Why are more children getting asthma?
No one really knows why more and more children
are developing asthma. Some experts suggest that children are being exposed to more and more allergens such as dust, air pollution,
and second-hand smoke. These factors all are triggers of asthma. Others suspect that children are not exposed to enough childhood
illnesses to build up their immune system. It appears that a disorder of the immune system where the body fails to make enough
protective antibodies may play a role in causing asthma.
And
still others suggest that decreasing rates of breastfeeding have prevented important substances of the immune system from
being passed on to babies.
from:
http://www.medicinenet.com/asthma_in_children/article.htm
Whole Grains Lower Risk of Heart Failure
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Keep eating
whole grains and reduce your consumption of eggs and high-fat dairy food to improve your odds against suffering heart failure, a new long-term study shows.
The study, which looked at more than 14,000 people
over 13 years, found that participants had a 7% lower risk of heart failure (HF) per one-serving increase in whole grain consumption.
The risk increased by 8% per one-serving increase in high-fat dairy intake and by 23% per one-serving increase in egg consumption.
Other food groups did not appear to directly affect risk of heart failure.
The findings were published in the November issue
of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
"The totality of literature in this area suggests
it would be prudent to recommend that those at high risk of HF increase their intake of whole grains and reduce intake of
high-fat dairy and eggs, along with following other healthful dietary practices consistent with those recommended by the American
Heart Association," article co-author Jennifer A. Nettleton, an assistant professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Disease
Control at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston, said in an association news release.
-- Kevin McKeever
SOURCE: American Dietetic Association, news release, Oct. 27, 2008
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