Chewing Gum Reduces Risk of Ear Infection in Children

December 21, 2011 | by

Xylitol, or birch sugar, is a sugar naturally found in plums, strawberries, raspberries, and rowan berries. It is often used to sweeten toothpaste and chewing gum since it is as sweet as sucrose but does not cause tooth decay; this is because it cannot be fermented by bacteria that live in our mouths, and instead inhibits their growth. As the key step causing acute ear infections is the colonization of the middle ear by bacteria that move there from the mouth, researchers have hypothesized that xylitol might help prevent acute ear infections as well as tooth decay.

Researchers at the University of Toronto recently performed a meta-analysis of three Finnish studies and found that children who chewed gum — or took other products laden with xylitol, including lozenges or syrup — had about a 25% lower risk of developing an ear infection compared to controls. The study is published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews [1].

Child ear examination

Lowering Physical Activity Impairs Glycemic Control, Even in Healthy People

December 13, 2011 | by

Low levels of physical activity — like the 5,000 steps per day that Americans typically achieve, which is only about half of the recommended amount — have been implicated in the development of insulin resistance and its progression to full blown type 2 diabetes. However, the studies that suggested this connection were performed under laboratory conditions; they did not use people eating real meals, and they did not assess glycemic variability, so the direct impact of physical activity on glycemic control is not completely clear.

People walking down the street

Elevated postprandial glucose (PPG) often precedes the development of type 2 diabetes, and is a risk factor for adverse cardiovascular events, independently of diabetes status. Thus, Dr. Catherine Mikus and her colleagues at the University of Missouri set out to precisely define the impact of reducing physical activity on PPG and glycemic variability in healthy, active volunteers as they went about their daily lives. The results of their study were recently published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise [1].

Yoga for Back Pain Relief

December 5, 2011 | by

Back pain is notoriously difficult to treat. This is the result of a combination of factors, including the difficulty in accurately diagnosing the source of chronic pain in many cases, and the failure of interventions, therapies and pharmaceuticals to address an identified source. Furthermore, normal activities of daily living often aggravate the problem, limiting the ability of any intervention to achieve lasting results. Consequently, chronic back pain is the number one reason Americans turn to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) [1].

Yoga for back pain relief

Folic Acid During Pregnancy Reduces Risk of Language Delay

December 1, 2011 | by

While prevention of neural tube defect — birth defects of the brain and spinal cord — is perhaps the most widely known reason for taking folic acid before and during pregnancy, recent research brings additional benefits of prenatal folic acid supplementation to light. A study published in the October issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that use of folic acid supplements in early pregnancy significantly reduces the risk of severe language delay in children at 3 years of age [1].

Folic acid

Another Nail in the Coffin of the MMR-Autism Link

November 21, 2011 | by

While the alleged link between vaccines — particularly the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine — and autism has been thoroughly discredited in more than 20 well-conducted studies of vaccine side effects [1], fears about the side effects of vaccination nevertheless remain a major factor influencing the healthcare decisions some parents make. This has led to an increasing percentage of unvaccinated children in the U.S. in recent years, which in turn has ramifications for public health.

Brain scans

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, however, sheds new light on physiological roots — though not causes — of autism [2], and in so doing rules out the potential for any link between vaccination and development of the disease. In the study, researchers examined the size and number of neurons in the prefrontal cortex of young deceased males with autism, and compared the data to that obtained from young deceased non-autistic males.