The Importance Of Vitamin D For Kids

Kids need Vitamin D just as much as adults. A study by a UK group found that the number of British children with Vitamin D deficiency has increased by more than 200% in the last five years. It’s probably similar in the US.

The need for Vitamin D starts in the womb where a Vitamin D deficiency can lead to pre-eclampsia. Having sufficient Vitamin D levels in the mother also reduces the risk of the woman needing a C-section by 400%. The kids of deficient moms are also more likely to have asthma and wheezing by age five and  more prone to critical illnesses with worse outcomes and longer hospital stays.

So, what’s the range of Vitamin D that you want the woman to have before she becomes pregnant, during the pregnancy and for the kid to have after birth. First of all, you can only tell the Vitamin D level by having a blood test. You want the woman to be in the optimum range of 50 to 70 mg/ml (this is how they measure D). Second, as an adult, if you’re deficient in Vitamin D, you can take a supplement that has around 2,500 to 7,500 IU's per day. Neonates should get 2,000 IU's per day and children one year of age and above should get 2 to 3,000 per day. Third, make sure the supplement is Vitamin D3 as it works better in the body. Finally you should also take supplements with Vitamin K2 and magnesium as they work together with the Vitamin D3 so you can get optimum benefits.

How Effective Are ADHD Drugs With Kids?

Nearly 10% of US kids have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).  While there is still no test or other objective way to detect whether children have ADHD, diagnosis is made by observations of parents, teachers and mental health professionals.

Children who are diagnosed with ADHD are usually are prescribed drugs as the solution. Research published in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews found that while there have been studies conducted showing modest improvements in the kids they also reported that these studies were of poor-quality. A number of valid studies have actually reported negative benefits for kids taking these drugs, such as, taking longer to fall sleep, having shorter sleep durations and ineffective sleep efficiency.

Quality sleep is important because the lack of it exacerbates ADHD symptoms, as well as, leading to other physical, cognitive and emotional problems. Additionally, using ADHD drugs has actually led to almost 23,000 emergency room visits in 2011.

What are some solutions that would not require a child taking prescription drugs? One possible alternative to drugs is exercise. Research published in the journal Pediatrics found that kids who engaged in a regular physical activity program had an improvement in executive control, which included inhibition, working memory and switching between tasks. Exercise also boosted these kids test scores and academic performance. Another option to drug therapy is using Brain Gym® as a way to change the child’s behavior. You can learn about Brain Gym, read the research and find a consultant at www.BrainGym.org.  So, instead of cutting out gym and recess, we need to add them back in for the benefit of the kids and include Brain Gym as part of these kids physical fitness regimen.

(Reported Mercola.com, December 10, 2015)

Supplements Are Important

You hear people say “I eat a varied diet so I don’t need to take vitamin supplements.” It turns out that you can’t get what you need from your food intake alone because the vitamins and minerals are deficient in our regular food as well as in our organic food.. A report from The Organic Consumers Association looked at the nutrients in 12 organic veggies between 1975 and 1997 and found that Vitamin C dropped 30%, Vitamin A dropped 21%, Calcium dropped 27% and Iron dropped 37%.

In non-organic foods, the drop in the amount of vitamins and minerals was dramatically higher. From 1950 to 1997, the amount of nutrients has dropped around 60% for 43 different fruits and vegetables as reported in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. So, taking a good multivitamin and mineral supplement is very important to your health.

Avocado Lowers LDL Cholesterol

A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that people on a moderate fat diet who ate an avocado a day lowered LDL cholesterol, which is considered the bad version, by 10% which was a greater improvement than a low-fat or moderate fat diet. So, start adding avocado to your salads and sandwiches.

(Reported Prevention, April 2015)

Who Should Read Your Tissue Samples for Breast Cancer – A Pathologist Or A Pigeon?  

So, your first thought is that this is a joke. Well, it’s actually not. A study published in PLOS One reported on the accuracy of pigeons distinguishing between benign and malignant breast tissue. What they found even surprised the researchers.

The researchers initially had the pigeons look at images of benign and malignant tissues.  Initially, the pigeons were only 50% accurate. After 14 days of training the pigeons jumped to 85% accuracy. When the researchers place the birds in groups to vote on the correct diagnosis, which the researchers called flock sourcing, their accuracy went up to 99% accuracy. And keep in mind that the pigeons just worked for treats. So…down the road, you may want your doc’s pigeon group to read the test results.

(Reported Carl Engelking, blogs.discovermagazine.com, 11/20/15)

Work-Life Balance Is Getting Harder To Attain

Fast Company Magazine reported that employees are working longer hours and having difficulties managing work-life balance. A recent study involving 8 countries polled 10,000 full-time employees and found the greatest difficulties were experienced by employees in Germany and Japan managing work-life balance. Everyone was having their hours increased whether it’s Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers.

One of the ways to reduce the stress of work-life balance is giving employees more flex time scheduling. Another way is to add meditation to your daily life since it gives you more energy to get things done.

(Reported herman Group Alert, May 20, 2015)

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THANKS, THAT'S IT FOR THIS MONTH!