Safe cough medicine for children

In the USA there is a call for a ban of all cough medicines for children age 6 for two very good reasons. One, they don’t work well and two, the incidences of drug overdose for the children who use them are too high. A safe and effective home remedy is to go to the store cupboard and get out the honey as researchers at Penn State University recently found that giving children a spoonful of honey before bedtime was significantly better for quieting coughs, compared to a commercial cough suppressant containing dextromethorphan or no treatment at all. Honey soothes the throat by coating the area that is irritated and is a rich source of antioxidants and anti-microbial compounds that are very beneficial for healing.

Dosage:
Children ages 2 to 5 can have a half teaspoon; ages 6 to 12 can have a teaspoon; and ages 12 and over can have two teaspoons.

It may be helpful to follow the honey with a warm – not milky – drink such as decaffeinated tea. The type of honey makes a difference – go for a tested honey such as manuka, it’s more expensive, but it is more effective.

Retrain your brain after stroke

Apparently just walking on a treadmill every day for six months can really help stroke victims regain control of mind and body – even years after their stroke. A German study of stroke victims, half of the whom could walk without assistance with the rest used a cane, a walker, or a wheelchair, has found that using a treadmill not only improved walking speed and fitness, but appeared to rewire their brain circuits. The repetitive walking action seemed to recruit unused brain circuits to take over for those destroyed by the stroke and MRI scans showed greater activity in other parts of the brain too. Stroke patients are typically told to learn to live with their disabilities, and most rehabilitation programmes focus on short-term improvement, ending just a few months after the stroke, so that over time the patients’ improvement plateaus and fitness often wanes. But this study suggests that it’s never too late for the brain and body to recover, the researchers said, noting that patients in the study had significant improvement even nine years after a stroke.

Cut heart disease – Put on the kettle

I was giving a talk on alternative medicine on a cruise recently and mentioned the many health benefits of green tea – a substance I am very fond of. So, imagine my surprise when I went to the buffet to get a cup and couldn’t find a green tea bag anywhere. I spoke to the catering manager who couldn’t understand it either, but told me suddenly everyone was drinking green tea! So for all those converts, and those who aren’t here is another good reason to head for the green stuff – it can cut your heart disease and stroke risk in HALF! New studies on green tea (or epigallocatechin gallate to give it the proper name) show it has all these benefits:

* Lower your cholesterol counts by 9 points
* Prevent cancer cells from ever forming
* Protect DNA from mutating
* Boost production of disease-fighting T-cells
* Even prevent tooth decay

It has been called the ultimate antioxidant, and to enjoy it at its best let it steep for a couple of minutes then drink without milk or sugar. I often add some fresh mint leaves for taste although you can now buy several different flavoured varieties, and sweeten with honey if it’s not to your taste. However you drink it, try to get one or two cups a day into your routine – your health really will benefit.

Statins update

A new trial has shown that taking an omega-3 fish oil capsule outperforms a statin drug in reducing mortality and hospital admissions for chronic heart failure.

The results of the recent Italian study were given at the European Society of Cardiology meeting and published online by The Lancet on 31 August 2008. The patients on omega-3 supplements showed a lowered risk of mortality compared to those heart failure patients who received 10 mg/day of a potent statin drug and others given a placebo. The patients given the statin showed no benefit and in fact had the same outcome as taking the placebo.

What this study suggests is that a daily intake of omega-3 fatty acid supplement for close to four years may provide a slight reduction in mortality or hospitalizations for patients with chronic heart failure and that treatment with statins does not appear to be beneficial in patients with chronic heart failure. The American College of Cardiology has predicted that the results would soon be rapidly incorporated into their guidelines on heart failure. This is the second trial to demonstrate benefit for omega-3 in cardiovascular disease: the first trial found that omega-3 reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events following a heart attack whereas the second appears to lower the risk of mortality from heart disease.

If you are concerned about your risk for heart disease and want to take preventive measures, the suggested supplemental daily dose of omega-3 is equivalent to a gram day, taken for at least four years continuously – or seriously increase your intake of sardines and other oily fish!

Natural medicines – Take care with drugs

Natural does not mean it can’t harm you – some of the most deadly poisons are ‘natural’ such as nutmeg. The odd bit grated on your rice pudding won’t harm you, but if you were to ingest 2-3 whole ones in a day it could kill you. If you enjoy apples, please don’t eat the pips as they can cause mild cyanide poisoning and if you are fond of caraway seeds – as I am on my rye bread – then be aware that again large quantities can cause headaches and giddiness. Let’s look at just three common supplements and see what their effect on drugs can be:

ST. JOHN’S WORT – in trials it has performed better than a placebo and as well as the commonly prescribed antidepressant, imipramine. This herbal remedy had fewer side effects and the researchers concluded it showed promise for the long-term treatment of moderate depression. However, it does interact with some drugs, causing them to metabolise through the body too quickly. Two groups who need to be cautious about taking this natural remedy for depression are women on the on the contraceptive pill or anyone on the blood-thinning drug warfarin, who are at risk of a stroke. There may also be implications for people on medication for asthma, epilepsy, depression, migraine and heart problems. You may think there would be little point in taking a natural medicine for depression if you are on a drug like Prozac, but people do – however taking it with antidepressants like Prozac means a risk of developing serious side effects–including delirium. The FDA issued a warning in February 2000 that the herb could interfere with drugs used to treat HIV-infected patients and there have also been some reports from America that St John’s wort can cause nerve damage or cataracts when combined with bright sunlight. Herbalists have always known that when St John’s wort is used externally, you have to keep out of the sun because hypericin, the active ingredient in St John’s wort, does react with sunlight.

GINKGO BILOBA – many ‘seniors’ take this supplement to help with memory and mental sharpness as it helps improve blood supply to the brain, and many people have reported good results from using it. However, if you are also taking a daily ‘preventive’ aspirin it can potentially be harmful in two areas: gingko and aspirin in combination can lead to hemorrhagic stroke that involves bleeding within the brain, damaging nearby brain tissue, and people who are taking blood thinners need to be cautious as both the drug and gingko have anti-clotting properties so the ‘double whammy’ effect could be very dangerous. FOLIC ACID – often recommended in pregnancy and you will find it in virtually every multivitamin combination as it is essential for many functions in the body. However, it can interfere with the effectiveness of some anticancer drugs so not recommended for anyone on chemotherapy. Conversely, some drugs like anticonvulants actually deplete the body of folic acid and in pregnant women can lead to birth defects, which is why it is often recommended as a supplement at that time. Anyone who has been taking Phenobarbital over a long period should be aware that it results in dramatic reductions in folic acid blood levels, and again you might be recommended to take supplemental folic acid.

My advice? Whatever medication you are on, if you are also taking natural supplements it pays to do your research. First ask your doctor or pharmacist about any possible interactions and also go on the web and through a reputable site – such as www.netdoctor.co.uk – and see what else you can find out. It’s your health – and your responsibility.

Cancer, chillis and peppers

Cancer cells can be adversely affected by compounds in chilli and peppers and show promise for treatment according to new research at the University of Pittsburgh. Researchers there have discovered that capsaicin (the compound that gives chilli peppers their heat) caused pancreatic cancer cells to die through a process called apoptosis. Another US study conducted at the University of California, found that capsaicin stopped the spread of prostate cancer cells. We know that many spices such as ginger, are beneficial in fighting infection and stimulating the immune system, so for good preventive care put chilli on the menu and spice up your diet, and your health.

Soft drinks & gout

MEN who drink five or six sweetened soft drinks a week have a 29% higher chance of developing gout (a form of arthritis), when compared with men who have less than one soft drink a month. If a daily soft drink is on the menu then the risk increases to 45%, and thirsty chaps who have two or more a day have a staggering 85% higher risk of developing gout. The study was reported in the British Medical Journal and pointed out that gout particularly tends to affect men over the age of 39 – so if you are past that birthday it might be time to switch drinks, and don’t switch to low calorie drinks as they use artificial sweeteners which are known to aggravate gout.

Warning on fruit juice and drug interactions

Sorry to be still on the fruit juice trail, but news this week had a real deja-vu quality about it for me. In the 1980′s, I was involved with a naturopath in the writing of a book called ‘The Medicine Chest’ which looked at the relationship and interaction between foods, vitamins and medicines. One of the things we flagged up then was how food can affect your medication. One example of this is the drug warfarin which interacts with vitamin K, which we get from food, and from the bacteria in our gut. Vitamin K is involved in the formation of special liver proteins, known as coagulation factors, which reduce the risk of haemorrhage or bleeding. Conversely, if you are susceptible to blood clotting, warfarin (because of how it interferes with the formation of these vitamin-K-dependent factors) may be prescribed for you. So you can see that if you increase the amount of vitamin K-rich foods then you can alter the effect that the warfarin will have in your body. Such foods include everyday items like spinach, lettuce, beef, broccoli and soy beans – good foods in themselves but to be discussed with your doctor if you are on warfarin.

Now the scientific world seems to have caught up with the research done by naturopaths over the years, which has always treated food as ‘medicine’ and been much more aware of its effects. Recent research presented at a US conference has now suggested that a chemical in grapefruit, orange, and possibly also apple juice, could stop anti-allergy drugs being absorbed properly. Grapefruit juice is already known to interfere with blood pressure drugs and indeed some medicines carry a warning that taking them alongside grapefruit juice could cause an overdose and normally your pharmacist will point this out to you. However, the latest finding shows that grapefruit juice had the reverse effect on fexofenadine, an antihistamine drug, making it less rather than more potent. Volunteers took the drug with either a single glass of grapefruit juice, or just water.

When it was taken with juice, only half the drug was absorbed, potentially reducing its effectiveness. The active ingredient of the juice, naringin, appears to block a mechanism which moves drug molecules out of the small intestine into the bloodstream and this substantially decreases the absorption of certain drugs.

The three juices mentioned have also been found to affect etoposide, a chemotherapy drug, some beta-blocker drugs used to treat high blood pressure, and cyclosporine, taken by transplant patients to prevent rejection of their new organs. Dr David Bailey of the University of Western Ontario, the study’s author, said: “This is just the tip of the iceberg – I’m sure we’ll find more and more drugs that are affected this way.”

Adult snorers – It starts in childhood

If you have ever dug your partner in the ribs, or tried every brand of ear plugs on the market, it may help to know that really they can’t prevent it. Actually, it may not help at all, but a new study has shown that adult snoring may be rooted in early snorers .

This is based on a study of more than 15,000 adults ages 25 to 54 in Northern Europe, specifically in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Estonia. They were asked questions about their early life environment, childhood history and adult medical problems. The result was that they concluded that there are several factors in early childhood that are associated with adult snoring.

So what are the risk factors so you can identify if your child is going to disturb someone’s sleep in later life? First clue was that adult snorers were more likely to have been hospitalized for a respiratory infection before they were two, had recurrent ear infections such as glue ear or inflammation or have large tonsils that can compromise the upper airways. On the environment front, the child was more likely to have grown up in a large family, or to have been brought up as a baby in a household with a dog.

Karl Franklin, M.D., Ph.D., who carried out the research, speculated that these factors may enhance inflammatory processes and thereby alter upper airway anatomy early in life, causing an increased susceptibility for adult snoring.

Typically the habitual snorers in the study (defined as more than 3 times a week) were more likely to be male, overweight and had a higher prevalence of asthma and chronic bronchitis and were smokers. You may not be able to do anything about their childhood, but those other factors also contribute so tackling the weight, smoking and asthma certainly couldn’t hurt and might help to reduce the frequency and volume. Sadly there is no real cure for snoring, but a good website for general information on what causes it, and what can help, can be found at www.britishsnoring.co.uk

Penalty in the pay packet for being overweight?

It is often said that where the US leads the UK follows, but a disturbing trend has just hit overweight workers in the state of Alabama. It sometimes seems that the US produces more than its share of fanatics in all areas. I am not a smoker, or in favour of it on health grounds, but I also believe in the right to choose and reports of people having cigarettes struck out of their mouths or being unable to smoke anywhere just don’t sit right with me. There has been moves to curtail health services for people who are overweight, and I understand the logic but the US state of Alabama is taking it to a whole new level. Alabama already charges workers who smoke — and has seen some success in getting them to quit, but now are turning their attention to overweight workers. The state currently ranks second in national obesity rankings partly from a fondness for by deep-fried Southern food favorites and a high consumption of sugary drinks and foods. Currently they get free health insurance as part of their job, but unless they agree to free health screenings to show up health problems, and then adopt measures to improve them, they will have to pay a $25 monthly insurance fee from their salaries.

If the screenings turn up serious problems with blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose or obesity, employees will have a year to see a doctor at no cost, enroll in a wellness program, or take steps on their own to improve their health. If they show progress in a follow-up screening, they won’t be charged. But if they don’t, they must pay.

As we already have a free health service, there isn’t the same incentive to adopt such drastic measures here – but some form of restriction of service for those who persistently abuse their bodies through food, alcohol or drugs is not that unlikely, and is informally in place in some hospitals already.

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