Bed

“You go out into the sun on a daily basis, but if you sit in it for six hours you’ll get a sunburn. It’s the same with sleeping on a toxic mattress. If you spend a third of your life sleeping, you’re spending a third of your life absorbing toxins. Cheap mattresses are sprayed with boric acid: That’s roach killer! Buy the most expensive mattress you can. Dust mites collect in your mattress and pillow. Change pillows every three years, wash them once a year and choose synthetic pillows, not down-feather ones: Feathers trigger allergies.”

Bath

“Choose a nylon shower curtain, not a vinyl one. Nylon doesn’t off-gas and it’s more mould-resistant and washable. Check and replace caulking once a year. Flushing the toilet sends microscopic water droplets throughout the bathroom every time you flush. That means mould and E. coli might be landing on your toothbrush, so put the lid down before flushing.”

Beyond

“Your floors and walls are the largest surfaces in your home. Use non-VOC paints that won’t off-gas. Replace wall-to-wall carpeting with carpet tile, which can be cleaned properly. Use cotton-backed, not vinyl-backed rugs — they trap less dirt and dust. Use white vinegar to clean fridge pans and add it to the soap compartment in your dishwasher. Run it while empty.”

Is your home an allergy nightmare?

“If your allergies clear when you go (on vacation) and then when you get home you start feeling ‘blargh’ again, then your environment is full of triggers,” says Wilson. “Two easy tips: Every 60 days, freeze your child’s stuffed animals in sealed bags to kill dust mites. Also, whenever you walk into your home, take off your shoes to prevent the outside world from coming in.”

The federal government’s endorsement of the controversial medication, which is not approved for sale in the United States and was pulled off shelves in France earlier this year as that country’s health authority investigates Diane-35’s role in the deaths of four women, hinges on the product being “used as authorized.”

It is meant to be prescribed only as a last-resort treatment for severe acne. But due to hormones in the drug, it also stops ovulation and works as a contraceptive.

Health Canada began its review in February after France suspended sales of Diane-35 and Torstar News Service revealed that patients and health care professionals in Canada filed more than 200 adverse-reaction reports for the drug since 2000. The records showed the drug was suspected of causing the deaths of 11 Canadian women — aged 15 to 46. The reports say they experienced severe blood clotting in their legs, sudden blockages in their lungs, bleeding in their brains and chest pain before death.

Blood clots are a rare but well-known side-effect associated with hormonal products like Diane-35. In 2005, Health Canada warned that the drug carries a higher risk of clotting than other oral contraceptives and cautioned against its use as birth control.

It’s not clear whether that message has resonated with patients and physicians. Many of the women who reported suffering serious side effects were taking the medication for a year or longer. The product monograph advises patients to stop taking Diane-35 three to four months after their acne problem is resolved.

The European Medicines Agency also released results of its Diane-35 review, reporting a conclusion in line with Health Canada’s.

The agency also recommended issuing new contraindications and warnings to patients and healthcare professionals.

In some cases, cell phones may even be something akin to an apple a day, a London doctor says.

Lawson Health Research Institute’s Alexandre Legros said a “very large piece of research” is showing that all those allegedly harmful electromagnetic fields radiating from handhelds can actually be therapeutic.

The fields, he said, “can alter brain activity and physical responses, opening the possibility for therapy” for people with neurological disorders and diseases.

Cell phones have long been considered a potential health risk, with the list of perceived damages including heightened chances of developing brain tumours. The World Health Organization’s website, citing the International Agency for Research on Cancer, notes the electromagnetic fields produced by handhelds are “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

Lawson started testing the idea a couple of years ago, exposing volunteers to different levels of electromagnetic fields — pumped into their bodies via equipment like MRI machines — in order to see how they react.

So far, no one involved has seen their health decline. Instead, the exposure has created a bit of a spark in their brains.

Legros believes the research could provide a basis for future work, such as developing a less-invasive way to treat Parkinson’s disease.

“This is very invasive surgery,” he said about the way the disease is treated now.

The question, he said, is: “Can we, in the future, make it less invasive?”

Researchers who did a study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice have culled through reams of data to come up with specific guidance on how to prescribe exercise for patients with major depressive disorder.

They determined that aerobic exercise is best, although there is some support for resistance training. Three to five sessions a week, ranging between 45 to 60 minutes are also recommended.

As for intensity, they recommend achieving a heart rate of 50 to 85 per cent of maximum heart rate for aerobic exercise. And for resistance training, a variety of upper and lower exercises is best with three sets of eight repetitions done at 80 per cent of the maximum weight that the person can lift at one time.

Improvements in depressive symptoms can be experienced in as little as four weeks, but for best results the regimen should carry on for at least 10 to 12 weeks.

“Despite the substantial evidence supporting the use of exercise in the treatment of (major depressive disorder), previous studies have not provided a clear indication of the proper dose of exercise needed to elicit an antidepressant effect,” write Chad Rethorst, PhD and Dr Madhukar Trivedi, of the department of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Longer work hours leads to weight gain

Longer hours on the job translates into more pounds on the scale, according to a study in the International Journal of Obesity.

Researchers assessed the weight of 9,276 women between the ages of 45 and 50 who participated in both the 1996 and 1998 surveys of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health.

They found that being out of the labour force or unemployed was associated with lower weight gain and higher weight loss. Working full time was associated with higher levels of weight gain.

Researchers concluded that working longer hours is associated with more weight gain. The findings suggest that as women work longer hours, they are more likely to make lifestyle choices that are associated with weigh gain.

The Oscar-winning actress revealed in an op-ed piece in the New York Times that she carries the “faulty” BRCA1 gene and opted to remove her breasts as a preventive measure.

BRCA1 stands for breast cancer susceptibility gene 1. Both BRCA1 and BRCA2 are genes known as tumour suppressors, which normally prevent cancer from developing.

Women found to have mutations in the genes have a very high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers, said Kelly Metcalfe, an associate professor in the faculty of nursing at the University of Toronto. Risks can change depending on the woman’s personal situation, looking at factors such as age and family history, she added.

The genetic mutations are not common, said Dr. Barb McGillivray, medical director of the hereditary cancer program at the B.C. Cancer Agency.

“About one in 500 to one in 1,000 individuals will carry a mutation or a gene change in one or another of these genes,” she said from Abbotsford, B.C.

Certain populations are more likely to carry the genetic mutation. Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern European ancestry have about a one in 40 chance of having the mutated BRCA gene — considerably higher than the general population, says the Canadian Cancer Society.

“It’s generally when populations tend to stay together and don’t have offspring with people from other types of ethnicities that we see these mutations tend to stay within one group of individuals,” said Metcalfe, an adjunct scientist at the Women’s College Research Institute.

According to the Cancer Society, the chance of breast and ovarian cancers being linked to the mutated genes are highest among the following families:

— Those with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer;

— Early onset of breast cancer in one or more female relatives before age 50;

— Breast and ovarian cancer in a single relative;

— Family members developing cancer in both breasts;

— A male relative with breast cancer.

What distinguishes BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes is where they’re located in the chromosomes, said Metcalfe. There are also slight differences in terms of the types of cancers associated with the two genes.

Carriers of the BRCA1 gene mutation have a slightly increased risk of ovarian cancer compared to those with BRCA2. But BRCA2 carriers have risks of different types of cancers, including pancreatic cancer and melanoma, said Metcalfe.

For men with the BRCA2 mutation, there’s a heightened risk of both prostate and breast cancers, she added.

Metcalfe said there are certain criteria an individual must meet to be eligible for genetic testing, including a strong family history of cancer, young ages of onset of cancer within the family and being a member of ethnic groups known to be affected.

“So if you’re a woman with breast cancer and you’re Jewish, because we know you have a higher risk of having one of these mutations, you’re eligible for testing. But there are very strict guidelines on who’s eligible.”

Canadians who don’t meet the criteria but still want to be tested can opt to do so south of the border — and at a steep cost. Metcalfe said U.S.-based Myriad Genetics will conduct the test for about $3,000.

In Canada, the lifetime risk of breast cancer for any woman is between one in eight and one in nine, or between 12 and 13 per cent, said McGillivray.

A woman with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation has a lifetime risk of up to 85 per cent for getting breast cancer. By having a prophylactic (or risk-reducing) mastectomy — as Jolie has done — she reduces her risk to under five per cent, she noted.

As for ovarian cancer, women with a mutated BRCA1 gene have a 25 to 65 per cent lifetime risk of developing the disease, says the Cancer Society. Those with a mutated BRCA2 gene have a 15 to 20 per cent chance of developing ovarian cancer.

“The problem with ovarian cancer … is we don’t have good ways to pick it up early,” said McGillivray. As a result, more women actually opt to voluntarily remove their fallopian tubes and ovaries, she noted.

Part of McGillivray’s hereditary cancer program involves the operation of a high-risk clinic in Vancouver for women who don’t have cancer but are found to have one of the genetic mutations. Participants can attend for ongoing surveillance, including MRIs and mammograms.

In the last year, McGillivray said among the 300 women in the program who didn’t have cancer, 27 per cent chose to have mastectomies. Fifty-five per cent chose to have their tubes and ovaries removed.

“Generally, women make the decision about having ovaries and tubes out when they’ve had their families, when they’re approaching the age of menopause,” she said.

Women may choose to have their breasts removed after they’ve had children so they’ve had the opportunity to breastfeed, McGillivray said. “But women might choose that surgery at any point…. It depends on how your family history has affected you, what your own experience has been.”

Opting for a preventive mastectomy can be an emotional struggle for many women, said Metcalfe. But for those at a high risk of developing cancer, having the surgery can reduce cancer-related stress.

“Most women that I’ve spoken to actually describe waking up from the surgery thinking: ‘I no longer have to be consumed by that thought about when or if I will develop breast cancer.’ So for those women, it offers psychological benefits as well.”

Their weight loss technique, based on intermittent fasting (abstaining from food for short periods of time) is simple and flexible: for two, non-consecutive days a week, you will be eating just a quarter of your recommended daily calorie quota.

That’s 500 calories for women, 600 calories for men.

“You get to have five days of normal eating, with little thought to calorie control and a slice of pie if that’s what you want,” Spencer tells Metro.

Why fast?

“There’s this idea that if you don’t eat three to six meals a day, your blood sugar will crash. But the fact is, we’re designed to go for short periods without food. It’s good for us. Autophagy is an internal healing process that only occurs when we have no food in our system. So when we’re eating all the time, our body is constantly on the go. (It) never gets a chance to do any repair and maintenance,” Spencer said.

How will fasting help me lose weight?

“Take in fewer calories than you spend, and you’re going to lose weight. It’s an equation: slash your calorie intake by 75 per cent two days a week and your overall energy deficit will be fairly significant. If you normally eat 2,000 and go down to 500, you’re skipping 1,500 calories a day. That’s 3,000 calories a week, which translates to just under a pound of fat,” Mosley said.

Can I binge eat on the five days I’m not fasting?

“This diet works because you are restricting calories. If you binge, there’ll be no calorie deficit over time and you won’t lose any weight. On your five days ‘off’ eat freely, but normally,” Mosley said.

Will I not be lacking essential nutrients? 

“You can’t just have a doughnut. You need satiating protein and plants, which provide bulk. Load up on things like salmon, eggs, radishes, kale, lentils and chickpeas but avoid anything that’s going to spike your blood sugar levels and burn quickly, like meringue and white rice. Be careful with fruit. Those with a low glycemic index, such as berries, apples and tangerines, are best. Avoid bananas and pineapples,” Spencer said.

Will skipping meals force my body to cling on to calories when I do eat? 

“Only when your body fat goes down to about six to seven per cent do you go into starvation mode (when your body clings on to fat). You’re not suddenly going to waste away if you don’t eat for four hours. What will happen is that your glycogen stores get depleted and your body goes into fat burning mode,” Mosley said.

Dr. Arthur Agatston, a cardiologist who authored The South Beach Diet, has followed up with South Beach Diet Gluten Solution. The book isn’t just for people diagnosed with gluten intolerance (celiac disease), he says — it’s for everyone.

“I think everyone is on the gluten-sensitive spectrum to some degree,” says Agatston. “I am convinced it is the most under-diagnosed medical condition of our time.”

Gluten is a protein found in highest concentration in wheat. Some grains like quinoa or oats have none.

Gluten can damage the small intestine, which is where nutrients from food are absorbed.

“If gluten is not properly digested, it begins to poke holes in the lining and harms the small intestine,” says Agatston.

The issue isn’t really gluten, he says, but that “it’s in everything.”

“Our bodies are inundated with it now, creating sensitivity. … Most of us need to be gluten-aware and restrict ourselves.”

Agatston says that lowering gluten intake can improve focus and energy, heal chronic skin conditions and relieve anxiety.

The survey of 176 acute-care hospitals looked at rates of infection or colonization in patients from three bacterial microbes that have become immune to the killing effects of most or all antibiotics — MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), VRE (vancomycin-resistant Enterococci) and Clostridium difficile.

“And that by itself is a substantial burden of disease,” said principal researcher Dr. Andrew Simor, head of infectious diseases at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

“About one in 12 adults … are going to have one of these three antibiotic-resistant organisms, and clearly the rate would be even higher if you started to add on other resistant organisms that we were not able to measure,” Simor added.

Patients can carry, or be colonized by, a microbe like MRSA, but have no signs of active disease, while those who are infected are sick and have symptoms. (All patients with C. diff in the study were infected and had diarrhea and other symptoms.)

However, those who carry a bug can go on to become infected. For example, from one-quarter to one-third of patients colonized with MRSA become infected with the superbug, which can attack the skin and soft tissue, cause a form of pneumonia or invade the bloodstream. About 30 to 60 per cent of MRSA pneumonia patients and 20 to 40 per cent of those with MRSA bloodstream infections die.

Carriers can also spread a superbug to other patients, especially the elderly and those with weakened immune systems due to other illnesses and whose hospital beds are in close proximity.

In Canada, most patients with VRE are colonized rather than infected, said Simor, noting that isn’t the case in the United States, where the pathogen causes a “huge burden of disease.”

Findings from the November 2010 survey, published Monday in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, provide a snapshot of superbug prevalence in Canada, but also suggest which measures seem to help reduce their spread.

“Number 1, there’s no doubt that antibiotic use drives the development of antibiotic resistance,” said Simor, explaining that overuse of antibiotics can wipe out susceptible bacterial strains, allowing resistant strains to proliferate.

“So one factor is how antibiotics are used, both in the community and in hospital settings, and also in the agricultural and veterinary sections as well. So it’s the cumulative antibiotic utilization that is still at substantially high levels that drives resistance.”

In hospitals, the internal mechanisms that make superbugs drug-resistant can be transmitted between different bacteria as well as from patient to patient, he said.

There are two main strategies to prevent people getting infected or colonized with microbes like MRSA: eliminating inappropriate use of antibiotics — which kill bacteria but have no effect on viruses such as those that cause colds — and ensuring high standards of infection control in hospitals.

Those measures include keeping patients found to be carrying or infected with a superbug in a private room along with strict enforcement of environmental cleaning policies, both of which are designed to prevent the diseases spreading to other patients and hospital staff.

Researchers found lower prevalence rates of superbug infection and colonization in hospitals where potentially infectious patients were cared for in isolation and where there were strong policies for cleaning and disinfecting the hospital environment.

Higher rates were found in health-care institutions that did not routinely isolate infectious patients or had less stringent cleaning policies.

However, Simor stressed that the study showed only an “association” between the existence of those policies and lower superbug rates — and doesn’t prove cause and effect.

“I can’t say that those hospitals have lower rates because of these policies,” he said. “But it is clear that the association exists and it deserves further study to confirm whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship.

“In the meantime, it certainly provides additional evidence that these are appropriate infection control policies for hospitals to be following.”

The study also looked at regional variations across country — hospitals in all 10 provinces and the Northwest Territories took part — and found one notable difference: VRE rates were significantly lower in Eastern Canada than elsewhere in the country.

The prevalence of MRSA and C. diff cases did not vary much by province or region, although C. difficile rates were lowest in Eastern hospitals.

“We have to determine what can we learn from that because I don’t have an answer right now as to why there is that difference,” Simor said of the VRE rates in particular. “But the difference exists and it’s real.”

Compared with other countries, Canada has a lower prevalence of cases than the U.S., but the rates exceed those in such countries as Sweden and Denmark.

“I think that suggests that we have a certain measure of success because we’re not as bad off as the United States, for example, but that there’s still an opportunity for us to do an even better job, and we still have a way to go,” he said.

The study involved only acute-care hospitals with at least 50 beds and did not include pediatric, psychiatric or long-term care facilities.

Simor said the survey provides a baseline of prevalence rates that will allow researchers to monitor both national and regional trends in subsequent studies and help tease out which infection control measures are having the most impact.

The Food and Agriculture Organization on Monday hailed the likes of grasshoppers, ants and other members of the insect world as an underutilized food for people, livestock and pets.

A 200-page report, released at a news conference at the U.N. agency’s Rome headquarters, says 2 billion people worldwide already supplement their diets with insects, which are high in protein and minerals, and have environmental benefits.

Insects are “extremely efficient” in converting feed into edible meat, the agency said. On average, they can convert 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of feed into 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of insect mass. In comparison, cattle require 8 kilograms (17.6 pounds) of feed to produce a kilo of meat.

Most insects are likely to produce fewer environmentally harmful greenhouse gases, and also feed on human and food waste, compost and animal slurry, with the products being used for agricultural feed, the agency said.

Currently, most edible insects are gathered in forests and what insect farming does take place is often family-run and serves niche markets. But the U.N. says mechanization can ratchet up insect farming production. The fish bait industry, for example, has long farmed insects.

Insect farming is “one of the many ways to address food and feed security,” the food agency said.

“Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly,” the agency said, adding they leave a “low environmental footprint.” They provide high-quality protein and nutrients when compared with meat and fish and are “particularly important as a food supplement for undernourished children,” it said.

Insects can also be rich in copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, selenium and zinc, and are a source of fiber.

The agency noted that its Edible Insect Program is also examining the potential of arachnids, such as spiders and scorpions, although they are not strictly speaking insects.

University biologists have analyzed the nutritional value of edible insects, and some of them, such as certain beetles, ants, crickets and grasshoppers, come close to lean red meat or broiled fish in terms of protein per gram (ounce).

But are they tasty?

The report noted that some caterpillars in southern Africa and weaver ant eggs in Southeast Asia are considered delicacies and command high prices.

And some people who might not entertain the thought of consuming insects might already be eating them. Many insects are ingested inadvertently.

I liken that to a study by Today.com that suggests three is the most stressful number of children to have.

A mom of three explains that, versus two kids, the stress level increases when it comes to things like crossing the street. I would agree that getting three kids to do anything in tandem is harder than getting two kids to do it. But I have four kids, and to the best of my recollection, I don’t recall sprouting an extra arm when that last child arrived.

Maybe for moms of three, three is the most stressful number of children for them to have … so far.

The study indicates mothers of more than three kids, on average, described themselves as at a lower stress level than their triumvirate sisters.

It concludes that families with more than three children experience the Duggar Effect, referencing the TLC reality family with 19 children.

While I am 15 short of this number, I admit older kids can, on occasion, help younger kids. But does that really offset the stress of knowing you have more children to feed, clothe, potty train, change sheets for, teach how to drive, suffer through first dates with, explain birth control to and pay post-secondary education for? According to MoneySense.ca, the average cost of raising a child in Canada is almost $245,000. Adding this expense for each child doesn’t raise your stress level?

Really?

I’m not saying that three kids aren’t stressful for a lot of people. It can be. Just like it is very stressful for some parents of one child, two, four,
five, etc. I call it the Pitter Patter Principle. (The original Peter Principle I’m referencing states that people are promoted to a level of incompetency.)  Perhaps those who are lucky enough to actively choose the number of children they have  sometimes also reach beyond the level of what they would see as acceptable stress. They are not incompetent in this way, of course; they just learn when to stop.

So what comes first? The proverbial chicken or the fertilized egg? The stress of having kids or the stress level of the parents prior to having them? Since we can’t give back the number of children we had past the third one to do a truly fair comparison (I may have tried), I guess we’ll never know.

Kathy Buckworth is an award winning writer. Visit kathybuckworth.com or follow Kathy on Twitter @KathyBuckworth.