In a group of young children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), nearly two-thirds who followed a restricted elimination diet experienced a significant reduction in ADHD symptoms and oppositional defiant behavior. Going off the diet led to relapse. These are the findings in a study last month in the medical journal The Lancet.

I am struck by the possibility that if this study holds true to the majority of this population of kids (10% of children in the United States), that this new research confirms that FOOD is a major causative factor in ADHD!

This study reminds me of a study done about the overuse of caffeine. In a nutshell, this study took a group of medically diagnosed anxiety patients that were slated to get on drug therapy for their problem.  Before they were given the drugs, the patients were taken off all forms of caffeine.  About 75% of patient’s anxiety vanished with the removal of caffeine and thus they did not need to go on the meds.

This new study in The Lancet links ADHD to food hyper-sensitivity, suggesting that a restricted diet could help kids more than drugs.  Food for thought, don’t you think?!  Easy, NO. Worth it in the long run for the health of the kids, YES!

“In all children, we should start with diet research.  If a child’s behavior doesn’t change, then drugs may still be necessary.  But now we are giving them all drugs, and I think that’s a huge mistake,” says the study’s lead author, Dr. Lidy Pelsser of the ADHD Research Centre.

March 12, 2011

Hyperactivity. Fidgeting. Inattention. Impulsivity. If your child has one or more of these qualities on a regular basis, you may be told that he or she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. If so, they’d be among about 10 percent of children in the United States.

Kids with ADHD can be restless and difficult to handle. Many of them are treated with drugs, but a new study says food may be the key. Published in The Lancet journal, the study suggests that with a very restrictive diet, kids with ADHD could experience a significant reduction in symptoms.

The study’s lead author, Dr. Lidy Pelsser of the ADHD Research Centre in the Netherlands, writes in The Lancet that the disorder is triggered in many cases by external factors — and those can be treated through changes to one’s environment.

“ADHD, it’s just a couple of symptoms — it’s not a disease,” the Dutch researcher tells All Things Considered weekend host Guy Raz.

The way we think about — and treat — these behaviors is wrong, Pelsser says. “There is a paradigm shift needed. If a child is diagnosed ADHD, we should say, ‘OK, we have got those symptoms, now let’s start looking for a cause.’ “

Pelsser compares ADHD to eczema. “The skin is affected, but a lot of people get eczema because of a latex allergy or because they are eating a pineapple or strawberries.”

According to Pelsser, 64 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD are actually experiencing a hypersensitivity to food. Researchers determined that by starting kids on a very elaborate diet, then restricting it over a few weeks’ time.

“It’s only five weeks,” Pelsser says. “If it is the diet, then we start to find out which foods are causing the problems.”

Teachers and doctors who worked with children in the study reported marked changes in behavior. “In fact, they were flabbergasted,” Pelsser says.

“After the diet, they were just normal children with normal behavior,” she says. No longer were they easily distracted or forgetful, and the temper tantrums subsided.

Some teachers said they never thought it would work, Pelsser says. “It was so strange,” she says, “that a diet would change the behavior of a child as thoroughly as they saw it. It was a miracle, a teacher said.”

But diet is not the solution for all children with ADHD, Pelsser cautions.

“In all children, we should start with diet research,” she says. If a child’s behavior doesn’t change, then drugs may still be necessary. “But now we are giving them all drugs, and I think that’s a huge mistake,” she says.

Also, Pelsser warns, altering your child’s diet without a doctor’s supervision is inadvisable.

“We have got good news — that food is the main cause of ADHD,” she says. “We’ve got bad news — that we have to train physicians to monitor this procedure because it cannot be done by a physician who is not trained.”

Dr. Stephanie Maj has a thriving family practice in the heart of Chicago. Her clinic is located at 1442 W. Belmont Ave., 1E, Chicago, IL 60657. 773.528.8485. www.communitychiropractic.net

New LBP Study Reveals Chiropractic Is Superior to PT and MD Care

I found this new study very interesting. For one, this is a study done by a medical journal, not a Chiropractic journal so any agenda or swaying of the results is not likely.  Plus, this is a large sample size, almost a thousand people that contributed.  What the study says in a nutshell is that when patients with low back pain were tracked for a YEAR, patients that utilized physical therapy and/or medical interventions were associated with a higher recurrence of disability as opposed to patients that underwent Chiropractic care. In fact, the patients were TWICE as likely to end up disabled with a physical therapist (PT) and almost 2/3rds more likely to be disabled when partaking in traditional medical interventions.

In fact, the patients were TWICE as likely to end up disabled with a physical therapist (PT) and almost 2/3rds more likely to be disabled when partaking in traditional medical interventions, compared to those patients under Chiropractic care.

This study is unique in that it was conducted by the Center for Disability Research at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety and the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Hopkinton, Mass; and the Center for Health Economics & Science Policy at United BioSource Corporation, London, United Kingdom.

Their objective was to compare the occurrences of repeated disability episodes between types of health care providers, who treat claimants with new episodes of work-related low back pain (LBP). They followed 894 patients over 1-year, using workers’ compensation claims data.

By controlling for demographics and severity, they determined the hazard ratio (HR) for disability recurrence between 3 types of providers:

Physical Therapists (PT), Physicians (MD), and Chiropractors (DC).

The results are quite interesting:

For PTs: HR = 2.0

For MDs: HR = 1.6

For DCs: HR = 1.0

Statistically, this means you are twice as likely to end up disabled if you got your care from a PT, rather than from a DC.

You’re also 60% more likely to be disabled if you choose an MD to manage your care, rather than a DC.

The authors concluded: “In work-related nonspecific LBP, the use of health maintenance care provided by physical therapist or physician services was associated with a higher disability recurrence than with chiropractic services or no treatment.”

Health Maintenance Care in Work-Related Low Back Pain and Its Association With Disability Recurrence. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2011 (Mar 14)

Dr. Stephanie Maj has a thriving family practice in the heart of Chicago. Her clinic is located at 1442 W. Belmont Ave., 1E, Chicago, IL 60657. 773.528.8485. www.communitychiropractic.net

The British Chiropractic Association has been in the news recently with a study they did on men with back pain and man bags. Apparently 60% of men polled use a man bag and 66% of the men polled also have had back pain. The man bags they wore had an average weight of 6.2 kgs (13.7 lbs) with a laptop usually making up the most weight in a bag.

Man Bags and Back Pain

Do you use a “man bag“? I wonder does a laptop bag count as a man bag?

For many, a man bag can be cool or not so cool from a style point of view. It also depends when do you use a man bag. If you carry lots of goods like laptop, tablet PC ( ipad, galaxy tab etc…), papers or files, I can understand the need for a daily man bag.

You can see below the contents of one guys man bag (reading book, mobile phone, camera, wallet, mp3 player, pens and pencils, note books). No notebook, netbook or tablet PC here.

According to the poll taken it would seem quite a few men in the UK use a man bag. Also quite a few men get back pain who use man bags. Most back pain studies say the population in general does experience back pain so that is no surprise. I do wonder if there are that many man bag UK men out there, maybe London.

I do believe that heavy man bags, hand bags, ruck sacks, school bags etc… repetitivley carried only on one shoulder can contribute to a back pain episode.

I guess also if you don’t have a car and want to do gym after or before work you would need a bag to carry all your gym things in. That might be quite different from the trendy man bags being used by football stars and celebs like David Beckham. What would David carry in his man bag?

How To Carry a Man Bag to Avoid Back Pain

So with all the talk on man bags how should you carry a man bag in a back friendly way.

Man bag back friendly tips according to the British Chiropractic Association article would be:

• Alternate the shoulder used to carry the man bag
• If using a single strap style man bag carry it across your body with strap on one shoulder and the bag on the other hip
• If there are two straps use them and have the back close to your back not near your bum like a school boy
• Decrease the weight of the bag by not carrying things you don’t need for that day
• Try not stay in one position long with the man bag like standing on the train. Try move around or the man bags position

At the end of the day a man bag can contribute to a back pain episode because you are carrying a weight and it can be asymmetrical weight on your body forcing only certain muscle to work. If you repeat this daily then this could be a problem for you in the future or currently just like always carrying your wallet in the same back pocket causing a “wallet sciatica.”

If carrying your man bag is unavoidable, use the tips above AND see your chiropractor so that the stress on your spine and nerve system can be removed with gentle, specific chiropractic adjustments. Just like a brick layer cannot stop lifting bricks for a living, carrying a heavy bag might just be a necessary evil. Use Chiropractic to alleviate any added stress so that you can perform at optimal!

Dr. Stephanie Maj has a thriving family practice in the heart of Chicago. Her clinic is located at 1442 W. Belmont Ave., 1E, Chicago, IL 60657. 773.528.8485. www.communitychiropractic.net

Can it happen here? I am reprinting an article that was posted yesterday on ABC News about the situation in Japan.  The ministry suspended the use of the two vaccines on Monday following the death of four young children shortly after immunization.

All four of the children are reported to have received Prevnar, and three also received ActHIB and a combination vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus at the same time.

“Who cares, that is not the US.”  This is the attitude I have heard lately about this news, but I don’t know if people understand that of all the vaccines that our children take, FEW are produced in the United States (the one I found that is made in the U.S. is FluMist.)

For example, the vaccine for H1N1/09 is being made for the U.S. by Melbourne-based CSL Ltd., Sanofi-Aventis SA, based in Paris (aka Sanofi-Pasteur), London-based AstraZeneca Plc (MedImmune subsidiary), and Novartis AG based in Basel, Switzerland. GlaxoSmithKline Plc also is in the process of review by the FDA for their vaccine but it is not approved yet. They have gotten approval for one version of vaccine from the European EMEA, however, and is producing it for use in Europe.

Vaccine Companies

Novartis Vaccines

Novartis, based in Switzerland, makes several flu vaccines used around the world. These include seasonal flu vaccines Agrippal and Begrivac for adults and children and Fluad for seniors.  Fluvirin is the most common seasonal flu vaccine in the U.S.  Focetria is their H1N1 vaccine.

CSL Limited

The Australian-based pharmaceutical company CSL Limited makes Panvax H1N1, known as the Monovalent Vaccine in the United States. CSL also makes Fluvax for adults and Fluvax Junior for children.

MedImmune

MedImmune makes FluMist, a live flu virus vaccine that is sprayed into the nose. MedImmune is based in Maryland and makes the nasal spray vaccine for both the seasonal and H1N1 flu viruses.

Sanofi Pasteur

Sanofi Pasteur is a French manufacturer of both types of flu virus vaccines. Their H1N1 vaccine is sold under the name Paneza. They also make the seasonal flu virus vaccines Vaxigrip, which is not found in the United States and Fluzone which is found in the United States.

GlaxoSmithKline

The British-based GlaxoSmithKline makes different forms of the seasonal flu vaccine. Their products include Fluarix for adults and children and FluLaval for adults and children.

Two Kids’ Vaccines Halted After Four Children Die Shortly After Shots

BY TODD NEALE, MEDPAGE TODAY STAFF WRITER

March 8, 2011

(Click here for original article)

Japanese health officials have suspended the use of two pediatric vaccines as a precaution following the deaths of four young children, according to multiple media reports.

The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare has said that Pfizer’s Prevnar and Sanofi Pasteur’s ActHIB cannot be used until a panel of experts concludes an investigation into whether there is a causal link between the vaccines and the deaths, which reportedly occurred in children ages 6 months to 2 years.

The panel is expected to issue a report tomorrow.

A spokesperson for Sanofi Pasteur confirmed in an e-mail that, on March 4, the Japanese health authorities suspended use of ActHIB after the deaths of four children, three of whom received ActHIB in conjunction with at least one other vaccine from another manufacturer.

Three of the four infants received Prevnar and ActHIB together, and at least two also received a combination vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus, according to Reuters.

The Sanofi spokesperson said that the company is fully cooperating with the Japanese investigation, noting that ActHIB has not been recalled.

“To our knowledge to date, there is no reason for such a recall, nor for the customers to return the product,” she wrote in an e-mail.

A representative from Pfizer wrote in an e-mail, “Pfizer thoroughly reviews and continually monitors all of its medicines and vaccines as safety is our top priority. No causal relationship has been established between the events reported in Japan and vaccination to date.  We are conducting a thorough evaluation of these cases in cooperation with the relevant regulatory health authorities.”

A similar incident happened last year in the Netherlands, where health officials concluded that Prevnar was not responsible for the deaths of three vaccinated infants, the Reuters report noted.

When a child’s temperature begins to rise, worried parents often spring into action, marshaling cool washcloths and pain relievers, making frantic calls to the doctor or even visiting an emergency room.

Today comes the answer to a question that I answer regularly in my practice.  ”What do I do about a fever in my child?”  From the start, I explain the GOOD benefits of fever. Good fevers…YES!  Fever is a way of heating the body up to make the enzymes inside work faster and the immune system stronger. Remember, I am a Chiropractor so I believe we heal ourselves from above down, inside out! The body is a self-healing organism and is way smarter than me.  Well, this week the American Academy of Pediatrics (MDs pediatric organization) is trying to get this message out to parents.

The report, aimed at calming what it calls “fever phobia,” also says there is NO EVIDENCE that lowering a fever will help a child get well faster, or that leaving a fever untreated could cause seizures, brain damage or death, as some caregivers fear.

American Academy of Pediatrics issues advice on managing fever in children. A fever in a child can be worrying to parents, and is one of the most common reasons parents seek a pediatrician’s care. To help pediatricians educate parents and families about fever and “fever phobia,” the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a clinical report, “Fever and Antipyretic Use in Children,” published in the March 2011 print issue of Pediatrics (published online Feb. 28).

Fever is a physiological mechanism that has beneficial effects in fighting infection. Although many parents administer antipyretics (medications to reduce a fever) such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen to a child to reduce a fever, the report emphasizes that the primary goal should be to help the child feel more comfortable, rather than to maintain a “normal” temperature. Parents should focus on the general well-being of the child, his/her activity, observing the child for signs of serious illness and maintaining appropriate fluid intake.

Fever is a way of heating the body up to make the enzymes inside work faster and the immune system stronger.

Parents should not wake up a sleeping child to administer a fever-reducer. Antipyretics must be stored safely to avoid accidental ingestions. Parents should be aware that the correct dosage is based on the child’s weight, and that an accurate measuring device should always be used. While there is some evidence that combination therapy (alternating doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen) may be more effective at lowering body temperature, questions remain about whether it is safe and whether it helps children feel more comfortable. Combination therapy also increases the risk of inaccurate dosing.