It’s the final Top Reads of 2011!

Can you believe it!?

This month’s highlights continue with the themes in Nutrigenomics, Health, and Drug Updates.

Here are just some of the topics covered in my summaries covered below of what I feel are top headlines of this month:
  • The power of FOOD AS MEDICINE: The benefits of antioxidant packed and Mediterranean style diets and a study on B vitamins link lower lung cancer risk
  • PROBIOTIC POWER: The balance of bugs in your gut is not just to relieve symptoms of constipation or diarrhea. Microbiota balance in the gut, supplemented with probiotics, have links to many health effects. Highlights include the modulation of weight, metabolism, brain health, blood sugar, and even MS!
  • OREGANO POWER:These feature studies are too good to miss! Learn how this powerful essential oil could be a solution to resistant superbugs!
  • Drug Updates: FDA warnings of 2011 including Simvastatin, 5 alpha reductase inhibitors, and various antidepressants are reviewed. Other drug updates include a warning on Zofran, adverse drug reaction statistics, and pertussis vaccination efficacy is also included.
  • Various Health Highlights such as the use of exercise for depression, how violent video games affect brain health, 8 tips to mind-body balance…..and there’s so much more….check it out and have a great New Year.
Don’t forget to watch for next week’s New Year’s blog! It will include more on the power of food and what I learned in Arizona. Here’s a little preview of what’s to come. In this excerpt, Dr. Hyman discusses various studies that show how food is medicine:

– Supplementing with conjugated linoleic acid (a special fat from meat and dairy fats) caused a modest loss in body fat. It also may prevent cancer, heart disease, and inflammation.

– Long-term fish consumption protects against arrhythmia or irregular heart beats.

– Eating a diet high in monounsaturated fats from olive oil can help reduce blood pressure while a high refined-carbohydrate diet can increase blood pressure.

– Combining fish oil supplements with regular aerobic exercise helps improve body composition and reduce heart disease risk factors (lower triglycerides, higher HDL).

– Women need more choline (a nutrient that is needed for cell membrane formation and to make the neurotransmitter acetylcholine necessary for brain function) after menopause or are at risk of liver and muscle damage.

– If women with HIV are given a multivitamin, they have less anemia and their children also have less anemia.  Anemia in HIV is associated with a much faster rate of disease progression and death.

– In Bangladesh, where arsenic poisoning is common, giving folate, vitamins B12 and B6, choline, and niacin reduced the toxic effects of arsenic.

– People who eat more meat and saturated fat have a higher risk of skin cancer.

References:

Hyman, M. The Overwhelming Evidence of the Healing Power of Food. drhyman.com. December 24, 2011. http://drhyman.com/the-overwhelming-evidence-of-the-healing-power-of-food-3324/?utm_source=Publicaster&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=drhyman%20newsletter%20issue%20#47&utm_content=Get+the+storyA

AND NOW….
DECEMBER 2011 TOP READS!

 

Nutrigenomics

B Vitamins Lower Lung Cancer Risk (JAMA)

Similar and consistent decreases in risk were observed in never, former, and current smokers, indicating that results were not due to confounding by smoking. The magnitude of risk was also constant with increasing length of follow-up, indicating that the associations were not explained by preclinical disease. A lower risk was also seen for serum folate (fourth vs first quartile OR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.51-0.90; P for trend = .001), although this was apparent only for former and current smokers. When participants were classified by median levels of serum methionine and B(6), having above-median levels of both was associated with a lower lung cancer risk overall (OR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.31-0.54), as well as separately among never (OR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.18-0.72), former (OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.34-0.76), and current smokers (OR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.27-0.65). CONCLUSION: Serum levels of vitamin B(6) and methionine were inversely associated with risk of lung cancer.

Mediterranean Diet Aides Stroke Risk (Medscape)

Lifestyle changes and, especially, dietary interventions are cost-effective means for the prevention of CVD and the reduction of the social and economic burden of this condition.[1, 3, 4] The Mediterranean dietary pattern is one of the most well-known dietary patterns regarding its cardioprotective effects.[5] This pattern is characterized by high consumption of monounsaturated fatty acids, primarily from olives and olive oil. It encourages daily consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals, and low-fat dairy products; weekly consumption of fish, poultry, tree nuts, and legumes; monthly consumption of red meat; and a moderate daily consumption of alcohol, normally with meals. The beneficial role of the Mediterranean diet regarding mortality from all causes, CHD, some types of cancer, and metabolic disorders, has already been reported.[6–9] In a recent meta-analysis of 530,000 participants from 50 studies, greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with a lower risk for metabolic syndrome and its constituents.[10] The main mechanism for this cardiometabolic protection is the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects that the aforementioned pattern has.[11, 12] However, despite the fact that many studies have underlined the beneficial role of the Mediterranean diet regarding the development of CHD, the role of this diet on the development of stroke has not been thoroughly examined.[13, 14] To the best of our knowledge, only one study has evaluated and attempted to compare the effect of the Mediterranean diet on the development of both acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and stroke.[13] Posted: 11/15/2011; American Heart Journal. 2011;162(4):717-724.

Antioxidants of Fruit and Veggies Prevent Stroke (WebMD)

Researchers led by Susanne Rautiainen, a PhD student at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, grouped 31,035 women without heart disease and 5,680 women with a history of heart disease. Then they measured the amount of antioxidant-rich foods and beverages they ate and drank. About 11.5 years later, there were 1,322 strokes among women without a history of heart disease or stroke. Among women with previous heart disease or stroke, there were 1,007 strokes after about 10 years. The amount of antioxidants in the diet seemed to make a difference in stroke risk, the study showed. Women without a history of heart disease or stroke who ate diets loaded with antioxidants were 17% less likely to have any type of stroke, compared to women who ate the least amount of antioxidants. These results held even after researchers took into account exercise, smoking, and other behaviors that could affect stroke risk.

Antioxidants & ED (Intern J of Adrol)

Upregulation of antioxidant enzymes SOD and AR failed to protect ischaemic erectile tissue from oxidative injury. Pomegranate extract significantly improved intracavernosal blood flow, erectile activity, smooth muscle relaxation and fibrosis of the atherosclerotic group in comparison with the atherosclerotic group receiving placebo, but did not normalize them to the age-matched control levels. Pomegranate extract appeared more effective in diminishing oxidative products, preventing SOD and AR gene upregulation, and protecting mitochondrial, endothelial and caveolae structural integrity of the atherosclerotic group. Our data suggest the presence of oxidative stress in ED and a more efficient action of antioxidants on molecular and ultrastructural alterations than on distinct functional deficit and structural damage in the ischaemic penis.

The Power of Gut Bugs!

The Use of Fecal Implant of Bugs to Modulate Metabolism & Weight (Oasis)

Lean donor faecal infusion improves hepatic and peripheral insulin resistance as well as fasting lipid levels in obese individuals with the metabolic syndrome underscoring the potential role of gut microbiota in the disturbances of glucose and lipid metabolism in obesity. Our data could provide pathophysiological insight in the metabolic deviations in obese subjects and a rationale for therapeutic intervention.

Another Study on Weight and Bugs (PLos)

The proportions of phylum Firmicutes and class Clostridia were significantly reduced in the diabetic group compared to the control group (P = 0.03). Furthermore, the ratios of Bacteroidetes to Firmicutes as well as the ratios of Bacteroides-Prevotella group to C. coccoides-E. rectale group correlated positively and significantly with plasma glucose concentration (P = 0.04) but not with BMIs. Similarly, class Betaproteobacteria was highly enriched in diabetic compared to non-diabetic persons (P = 0.02) and positively correlated with plasma glucose (P = 0.04).

Multifaceted Bug Power (Dr. Mercola)

You can also visit Green Med Info, which has assembled an amazing list of more than 200 studies, which together explore more than 170 diseases that may find relief with probiotics. Some of the most interesting research to date includes studies linking your gut bacteria to:

  • Behavior: A study published in Neurogastroenterology & Motility found mice that lack gut bacteria were found to behave differently from normal mice, engaging in what would be referred to as “high-risk behavior.” This altered behavior was accompanied by neurochemical changes in the mouse brain. Researchers stated:

Bacteria colonize the gut in the days following birth, during a sensitive period of brain development, and apparently influence behavior by inducing changes in the expression of certain genes.

  • Gene Expression: As noted above, researchers also discovered that the absence or presence of gut microorganisms during infancy permanently alters gene expression.Through gene profiling, they were able to discern that absence of gut bacteria altered genes and signaling pathways involved in learning, memory, and motor control. This suggests that gut bacteria are closely tied to early brain development and subsequent behavior. These behavioral changes could be reversed as long as the mice were exposed to normal microorganisms early in life. But once the germ-free mice had reached adulthood, colonizing them with bacteria did not influence their behavior.

In a similar way, probiotics have also been found to influence the activity of hundreds of your genes, helping them to express in a positive, health-promoting manner.

  • Diabetes:Bacterial populations in the gut of diabetics differ from non-diabetics, according to a study from Denmark. In particular, diabetics had fewer Firmicutes and more plentiful amounts of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria, compared to non-diabetics. The study also found a positive correlation for the ratios of Bacteroidetes to Firmicutes and reduced glucose tolerance. LINE SPACE Researchers concluded:

The results of this study indicate that type 2 diabetes in humans is associated with compositional changes in intestinal microbiota.

  • Autism: Establishment of normal gut flora in the first 20 days or so of life plays a crucial role in appropriate maturation of your baby’s immune system. Hence, babies who develop abnormal gut flora are left with compromised immune systems and are particularly at risk for developing such disorders as ADHD, learning disabilities and autism — particularly if they are vaccinated before restoring balance to their gut flora.To get a solid understanding of just how this connection works, I highly recommend reviewing the information shared by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride in this recent interview.

The bottom line: restoring your gut flora should be an important consideration if you’re struggling to lose weight, and doing this is straightforward, as I’ll describe below.

Multiple Sclerosis & Bugs (Nature 2011)

We show further that recruitment and activation of autoantibody-producing B cells from the endogenous immune repertoire depends on availability of the target autoantigen, myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), and commensal microbiota. Our observations identify a sequence of events triggering organ-specific autoimmune disease and these processes may offer novel therapeutic targets.

GMOs affecting Gut Flora (Dr. Mercola)

  • Dr. Don Huber, an agricultural scientist and expert in microbial ecology, has issued stern warnings about shockingly devastating effects of genetically engineered food crops after discovering a brand new organism in GE animal feed—an organism that has since been clearly linked to infertility and miscarriage in cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, and poultry
  • Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, and this new-to-science microbe are now linked to a new phenomenon referred to as “Sudden Death Syndrome” (SDS)
  • Herbicides and pesticides are metal chelators, which means they immobilize specific nutrients, rendering them unavailable to the plant and any animal or human who consumes that plant
  • The nutritional efficiency of genetically engineered (GE) plants is profoundly compromised. Micronutrients such as iron, manganese and zinc can be reduced by as much as 80-90 percent in GE plants

Links to Other Dangers of GMOs (Green Med Info)

 

 

Health

Let’s Hear it For Oregano!

Constituents & Quality Prevent Fungal activity (JMM)

Significant quantitative differences in chemical composition were found between the essential oil samples and, while the three samples generally displayed potent fungicidal activity, antifungal potencies varied and appeared to be intensified by increasing carvacrol contents. The inhibition of filamentation, on the other hand, may correlate more to ?-terpinene content.

The essential oil of O. vulgare subsp. virens is a broad-spectrum fungicide, thus justifying its potential for use in the treatment of superficial or mucosal fungal infections. The essential oil shows significant variability in chemical composition between samples, which, in turn, closely affects its biological activity.

Preventing Microbial Activity (Molecules 2010)

The chemical composition and antibacterial activity of essential oils from 10 commonly consumed herbs: Citrus aurantium, C. limon, Lavandula angustifolia, Matricaria chamomilla, Mentha piperita, M. spicata, Ocimum basilicum, Origanum vulgare, Thymus vulgaris and Salvia officinalis have been determined. The antibacterial activity of these oils and their main components; i.e. camphor, carvacrol, 1,8-cineole, linalool, linalyl acetate, limonene, menthol, a-pinene, b-pinene, and thymol were assayed against the human pathogenic bacteria Bacillus subtilis, Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Micrococcus flavus, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella enteritidis, S. epidermidis, S. typhimurium, and Staphylococcus aureus. The highest and broadest activity was shown by O. vulgare oil. Carvacrol had the highest antibacterial activity among the tested components.PMID:21030907

Physical Activity Fights Depression (ScienceDaily)

ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2011) — Regular physical activity is associated with a lower risk of suffering depression in old age. This is shown by one of the largest studies on elderly Europeans to have been carried out, by researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, among others. Research also shows that self-determined motivation and perceived competence are important factors in persuading elderly people to exercise more The results support the recommendations to use physical activity as a powerful preventive measure against mental ill-health in the elderly. “But regular physical activity is required, otherwise there is a great risk of the long-term favourable effects on health being lost. It is therefore important to identify the barriers, for example depression, that prevent the elderly from being physically active and focus on how to increase the motivation of elderly people for physical activity,” says Lindwall.

Bad News on Fructose:

1. Increases Toxic Fat around viscera (JCI)

Although both groups exhibited similar weight gain during the intervention, visceral adipose volume was significantly increased only in subjects consuming fructose. Fasting plasma triglyceride concentrations increased by approximately 10% during 10 weeks of glucose consumption but not after fructose consumption. In contrast, hepatic de novo lipogenesis (DNL) and the 23-hour postprandial triglyceride AUC were increased specifically during fructose consumption. Similarly, markers of altered lipid metabolism and lipoprotein remodeling, including fasting apoB, LDL, small dense LDL, oxidized LDL, and postprandial concentrations of remnant-like particle–triglyceride and –cholesterol significantly increased during fructose but not glucose consumption. In addition, fasting plasma glucose and insulin levels increased and insulin sensitivity decreased in subjects consuming fructose but not in those consuming glucose.

2. There’s more in that soft drink than you think (Obesity 2011)

Total sugar content was calculated as well as percent fructose in the beverages that use HFCS as the sole source of fructose. Results showed that the total sugar content of the beverages ranged from 85 to 128% of what was listed on the food label. The mean fructose content in the HFCS used was 59% (range 47-65%) and several major brands appear to be produced with HFCS that is 65% fructose. Finally, the sugar profile analyses detected forms of sugar that were inconsistent with what was listed on the food labels.

8 Ways to Mind-Body Balance (Chopra Newsletter)

Relate to Your Body Consciously. Most of us were trained to live from the neck up, valuing the mind and the intellect over the body. Yet our body is our most reliable guide to balance, happiness, and health. Every day it consciously tends to us, never losing focus or attention. It stands by us without asking for any rewards, and it sustains every cell through the universe’s infinite supply of energy and intelligence. We can return this faithful service by consciously relating to our body, and cultivating a bond based on trust, consideration, and loving appreciation. You can develop a healthy, intimate relationships with your body by cultivating the following qualities:

Trust. In every second, billions of cells in your body are carrying out millions of infinitely complex operations to keep you alive. The few times that your body has become distressed or ill are miniscule in comparison with its faithful, steady functioning. You can trust your body by allowing its signals of comfort and discomfort to guide you rather than talking yourself into denial or judging what you’re feeling.

Consideration. Treat your body lovingly, like the loyal companion it is. Instead of making it submit to relentless stress, loud noise, excessive physical demands, and emotional toxicity, nurture your body. Offer it basic considerations, including rest and regular daily rhythms and routines.

Loving Appreciation. Your body is going to serve you for a lifetime, and it will be much happier if you lavish it with love, attention, and affection. Most people treat their body like an old model of a car, judging its appearance and complaining about the need for repairs. If you treat your body like a beloved companion, giving it what it needs most, your relationships will grow more comfortable, fulfilling, and intimate. Click on the above Link to learn 7 more.

Addiction to Processed Foods-Not a Fair Trade off (NYT)

This addiction to processed food is the result of decades of vision and hard work by the industry. For 50 years, says David A. Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and author of “The End of Overeating,” companies strove to create food that was “energy-dense, highly stimulating, and went down easy. They put it on every street corner and made it mobile, and they made it socially acceptable to eat anytime and anyplace. They created a food carnival, and that’s where we live. And if you’re used to self-stimulation every 15 minutes, well, you can’t run into the kitchen to satisfy that urge.”

Real cultural changes are needed to turn this around. Somehow, no-nonsense cooking and eating — roasting a chicken, making a grilled cheese sandwich, scrambling an egg, tossing a salad — must become popular again, and valued not just by hipsters in Brooklyn or locavores in Berkeley. The smart campaign is not to get McDonald’s to serve better food but to get people to see cooking as a joy rather than a burden, or at least as part of a normal life.

As with any addictive behavior, this one is most easily countered by educating children about the better way. Children, after all, are born without bad habits. And yet it’s adults who must begin to tear down the food carnival.

Fish and Bones (Vitalchoice)

 

The key bone minerals are calcium, magnesium, boron, copper, manganese, phosphorus, and zinc, while the critical vitamins are D, K, A, B6, B12, C, and folic acid.

But another, long-overlooked factor in the bone-health equation is fatty acids … namely, the contrasting effects of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

The researchers measured key signs of bone health at the outset, and again after 12 and 24 weeks:

  • Bone mineral density in the lumbar spine and pelvis (femoral neck)
  • Inflammation markers (TNF-alpha, IL-6, and PG-E2)
  • Markers for bone health (estrogen, osteocalcin, vitamin D3, C-telopeptide, parathyroid hormone, and calcitonin).

The results were surprisingly clear and dramatic, with only the Exercise + Omega-3s group showing desirable increases in blood levels of estrogen, calcitonin, vitamin D3, spine and pelvis BMD.

Likewise, only the Exercise + Omega-3s group showed desirable drops in blood C-telopeptide, parathyroid hormone, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and PG-E2.

 

The Kidney Stone Slideshow (WebMD)

Take a look and learn about the pathology of kidney stones and some common measures to treat and prevent.

Violent Video Games Not Good for Brain (Science Daily)

For the study, 28 healthy adult males, age 18 to 29, with low past exposure to violent video games were randomly assigned to two groups of 14. Members of the first group were instructed to play a shooting video game for 10 hours at home for one week and refrain from playing the following week. The second group did not play a video game at all during the two-week period.

Each of the 28 men underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analysis at the beginning of the study, with follow-up exams at one and two weeks. During fMRI, the participants completed an emotional interference task, pressing buttons according to the color of visually presented words. Words indicating violent actions were interspersed among nonviolent action words. In addition, the participants completed a cognitive inhibition counting task.

The results showed that after one week of violent game play, the video game group members showed less activation in the left inferior frontal lobe during the emotional Stroop task and less activation in the anterior cingulate cortex during the counting Stroop task, compared to their baseline results and the results of the control group after one week. After the video game group refrained from game play for an additional week, the changes to the executive regions of the brain returned closer to the control group. Stroop task tests an individual’s ability to control cognitive flexibility and attention.

“These findings indicate that violent video game play has a long-term effect on brain functioning,” Dr. Wang said. “These effects may translate into behavioral changes over longer periods of game play.

 

Drugs

Adverse drug events are a serious public health problem. Consider the following facts (Medscape):

  • An estimated 82% of American adults take at least 1 medication and 29% take 5 or more;
  • 700,000 emergency department visits and 120,000 hospitalizations are due to adverse drug events annually;
  • $3.5 billion is spent on extra medical costs of adverse drug events annually; and
  • At least 40% of costs associated with adverse drug events occurring outside hospitals can be prevented.

How can the emerging science of genomics help? Pharmacogenomics is the study of genetic variation as a factor in drug response, affecting both safety and effectiveness. The intended applications of pharmacogenomics research include indentifying responders and nonresponders to medications, avoiding adverse events, optimizing drug doses, and avoiding unnecessary healthcare costs. The US Food and Drug Administration has added pharmacogenomic information to the labeling for more than 70 drugs. Labels may include information on genetic determinants of clinical response or risk for adverse events.

Drug Updates: Fenofibric Acid not found to decrease risk of CHD in DM2 (Medscape)

On November 9, 2011, the FDA issued a Drug Safety Communication explaining that use of fenofibric acid (Trilipix®, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL) may not reduce risk of heart attack or stroke. Fenofibric acid is a peroxisome proliferator receptor alpha (PPAR-alpha) activator indicated in combination with a statin for patients with mixed dyslipidemia and coronary heart disease (CHD) or a CHD risk-equivalent. In addition, fenofibric acid monotherapy is indicated for primary hyperlipidemia, mixed dyslipidemia, and severe hypertriglyceridemia. Fenofibric acid (dose equivalent to 135 mg of Trilipix) was not associated with a decrease in CHD morbidity and mortality in 2 randomized controlled trials in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. As a result, updates have been added to prescribing information and the medication guide. In addition, the FDA is requiring further trial investigation to evaluate cardiovascular effects of fenofibric acid in patients at high risk of CV disease who are taking statins.

Warning on Zofran

According to an FDA Drug Safety Communication issued September 15, 2011, ECG changes, including QT interval prolongation and torsade de pointes, have been reported in patients receiving ondansetron (Zofran®; GlaxoSmithKline, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, also available as generics). Patients with congenital long QT syndrome should not receive ondansetron. ECG monitoring is recommended in the following situations: patients with electrolyte abnormalities, congestive heart failure, bradyarrhythmias, or patients receiving other drugs that cause QT interval prolongation. Labeling is being revised to reflect the findings of this ongoing safety review.

Opiates Surpass Heroin ODs (Medscape)

November 8, 2011 (Washington, DC) — Rates of hospital admissions for prescription opiate overdoses from 1993 to 2007 far exceeded heroin overdoses, rising by as much as 291%. The shift included a sharp increase in admissions of whites and middle-aged women, according to research presented here at the American Public Health Association 139th Annual Meeting.

Researchers from the University of Maryland, in Baltimore, evaluated data from the Nationwide Inpatient Survey on hospital admissions for opiate overdose. They found that the rate of overdoses related to prescription opiates, primarily oxycodone and methadone, started to exceed those of heroin overdoses at the end of the 1990s.

Diabetic Drug and Heart Risk (Medscape from Int J Cardiol.  2011; 152(3):327-31 )(ISSN: 1874-1754)

BACKGROUND: Sulfonylureas have been linked to an increased cardiovascular risk by inhibition of myocardial preconditioning. Whether individual sulfonylureas affect outcomes in diabetic patients after emergent percutaneous coronary intervention for myocardial infarction is unknown.

METHODS: All Danish patients receiving glucose-lowering drugs admitted with myocardial infarction between 1997 and 2006 who underwent emergent percutaneous coronary intervention were identified from national registers. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyze the risk of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity associated with sulfonylureas.

CONCLUSIONS: Glyburide is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in patients with diabetes mellitus undergoing emergent percutaneous coronary intervention after myocardial infarction. Early reperfusion therapy is the mainstay in modern treatment of myocardial infarction and the time may have come to discard glyburide in favour of sulfonylureas that do not appear to confer increased cardiovascular risk.

FDA Drug Warnings 2011 (Medscape)

A variety of drug warnings made news in 2011:

  1. The FDA recommended in June that physicians should refrain from using the 80-mg dose of simvastatin unless the patient has already been taking the drug for 12 months and there is no evidence of myopathy.
  2. Also in June the FDA warned of an increased risk of being diagnosed with a high-grade prostate cancer while taking 5-alpha reductase inhibitors.
  3. In July the FDA warned that clinicians generally should avoid prescribing either methylene blue or linezolid in combination with serotonergic agents to avoid a potential drug interaction causing serotonin syndrome.
  4. And in August, the FDA said the antidepressant citalopram should not be used in doses higher than 40 mg per day because of concerns that it can cause potentially fatal changes in heart rhythm.

Pertussis Vaccinated not lower in Occurrence (Medscape)

Despite the availability of an effective vaccine and recommendations for its use dating back to the 1940s, pertussis infection has continued to plague persons at either end of the age spectrum with the most serious infections occurring in the very young and very old. A more recent worrisome increase in infection, however, has been found in adolescents, notably including those who were fully vaccinated as young children. Despite high vaccination levels, pertussis cases have been on the rise since the 1980s, with the most dramatic increase in cases seen in California.

Concerns over incidence were a factor in a recent change in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations for administration of pertussis vaccine. The organizations removed their previous minimum interval between administering tetanus or diphtheria vaccine and the tetanus toxoid, reduced-content diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap). The groups also now recommend extending the age for administering Tdap to people aged 65 years and older and to healthcare workers of all ages who may come in contact with infants too young for vaccination. Finally, the groups also recommended vaccination of adolescents, including pregnant adolescents, and pregnant women during pregnancy rather than waiting until after delivery.

Be sure to check out my informational blog on Saratoga.com which includes:

1. Naturopathic Philosophy Highlight… Fun Facts:

  1. Good Fats/Bad Fats to Eat
  2. Depression and “Alternative Medicine”

2. Happenings:

  1. Upcoming Essential Oils Workshops with Terry Quigley at the Healing Garden. Contact Terry at 518-831-9469
  2. PATIENTS: Please review follow ups and cancellation policy on my website
  3. Emma and I will be taking some time to be with family and loved ones this holiday season; therefore, the office will be closed later in the afternoon on December 30th and January 1st. May you all have a beautiful holiday season filled with blessings and joy!
  4. Time for a symptom re-evaluation?
  5. All patients can now download the symptom survey done at the original visit online. If you haven’t re-evaluated your symptoms in a year or more, it may be a good time to fill out the form again and bring it in to your next visit. (Please add the numbers in every section when you return it)

3. Radio For Your Body-Mind-Soul: Year End Wrap Up

Join the Hay House Book Club for a review of their favorite books of 2011. The Book Club members will go over the titles that have been reviewed over the past year and discuss what Hay House titles have really inspired them. Book Bloggers will join in to share there favorites. We’ll also discuss our favorite Hay House titles of the past and what books have been influences over the years. Please leave your comments on the Book Club link at HayHouseRadio.com to share which Hay House titles have inspired and helped you the most.

4. Book of the week: Highlights from The Year End Wrap Up

HayHouse’s Booklovers Book Club Recommendations of 2011: which did you miss?

  1. Married to Bhutan
  2. Ravenous
  3. Peace from Broken Pieces
  4. Angel Therapy Handbook
  5. Shift Happens
  6. You Can Create an Exceptional Life
  7. Winter Moon Rises

5. Don’t miss out:

  • The Rest of Fun Facts on my Saratoga.com blog.
  • Listen to my colleagues and other experts as they discuss solutions to menopausal issues on a show dedicated just for women in mid-life! Here is a link from my interview on 360menopause Radio Show on Panic Attacks and Menopause and a list of archived shows.
  • Check out my latest answer on Dr. Oz’s Sharecare: This week I focused on Emotional Overeating and Brain Chemistry.
  • View the Updated Link Resources on my homepage