Bleach Baths Helps Eczema

Diluted bleach baths help kids with eczema
Tue Apr 28, 4:52 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – New research shows that a regimen of dilute bleach baths and antibiotic nasal ointment can improve symptoms in children with eczema, a common, often itchy, skin condition that can become infected with skin microbes.

"We and others have found anecdotally the addition of dilute (bleach) baths to be helpful in decreasing infection rates and disease severity" in children with eczema, Dr. Amy S. Paller and associates, from the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, note. The current study, however, is the first to compare this strategy with an inactive "placebo" approach.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, May 2009.

Full story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090428/hl_nm/us_diluted_bleach_baths_help_kids_with_eczem

My Comment:
How ridiculous!!!

My favorite part of the story:
One patient who complained of skin irritation stopped the baths. However, after he developed a drug-resistant skin infection that sent him to the hospital, he resumed treatment, with no reported side effects.

I say, skip the bleach and take probiotics instead.

Studies from Finland have found that when pregnant or breastfeeding women take probiotics, their babies are significantly less likely to suffer from eczema.

One of the most powerful probiotics on the market today is Bio-Kult.

U.S. Spends $9 billion on Child Mental Illness

U.S. spends $9 billion on child mental illness
Wed Apr 22, 5:23 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Treating depression and other mental disorders in U.S. children cost $8.9 billion in 2006, making mental illness the most expensive condition to treat in childhood, U.S. government researchers reported on Wednesday.

An estimated 4.6 million children were treated for mental disorders in 2006 at an average cost of $1,931 per child, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported.

But more children were treated for asthma than any other disease or injury, the AHRQ found. It said nearly 13 million children were treated for asthma in 2006 at an average cost of $621 for a total of $8 billion.

Fractures, sprains, burns, and other physical injuries from accidents or violence sent 7 million children to doctors or clinics at a cost of $658 per child or $6.1 billion, the survey found.

The agency gathered data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey for the report, available at http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_files/publications/st242/stat242.pdf

(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Vicki Allen)

My Comment:
Does anyone have any opinion on this? Why is this happening?

Click here to post your comment on my blog.

75 Percent of Moms Deficient in Vitamin D

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women with insufficient vitamin D intake during pregnancy may be at increased risk for birth by cesarean section, study findings suggest.

Of 253 women who gave birth in a Boston, Massachusetts hospital, those deficient in vitamin D were nearly 4-times more likely to deliver by cesarean section than women with higher levels of vitamin D, report Dr. Michael F. Holick and colleagues.

In a separate study, Holick's team identified vitamin D deficiency among more than three-quarters of moms and newborns despite the moms' daily ingestion of prenatal vitamins and 2 glasses of milk during pregnancy.

Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE53F69B20090416

Obama's Organic Food Policy

What do former President Bush, President Obama and Monsanto have in common?

All three required that the food prepared on their workplace premises was not made from genetically modified food.

The Obama family has wisely opted out of exposing themselves to GM foods by requiring organic--and therefore non-GMO--foods served at the White House. They are even planting an organic garden on the south lawn of the White House, to feature 55 types of vegetables.

However, our government and Monsanto keep telling us that genetically modified food is not only safe, it is the "future of food".

"When these gene-spliced concoctions, such as GM soy, corn, canola, and cottonseed, came on the scene in 1996, the proportion of Americans suffering from three or more chronic ailments was 7%. After just 9 years, that nearly doubled to 13%. GM foods are the prime suspect."

For more information, please read the following article:
Will Obama's Food Safety Team Finally Regulate the Biggest Food Safety Hazard of Our Time
by Jeffrey Smith

Believing in Treatments That Don’t Work

Believing in Treatments That Don’t Work
April 2, 2009, 10:46 am
By David H. Newman, M.D.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/the-ideology-of-health-care/

Highlights:

In the early throes of a heart attack, caused by an abruptly clotted artery, the stunned heart often beats quickly and forcefully. For decades doctors have administered “beta-blockers” as a remedy, to reduce consumption of limited oxygen supplies by calming and slowing the straining heart. Giving these drugs in the early stages of a heart attack represents elegant medical ideology.

But it doesn’t work....

Other treatments that don't work, but that we still do:

• Recent press reports detailing the dangers of cough syrup for children have noted that cough syrup doesn’t work. True: No cough remedies have ever been proven better than a placebo, either for adults or children. Yet their use is common.
• Patients with ear infections are more likely to be harmed by antibiotics than helped. While the pills may cause a small decrease in symptoms (for which ear drops work better), the infections typically recede within days regardless of treatment. The same is true for bronchitis, sinusitis, and sore throats. Unnecessary antibiotics are still given to more than one in seven Americans each year for these conditions alone, at a cost of more than $2 billion and tens of thousands of serious adverse medication effects requiring treatment.

Perhaps most importantly, we as doctors and patients must be open to evidence. Pills and surgery are potent symbols of healing power, but our faith in these symbols has often blinded us to truths. Somewhere along the line, theory trumped reality. Administering a medicine or performing a surgery became more important than its effect.

My Comment:

What a great post by a medical doctor! We should all acknowledge that our healthcare system continues to spend money on worthless treatments (at best) or deadly treatments (at worst).

On the flipside, we should be "open to evidence" when it comes to alternative treatments. Whether it is diet, supplements, homeopathy, acupuncture, etc.

Bottom line: It's your health and it's unfortunate that you cannot blindly follow the advice of a medical expert (or a healthcare system). You need to take the reigns and do some homework prior to any treatment (however benign that it may seem).