by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

The coming holidays turn our hearts and thoughts to family, friends, charity, good will, peace and kids with runny noses.  Check out the column I wrote for Homemaker Barbi on nine ways to keep your kids healthy during the winter. Anything to help, right?

Also, I collaborated with Carole Carson on a post at Basil & Spice titled “Is Holiday Weight Gain Inevitable?” A new study concludes, maybe it is.  Best prevention? Exercise.

by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

President-elect Barack Obama says one of his first priorities will be to obtain a First Dog.

His daughter Malia has allergies and a canine club called the Association of Friends of Hairless Dogs of Peru has offered one they say is hypoallergenic.

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology begs to differ, stating there is no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog.  Not only more credible, the AAAI has two less “ofs” in their long name.

Here’s their press release, with my comments and a question below it.

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

This new study, relating autism to increased precipitation, is a classic “scare of the day” news story.  You will see it everywhere.  Some people will latch onto it as a factual cause of autism, but you will never hear if it is disproven.  Don’t get me wrong.  The researchers should publish it.  It is interesting, but it is a starting point and nothing more.

We know little about causes or risk factors for autism.  So you have to start somewhere looking for clues.  The researchers started with a hypothesis that there could be some environmental trigger.  They scoured state records in Washington, Oregon and northern California, looking for autistic children 6 to 12 years old.  Then they looked at where the child was living and how much precipitation that area got when the child was under age 3. They found that more autistic children grew up on the rainy side of the states. (In case you didn’t know, it rains a lot on the coastal side of these areas, but much less east of the mountain range in the middle.)

But what does that really mean? Rain causes autism?  Nature is against us?  A few years back researchers found that more men with prostate cancer had undergone a vasectomy.  Later studies found it was just a coincidence.  So why do cross-sectional studies like this in the first place?

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

These are tips from another good press release I received for Halloween. Anything to make sure those kids stay healthy and safe. Its comes from the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, to form the Alliance For a Healthier Generation. (Also, scroll down for some healthier Halloween recipes.)

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

How do you keep your little tyke with food allergies from missing all the fun?   The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology has some tips.

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

It’s dress-up and candy time. Not my favorite holiday, but fun for the kids. Keep it that way by making sure your kids stay safe.

I have received several good press releases regarding the holiday and thought I would share. Below are some tips from www.kidshealth.org on how to have a safe, spooktacular Halloween.

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by Jill Weisenberger, M.S., R.D., C.D.E.

Unless you’ve been hiding behind a scarecrow, you’ve probably seen the bags of candy crowding the grocery store shelves. And if you’ve shopped with children lately, you’ve likely had bags mysteriously jump into your shopping cart. The junk food season which starts before Halloween and doesn’t end until Valentine’s Day is upon us.

So what’s a parent to do? How do we temper the candy frenzy with our kids? How do we handle it for ourselves? Without a plan, a lot of pounds can be gained before Cupid visits us.

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

Want to give your baby the best?  Feed him/her only mother’s milk for the first 12 months.  An added incentive is it helps the mother’s health, also.  I thought everybody knew breastfeeding was the ideal until a woman asked me if the new report from the Annals of Internal Medicine , which reiterates this, was accurate.  October’s Annals updates previous recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that health-care providers should do all they can to actively support breast feeding.

Why do they feel the need to call for more support?

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

Thanks to the Basil and Spice staff for allowing me to blog on their website yesterday. I wrote on the new recommendations by the CDC this year to give influenza immunizations to ages 6 months to 18 years old. The change is adding the 5- to 18-year-old group. I won’t repeat the post here, but a commenter posed an interesting question, “Why now?”

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

The new miracle vitamin is D.  I have read study after study lately touting the positive effects (decrease cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, etc.)  of an adequate amount.  The problem is that no one knows how much is adequate.  Most agree that current recommendations are too low.  You can get it from the sun, but at the increased risk of skin cancer.  It is very difficult to get enough in your diet, even with added supplementation in food, such as milk.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAD) agrees that kids need more and has changed its daily recommendations from 200 IU to 400 IU.  Why do they think more is needed?

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