James Bogash,D.C.Mesa,AZ
info@lifecarechiropractic.com
www.lifecarechiropractic.com

Fiber (Glucomannan) Is Beneficial in the Treatment of Childhood Constipation.

While the fact that increased fiber intake (along with concomitant increase in water intake) will help with constipation is no surprise, I would like to take this chance to mention that childhood constipation seems to be quite an issue with alot of kids. I’m not exactly sure what we’re doing to set up this scenario. I know antibiotics destroying normal flora could contribute and added sugars in kids’ diets don’t help, and probiotics and careful attention to diet helps dramatically. But, for lack of a more medical term, our children’s GI tract seems “sensitive” and prone towards constipation. This makes me think that there’s something else that’s been done to the physiology of their GI tracts. I just haven’t come across anything that I can recall that would positively answer it for me. Pediatrics — Abstracts: Loening-Baucke et al. 113 (3): e259 - Click here for more information.

Chickenpox Outbreak in a Highly Vaccinated School Population.

A couple comments here. First, why do we need a “highly vaccinated” group of children for chicken pox?? I would bet everyone reading this letter had the chicken pox and has developed a lifelong immunity. Yes, I realize that some children do die from chicken pox. These numbers are very small compared to the incidence in the general population and usually these children are immunocomprimised in some way. Yet there is no financial incentive for a vaccine manufacturer to develop a vaccine for only a small group of immunocomprimised children so they push it on everyone. Another bothersome finding in this study was that children who had been vaccinated >5 years ago had a much higher likelihood of getting the chicken pox. The authors conveniently suggested that a booster vaccination may be necessary. I’m sure the vaccine manufacturer agrees…Pediatrics — Abstracts: Tugwell et al. 113 (3): 455 - Click here for more information.

Effectiveness of an Herbal Preparation Containing Echinacea, Propolis, and Vitamin C in Preventing Respiratory Tract Infections in Children.

Are you sitting down for this one?? I’m being a little dramatic because I’m SURE you heard about a natural and safe method that lowered episodes and severity of respiratory infections BY HALF all over the news. Front page, no doubt. Headline story on the 10:00 news. CNN broadcasts…Arch Pediatric Adolesc Med — Abstracts: Cohen et al. 158 (3): 217 - Click here for more information.

Cardiovascular fitness, cortical plasticity, and aging.

I have said it before and say it to my elderly patients over and over again–NOTHING will keep you as young as exercise. Nothing. As a chiropractor, I feel that it is my job to remove the aches and pains so that my patients are able to exercise as much as they want to. I have several senior patients who would just have much, much higher quality of life if they would just exercise. I remember one patient in particular who had been referred to several specialists for her low back pain. She didn’t have anything really wrong–she was just severely deconditioned. PNAS — Abstracts: Colcombe et al. 101 (9): 3316 - Click here for more information.

Role for neuronal insulin resistance in neurodegenerative diseases.

Okay. Chalk up another one on the list that insulin resistance contributes to. I’m just wondering how long the list has to be before mainstream medicine decides insulin resistance is important enough to address. PNAS — Abstracts: Schubert et al. 101 (9): 3100 - Click here for more information.

Impact of Federal Safety Advisories on Health Food Store Advice.

I’ll be a little careful with this one because it’s a sensitive subject. Basically, a scant few reports on potential damaging effects of kava kava have not changed the recommendations for its use in health food stores. Now, I definately do not think that there should be governmental regulations on who can sell and recommend supplements. In this scenario the MDs and DOs would be left with the prescribing ability and (I’m generalizing here) they are not the groups with the most knowledge. However, I do believe in market forces making decisions. Basically, health food stores are not a good place for advice on supplementation (with the exception of some mom and pop stores). A qualified physician with a strong background in physiology and functional medicine will always be your best choice.

Impact of Federal Safety Advisories on Health Food Store Advice – J Gen Intern Med, Vol 19, Issue 3, pp. 269-272 (Abstract) - Click here for more information.

Biochemical Markers of Bone Metabolism, Prediction of Fracture in Elderly Women.

I’m a little surprise at this article. The authors determined that urinary markers of bone turnover are a good predictor of verterbral fracture risk in elderly women. However, these markers have been commercially available for years. Oh well–it’s still nice to see the acknowledgement of these tests in the medical literature anyway. Bone mineral density has been used for too long as a stand alone test for bone health when it is only a snapshot of bone and does not tell how fast or how slow you’re losing bone. Also, there is some concern that bone density does not always equal bone strenth. The crosslinks in bone are very important in the tensile strength of bone, and these are not adequately evaluated by DEXA scans.

http://www.jbmr-online.com – Biochemical Markers of Bone Metabolism and Prediction of Fracture in Elderly Women. Click here for more information.

Relationship Between Changes in Biochemical Markers of Bone Turnover and BMD to Predict Vertebral Fracture Risk.

Just in case you don’t believe me about bone mineral density not always correlating with fracture risk…

http://www.jbmr-online.com – Relationship Between Changes in Biochemical Markers of Bone Turnover and BMD to Predict Vertebra..Click here for more information.

Association of Common Polymorphism in the Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR) Gene With Bone Phenotypes Depends on Plasma Folate Status.

Sorry for the long title, but using the term “methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase” just always make it sound like I know what I’m talking about…. When a nutrient such as vit B12 or folic acid effects such a basic physiologic process like protection of DNA or the methylation pathway it can affect so many disease conditions and cuts across many specialties of medicine.

http://www.jbmr-online.com – Association of a Common Polymorphism in the Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR) Gene Wit..Click here for more information.

Helicobacter pylori Increases the Epithelial Permeability to a Food Antigen in Human Gastric Biopsies.

This is interesting if you follow the physiology. I strongly believe that H. pylori is an opportunistic infection possibly related to lowered vit C status or lack of protective flora. So here we have an opportunistic infection related to poor health status leading to an increase in the antigenic effects from food allergies. And food allergies can have many negative impacts on health. So, if you think antibiotic resistance is the only problem to be worried about with antibiotic overuse–follow the physiology.

Helicobacter pylori Increases the Epithelial Permeability to a Food Antigen in Human Gastric Biopsies – Am J Gastroenterology..Click here for more information.

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