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Published on 1 Comment on Preventing and Treating Peanut Allergies In Children

Peanut allergies can be life-altering and life-threatening. But in the past year there have been welcome developments in both preventing peanut allergies and in treatment of peanut allergies in children.

The latest medical advice to prevent peanut allergy is to regularly feed tiny amounts of pureed peanut products to babies before their first birthday. Even as early as the 4th month! This is the total opposite of the old advice for preventing peanut allergies, which was to avoid, avoid, avoid giving peanut products to babies.  Oops.

Experts say this method of early introduction, and frequent feeding of small amounts of the food to babies, works best for preventing the development of peanut and egg allergies. [But even with this method, some will eventually develop the food allergies.]

What is a "small amount" of peanuts that should be fed the baby? Guidelines are: "Eight grams of peanut butter (1 heaped teaspoon or 1.5 regular teaspoon) or 17 g of peanut puffs should be consumed at least twice weekly to protect against peanut allergy." However, note that this intervention does not treat peanut allergy. Instead, it is a way to try to prevent a peanut allergy from developing in young children.

But what about older children who already have peanut allergies? What can be done? The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the first ever oral immunotherapy to treat peanut allergies in children between the ages of 4 to 17 years. However, the goal of the therapy is to make children less sensitive and to decrease their allergic reactions. They are still allergic, but less so. For example, after 1 year of treatment - about 2/3 of the kids were able to tolerate 600 mg of peanut protein. Unfortunately, the other third could not.

But here too, continued exposure is important. Researchers found that after 1 year, those who could tolerate the peanut protein have to continue ingesting tiny amounts of peanut. If they stop - the children will lose their tolerance within 2 months.

Treating peanut allergies. From March 2, 2020 article in Medscape: Treating Peanut Allergy With Oral Immunotherapy: Insights From an Insider

Preventing peanut allergies. From August 28, 2019 article in Medscape (the medical site): Pureed Peanuts Advised for Infants to Stave Off Allergy

Feeding pureed peanut products regularly to babies before their first birthday could reduce their risk of developing peanut allergies later on, doctors advise.  ...continue reading "Preventing and Treating Peanut Allergies In Children"

Published on Leave a comment on Being Overweight Is Higher Risk For Severe Coronavirus Infections

Two big risk factors are emerging over who will develop severe COVID-19 infections that lead to hospitalizations and needing intensive care. A number of studies throughout the world are reporting that the main risk factor in persons under 60 years is being significantly overweight, especially obesity, and the other risk factor is being over 65 years of age.

What is significantly overweight? A body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more is considered obese - probably 40 pounds or more overweight. For example, a 5 ft 5 inch person weighing 181 pounds or more, or a 5 ft 10 inch person 210 pounds or more. [see BMI chart]

Two studies of New York City hospital patients had similar findings. Doctors at NYU Langone Health (Lighter et al) found that overweight patients who were under age 60 were twice as likely to be hospitalized as their thinner peers, while those who were obese were three times as likely to need intensive care, the study found. And this is in patients who didn't have any other diseases or conditions - they were healthy, but overweight. The medical thinking is that this may because obesity is a state of chronic inflammation.

The scary part is that the US has a very high obesity rate - with the NYU researcher Jennifer Lighter pointing out that nearly 40% of adults in the US are obese with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more!

A French study found that a key finding was that those with a BMI of greater than 35 had more than sevenfold increased risk of requiring mechanical ventilation (compared to those with a BMI of less than 25). Studies are also finding that disease severity increased with increasing BMI.

Interestingly, obesity wasn't a predictor of severe disease leading to hospital admission or the ICU (intensive care unit) in those over the age of 60 years. But in those younger than 60 years, it was.

Excerpts from Medscape: Obesity Link to Severe COVID-19, Especially in the Under 60s

It is becoming increasingly clear that obesity is one of the biggest risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease, particularly among younger patients.  ...continue reading "Being Overweight Is Higher Risk For Severe Coronavirus Infections"

Published on Leave a comment on Is There A Link Between Severe COVID-19 and Male Hair Loss?

Is male hair loss a risk factor for having a severe infection with COVID-19? An international group of researchers (in a joint letter in Dermatologic Therapy) hypothesize that the reason some people have severe infections of COVID-19 and others only mild symptoms, may be related to the male hormones (androgens) linked to hair loss.

"Male pattern baldness" is considered androgen-dependent hair loss and is known as androgenetic alopecia. Androgens increase in boys at puberty.

As support for their hypothesis of androgen involvement, the researchers point out that a greater proportion of men get severe COVID-19 and also die from it. They propose this possibility as an additional risk factor to consider besides the known ones of older age (over 60) and underlying conditions.

And of course they say that research is now needed to look into this possibility. In a nutshell, their hypothesis is "...the scientific evidence gives us reason to believe that beardy, bald men may be more vulnerable to COVID-19 than other individuals." At this point, who knows?

From Futurity: Hypothesis: Is COVID-19 Severity Tied to Hair Loss?

Researchers hypothesize that the same male hormones that cause hair loss may be linked to the vulnerability of patients to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.  ...continue reading "Is There A Link Between Severe COVID-19 and Male Hair Loss?"

Published on Leave a comment on Sign Up For Registry Tracking Effects of COVID-19 On Pregnancy and Newborns

Infected with COVID-19 during pregnancy and worried about the pregnancy and baby? A national registry has just been established that is tracking the effects of coronavirus COVID-19 on the pregnancy and on newborns. This is because the virus is so new that we don't know what, if any, effects it has on pregnancy and on the baby. Does it harm the developing baby during the first 2 trimesters or cause problems during pregnancy? We just don't know.

Normally something like this takes a long time to set up and implement, but this has just started and already over 400 pregnant women have signed up. Women can sign up through their health care provider or on their own at the registry website. The registry is called the Pregnancy Coronavirus Outcomes Registry (PRIORITY).

So far the one small study out of China that was done was reassuring, but it only looked at the last trimester of pregnancy. So please consider signing up for the national PRIORITY registry. The more women sign up, the more we will learn.

On a related note, people are pushing back at the  CDC guidelines suggesting that newborns born to women with COVID-19 infections should be removed and put into isolation. And if breastfeeding, to pump the breast milk and have a healthy caregiver feed the baby. That guideline is absolutely NOT supported by evidence. Also, the virus has not been detected in breastmilk.

An excerpt from Medscape (the medical professional site) on the CDC guidelines: "Some experts say the recommendation to separate mothers with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 from their infants after delivery is not supported by evidence and could cause lasting harm."  Absolutely.

From Medscape: COVID-19 Registry Tracks Pregnant Women, Newborns

A multidisciplinary team of researchers has created a national registry to study how COVID-19 affects pregnant women and their newborns.  ...continue reading "Sign Up For Registry Tracking Effects of COVID-19 On Pregnancy and Newborns"

Published on Leave a comment on Surgery or Just Medications and Lifestyle Changes to Reduce Heart Attack and Death Risk?

There has been a debate for years over whether surgery plus traditional medical therapy (medications +  lifestyle changes) is better than just medications and lifestyle changes for treating blocked arteries (ischemia) and preventing heart attacks and death. A recent study looked at this issue and found that there is no advantage to initially doing invasive procedures such as bypass surgery and stents for stable heart disease and moderately and severely blocked arteries. The surgical approach did not reduce the number of heart attacks and deaths. Sooo... it looks like medications and lifestyle changes alone may be the way to start treatment.

A large international study followed patients with stable heart disease and moderate or severe blocked arteries up to 5 years (median 3.2 years), and looked at rates of heart attacks and death. Researchers found that a conservative approach (lifestyle changes and medications) had the same results as an invasive intervention approach (invasive medical procedures such as bypass surgery and stents, followed by medications and lifestyle advice) in the patients. At the end of the study, both groups had similar death and heart attack rates.

From Medical Xpress: Studies show stents and surgery no better than medication, lifestyle changes at reducing the risk for heart attack  ...continue reading "Surgery or Just Medications and Lifestyle Changes to Reduce Heart Attack and Death Risk?"

Published on Leave a comment on Breastfeeding Associated With A Lower Risk Of Ovarian Cancer

Some more good news for women who breastfeed their babies. A large international study found an association between breastfeeding and an average 24% lower incidence of ovarian cancer years later (when compared to women who never breastfed).

But if you look at the results more closely, you see that the longer the woman breastfeeds, the lower the risk of ovarian cancer - so that breastfeeding for 3 months was associated with an 18% lower risk, while breastfeeding for 12 months or more is associated with a 34% lower risk.

Over the years, other studies found that breastfeeding is associated with a number of health benefits for the mother, such as a lower risk of diabetes and breast cancer.

From Medical Xpress: Breastfeeding linked to lower ovarian cancer risk ...continue reading "Breastfeeding Associated With A Lower Risk Of Ovarian Cancer"

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Published on 2 Comments on Good News Regarding Probiotics For Sinusitis and Sinus Health

Good news today! I am happy to report that I (and family members) are now in our 8th year of successfully using probiotics to treat and conquer sinusitis. This includes both chronic sinusitis and regular sinus infections. Yes! This means no antibiotics or any other antibacterial has been used in more than 7 years.

We  have accomplished this by using the amazing probiotic (beneficial bacteria) Lactobacillus sakei. I started with using kimchi back in 2013 after I read interesting research. But in the last few years I've used the refrigerated product Lanto Sinus, which contains a kimchi-derived strain of Lactobacillus sakei. 

Since this blog started in 2013, I have heard from hundreds of people and the majority agree with me - Lactobacillus sakei works great as a sinusitis treatment! [See Best Probiotics For Sinusitis for details on results and products used.]

Important things I've learned about Lactobacillus sakei over the years:

  1. Only use it when needed, when there are some sinus symptoms or you're sliding towards sinusitis. Just like with antibiotics, you shouldn't take it daily and routinely.
  2. Swishing a product like Lanto Sinus in the mouth alone is a gentle and cautious way to use the product. Using it in the nostrils is a stronger way to use the product.
  3. Don't overdo it. This means don't use too damn much, such as shooting it in the nostrils in a nasal rinse (e.g., 1 gram in a bottle full of water). Using a little bit in the nostrils (as described in Sinusitis Treatment Summary methods) is sufficient. Let the little buggers travel on their own throughout the sinuses - and they do!
  4. Use for a few days and reevaluate if that was enough. Many times the sinuses keep improving even after stopping Lactoabcillus sakei. One can always use more if needed.
  5. If Lactobacillus sakei works for a person, it can feel miraculous as sinusitis symptoms disappear, frequently within a few days. On the other hand, it doesn't work for everyone and only self-experimentation determines whether it does - after all, everyone's sinus microbiome is different.
  6. Lactobacillus sakei alone is enough to treat sinusitis. Don't need fancy concoctions or fancy protocols. When I use it, it takes me under 1 minute a day!
  7. The sinus microbiome slowly improves over the years, so we are using less and less of Lanto Sinus over time. At the same time, we noticed that we are getting fewer and fewer upper respiratory infections. Amazing!

That's it. Hopefully this offers hope to those who have suffered for years with repeated sinus infections.

I also want to mention that I'm a consultant for Lanto Health, but that's because I really like the Lactobacillus sakei strain used in Lanto Sinus.

Good health!

Published on Leave a comment on Salt and The Immune System

Eating a diet high in salt weakens the immune system's ability to fight harmful bacteria, according to a recent study. We all know that a high salt diet can increase blood pressure, but here is another good reason to lower salt intake.

The study by German researchers showed that a high salt diet can impair the antibacterial response of the immune system, both in mice and in humans. This occurs in an indirect way (through an effect on glucocorticoids), which ultimately results in a reduced or impaired ability of the immune system (through the neutrophils) to kill or control bacteria.

These results were interesting since some earlier studies suggested that higher intake of salt may help fight off parasitic skin infections.

What is a high salt diet? The human volunteers in the study ate an extra 6 grams of salt per day for one week, which is the amount in two fast food meals (e.g. two burgers and two portions of French fries). The World Health Organization recommends no more than 5 grams of salt per day, and the US CDC recommends less than 2300 mg per day. Both organizations say that most people eat more salt than recommended, and the CDC points out that the majority of American sodium intake is from processed foods and restaurant meals.

From Medical Xpress: Too much salt weakens the immune system  ...continue reading "Salt and The Immune System"

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Published on 2 Comments on Loss Of Sense of Smell Or Taste May Indicate You Have Covid-19

Have you recently lost your sense of taste or smell? Then you may be infected with the coronavirus COVID-19, even if you don't display any other symptoms.

The American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) posted on its web-site that loss of a sense of smell (anosmia) and loss of a sense of taste (dysgeusia) are both symptoms of  COVID-19. Even if there are no other symptoms of COVID-19 - meaning it's a mild case, but it is still infectious and can be spread to others. Reports from South Korea are that about 30% of patients and from Germany that more than half of patients experience this.

It doesn't seem to matter how sick you are, or whether you are congested or not. Nothing seems to help - not nose drops or sprays.  Persons regain their sense of smell and/or taste after a few days or weeks.

It is suggested that loss of sense of smell could be used as a COVID-19 screening tool. Excerpt from the UK ENT group statement posted on the AAO-HNS web-site:  ...continue reading "Loss Of Sense of Smell Or Taste May Indicate You Have Covid-19"