LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

healthy kids

Are You a Smoking Parent? Shocking Info You Need to Know

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secondhand smoke and kids
OOZ / Dollar Photo Club

I grew up in a household with two smoking parents. I was the one hanging my head out the car window with the dog.

I can’t go back and change the fact that my parents smoked.  Luckily, their smoking did not influence me to begin my own life-draining habit.  So I escaped the damage.

Or so I thought.

I’m pretty sure the days of parents blowing smoke directly into their children’s faces for laughs are pretty much over.  These days, this same act would almost certainly be accompanied by a visit from child protective services.  But even the most conscientious of smokers can’t protect their children from damage.  This is because few smokers seem to be aware of the concept of third-hand smoke.  Sure, we all know about secondary smoke and passive smoking.  And if you do your best to not smoke around your kids and not smoke in the car you’re going to fully insulate your kids from your bad habits.

Not true.

Cotinine is a compound that shows up in the blood of those who have been exposed to cigarette smoke.  This includes both smokers and the children of smokers.  The higher to cotinine levels, the higher the exposure.  With that in mind, if you are a smoker and you care about your child or children’s health (which I’m sure you do), then you need to pay attention to this particular study.

In it, researchers looked at the carotid arteries of adults who had been exposed to cigarette smoke TWENTY-SIX YEARS earlier.  Here’s what they found:

  • The percentage of children without any cotinine in their blood levels was highest in non-smoking households (84%), followed by one smoking parent (62%) and households where both parents smoked (43%).
  • Two and a half decades later, the adults who were raised in a smoking household were 70% more likely to have hardening of their carotid arteries.

This is not good news.  This means that the damage to the blood vessels begin as a child as a result of this early exposure to indirect smoke.  And, in all likelihood, it is an ongoing process.  The hardening of the arteries does not happen as a child, but rather is the end result of a decades-long progression of the damage that started way back when.

But it gets worse:

  • Even in those households were parents were conscientious about not exposing their children (referred to as good “smoking hygiene”) and whose children had no detectable blood levels of cotinine there was still a 60% higher risk of hardening of the arteries.
  • For those children who parents really didn’t focus on protecting their children (poor smoking hygiene–the children had detectable blood cotinine levels) there was a whopping 400% increased risk of hardening of the arteries in the carotid arteries of the neck.

400%.

If you are a parent who smokes, you need to take a hard look at just how much of an effect this is going to have on your kids.  And it’s not an IF, it’s a HOW MUCH.  And we can see that, even it you do not directly expose your kids to cigarette smoke, they are suffering the damage of your lifestyle choices.

Period.

 

TEENS’ DIET IMPROVES HAPPINESS?

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Many in the mental health world do not lend much credence to the power of lifestyle changes to impact psychological health.  The default complaint is that, while they may be effective, a severely depressed patient will not have the motivation to do the necessary changes.  What if you could head the problem off at the pass?

 There is absolutely no question that the nutrients we put into our bodies can help us achieve optimal brain function.  A diet that is not rich in phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals just does not support the full range of neurological function that is needed.  Our nervous system is the greatest utilizer of energy (in the form of ATP) in the body.  It is very sensitive to deficiencies in many nutrients.

The other side of the coin is to make sure that we are not doing anything to inhibit to brain functions of our children.  This means creating a healthy, loving environment, restricting the use of toxins they might be exposed to (such as in toothpastes, cleaning supplies, plastics, bug sprays, suntan lotions, flame retardant bedding and cushions, etc…) and making sure they get lots of outdoor time to play.

This particular article demonstrates the payoffs.  In a study of over 3,000 adolescents, there was a clear relationship between the diet quality and their psychological quality of life.  Improvements in diet led to improvements in mental health.  Declines in diet led to deterioration of mental health.  Does it get any clearer?

So starting out early with good health habits can have a clear benefit on your child’s long term health.  If they remain psychologically healthy from the start, the argument about whether they would have the motivation to make healthy changes becomes moot.

 

ANOTHER GREAT TOOL TO GET KIDS TO EAT BETTER

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Society certainly does not promote healthy eating.  But it does not make it impossible–it just has to be a deliberate action plan.  Getting our kids to eat healthier is NOT difficult–we just think it is.

As I’ve mentioned, it first starts with you, the parent.  You need to eat healthier.  No attempts to get your kids to eat healthier will work if you are not the example.  It has also been shown that making eating healthier foods fun will help.  That means not sticking the broccoli in little Johnny’s face saying he needs to eat it because it’s good for him.  It means making it into an adventure to eat the healthier foods.  It also means not having the unhealthy foods as an option.  Few children in the US will starve in a single day if they don’t have Oscar Meyer hotdogs available at every meal.

This particular study looks at the value of shared family meals on children’s risk of obesity and eating healthier foods and finds that at least 3 shared meals per week drastically improved the child’s eating habits and risk of obesity.  What a novel concept!

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/127/6/e1565.abstract

VACCINES–PANACEA OR KILLING OUR INFANTS?

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Vaccines remain a very hot topic.  On one side we have public health, pediatricians and school officials making parents feel inadequate at best and abusive at worst for failing to follow recommended schedules.  The other side contends that vaccines cause death and autism and should be avoided at all costs.

This article takes the bird’s eye view on countries with the highest infant vaccination rates and infant mortality.  The results aren’t favorable.  But more on this later…

From the public health side, there are valid arguments that vaccination has been partly responsible for declining rates of diseases like polio and smallpox.  Good arguments also support general increases in hygiene and sanitation as helping the situation (and indeed–death rates from third world countries remain high for diseases that are largely non-existant here in the US anymore).  “Experts” state that we forget the times when childhood diseases were killing off and disabling children.

Let’s look at the concept of vaccination from a bird’s eye view.  We are attempting to thwart Mother Nature by eradicating communicable diseases.  Just the mere thought that we can do this suggests an arrogance that has no place in medicine.  Evidence exists that she reminds us of her power from time to time.  The Prevnar-7 pneumococcal vaccine protected against 7 strains of the bacteria.  Fast forward several years and we certainly saw a decrease in these 7 strains.  But, there was an increase in other strains and the infections were more severe.  But riding in on a white horse was Prevnar-14, so bring in all your children for MORE vaccinations.  Expect the same with Gardasil.

There is no doubt in anyone with common sense that we have taken things too far.  The idea that we can and need to eradicate things like chicken pox, measles, rotavirus or influenza is ludicrous at best, harmful at worst.  I think that the assult on the immune system, the amount of mercury our kids are exposed to and the complete absence of recommendations to support immune function to lower the risk and impact of childhood diseases is abhorable.

To me, the biggest concern is one that is rarely addressed.  There is a very clear cut shift in the immune system (from Th-1 to a Th-2 cytokine profile) towards allergies and asthma with vaccination.  Couple this with antibiotic use and destruction of normal flora and you’ve got a recipe for immune dysfunction.  Asthma, allergies, skin problems, gut problems (to include scary things like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis) and certainly inflamed nervous systems are the cost.  We are trading childhood diseases for long term chronic diseases.  Talk about making money for the drug companies!  They are making money on both ends of the spectrum.

Then we see studies like this one, finding a link between high vaccination rates and infant mortality rates.  This alone does not prove causality, but when there are mechanisms in place that can lead to this outcome (increased atopy, asthma, autoimmune conditions, secondary infections, etc..) one has to question the wisdom of continuing to increase the barrage of vaccinations our little ones get.

Make your own decisions.  NEVER let a pediatrician or school official bully you into doing something that you do not feel is right for your child.  Keep in mind that most states have some type of exemption available.  However, here in AZ, if there is an outbreak of measles in the school and your child is not vaccinated you will have pull your child out of school.  Good thing this has NEVER happened!

And take every single vaccination into account.  Hep B in a newborn?  Is someone in the family that will be in contact with the child Hep B positive?  Will the child be doing IV drugs or unprotected sex anytime soon?  No?  Then get a GOOD explaination why he or she should be given a vaccination that will begin to wane by 10 years of age.

http://het.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/05/04/0960327111407644