To Your HealthTYH Archives

July 1, 2003 [Volume 4, Issue 14]

 

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In this issue of To Your Health:

Chiropractic: Good Even for "Minor" Pains

About half of all children will suffer from low-back pain at some point, with nearly 15% experiencing frequent or ongoing pain. In North America, the primary providers of spinal manipulation are chiropractors. More studies are now being done to evaluate the role of chiropractic in treating back pain in minors.

In a study appearing in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 15 randomly chosen Canadian chiropractors provided data on their pediatric patients between the ages of 4 to 18 and suffering from lower back pain. Information was gathered on treatment type and outcome of care, based on patient-rated pain scales. Characteristics of the children with back pain included:

  • The average age of sufferers was 13 years old.
  • Nearly 60 percent were male.
  • Half attributed pain onset to trauma (usually sports-related).
  • One in four reported pain of over three months duration.

The most common diagnosis was a "subluxation," appearing in half of these children. Patients were almost universally treated with spinal adjustments, with few requiring other forms of therapy. After six weeks of treatment, major improvement (defined as "much improved" or "resolved") was seen in nearly 90% of patients, based on one of the pain scales, and there were no reported complications in any of the patients.

In children, as in adults, chiropractic treatment is extremely effective for back pain, regardless of the cause or characteristics. Your doctor of chiropractic can provide more information about treating childhood back pain.

Reference: Hayden JA, Mior SA, Verhoef MJ. Evaluation of chiropractic management of pediatric patients with low back pain: A prospective cohort study. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2003:26(1), pp. 1-8.

For more information about pediatric health, check out www.chiroweb.com/find/tellmeabout/childhood.html.

Consider the Alternative

Prostate and colorectal cancer each kill approximately 30,000 men in the U.S. every year. However, colorectal cancer accounts for a larger majority of premature deaths, and regarding screening for the two cancers, only colorectal cancer screening has been clearly proven through thorough research to reduce the risk of death, according to a recent study appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association. If medical practice guidelines are based on research, colorectal cancer screening should be much more common than screening for prostate cancer.

Utilizing a 2001 annual health survey of adults in all 50 states conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, information was gathered on 50,000 men age 40 or older. Researchers focused on the percentage of men screened for prostate cancer using PSA (prostate-specific antigen) testing and colorectal cancer using fecal occult blood testing (FOBT), colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy.

Men were more likely to have ever been screened for prostate cancer than colorectal cancer (75% vs. 63% of subjects, respectively) in those age 50 or older. Subjects of all ages also more commonly had received PSA screening in the past year than FOBT in the past year or colonoscopy/sigmoidoscopy in the last five years. Men were significantly more likely to be up-to-date on prostate-cancer testing than colorectal-cancer testing in 27 states, compared to being more up-to-date on colorectal screening in only one state.

Men may be more willing to submit to a simple PSA blood test because it is less convenient and more invasive than testing required to detect colorectal cancer. Men also may perceive their risk of death from prostate cancer to be higher because they know others suffering from the condition. Consider the alternative to avoiding colorectal cancer screening, however: You may be allowing a cancer to develop until it is no longer treatable. Talk to your doctor for more information about the importance of screening for bowel cancers.

Reference: Sirovich BE, Schwartz LM, Woloshin S. Screening men for prostate and colorectal cancer in the United States: Does practice reflect the evidence? Journal of the American Medical Association 2003:289(11), pp. 1414-1420.

For more information on general health issues, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/general.

Brewing Problems?

When a woman becomes pregnant, she needs to avoid some actions that increase health risks for the developing child, namely consuming alcohol, eating certain types of seafood and smoking (if she's a smoker). Exposure to caffeine during pregnancy has also been linked to pregnancy problems, including spontaneous abortion and low infant birth weight. Other lifestyle choices associated with high caffeine consumption, including drinking alcohol and smoking while pregnant, have been implicated as the actual causes for these birth problems. Is caffeine alone dangerous for your baby?

In an eight-year Danish study, almost 20,000 pregnant women visiting a department of obstetrics and gynecology provided information about coffee consumption before and 16 weeks into pregnancy. Coffee consumption was classified as 0, 1-3, 4-7 or 8 or more cups per day. Researchers looked for a possible association between coffee consumption and stillbirth or infant death in the first year in this British Medical Journal study.

Pregnant women consuming eight or more cups of coffee daily while pregnant were three times more likely to experience a stillbirth than women drinking no coffee, not considering smoking and alcohol consumption. After adjusting for these and other factors, women drinking eight or more cups daily still remained over two times more likely to have a stillborn child, and women drinking 4-7 cups daily still showed a 40% increase in risk.

The effects of caffeine from other sources, including chocolate, cola and tea consumption, were unknown in this study, because the women involved were noted to consume very little caffeine from these sources. Regardless of pregnancy, drinking eight or more cups of coffee daily is unhealthy for other health reasons. Limit your caffeine intake to one or two cups of coffee or tea per day, especially if you're carrying a child.

Reference: Wisborg K, Kesmodel U, et al. Maternal consumption of coffee during pregnancy and stillbirth and infant death in first year of life: Prospective study. British Medical Journal 2003:326, pp. 420-423.

Learn more about women's health issues at www.chiroweb.com/find/tellmeabout/women.html.

A Potential Consequence of High-Protein Diets

In a world of countless diet fads and programs, perhaps none is as well-known as the "Atkins Diet," which severely limits carbohydrate consumption but allows for high levels of dietary protein and fats. The possible long-term side-effects of a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet are still uncertain, although recent American Heart Association guidelines suggest that a long-term, high-protein diet may adversely affect kidney function.

To evaluate a possible association between dietary protein intake and functional decline of the kidneys over an 11-year period, researchers examined approximately 1,600 women ages 42-68. Protein intake was determined twice over the study period using a food-frequency questionnaire; renal function was evaluated through measurements of kidney filtration ability. About 500 women displayed a slight but harmless weakened kidney function at the start of the study.

In women with mild kidney deficiency, high protein consumption was associated with a significant decline in kidney function over time; those who consumed the most protein showed the greatest functional decline. Intake of nondairy animal protein, in particular, was associated with accelerated renal decline in these women. High protein intake was not related to kidney function in women with normal initial kidney function.

Long-term, high-protein diets may have substantial negative side-effects on kidney function. Roughly one-fourth of all Americans are considered to display mild renal insufficiency; most of these individuals are unaware of this. Exercise caution when considering any fad diet or weight-loss remedy. If you choose a high-protein, low-carb diet to lose weight, consider only adhering to it for a short time. A well-balanced diet combined with exercise is still the safest, most effective way to maintain long-term weight control.

Reference: Knight EL, Stampfer MJ, et al. The impact of protein intake on renal function decline in women with normal renal function or mild renal insufficiency. Annals of Internal Medicine 2003:138(6), pp. 460-467.

To learn more about how the nutritional choices you make can affect your health, go to www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/nutrition.

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