Use of Antibiotics in Infants Can Lead To Obesity

There is an increasing trend to use antibiotics in livestock and poultry farms for not only preventing infection of the animals but also to promote the feeding efficiency i.e. increasing the animal's weight gain per unit of feed.

Evidenced-based medicine studies have confirmed that this practice will lead to increased antibiotic resistance which can have severe implications in humans.

A complementary medicine research study from the American Gastroenterological Association has revealed that administration of three or more courses of antibiotics in children below the age of 2 increases the risk of early childhood obesity.

"Antibiotics have been used to promote weight gain in livestock for several decades, and our research confirms that antibiotics have the same effect in humans," said lead author, Frank Irving Scott, MD, MSCE, assistant professor of medicine at University of Colorado

The research team performed a large cohort study in the UK and confirmed the link between antibiotic exposure before age two and obesity at age four. Integrative healthcare solutions should be considered as an alternative, as antibiotic resistance can lead to dermatologic, allergic, autoimmune and infectious complications.

Important Advice for New Parents

The current advice given to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has been successful to date. A complementary medicine research study published in the early 1990’s led to this turnaround. The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare advised new parents to:

• Place the infants to sleep on their backs
• Cease smoking during pregnancy
• The infant should not be kept to warm in the cot
• Infants should be able to move freely
• Encouraged breastfeeding

This advice led to a reduction in SIDS related deaths from 100 to 20 per year.

Now, Per Möllborg, Child Health Medical Officer from the University of Gothenburg, has recently conducted further investigations and has provided additional advice
The risk of SIDS was greater if:

• the parents did not live together
• the mother was young,
• the mother had given birth to many children
• the baby was premature
• infants did not sleep in their own beds in the first three months
• they did not sleep in their parents’ bedroom during the first three months

As a consequence, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practitioner should consider when offering additional advice to new parents.

A Handful of Almonds Daily – Good Food and Nutrition Advice

A recent study has revealed that eating a daily handful of almonds or equivalent almond containing foods improves the Healthy Eating Index in both adults and children.

The complementary medicine research study published in December 2015 in the Journal of Nutrition Research carried out a trial where parents were instructed to eat 1.5 ounces of almonds per day and simultaneously give their children 0.5 ounce of almond or equivalent foods with the minimal almond content e.g. almond butter.

The researchers found that this daily intake over a 14-week period resulted in a significantly improved ‘ Health Eating Index’ component scores for total protein and decreased intake of empty calories.

As parents we are often challenged by barriers in promoting healthy eating to our children. Strategies we can utilise to promote good lifestyle advice for us and our children include basic guidelines such as:

• Ensuring meals and snacks are nutritious, attractive and an appropriate serving size for children
• Make mealtimes are social occasions when people eat together
• Develop good eating habits such as regular times for meals
• Trying new foods, regularly
• Eating when hungry
• Starting with small portions and stopping when full
• Enjoying a variety of foods
• Highlight when a new food is being introduced and have some discussion about the food
• Discourage naming foods as “good’ or ‘bad’; this can encourage children to want ‘restricted’ food
• Discuss the value of particular foods to promote their growing, healthy bodies

Many Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practitioners promote almonds as part of their regular diet as 1 ounce of almonds delivers 170 calories and has a low GI index. It also contains best quality vitamins and supplements such as:

• Biotin
• Vitamin B2
• Vitamin E
• Manganese
• Copper
• Phosphorous
• Magnesium
• Molybdenum
• Fibre

Food and Nutrition Advice for the Treatment of High Cholesterol

Complementary and Alternative Medicine therapies such as Ayurveda have advocated the use of lime as valuable food and nutrition advice for treatment of obesity and high cholesterol.

Is there any scientific evidence that backs this age-old treatment?

Limonoids, is the constituent which causes of bitterness in citrus juice, and has previously been reported to possess substantial antioxidant and anticancer activities.

A 2013 complementary medicine research study by Boshtam et al studied the antioxidant activity and atherosclerosis progression in rabbits using the antioxidant rich lime peel. The study revealed that the presence of fatty streaks in coronary arteries and aorta of the treated animals (lime juice peel) were significantly reduced compared to the hypercholesterolemic control group.

Lime (Citrus aurantifolia) peel and juice is known to increase plasma antioxidant capacity in rabbits, and also reduces the process of atherogenesis. However, lime peel was shown to be more effective than lime juice. This observation may be due to the fact that lime peel and juice have different types of flavonoids. For example, hesperidin, naringenin and eriocitrin are found in lime juice, whilst polymethoxylated flavones (PMF), limonoid, and diosmin are found in the peel.

The higher ascorbic acid content of fresh lime juice results in significantly higher serum antioxidant capacity than lime peel, but the latter caused significantly more reductions in fatty streak grade in rabbits. The researchers concluded that this difference may be related to the effects and absorption of each type of flavonoid.

Whilst this research study has only been carried out in rabbits, there is an indication that the age old Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapeutic advice may be useful in the acute treatment of hypercholesterolameia. It goes without saying that this food and nutrition advice is only a treatment component in the integrative healthcare solution for the treatment of obesity and high cholesterol.

Natural treatments for Depression

 

There is a progressive increase in people suffering from depression and an accompanying growth of prescription drugs to treat the disorder. In the smartphone health app Apple A Day RX, S-adenosyl methionine (SAMe) is indicated as a possible treatment for some forms of depression. It goes without saying, that there is still a requirement for the continued development of anti-depression drugs that are better tolerated and have minimal side effects. One promising candidate is S-adenosyl methionine (SAMe), which is a naturally occurring molecule.

SAMe is found throughout the human body, and in high concentrations in the liver, adrenal glands, and pineal gland. SAMe also appears to be uniformly distributed in the brain, where it acts as the major donor of methyl groups required in the synthesis of neuronal messengers and membranes.

A 2010 complementary medicine research paper published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, revealed that SAMe, at a dose of 800 mg/twice daily, can be an effective, well-tolerated, and safe adjunctive treatment strategy for SRI nonresponders with major depressive disorder.

Possible mechanisms of actions of SAMe include:

• influencing the turnover of dopamine and serotonin
• crossing the blood brain barrier making it efficacious
• increasing monoamine synthesis
• effecting brain neurotrophic activity, inflammatory cytokines, cell membrane fluidity, and bioenergetics

Further large scale clinical trials are required to determine it efficacy of SAMe in the treatment of major depressive disorders. The possibility arises that SAMe could be an important Integrative Medicine resource for treating depression, it can be strategically used along with Complementary and Alternative Medicine(CAM) therapies such as Acupuncture, CBT, Kinesiology, Homeopathy and Lifeline Technique to name but a few.

Meditation and relaxation training

Mindfulness meditation as daily lifestyle advice has grown in popularity over recent years as we seek solutions to combat the stresses of modern day living. However, by its very nature mindfulness meditation can be an important Complementary and Alternative (CAM) intervention in the treatment of mild ADHD.

Mindfulness meditation has been shown to improve behavioural and neurocognitive impairments in adolescents and adults with ADHD. A complementary medicine research study in 2008 study by Zylowska et al showed that 8-week mindfulness meditation program resulted in:

• Pre-post improvements in self-reported ADHD symptoms
• Improvements in symptoms of anxiety and depressive

Although this was a small scale study the science behind mindfulness meditation makes this a viable integrative healthcare solution for the treatment of mild ADHD.

Benefits of Perinatal yoga

Statistics show 20% of women are affected by perinatal major depressive disorders and 10% of women are affected by perinatal anxiety. Despite the availability of effective pharmacological treatment, pregnant women have concerns regarding the side effects of pharmaceuticals. Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is used by approximately 40% of the American adult population.

Perinatal yoga is traditional yoga therapy that has been specifically designed for women during pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Proponents of perinatal yoga state that this therapy:

• Improves sleep
• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Increase the strength, flexibility and endurance of muscles needed for childbirth
• Decrease lower back pain and shortness of breath
• Decrease the risk of preterm labour and other complications at birth.

Is there any scientific proof for the benefits of Perinatal yoga?

Sheffield et al 2015 conducted a systemic literature review on the use of perinatal yoga on a woman’s mental health and well being.

The methodology consisted of PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), 4 major databases were reviewed to yield a total of 13 hits. Following the review of the 13 studies, results suggested the use of yoga was effective in reducing anxiety and depression in pregnant women.

The complementary medicine research review concluded that perinatal yoga may be a useful Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapy and potentially offers women and their providers functional alternatives to pharmaceutical medication for treatment of perinatal depression and anxiety which are common women’s health issues in pregnancy, birth and postpartum.