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Obese children suffer middle age illnesses: Phelps

September 12 2002

Children with obesity were suffering the same health problems associated
with middle age, Australian Medical Association president Kerryn Phelps
said today.

Speaking on the final day of the NSW Childhood Obesity Summit in Sydney, Dr
Phelps urged the community to start calling "a spade a spade" and seek
effective solutions to childhood obesity, which affects one in five
children.

"Increasingly we are hearing reports of children being diagnosed with
conditions once thought to be the province of middle age like type two
(late-onset) diabetes," she told the summit.

"They’re more likely to have higher blood pressure, high cholesterol …
(and) have problems with their hip joints, knee joints, ankle joints. They
have liver problems and the list goes on.

"They are old before they are young.

Dr Phelps also supported NSW Premier Bob Carr’s comments earlier in the
week saying obesity in children was a form of "child abuse by any other
name".

She also laid blame with parents saying responsibility for the increased
prevalence of childhood obesity "squarely rested on their shoulders".

"It is an absurd argument to say that children pressure their parents into
buying foods that are bad for them, " Dr Phelps said.

"Parents control the family finances, parents do the shopping … parents
control the pocket money.

"Children will not allow themselves to starve if they come from school to a
choice of fresh fruit and fresh bread."

The community had the resolve to ensure that children with obesity didn’t
become the majority, Dr Phelps said.

"Let’s not tolerate our younger generation being labelled Generation ‘O’
for obesity," she said.

Final recommendations and resolutions from the three-day summit will be
handed down later today.

AAP

This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/12/1031608296284.html

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NR
Fat, drunken and haggard is no way to go through life.
http://www.hotornot.com/r/?eid=REAUEU&key=QEE

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Anyone interested in getting information on herbal remedies available to aid
ADD contact:

amazonh…@uniserve.com

Reptile-Associated Salmonellosis Transferable Through Human Blood
Transfusions
Slithery salmonella toxin
October 3, 2002
http://www.health24.co.za/news.asp?action=art&SubContentTypeId=&Conte…
924
A 47-year-old Oklahoma man picked up salmonella from his pet boa
constrictor, then passed the bug on to at least two other people through
blood platelets he donated. One of those people subsequently died.The
unusual chain of events, chronicled in the latest issue of The New England
Journal of Medicine, points up a potential weak spot in America’s blood
supply system, health experts say.Major health problem Salmonella is a group
of bacteria that can cause diarrhoea, fever and abdominal cramps.
"Salmonella is a big public health problem," says Dr James George, senior
author of the study and professor of medicine at the University of Oklahoma
Health Sciences Centre."Many reptiles live with salmonella as part of the
normal intestinal flora, so reptile stools are going to have salmonella. It
gets on fingers, and from there it goes everywhere," George explains.More
often, cases of salmonella involve pet turtles, not snakes. However, with an
increasing number of reptiles providing a cold form of companionship to
humans, doctors are worried that salmonella transmission through the blood
supply could be an overlooked hazard.Easy to spread By some estimates, 90
percent of reptile faecal matter carries salmonella. You don’t have to
actually handle the animal to contract salmonella; you just need to live in
the same household."You track this stuff around a house, and it gets on
doors, on curtains, dishes," George says. "This is why hand washing becomes
the absolute mantra." Tiny, trace amounts of faeces are enough to cause a
problem.Indirect contact is often underemphasised, says Karon Damewood,
chief of zoonotic diseases at the Centre for Veterinary Public Health at the
Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Even a trip to the zoo,
where a visitor touches a railing that a reptile handler might have touched,
is at small risk.Damewood tells of one 18-month-old infant who contracted
salmonella in Baltimore. The family had just moved into a house with new
carpeting – except in one room – and couldn’t for the life of them figure
out how the child had become ill. Finally, the parents investigated a spot
on the leftover carpet, had it tested, and found it contained
salmonella."The former owners had scads of reptiles and the pets were not
kept in containers," Damewood says.Devastating effects The platelet donor
described in the latest study didn’t have symptoms when he donated blood,
but it was later discovered that both he and his daughter had been sick with
salmonella several weeks earlier."We have to assume that at the time he
donated the platelets, even though he was asymptomatic and passed all the
conditions for being an adequate blood donor, he had to have salmonella
circulating in his blood," George says. The first patient, a 51-year-old
woman whose leukaemia had gone into remission and who was about to be
discharged from the hospital, received the unit of platelets just before
going home. During the transfusion, she suddenly developed nausea, vomiting,
chills and fever.The second patient, a 50-year-old woman who was in the
hospital with severe upper gastrointestinal bleeding and various problems
associated with alcoholism and chronic hepatitis C, died of refractory
septic shock and haemorrhage the same day she received the transfusion.
Although already seriously ill, the woman died from complications from the
salmonella contamination, the study says.Detective work Dr Jean Forsberg,
one of the study authors, gets the credit for unravelling the mystery, and
unravelling it quickly. As George points out, the second patient could have
had chills and fever for any number of reasons. However, Forsberg decided to
check the piece of tubing that is routinely retained from all blood
transfusions in case a problem arises.The sample from the tubing was full of
salmonella. The doctors then called the other hospital to alert the staff of
the possibility of another salmonella infection. They then traced the
platelets back to the donor. "We’re not proposing that everyone who has a
pet turtle in the neighborhood not donate blood," George says. "But we need
to be aware that salmonella is a potential risk in platelet
transfusions."Most people are familiar with salmonella due to contaminated
foods. The bulk of tainted foods are often of animal origin, such as beef,
poultry, milk or eggs, but all foods, including vegetables, may become
contaminated."Hand washing is really the key to prevention," she says.And
wash foods, fruits and vegetables as soon as you bring them into the
house. – (HealthScout News)

–
Allen Salzberg
Editor/Publisher
HerpDigest: A  Free Weekly Electronic
Newsletter on the Latest News on Reptile and
Amphibian Science and Conservation
www.herpdigest.org

My wife and I are facing a quite unthinkably difficult situation.  We are in
Japan (she is a citizen, while I teach at a university here), and we are
about 29 weeks into the pregnancy of our second child (first son, Harry, is
a ridiculously happy 2 year old), and my wife has just recieved a diagnosis
of probable liver cancer, specifically HCC, though the subtype has not been
identified yet, and due to her pregnancy, tests for staging are
inconclusive. She is asymptomatic, the tumor having been discovered by
chance during an abdominal ultrasound.   We are in shock, and trying
desperately to find information to guide us in deciding how long, if at all,
it might be worthwhile to risk the cancer`s advancement, if it would bear
significant fruit down the line for our child.  There`s so much more I could
write, but I haven`t the heart or the energy.
    In the last few days, we`ve overdosed on information on both my wife`s
options, and our child`s.  Can someone with experience or expertise perhaps
give us some guidance, or direct us to someone who can?  We would be deeply
grateful to find someone who has faced these choices before, as doctor or
patient.
    Trying to come to terms with the possibility of major surgery, long term
illness and possibly death for my wife, as well as the birth of a premature
child, the  complications and difficulties the child will face, and the
potential fact that I may be facing these challenges as a single parent has
floored me.  I am soldiering on, but I need help.

Geoff Carr
Asahikawa, Japan

*Nicholas Regush Issues A Challenge To The Makers Of
The Prevnar Vaccine – Show Him The Science!
http://www.redflagsweekly.com/regush/2002_sept24.html

http://www.whale.to/v/prevnar.htm

Can someone please recommend some effective ways to break the habit of nail
biting?

On Autoimmunity and the Blood-Brain Barrier

      I am responding to the post of 9/23 about autoimmunity and the
connection with a faulty blood-brain barrier.  The blood-brain barrier is
not intact in infants until at least 6 weeks of life.  This is why a newborn
with a fever must be subjected to a spinal tap to rule out menningitis.  Any
virus or bacteria that a newborn is exposed to can go directly to the
nervous system.
      This is why the Hepatitis B vaccine at birth is so dangerous.
Between 1991 and 1999, when the shot contained thimerisol, giving it at
birth would have resulted in mercury crossing into the brain since the
blood-brain barrier was not yet intact.  As a nurse, I’m concerned that this
information about the normal timing of a blood-brain barrier forming is not
more readily known.
      I think this normal delay in the forming of a blood-brain barrier is
an important piece of the puzzle and one of the reasons for the surge of
autism in the 90′s.
      Mary Barbera RN, MSN

FDA Gives Peanut-Allergy Drug Fast-Track Status
Tue Sep 24, 5:33 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The maker of an experimental drug to treat
peanut allergies reported Tuesday that the US Food and Drug Administration
( news – web sites) has given the medication fast-track status.

The drug, TNX-901, is made by Tanox Inc.

The fast-track designation, intended for products that address an unmet
medical need, entitles Tanox to meetings with the FDA for the agency’s input
on development plans, the option to submit its US marketing application in
sections, and the option to base that application on surrogate endpoints.

TNX-901 is an antibody to IgE, an immune system protein that interacts with
inflammatory cells to produce many of the symptoms resulting from exposure
to allergens. The drug is being developed to provide protection against
reactions to unintentional peanut ingestion by people who have a severe
allergy to peanuts.

The drug recently completed a phase II trial, and additional studies are
being planned, the Houston-based company said.

Especially for those who questioned my assertion that doctors aren’t in
the business of giving dietary advice the BBC has some news for you….

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/health/2278651.stm

Tuesday, 24 September, 2002, 23:30 GMT 00:30 UK

Doctors ‘ration dietary advice’

Patients are missing out on vital dietary advice that could make a big
difference to their health, a US study suggests.

Most doctors spend less than a minute discussing nutrition with their
patients, says a report in the American Journal of Preventative
Medicine.

——————————————————————————–
" It is absolutely crucial that GPs spend more time understanding the
science of nutrition "
——————————————————————————–

Azmina Govindji, British Dietetic Association

A survey of 138 primary care physicians in Ohio found that only a
quarter of patients were given information about food intake and
nutrition.

Every year, in the US alone, hundreds of thousands of people die from
diseases linked to a poor diet.

"The need for nutrition counselling is pressing in light of the epidemic
of chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity and
hyperlipidemia [excessive fat content in the blood]", says team leader
Dr Charles Eaton of Brown Medical School.

He hopes the research will be used by medical educators to develop tools
to help doctors give advice about nutrition within the time constraints
of primary care practice.

It is a view shared by the British Dietetic Association (BDA).

Food facts

Spokesperson Azmina Govindji told BBC News Online: "It is absolutely
crucial that GPs spend more time understanding the science of nutrition
and the place that a healthy diet has in the management of a range of
conditions such as diabetes, cancer, coronary heart disease and high
blood pressure."

Effective advice on nutrition could lead to fewer visits to the doctor’s
surgery and a reduced need for prescribed drugs, she said.

One third of cancers, for example, can be prevented by diet, she added.

Dr Frankie Robinson of the British Nutrition Foundation said people
needed help to change their eating habits.

"For many people, making dietary changes can be a big step," she said.
"You do need the support of a properly qualified person."

——————————————————————————–

I’m a freelance reporter working on a story about what couples (and
specifically) women gave up to get pregnant. For example, I gave up running
and two weeks later I was pregnant. I’m looking for women who would be
willing to share their story with me for the piece. If you or someone you
know would be interested in talking to me, please e-mail me at
dinardo.ke…@verizon.net

Kelly DiNardo