Healthy Life Newsletter, August 2017
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Vitamin D greatly reduces premature births:
Our first paper on Protect our Children NOW! at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is now published. This is it. Findings from previous randomized controlled trials have been moved into practice, and the results of that larger scale “field trial” support the RCT findings.
60% lower risk of preterm birth in MUSC’s Protect our Children NOW! field trial. Over one thousand women were tested and given vitamin D throughout their pregnancies. The results were 60% lower risk of preterm birth for women with vitamin D levels of 40 ng/ml (100 nmol/L) or higher as compared to those with levels less than 20 ng/ml (50 nmol/L).
Here is a list of the previous randomized controlled trials and their papers:
RCT #1 - Showed vitamin D was safe and effective in pregnancy
RCT #2- Found the relationship between adequate vitamin D and preterm birth reduction
57% reduction in preterm birth with serum level > 40 ng/ml shown by analyzing the RCT data by serum level. GrassrootsHealth paper using data from the above two RCTs vs. March of Dimes data on the standard population shows that vitamin D levels greater than 40 ng/ml (100 nmol/L) may lower preterm birth by 57% as compared to those with vitamin D levels 20 ng/ml (50 nmol/L) or lower.
Your Bones Deserve Better
Think your bones will always be strong and supportive? Think again. While the human body reaches peak bone mass by the late 20s (and up to 90 percent by age 18-20), that doesn’t mean things will stay that way, particularly if you don’t eat right, exercise and pursue other bone-friendly health behaviors.
What’s more, our bones naturally start to lose bone mass / density with age, even if you’re living a healthy lifestyle. The consequences can be staggering, starting with osteoporosis and leading to bone fractures, which can be debilitating, particularly if you’re older.
With all that said, why would you ever do anything that puts your bone health in jeopardy? You wouldn’t. But unfortunately, too many people are doing just that, and one of the culprits is insulin resistance.
When we eat, your blood sugar levels naturally rise. The pancreas responds by releasing insulin into the bloodstream, which helps deliver the sugar into the cells, where it can be used to meet the body’s energy demands. If your body doesn’t need all that sugar, insulin helps store it in your liver and then releases it to the body when it’s needed.
The problem is when we consistently have too much sugar in our blood. At a certain point, the body can become ineffective at using insulin to reduce blood sugar levels, which can lead to type 2 diabetes and related complications. This ineffectiveness is known as insulin resistance or poor sensitivity.
Research suggests insulin resistance can do more than contribute to diabetes; it can also reduce bone density. A large study of men and women ages 25-35 revealed that participants with the highest levels of insulin resistance had lower bone density than participants with healthy / normal insulin function. The key here is that study participants were only 25-35 – an age range at which bone density / mass should be fairly optimal and not yet influenced by age, hormones (e.g., menopause) and related factors.
Your bones deserve better. Support them and they’ll literally support you. Talk to your doctor about bone health; how you can help your bones with proper diet, weight-bearing exercise and other considerations; and why insulin resistance can be a big problem not only for your bones, but your health in general.
Skip the Soda During Pregnancy
While it’s not completely understood why many women experience food cravings when baby’s on the way, we are beginning to understand which cravings you should try to fight if you can help it.
Soda – particularly non-diet soda – is one of them. Here’s why: Women who drink non-diet soda during pregnancy are doing their son or daughter a big disservice when it comes to their weight in childhood.
A recent study published in Pediatrics highlights this risk. Researchers studied more than 1,000 mother-child pairs and found each additional serving of non-diet (i.e., sugary) soda a pregnant woman consumed per day increased the odds that their child had larger waist size and body mass by age 7 compared to children whose mothers did not consume non-diet soda. What’s more, approximately 25 percent of children enrolled in the study were overweight or obese by mid-childhood; body-mass index, waist circumference and skinfold thickness (an indication of body fat) were highest in children whose mothers drank two or more non-diet sodas per day during pregnancy.
The bottom line: Stay away from the sugary soda when you’re expecting! You and your child will benefit in a big way. And by the way, while maternal diet soda consumption was not linked to childhood obesity in this study, that doesn’t mean the diet variety is part of the healthy, balanced diet you and your future child need. Your doctor can tell you more about which foods to stock up on and which to limit / avoid during this important time.
Catch Up on Sleep, Lower Your Risk of Obesity
By Editorial Staff
We’ve been talking a great deal about sleep lately because, well, it’s that important when it comes to your health. Sleep dysfunction (not getting enough on a regular basis, insufficient quality in terms of waking up refreshed and revived, irregular sleep patterns, etc.) has been linked to various negative health outcomes including lower academic performance, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Fortunately, new research suggests even people who don’t get adequate sleep during the week can compensate for it by sleeping in on weekends - and the health benefit is a reduced risk of obesity (another negative attributed to chronic poor sleep). In the study, researchers evaluated more than 2,000 adults ages 19-82 to determine sleep habits (weekday vs. weekend) and various health conditions including obesity.
Nearly 50 percent of study subjects slept approximately 2 hours longer per weekend night compared to weeknights - but that extra weekend sleep time meant they slept more overall than subjects who didn’t get any “catch up” sleep on weekends. The results: People who slept longer on weekends had a lower body-mass index (BMI), and the more catch-up sleep they got, the lower their BMI was, according to researchers.
So, what’s the takeaway? First, sleep is important when it comes to your health. Second, you can reduce your risk of obesity (and perhaps other health issues related to inadequate sleep, we can speculate) by catching up on sleep, rather than trying to “fight through” those sleepless or reduced-sleep nights. Talk to your doctor for more information.
A Drug-Free Way to Treat Headaches: Chiropractic Care
By Perry Nickelston, DC, FMS, SFMA
More Americans complain about headaches than any other health condition, including back pain; in fact, approximately 45 million Americans say they suffer headaches each year.
That’s one in every six people or more than 16 percent of the population. More than 8 million Americans visit their doctor seeking relief for symptoms of headaches each year. Unfortunately, the most popular treatment is over-the-counter pain relievers or prescription medication.
There is some good news when it comes to headaches. There are safe and effective natural solutions available to help reduce or eliminate the symptoms of various headache types. For example, chiropractic treatment is a highly sought-after alternative treatment for the debilitating effects associated with headaches. Let’s learn about that headache you may be suffering from and how chiropractic can help you get rid of it.
Headaches 101
Tension headaches: The most common type of headache is the tension headache. It is estimated that 80-90 percent of the U.S. population suffers from tension headaches at some point in their lives. There are two primary types of tension headaches:
Episodic: Headaches appear occasionally, usually less than 15 times per month.
Chronic: Headaches occur more than 15 times per month or on a consistent basis.
A Drug-Free Way to Treat Headaches - Copyright – Stock Photo / Register Mark Tension headaches are intimately connected to abnormal posture, muscular tightness, joint stiffness, and restricted range of motion in the body. To obtain optimum health and function, it is important to remember that everything is connected and everything matters. Dysfunctional patterns of movement and posture affect how much tension and stress your body holds. The body must compensate for these dysfunctional patterns by any means necessary, and it accomplishes this by altering tension points.
Muscles attach to anchor points on bone and act as primary movers and stabilizers for your body. Mover muscles are used get you from point A to point B, such as a getting up out of a chair. Stabilizer muscles control that movement so you don’t fall down while standing up. Abnormal posture and altered tension points on bone anchors puts too much wear and tear on muscles and joints. Your brain and nervous system must compensate for this dysfunction by altering blood flow, muscle movement patterns and breathing. These alterations often lead to tension headaches.
Migraines: The second most common type of headache is the migraine headache. Approximately 16-17 percent of the population complains of migraines. These headaches are far more debilitating than the tension-type headaches. More women than men suffer from migraine headaches, leading researchers to believe there may be a hormonal component to migraines. The majority of migraine sufferers report some sort of trigger that kicks of their headaches (food, drink, smell, etc).
How Chiropractic Can Help
Chiropractic care can help alleviate the symptoms of tension and migraine headaches by improving and restoring normal postural patterns. Chiropractic treatment is aimed at normalizing muscle tension, restoring joint range of motion, and stabilizing the body to reduce abnormal stressors. Optimizing postural control of the head and neck reduces the workload your muscles must apply just to keep your head up during the day. Proper spinal alignment and muscle control helps give the body a fighting chance of avoiding a tension headache.
Proper breathing is essential to relaxation, blood flow, and oxygen supply to the brain and body. Abnormal posture, which can include such dysfunctions as rounded shoulders, neck forward over the shoulders, slouched positions and tightness in the hips from sitting all day, decrease lung capacity. This decreased capacity alters how much you breathe, how often, and from where.
Headache sufferers tend to breathe more from their chest and shoulders as opposed to their diaphragm. This leads to repeated elevation of the shoulders and upper back muscles hundreds of times a day, leading to increased tension in the head and neck. Chiropractic restores function to the spine, ribs, and hips to maximize breathing and good postural control. Better breathing equals better health.
If you’re suffering from headaches and are tired of taking pain-relieving medication day after day, your doctor of chiropractic will work closely with you to determine likely triggers for your headaches and make subtle changes in your activities of daily living to empower you to take back control of your life.