz AM, Popkin BM. U.S. adolescent food intake trends from 1965 to 1996. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2000: Vol. 83, pp18-24.

Low-Fat Diet Won't Hinder Childhood Growth

If you think your children are "too young" to be influenced by the foods they eat (or don't eat), think again. The 1993 Pathobiological Determinants of Atherosclerosis in Youth Study found that nearly half of all Americans 15-19 years old have fatty streaks in their coronary arteries, increasing to 75% by age 35. Modification of dietary fat intake in early childhood has been suggested to reduce later-life risk of coronary artery disease, but this suggestion has been tempered by concerns over the possible negative affects on growth and neurological development.

To address this concern, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association evaluated how "parental counseling aimed at keeping children's diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol influences neurodevelopment during the first five years of life." The parents of 540 children received individualized counseling suggesting that children's fat intake be limited to 30-35% of daily energy (with equal amounts of monounsaturated/polyunsaturated/saturated fat), and cholesterol intake limited to less than 200 mg per day. A second group of parents (with 522 total children) served as controls, receiving standard health education with no specific advice about limiting dietary fat.

Data were gathered from seven months until five years of age; results showed that children in the intervention group received a diet lower in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol and had blood cholesterol levels 3-5% lower than children in the control group. Additionally, neurological development, assessed by tests of speech and language skills, gross motor functioning and perception, and visual motor skills, was "at least as good" in children receiving dietary intervention vs. children in the control group.

Plant the seeds for your children's health by encouraging a balanced diet, especially one high in vitamins and minerals and low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

Reference: Rask-Nissila L, Jokinen E, Terho P, et al. Neurological development of 5-year-old children receiving a low-saturated fat, low-cholesterol diet since infancy. Journal of the American Medical Association, Aug. 23/30 2000: Vol. 284, No. 8, pp993-1000.

Zinc Relieves Cold Symptoms

Has the cold bug crawled into your home yet? The most frequent cause of the common cold is rhinovirus infection, although as many as 200 other viruses may also be responsible. U.S. adults and children suffer from an average of two to six colds per year; despite the plethora of so-called "cold remedies" lining store shelves, no single proven treatment has been identified.

Zinc has received recent attention for its potential value in combating cold symptoms. To investigate this potential, 50 volunteers recruited within 24 hours of developing symptoms of the common cold were administered one zinc lozenge (12.8 mg zinc acetate) or placebo every two to three hours as long as they were experiencing symptoms. Overall, severity and duration of cold symptoms were reduced in the zinc group compared to the placebo group:

• Overall symptoms: 4.5 days (zinc) vs. 8.1 days (placebo);
  
  
• Cough: 3.1 days (zinc) vs. 6.3 days (placebo);
  
  
• Nasal congestion: 3.3 days (zinc) vs. 4.7 days (placebo);
  
  
• Nasal discharge: 4.1 days (zinc) vs. 5.8 days (placebo); and
  
  
• Sore throat: 2.0 days (zinc) vs. 3.0 days (placebo).

Where can you find zinc? These days, zinc lozenges are available at most drugstores and supermarkets alongside the more traditional cold medicine formulas. For more information on the power of zinc, contact your doctor of chiropractic.

Reference: Prasad AS, Fitzgerald JT, Beck FWJ, et al. Duration of symptoms and plasma cytokine levels in patients with the common cold treated with zinc acetate. Annals of Internal Medicine 2000: Vol. 133, pp245-52.

To learn more about nutrition, visit https://www.chiroweb.com/tyh/nutrients.html

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