Searching for the ideal sunscreen

Summer is approaching fast in Australia and New Zealand and as every year I search for the very best sunscreen to protect your children and yourselves from the strong UV rays and hopefully from long term damage, especially skin cancer.

So what are my criteria?

Gut Flora is Linked to Mood

Recently the research has widened to include the effect on behaviour, mood, and feelings. Two recent studies reflect the critical role the gut-brain connection plays in children.

Article 1:
Toddler Tantrums May be Due to Their Gut Flora

Gut Bacteria and Happiness

In this first study, scientists found that toddlers with the highest variety of gut bacteria were more likely to be happy, curious, sociable and impulsive (I imagine positively!). In boys, extroverted personality traits were associated with the abundance of specific microbes. (Click the link below to find out which ones).

How to achieve a highly-diversified healthy gut flora…

Gut Flora is Linked to Mood

Recently the research has widened to include the effect on behaviour, mood, and feelings. Two recent studies reflect the critical role the gut-brain connection plays in children.

Article 1:
Toddler Tantrums May be Due to Their Gut Flora

Gut Bacteria and Happiness

In this first study, scientists found that toddlers with the highest variety of gut bacteria were more likely to be happy, curious, sociable and impulsive (I imagine positively!). In boys, extroverted personality traits were associated with the abundance of specific microbes. (Click the link below to find out which ones).

How to achieve a highly-diversified healthy gut flora…

Now that everyone is working and studying from home, I’m receiving a lot of enquiries on how to help kids and teenagers (and their parents) stay focused. Much of what I have learnt on this topic (beyond the research) I have learnt from my 18-year-old son Manu, who, during his HSC year, put many popular ‘study hacks’ to the test!

The basics of a healthy diet, restful and enough sleep, as well as exercise, are a must. You cannot supplement yourself out of a poor diet; cannot take enough “uppers” to overcome lack of sleep, and you simply cannot get enough blood pumping through your brain without moving your body…

Social distancing

The best way of reducing the spread the virus is to stay away from other people. If you are unwell with a cold or cough you must absolutely isolate. But if you don’t have any symptoms you may still be infectious while still in the incubation period which lasts on average 5-10 days. If we all practice social distancing, and ideally social isolation, we can “flatten the curve” – which means we will slow down new infections, so hospitals can take care of the sick and have enough respirators for the critically ill. If we continue to mingle, more people will be infected at once and hospitals are going to run out of beds and respirators and will have to triage whom they can save, as they are now doing in Italy – intensive care beds are given to younger people who have a better chance of survival and older people are left to die.

Should you keep your children at home?…

Research on the health risks from exposure to environmental toxins is increasingly common. However, a cleaner home environment may be just as important as the air pollution in the community around us.

Making a Difference with Air Pollution

The harmful toxins from air pollution outside the home have alarmed some parents who are asking:

• How could one person clean up smog and pollution from a local coal-burning power plant?

• How could we fight the spraying of pesticides in nearby fields?

The solutions to these situations are, of course, not feasible quickly and by individuals. This fact is upsetting to those who understand how much these toxins can affect our children’s health…

Everything we put into our mouth has to come out at the other end. It should usually take 24 hours to 30 hours for food to make it through; this is called “transit time”. You can test your transit time by eating 2 teaspoons of sesame seeds mixed in a cup of water or a cup of beetroot an hour away from other foods. Note the time you eat these foods and track when the sesame seeds or red colour appear in the toilet.

Constipation slows down your transit time – the poo takes a lot longer to get moved through the intestines and out the other end. More water gets absorbed during this slower process and the poo gets harder. These hard bowel motions can hurt and take a long time to pass. The gut is a muscle and just like your leg muscles it needs magnesium and antioxidants to contract and move the poo along. This movement is called peristalsis.
So what are the causes of constipation? Here is a short list…

ADHD is increasing at a rapid rate – up to 10% of children in Australia are diagnosed annually. The diagnosis itself is controversial – there are many books on the market that query whether ADHD is a “real” disease or whether there is a mismatch between our evolution and our modern lifestyle and the demands put on children.

An ADHD diagnosis is based on symptoms and behaviours: a child being impulsive, not concentrating on their schoolwork, not finishing tasks, being disruptive, restless, and easily frustrated. There is no blood test or x-ray that says “yes you have ADHD”. It is a subjective diagnosis. Both the parents and the teachers have to fill out behaviour assessment forms – because the behaviour has to be a problem in different settings, not just at school or just at home. Today I want to discuss nutritional deficiencies and environmental toxins that can cause or shall we say mimic ADHD behaviours that are treatable and can help the child…

The bad news is that eczema is increasingly common and makes children miserable – they don’t sleep well, they itch, they suffer, and they become irritable.

Australia and New Zealand have some of the highest incidences of eczema in the developed world – up to 25% of children are affected.

The good news is that it is generally treatable…

Antibiotics are Too Commonly Prescribed

Ear infections are the most common reason for antibiotic prescriptions for children. The highest incidence is between 6 and 24 months of age, while the immune system and gut flora are maturing, a process antibiotics can negatively affect. In an era of increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics, over-prescription, and uncertainty about how much longer antibiotics will be effective in fighting infections, we need to turn our focus to prevention…

In my last newsletter I wrote about ADHD pretenders. In that line, I would like to introduce a relatively unknown disease in children that also mimics mental health problems, but is a reaction to an infection, often a strep throat. This disease has the innocent sounding name of PANDAS but is anything but sweet and cuddly – and it is not rare, affecting 1 in 200 children (in the US – the numbers are thought to be similar in other developed countries). Children present with a sudden onset of severe anxiety and OCD behaviours: a child who used to be happy and easy-going all ofy a sudden cannot bear to be separated from a parent at night or in school; they may wash their hands obsessively or refuse to eat food, as they have a new fear of germs; they may develop new, unusual behaviours, such as flipping light switches compulsively, or touching objects, compulsively performing symmetric movements with both hands or feet. Some children develop tics, such as eye blinking, shoulder shrugging, snorting, or throat clearing.

The beginning of autumn is a good time to start thinking about winter-proofing your family’s health. Soon it will be the season of colds, viral infections, asthma exacerbations and the flu, but there are some practical steps you can take to reduce the risk of getting sick. Start by making sure that you and your children have optimal levels of vitamins and minerals needed for a strong immune system to fight all those winter nasties.

Here are 4 steps you can take to protect yourselves this winter.

1. Eat a healthy diet, especially lots of vegetables and fruit – to get your vitamin C, antioxidants, and other immune-boosting nutrients. Try to eat all the colours of the rainbow every day, or at least most: some red beets, tomatoes or berries; orange kumara, carrots or pumpkin; yellow squash, lemon, corn or peppers; green spinach, kale, peas, beans or avocado; and blueberries, blue corn, eggplant or cabbage…

Sleeping problems in children occur far too often

Sleep deprivation affects everyone negatively. However, when children don’t sleep, other family members don’t sleep. Unfortunately, it can be common for children to be bright-eyed and rearing to go late at night. Even those without sleep disorders, or other conditions like autism or ADHD (that are often associated with bedtime issues), can suffer sleep disturbances.

Approximately 40% of children and young adults experience sleeping problems at some point in their lives.

The Effects of Children’s Sleeping Problems…

Anxiety, hyperactivity, sleep problems – these are very common concerns parents have about their children and that affect the entire family’s wellbeing. A parent can only be as relaxed as the least unruffled child in the family.

Our society seems to be steeped in anxiety – it is the most common mental health problem around the globe (Ritchie and Roser 2018). Teenagers and young adults are facing an epidemic of anxiety: 25% of Americans 13 to 18 year olds suffer from anxiety – that is one quarter of all teenagers! In Australia two national studies showed that 15.4% of 16 to 24 years olds (ABS 2008) and 7% of 4-17 year olds (Lawrence 2015) had experienced an anxiety disorder in the previous 12 months. These numbers are staggering. The other side of “not calm” is hyperactivity: Almost one in fifteen of children are diagnosed with ADHD in Australia and New Zealand: every primary classroom has several impulsive children who struggle to concentrate and seem to be bouncing off the walls. A large percent of them are being medicated and many suffer from side effects when the medication wears off and struggle to calm down in the evening and go to sleep – presenting another challenge for the family.

Most people, when asked, admit that they are stressed in one way or another…

Exactly 5 years ago the FDA published a report about arsenic in rice. New laboratory testing methods had allowed them to differentiate between organic and inorganic arsenic. Inorganic is more toxic and this Arsenic in Rice was found in dangerous concentrations. The FDA proposed a limit for infant rice cereals, but not for other rice products. Arsenic is a naturally occurring metal in the earth’s crust. It gets absorbed by plants. Rice is particularly good at absorbing it, hence the high concentration…

Teenagers and young adults are facing an epidemic of anxiety.

25% of American 13 to 18-year-olds suffer from anxiety and in Australia, a study from 2008 showed that 15.4% of 16 to 24 years olds had experienced an anxiety disorder in the previous 12 months.

Could nutrition have anything to do with this?

Healthy nutrition is, of course, the key to a healthy mind. There are several specific nutrient deficiencies associated with anxiety; the most important are Magnesium and Omega 3.

Magnesium is Needed to Produce Serotonin and Sedate Anxiety…

The four most common reasons for children to be Picky Eaters are:

1. Behavioural – they may be too busy and distracted to sit down for a meal and finish it

2. Full Up – with juices or fizzy drinks or other “empty calories”

3. Constipated – if the tummy (intestine) is full of faeces, there is not much room left for food

4. Lacking Nutrients – Low levels of Zinc, B12 or Iron which are all needed for a healthy appetite

Picky Eaters: Causes and Solutions

Toddlers are Busy People
From about 2-3 years toddlers typically become more choosy about their food…