DR. JIM PALERMO: Six-Pack of Space Coast Daily Health and Medical Headlines
By Dr. James Palermo // April 2, 2016
ignition interlocking breathalyzers save lives
Topics Include: Babies benefit from mom’s diverse diet; Low back pain?..get off the couch and get moving; Cellular manipulation to prevent aging may not be too far from reality – and More.
The Benefits of Spicing Up Breast-Feeding Mothers’ Diets
Why do doctors tell women to avoid spicy foods while breastfeeding? asks Perri Klass, MD — who was told that when she was breast-feeding.
Fact is that the medical evidence is weak to support the presumption that pregnant and breast-feeding women should avoid a diet that includes “strong flavors” to protect their babies from some inimical effect.
So instead of restricting the maternal diet, there’s now good evidence that by eating a wide variety of healthy and tasty foods during these periods, expecting and breast-feeding moms are actually doing their babies a major favor. (Perri Klass, New York Times, 03/28)
How Dirty Are Public Restrooms, Really?
What’s the probability that you could pick up an infection from a public restroom?
Pretty small, says LiveScience.
Ultimately, hygiene, public health and vaccination have made it significantly less likely that you’ll run across a dangerous pathogen while out and about, even in the restroom ecosystem. (Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience, 03/28)
Forget The Gizmos: Exercise Works Best For Lower-Back Pain
Ditch the strap-on belts and shoe inserts, and definitely don’t rest.
Accumulating research shows that the best way to treat and prevent lower-back pain is to get off the couch.
Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia reviewed 21 studies done around the world, involving over 30,000 participants in total, on how to treat and prevent lower-back pain and determined that exercise reduced the risk of repeated low-back pain in the year following an episode between 25 and 40 percent. (Rae Bichell, NPR, 01/11)
College Student 3-D Prints His Own Braces To Save Money
On the 3-D printer frontier: Faced with an $8,000 tab for conventional orthodontic braces, a college student prints his own instead.
An innovative college student at the New Jersey Institute of Technology manufactured his own “invisible home-made” braces for a total of $60 using a high-end 3-D printer at the school.
Amos Dudley, 24, was looking for a way to skip paying $8,000 for a set of clear braces from a name brand. (FoxNews.com, 03/18)
In-Car Breathalyzers for DUI Offenders Curb Drunk-Driving Deaths by 15 Percent
States that required in-car breathalyzers — also called ignition interlocks — for DUI offenders had 15 percent fewer drunk-driving deaths over a 2-year period.
According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, state laws that require drivers who’ve been convicted of drunk driving to pass a breathalyzer-type test before starting their cars saved an estimated 915 lives between 2004 and 2013.
This 15 percent reduction in drunk driving-related deaths compared to states without legislation requiring DUI offenders to use mandatory ignition interlock represents life saving success similar to that resulting from airbag laws. (University of Pennsylvania Health System, 03/17)
The Effects Of Aging: Can They Be Reversed?
Tales of the Fountain of Youth, a fabled wellspring thought to give everlasting life to whoever bathed in or drank from it, have been recounted across the world for thousands of years.
Of course, the story is mythical and, unfortunately, the elusive aquifer of youth sustaining water has never been found. However, scientific studies are increasingly suggesting that it may be possible to reverse the aging process in the future.
Medical News Today explores the biological causes of aging, investigates what strategies researchers are proposing to fight the effects of aging, and looks at what you can do to boost your chances of healthy aging. (Honor Whiteman, Medical News Today, 03/03)
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH NEWS
