Healthy Life Newsletter, May 2024
A Note from Dr. Mha Atma
Our world is filled with much beauty and countless amazing people, and also with much suffering, strife and huge challenges. It is up to each of us to do what we can to make our lives, and the lives of those around us, and the world, a better place. That might start with taking the opportunities we have to care for our own physical and mental heath and supporting our families and others in our sphere of influence to do the same. And also, if we can, to take whatever actions we are able to do to influence our society and our culture and its leaders to take steps toward a safe and sustainable world for everyone.
To Achieve Lasting Benefit from Chiropractic Care, You May Need to Deal with This!
(from dynamicchiropractic.com)
Question: What do you call a substance that research has demonstrated has a direct association with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, anxiety, common mental disorders, adverse sleep, wheezing and all-cause mortality?1
Answer: ultra-processed foods. In addition, research suggests that consuming ultra-processed foods is associated with hypertension, Crohn’s disease, obesity, metabolic syndrome, fatty liver disease and breast cancer.
Ultra-processed foods include a vast array of products including “carbonated soft drinks; sweet, fatty or salty packaged snacks; candies (confectionery); mass produced packaged breads and buns, cookies (biscuits), pastries, cakes and cake mixes; margarine and other spreads; sweetened breakfast ‘cereals’ and fruit yoghurt and ‘energy’ drinks; pre-prepared meat, cheese, pasta and pizza dishes; poultry and fish ‘nuggets’ and ‘sticks’; sausages, burgers, hot dogs and other reconstituted meat products; powdered and packaged ‘instant’ soups, noodles and desserts; baby formula; and many other types of product.”2
Sadly, ultra-processed foods make up approximately half of the calories the average American consumes. And for folks in that category, the best chiropractic care may be no match for the damage their diet is doing to their health.
Fortunately, even modest improvements in diet can often make a huge difference with chronic pain and many chronic diseases. A more anti-inflammatory diet–less of the above “foods” and much more fresh vegetables, fruit, healthy protein, nuts, beans and whole grains–can make life so much better AND lead to much better and faster results from good chiropractic care!
Vitamin D and Pregnancy
Vitamin D is absolutely essential to a healthy pregnancy and baby – unfortunately, a majority of women do not get enough vitamin D during pregnancy. Prenatal vitamin D deficiency has been linked to many negative outcomes, including early onset severe preeclampsia, low birth weight, preterm birth, gestational hypertension, and more.
New studies continue to demonstrate the benefits associated with higher vitamin D levels during pregnancy, such as a recent study by Amiri et al., which found a 60% reduction in cesarean section, 93% reduction in preeclampsia, and 96% reduction in preterm birth among women whose vitamin D levels were higher compared to those whose levels were lower. Another study by GrassrootsHealth and the Medical University of South Carolina found a 62% lower risk of preterm birth for women whose vitamin D level reached at least 40 ng/ml (100 nmol/L) during pregnancy compared to women below 20 ng/ml (50 nmol/L).
Read much more at grassrootshealth.net
Best for Spinal Pain
Wondering why chiropractors are the best choice for spinal pain? A new review study counts all the ways. The study compared the cost of caring for patients with spine-related pain, examining the difference in downstream use and costs between chiropractic care and medical management.1 The authors conducted a Medline search, initially finding 2,256 citations from which they identified 44 applicable studies of high or acceptable quality.
It is the first such study conducted since a similar paper was published in 2015.2 This is important, as most of the papers published since then identified not only initial costs of care, but downstream costs as well, which can be even more expensive than the initial care. Here are all the ways chiropractic management resulted in lower downstream utilization and costs compared to medical management:
Diagnostic Imaging – 15 studies found chiropractic care resulted in less diagnostic imaging, particularly advanced imaging like MRI.
Opioids – 11 studies found chiropractic care resulted in fewer opioid prescriptions.
Surgery – Eight studies found fewer surgeries with chiropractic management.
Hospitalization – Seven studies found chiropractic care resulted in fewer hospitalizations.
First Provider – Six studies associated lower downstream cost with a DC as the first provider.
Injections – Five studies found decreased use of injections with chiropractic care.
Specialist Visits – Five studies associated chiropractic care with fewer referrals to specialists.
ER Visits – Two studies found chiropractic care resulted in fewer emergency department visits.
The authors concluded: “Patients with spine-related musculoskeletal pain who consulted a chiropractor as their initial provider incurred substantially decreased downstream healthcare services and associated costs, resulting in lower overall healthcare costs compared with medical management.”
References
Farabaugh R, Hawk C, Taylor D, et al. Cost of chiropractic versus medical management of adults with spine-related musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review. Chiropr Man Therap , 2024;32:Article 8.
Dagenais S, Brady O, Haldeman S, Manga P. A systematic review comparing the costs of chiropractic care to other interventions for spine pain in the United States. BMC Health Serv Res, 2015;15:474.
Chiropractic = Less Surgery
Over 300,000 patients undergo lumbar discectomy every year in the U.S. and 20% of them experience ongoing lumbosacral radiculopathy or LSR (back and leg pain) AFTER the surgery.
For most patients, their first-line treatment for that persistent pain consists of pain medications, spinal injections, cognitive behavioral therapy, and physical therapy exercises.
Some seek chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) as a better choice to manage their symptoms. Sadly, 6 to 12% of lumbar discectomy patients wind up having another surgery, and the success rate of reoperation is significantly lower.
A recent study examined the impact of SMT on lumbar discectomy reoperation. Approximately 11% of patients who receive chiropractic SMT have a history of spine surgery.
The study included adults over 18 years experiencing LSR and who had a lumbar discectomy within the last year without lumbar fusion or instrumentation. Health records from 2003- 2023 were gathered, with patients divided into two cohorts: chiropractic SMT and usual care without chiropractic. Each group had 378 patients. Over the next two years the chiropractic group wound up with half as many second back surgeries as the control group.
For more details and references see toyourhealth.com.
Too Little Talking
That’s how screen time can negatively influence the parent-child relationship, according to new research – and the damage can be done during a critical time: a child’s first three years of life.
Let’s see what the research found and how you can help foster more parent-child communication (at any age) by tightening the reins on screen time.
First, the study, which investigated the potential relationship between screen time and three specific measures of parent-child talk: adult words, child vocalizations and conversational turns. Children enrolled in the study were 12-36 months of age. Researchers utilized speech recognition technology to capture both the children’s screen time and “home language environment” (in other words, how much they talked with their parents) every six months from 12-36 months.
Findings, which appear in the research journal JAMA Pediatrics, revealed that “for every additional minute of screen exposure, parents and children were generally talking or vocalizing less and were engaging in fewer back-and-forth interactions.“OK, so how do we limit screen time, particularly when our children are young and will benefit the most from live interaction that aids in their development; while appreciating that certain screen engagements can be beneficial (e.g., for learning)? Here’s one of the most important tips specific to young children, courtesy of the Mayo Clinic: “If you introduce digital media to children ages 18 to 24 months, make sure it’s high quality and avoid solo media use.”
Higher Magnesium Intake Strengthens Effect of Vitamin D on Lowering Blood Pressure
It is known that vitamin D and magnesium each have their own effects on health, including lowering high blood pressure. However, a new study shows that the combination of higher vitamin D levels and higher magnesium intake has an even stronger effect on lowering blood pressure than either alone.
The study by Huang et al. looked at how magnesium intake affected the association between vitamin D and blood pressure among 8,799 adults ages 20 years or older. The data used was from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2007 through 2014. Comparisons were made between vitamin D and systolic blood pressure (SBP) and vitamin D and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) with either low magnesium intake (less than 299 mg per day) or high intake (at least 299 mg per day).
This study not only confirmed vitamin D’s relationship to SBP, where higher vitamin D levels were associated with lower SBP, it also showed that the relationship between vitamin D and systolic blood pressure was stronger among the high magnesium intake group compared to the low magnesium intake group.
For more info and details go to grassrootshealth.net
The Power of Awe
The health benefits of walking are undeniable, supported by an increasing body of research. But don’t just walk – enjoy walking. Tap into the power of awe while walking to reap even greater health benefits. Let’s see what a new study says about the power of awe and your health, particularly as you get older.
Researchers conducted an eight-week study in which participants ages 75 and older were divided into two groups for comparison. One group walked once a week. The second group also walked at the same frequency – but were advised by the researchers to walk somewhere that would inspire awe; somewhere where the walkers could look around at things, feel a sense of wonder, etc. – noticing a new flower in bloom, a sunset, etc. It was that simple.
Compared to the group that just walked, members of the group that also sought out moments of awe during their walks felt less pain and distress – two common experiences for many people as they get older. The power of awe in action.
The moral to the study / story: find moments of awe in your life. The more, the better, and you don’t need to limit it to walking. Seek out awe as often as possible and feel the impact it can have on your health – and life in general.