Health & WellnessS


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Acne, Mental Health, and Diet

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© flickr.com
Are acne and mental health related to what we eat?

In 2008 some folks from a Beverly Hills skin clinic wrote up a short paper in Lipids in Health and Disease called Acne vulgaris, mental health and omega-3 fatty acids: a report of cases (free full text). The experiment itself was an open-label trial of a mineral/omega-3 supplement on five patients, so useful only as a reason get us thinking and to give us pointers for further research. But a lot of interesting science tidbits on acne, omega-3s, and minerals are noted in the article, so it's worth a peek.

Acne is a disease of civilization which, like depression, has increased the last half century, especially in women. As was discussed in my blog post, Acne and Suicide, patients with acne are more likely to be depressed, angry, and suicidal. In fact, patients with acne struggle more with mental health issues than even patients with epilepsy or diabetes, according to a study comparing questionnaires between sufferers of acne and other general medical conditions.

Magnify

How Did These Babies Die? Question Unites Grieving Families

Matthew Schultz was only 2.5 hours old when he died on Feb. 21, 2009. A coroner's report stated there was no anatomical or toxicological cause of death, which was deemed "natural". Another baby, Greyson Rawkins, was only two months old when he died on March 23 of this year. A coroner's report found Greyson died of sudden unexplained death in infancy and his death was ruled undetermined. However, the mothers of both babies were taking Effexor while carrying and believe the antidepressant drug may be connected to the deaths of their children. And, as KTW learned, there are widespread medical warnings about pregnant women taking antidepressants.

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© cchrint.orgMatthew Schultz was only 2.5 hours old when he died on Feb. 21, 2009.
Two hours is not a lot of time, but for little Matthew Schultz, it was his entire life.

One moment, Amery Schultz held Matthew in his arms. The next moment, his child was dead.

As the Merritt family struggled to deal with their grief, two years later and 45 minutes away in Kamloops, another family would be shattered by the sudden loss of a newborn.

Greyson Maxwell Rawkins was found one morning by his mother, cold and unresponsive.

The two-month old was dead.

Unlike most sudden-infant deaths, which go largely unexplained, both families believe they know exactly what killed their sons - an antidepressant called Effexor.

Alarm Clock

DSM 5 Will Further Inflate The ADD Bubble

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© n/a
The Child Work Group Fails Again To Learn From Its Experience

Martin Whiteley is an MP who represents Perth in the Australian parliament. He has been actively involved in mental health issues and succeeded in a crusade to curb what had been Perth's alarming overdiagnosis and overmedication of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Mr Whiteley has become expert in the intricacies of ADD and is alarmed that the changes suggested for DSM 5 will greatly exacerbate the ADD fad he worked so hard to tame. Read Mr Whiteley's careful item by item review and you will be alarmed too: Speed Up & Sit Still: The Controversies of ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment

We are already in the midst of a false epidemic of ADD. Rates in kids that were 3-5% when DSM IV was published in 1994 have now jumped to 10%. In part this came from changes in DSM IV, but most of the inflation was caused by a marketing blitz to practitioners that accompanied new on-patent drugs amplified by new regulations that also allowed direct to consumer advertising to parents and teachers. In a sensible world, DSM 5 would now offer much tighter criteria for ADD and much clearer advice on the steps needed in its differential diagnosis. This would push back, however feebly, against the skilled and well financed drug company sell. DSM 5 should work hard to improve its text, not play carelessly with the ADD criteria in a way that may unleash a whole set of dreadful unintended consequences- unneeded medication, stigma, lowered expectations, misallocation of resources, and contribution to the illegal secondary market peddling stimulants for recreation or performance enhancement.

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Suicide Victims Found to Have Abnormal Brain Cells

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© unknown

Changes to some of the star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes may play a role in depression, a new study finds.

The findings are based on the postmortem examination of brains of depressed individuals who committed suicide.

The researchers focused on a part of the brain involved in mood regulation and decision making, called the anterior cingulate cortex. In depressed people, some astrocytes were larger and more branched than those of people with no history of psychiatric illness who died suddenly, the researchers said.

These differences showed up only in the brains' white matter, not gray matter. White matter, found deep inside the brain, consists mostly of "cables" that allow different brain areas to communicate.

The study adds to a growing body of research linking changes in white matter to depression. It is the first study to "zoom in" and observe changes occurring at a cellular level, said study researcher Naguib Mechawar of McGill University in Quebec.

The researchers said they don't know whether these alterations are a cause or effect of depression and can only speculate on how the changes would contribute to the mood disorder. It's likely they would affect communication between the anterior cingulate cortex and other parts of the brain, Mechawar added.

Sherlock

Clues to Gluten Sensitivity

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© Wall Street Journal
Lisa Rayburn felt dizzy, bloated and exhausted. Wynn Avocette suffered migraines and body aches. Stephanie Meade's 4-year-old daughter had constipation and threw temper tantrums.

All three tested negative for celiac disease, a severe intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains. But after their doctors ruled out other causes, all three adults did their own research and cut gluten - and saw the symptoms subside.

A new study in the journal BMC Medicine may shed some light on why. It shows gluten can set off a distinct reaction in the intestines and the immune system, even in people who don't have celiac disease.

"For the first time, we have scientific evidence that indeed, gluten sensitivity not only exists, but is very different from celiac disease," says lead author Alessio Fasano, medical director of the University of Maryland's Center for Celiac Research.

Question

Gluten Sensitivity: Why is FDA Dragging Its Feet?

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© Alliance for Natural Health
Nearly 20 million Americans experience dire health problems from eating foods that contain gluten. Congress told FDA to define the term "gluten-free" for food manufacturers by 2008. Why are they still "studying the matter"?

Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition in which dietary gluten, causes damage to the small intestine, which keeps nutrients from being properly absorbed. Even small amounts of gluten in foods such as wheat, rye, barley, and other products, can lead to serious health problems, ranging from gastrointestinal distress and infertility to an increased risk of osteoporosis and certain cancers, particularly colon cancer.

As we reported recently, gluten-related conditions greatly increase the risk for diabetes. A recent large study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that people with diagnosed, undiagnosed, and "latent" celiac disease or gluten sensitivity had a higher risk of death, mostly from heart disease and cancer.

Comment: For more information about the negative health effects of gluten read the following articles:

The Dark Side of Wheat - New Perspectives on Celiac Disease and Wheat Intolerance
Opening Pandora's Bread Box: The Critical Role of Wheat Lectin in Human Disease
Is gluten from grains making you sick?
Facts you might not know about gluten
Sensitivity To Gluten May Result In Neurological Dysfunction; Independent Of Symptoms
Gluten: What You Don't Know Might Kill You
Book Review: Gluten Toxicity - The Mysterious Symptoms of Celiac Disease, Dermatitis Herpetiformis, and Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance


Health

It's Official: America Has A Drinking Problem

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© redOrbit

According to a US government report, more than half of Americans over the age of 12 drink alcohol, with a quarter of them binge-drinking within the last month.

The report, released last month by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), says that about 52 percent of the 137,436 Americans surveyed between 2008 and 2009 said they drank in the past month. The report also found that one in 14 teens has also used marijuana.

New Hampshire led all 50 states in the prevalence of drinking by 18 to 25 year olds. Almost 75 percent of young adults in the Granite State said they had used alcohol in the past month, according to the report.

The legal drinking age is 21 years old in all 50 states, however, some states have exceptions where under-age drinking is permitted in certain circumstances.

The report found that 23.5 percent of Americans binge-drank in the past month. Binge-drinking is defined as having four or more drinks for women or girls and five or more for men and boys. The highest rate of binge-drinking was in North Dakota, where nearly one in three residents binge-drank.

Under-age binge drinking went down overall in the US, dropping from 19.2 percent in 2002-2003 to 17.7 percent in 2008-2009, according to the SAMHSA report.

Sherlock

Air Pollution Leads to Breast Cancer

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© alternityhealthcare.com
Researchers at the University at Buffalo have shown that exposure to air pollution early in life and when a woman gives birth to her first child may alter her DNA and may be associated with premenopausal breast cancer later in life.

The findings indicated that higher air pollution exposure at birth may alter DNA methylation, which may increase levels of E-cadherin, a protein important to the adhesion of cells, a function that plays an essential role in maintaining a stable cellular environment and assuring healthy tissues.

Methylation is a chemical process that has been implicated in determining which genes in a cell are active, a process essential to normal cellular function.

Health

Flashback Multiple Sclerosis Stem-cell Treatment 'Success'

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© BBCMS causes damage to nerve cells
Stem-cell transplants may control and even reverse multiple sclerosis symptoms if done early enough, a small study has suggested.

Not one of 21 adults with relapsing-remitting MS who had stem cells transplanted from their own bone marrow deteriorated over three years.

And 81% improved by at least one point on a scale of neurological disability, The Lancet Neurology reported.

Further tests are now planned, and a UK expert called the work "encouraging".

MS is an autoimmune disease which affects about 85,000 people in the UK.

It is caused by a defect in the body's immune system, which turns in on itself, causing damage to the nerves which can lead to symptoms including blurred vision, loss of balance and paralysis.

Pills

Britain a Nation of Pill Poppers: NHS Prescriptions have Soared 70% in the Past Decade

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© dailymail.co.ukIncrease: For every person an average of 17.8 prescription items were dispensed, compared to just 11.2 ten years ago.
  • 927million prescriptions given out last year alone
  • Average 17.8 prescriptions for every person in England
  • Cost to NHS estimated at £9BILLION every 12 months
More prescription drugs than ever are being given out, with the annual bill soaring to nearly £9billion.

The amount of medicine dispensed has jumped almost 70 per cent over the last decade.

Last night fears were expressed that doctors were taking the easy way out when reaching for the prescription pad instead of considering other treatments.

There were also concerns about the huge amount of medicine which is simply wasted by patients.

But experts denied that Britain is over-dependent on drugs, saying an ageing population and more emphasis on preventing disease inevitably pushes up prescribing rates.