Here’s something interesting: An Australian study has found that spending time outside may actually decrease children’s chances of developing myopia (nearsightedness).

“Our evidence suggests that the key factor is being outdoors, and that it does not matter if that time is spent in having a picnic or in playing sport,” Dr. Kathryn A. Rose told Reuters Health. “Both will protect a child’s eyes from growing excessively, which is the major cause of myopia.”

Myopia continues to become more prevalent, perhaps because many young people today spend so much time engaged in indoor activities, many of which require close-up focusing (which may contribute to the development of myopia). The study found that the children least likely to develop nearsightedness were those kids who spent the most time outdoors.

Those who spent more than 2.8 hours outside every day were less likely to be myopic than their peers who spent more of their time indoors. Children who spent less than 1.6 hours outdoors every day and more than 3.1 hours in near-work activity had double to triple the likelihood of being nearsighted compared to kids who spent the most time outside and the least time in close-up work.

As if you needed another reason to get your kids outside every day, right? In addition to promoting general health through active play, spending time outdoors might keep those young eyes healthy, too.

What accounts for the downturn in crime in New York City in the last half of the 1990s? Economist Rick Nevin has a short answer: Lead. That is, reducing the number of toddlers who have lead poisoning leads to fewer criminals when these kids come of age.

What makes Nevin’s work persuasive is that he has shown an identical, decades-long association between lead poisoning and crime rates in nine countries.

“It is stunning how strong the association is,” Nevin said in an interview. “Sixty-five to ninety percent or more of the substantial variation in violent crime in all these countries was explained by lead.”

Lead levels in old housing is one source that has come under better control, particularly in cities such as New York that have attacked the problem aggressively, especially in poor neighborhoods. But lead in gasoline is another huge factor. In the US, lead in gasoline peaked in the early 70s and then started to decline, falling very sharply in the early 80s; it was nearly eliminated by 1987. In New York, lead levels plummeted in the early 1970s. The impact? Data show that between 1970 and 1974, the number of children heavily poisoned by lead fell by 80%. Fast-forward twenty years, and you have a plummeting crime rate. By contrast, in countries that have been behind the US in putting constraints in leaded gasoline, crime rates are soaring.

Other research that supports the lead-crime connection is out there but has garnered little attention:

Other evidence has accumulated in recent years that lead is a neurotoxin that causes impulsivity and aggression, but these studies have also drawn little attention. In 2001, sociologist Paul B. Stretesky and criminologist Michael Lynch showed that U.S. counties with high lead levels had four times the murder rate of counties with low lead levels, after controlling for multiple environmental and socioeconomic factors.

In 2002, Herbert Needleman, a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh, compared lead levels of 194 adolescents arrested in Pittsburgh with lead levels of 146 high school adolescents: The arrested youths had lead levels that were four times higher.

Wow.

Naturally, I’ll now segue to the need to keep lead out of kids’ toys and gear. Granted, occasionally playing with a toy made with lead paint may not put a kid in danger of serious lead poisoning (unless he swallows it), but if we keep letting crappy lead toys and kids’ jewelry into the country, who knows what the cumulative effect could be? Why should we let foreign factory owners and careless importers undo what de-leading efforts have accomplished in the US? Let’s get the word out to the acting chair of the CPSC that we want our government to take a harder line against importers of lead-containing children’s gear.

Posted by MommaSteph.

That’s not funky punctuation on my part. We Can! is a new national program designed to put the brakes on America’s rising obesity rates in children. We Can! (short for Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition) is a partnership between the National Institutes of Health and the Association of Children’s Museums.

This program focuses on several lifestyle changes (such as portion control and daily exercise routines) that, when accomplished together, can lead to much healthier weights for kids and an increased activity rate, both of which have enormous benefits across the board. Bad habits in childhood often stick with people right on into adulthood, and before you know it, you’re an overweight, sedentary adult with big health problems. The best time to curb unhealthy habits is during childhood, before they’re so deeply ingrained.

We Can! can be a model for overcoming the challenges of childhood obesity and overweight, [acting U.S. Surgeon General Rear Admiral Dr. Steven K.] Galson said. “Its partnerships are demonstrating how physical activity and sound lifestyle choices can make a difference and how communities can work together to make those lifestyle choices real,” he said.

We Can! is an education program to help children aged 8 to 13 years old to maintain a healthy weight. It’s being implemented in more than 450 communities in 44 states.

The newest cities in the program are Boston, Las Vegas, and Pittsburgh.

A full third of American adults are overweight. Let’s do something now so that our kids won’t follow in our too-heavy footsteps.

Posted by Sunshine.

Watch out for salt! There are many reasons why. But just to remind you - when kids eat salty snacks they get thirsty they usually reach out for sugary beverages loaded with empty calories. What you may not be aware of is that putting away the salt shaker does not help much. People get 80% of their salt from manufactured foods. It’s everywhere - not just that MSG in Chinese takeaways. Campbell’s has just announced that they are reducing the sodium content in about 50 of their soups. That is one small step in the right direction. But we all need to be aware of how much sodium we have each day.

So how much do you need per day? An adult requires 500mg per day. They should not exceed 2,400mg/day. And unfortunately, the average American consumes 4,000-5,000mg/day. I did a bit of net searching, and much to my dismay my favorite fast food meal - a McDonald;s Quarter Pounder with Cheese - is one of the worst offenders with 3,200mg of sodium. Yikes!

Stay in school to reduce Alzheimers risk. Studies indicate that people with higher levels of education may have reduced risk of contracting Alzheimers when they get older. They are not sure why, but they believe that highly educated people just might have some “reserve” brain power that they can use when memory begins to fail.

A study of seniors over the past decade has shown that their average level of education has increased by one year, now at 12 years and we can expect that to go even higher for the next generations. They also are wealthier, which suggests that they held more mentally stimulating jobs.

There are other things that can contribute to Alzheimers - cardiovascular disease (including high blood pressure and clogged arteries) can cause periods of time when blood does not flow properly to the brain, as well as obesity with complications such as type 2 diabetes and again those clogged arteries.

I guess the lesson is - get yourself educated, keep yourself stimulated and watch your general health. I am sure it will provide benefits beyond Alzheimers prevention!

Childhood abuse leads to smoking. Children who are physically or sexually abused have much greater chances of smoking within one year of the abuse. It is seen as a coping mechanism for these children who just want life to return to normal. 80% of smokers start before they are 18 years old, and even casual smoking can lead to heavier smoking later on in life.

I see a few things from this. First, it is important for children who are abused to have access to professional help to get over it - I am sure that smoking is not the only issue they face in trying to reconcile themselves with the trauma they experienced. Secondly, I am not quite sure I buy this as an “excuse” for smokers. To smoke or not is a choice that people make. It is still legal, so people have the right to do so. Let’s not blame childhood instances on this. People should take responsibility for their actions.

What to take when you are pregnant and sick. With flu season in full swing, pregnant women who get sick often wonder what they can safely take get some relief. With each of my three pregnancies I ended up with a doozie of a cold, each time inconveniently towards the end of my first trimester when I was concerned with taking any medicines at all. With my third pregnancy, I found www.safefetus.com, a great site that explains the risks to nearly any drug out there. It is easy to use, you can search by generic or brand names. I even used the site to double check medicines that my doctors prescribed, just in case…

We’re in the midst of flu season, but so far my household has escaped this misery-inducing virus. I’d like to say that’s because I’ve been doing all the right things, but truth be told, I hadn’t given it much thought until the flu started making the rounds at my husband’s workplace. I don’t worry so much about him or me, but I’d hate for one of my kids to get the flu. What should I be doing to protect my family?

HealthDay is offering these tips for keeping your kids flu-free (courtesy of the Children’s Hospital of the University of California, San Francisco):

* Flu vaccine is recommended for all healthy children aged 6 months to 5 years.
* Hand washing also is an easy way to help prevent flu. Your child should wash her hands thoroughly and frequently, with soap and warm water.
* Parents and caregivers should also should wash their hands often, and get a flu vaccine.
* Teach your child to cover her mouth when she coughs or sneezes, and to wash her hands afterward.
* Try to keep your child away from others who are sick. Keep her home from school if she has symptoms of a cold or the flu.

For more information about influenza, check out flufacts.com.

Posted by Sunshine.

A little over a year ago, I had my first real health scare when I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. I didn’t panic at the echocardiogram report until I Googled and found out that people with this condition are at risk for heart failure or sudden cardiac death. I was horrified. Here I’d been gearing up for my midlife crisis, and I was learning that I might have grossly miscalculated. And I had two toddlers to raise.

I was extremely lucky, more so than I can express. My condition was apparently the result of thyroid disorder. Once my medication was adjusted, my heart self-corrected. All tests since then have come back normal.

But I’m a changed woman. I think differently about my heart. I cherish it. And I ask you, if you do not do so already, to cherish your own heart as well.

Tomorrow, February 1st, is National Go Red for Women Day. We’re asked to get educated about heart disease. For starters, consider these facts and statistics from First Lady Laura Bush’s web site:

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death of American women, accounting for 32 percent of all deaths per year. Nearly 366,000 women in America die every year of heart disease.
• 8 million American women are currently living with heart disease and of those, 6 million have a family history of heart disease.
• Fewer than half of all women are aware that heart disease is the number 1 killer of American women. Most women identify cancer as the leading cause of death.
• In the United States, all cardiovascular diseases combined claim the lives of more women’s every year than the next 16 causes of death combined — and almost twice as many as all forms of cancer.
• One in three women will die from heart disease, while one in 25 women die from breast cancer.
• Every year since 1984, more women than men have died of cardiovascular disease.
• There is no previous evidence of coronary heart disease in 63 percent of the women who suddenly die from the disease.
• Smoking is the most prevalent and preventable risk factor for cardiovascular disease in women younger than 45.
• 40 percent to 50 percent of women older than 45 have high blood pressure and an elevated total cholesterol level — both well-documented risk factors.
• Heart disease is often preventable.

According to the Mayo Clinic, these are the five important steps we can take to help protect ourselves from heart disease:

• Don’t smoke, or quit if you do.
• Be physically active.
• Eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in saturated fats (and skip the trans fats altogether - these are the worst for the heart).
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Get regular health screenings. (May I add, ask for a blood test to look at thyroid function.)

We need to be our own advocates. When I told my doctor I was afraid something was wrong with my heart and described my symptoms, she wrote it off as “holiday stress” and gave me a prescription for a tranquilizer. The only reason I was tested was because, even though I was painfully self-conscious about it, I was persistent.

And my story is not unusual. As far as heart disease goes:

“Research shows that women may not be diagnosed or treated as aggressively as men,” says the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Since my brush with heart disease, I’ve not been perfect. I let some weight creep back on me (which I’m kicking with the Biggest Loser moms over on the Health and Fitness board), and I’ve scarfed my share of Milk Duds without checking the label first for saturated fat content (3.5 grams per 13 comforting duds). So I’m grateful to the Go Red campaign for reminding me that our hearts serve us well so long as they are treated well. They are resilient - I’m living proof - but they are not invincible.

Wear red tomorrow and help educate other women about heart disease. Look at your little ones and remember that one day you’ll be advising them on how to take care of their own children, so long as your heart is healthy and strong.

Posted by MommaSteph.

Keep your OTC medicines safe from your children! The US Government on Monday had estimated that approximately 7,000 children end up in the ER each year as the result of being overmedicated by OTC medicines. About 2/3 are children who took the medicine unsupervised - something that can be prevented if you keep all medicines (even that bottle of your preferred pain reliever) safe in a locked place that children cannot access. Another 25% were over medicated by their parents or had an allergic reaction to the drug.

Great news for the flu vaccine. In the future, it might be as easy as a few drops under the tongue. No more painful needles for the kids anymore! Doctors are currently testing this with mice, and so far it has been successful. By dropping the liquid under the tongue, it quickly hits the mucous membranes which protects the mucous tissues and the immune system.

Funny enough, doctors have been researching a nasal spray as an alternative to an injection, However they are quickly realizing that even though people don’t like to get shots, apparently even more have issues with nose sprays. Who woulda thought?

Heed those warnings not to clean your ears with a Q-tip! An eleven year old boy who was deaf in one ear since he was 2 suddenly got his hearing back…. when a cotton bud that was very tightly wedged in his ear fell out. Doctors did not know what had caused the deafness, but one has to wonder how they would have missed something so large as a the cotton tip of a Q-tip in his ear. Also, the boy had been complaining all long of pain in his ear.

If he was in America, the family just might sue. As he is from the UK, I imagine those of you who read my post yesterday might wonder what really is the standard of care under these European health care systems. OK, I jest here. But when you are in the position to see both sides of the fence it is fun to poke a bit of fun at everyone now and again!

More news on the Children’s Health bill. Last week there was another vote to try to overrule George Bush’s veto of the proposed Children’s Health bill. The 260 to 152 result was not quite enough for it to pass.

At the moment in the USA there is a kind of no-man’s-land. There are families who cannot afford private health insurance, but do not qualify for Medicaid because they are not poor enough. The program is aimed at these very people.

Bush is vetoing the bill because he believes that it is too close to a “state-run” system similar to Canada and Western Europe. Currently in the US, our government spends 16% of our economy on healthcare, compared to Western Europe who spends about 8%. There are currently 50 million Americans without health insurance, comparatively all persons in Western Europe are covered.

As an American living in Europe, I have a view to both systems and there are pros and cons to each. I can see why the “European” system as it is probably would not work in America. I think what is bugging me here is that if this bill helps improve things in America, so what if it bears a similarity to the European system? It’s not the European system - so what is there to be afraid of if in the end this piece will work for America and it will help millions of children? I would be interested in understanding in a bit more detail why Bush decided to veto it, there surely is a better reason than that. And I am even more interested in hearing what the presidential candidates have to say on the issue.

What would you do? In a sad story (a warning to any weepy preggos out there) at four months pregnant, a woman in the UK found out that she had bowel cancer and she made the difficult decision to delay her cancer treatment until after her child was born. The baby was born at 25 weeks, and she began treatment immediately after the birth yet died two months later.

I would like to say that I would make the same decision, but to be honest I don’t know if I would be strong enough of a person. Her cancer was at an advanced stage, it would have been a difficult battle in any case. A tragic story all around. My condolences go out to her family. (And little baby Liam does look adorable in the last picture at the bottom of the article.)

Is she or isn’t she? After wearing a very flowy gown to yesterday’s SAG awards, the tabloids are yet again abuzz with rumors that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are expecting their second biological child. Some are even saying that she is pregnant with twins! Keep in mind, it was only a few short months ago that the same rumor was going around about Jennifer Lopez…

Link between caffeine and miscarriages. Doctors have determined that caffeine consumption in the first trimester can double the risk of miscarriage. Even 200 milligrams, the amount found in two cups of coffee, can have an impact. Also beware, any form of caffeine, including sodas and teas, can have the same impact.

This study was the first to take into account the impacts of morning sickness. Morning sickness occurs due to increased pregnancy hormone levels, which is also an indicator of reduced miscarriage risk. Often, when women experience morning sickness, they greatly reduce or stop drinking caffeinated beverages.

Do cell phones cause brain tumors? Good question. There was a scare back in the early days of cell phones. Then it was determined that they are OK. Now they aren’t so sure, and the U.S. National Research Council is now recommending that this is researched to determine the health impacts, if any, from wireless electronic devices on children and pregnant women.

Want bigger breasts? Wear lipstick! I am posting this only because it made me smile on a Monday morning. Researchers searching for the reason why women’s breast size has increased over the years, have determined that chemicals found in lipstick could contribute to this. Xeno-estrogens, or environmental estrogens, are found in lipstick and other cosmetics. What I find funny is that I keep picturing a bunch of nerdy researchers huddled around a table trying to think of something to study when one guys suggests doing boob research! Seriously, I really don’t know how they come up with some of these research topics (and who actually agrees to fund them!)