To Your Health is brought to you by: Parmer Lane Chiropractic Robert Hagood, DC 2121 W. Parmer Lane Suite 112 Austin, TX 78727 (512) 339-6635
In this issue:
* Read Those Food Labels
* The Sunscreen Dilemma
* Catch Some ZZzzz's
Read Those Food Labels
We eat for a variety of reasons - because a particular food tastes good, as part of socializing, boredom, or just because the clock says, "Time to eat!" Occasionally, we even eat because we are actually hungry. Unfortunately, too many Americans consume foods (processed and packaged) that contain one or more of the following ingredients: enriched wheat, trans fats (partially hydrogenated vegetable oil) and high-fructose corn syrup. These three ingredients are prevalent in our food supply - yet they are basically "empty calories," lacking any nutritional value. In addition to the health benefits of avoiding these three ingredients, you can also avoid many chemicals and additives by association.
Enriched wheat: The word "enriched" actually sounds pretty healthy. The whole wheat contains the bran, germ and endosperm. The refined wheat kernel has had the bran and germ removed. The majority of the nutrients are in the bran and the germ. These include many B vitamins, healthy fats, minerals, fiber and more than 99 phytonutrients known to prevent disease. What is left is the endosperm. The endosperm is ground into flour and bleached to produce the popular white flour. Most flour is then enriched with five ingredients: niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin and folic acid.The enrichment of five synthetically produced nutrients from questionable sources, (thiamin mononitrate is derived from coal tar from China) does not make this enriched grain a source of superior nutrition.
Trans fats: Trans fats are clearly not superior nutrition. On the front of a food package, the manufacturer may state, "Zero trans fats." However, when you look at the list of ingredients, you may still see the words "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil," which is just another name for trans fat. This means even though the front of the package promises zero trans fats, the product actually contains trans fats!
High-fructose corn syrup: Most people are consuming gallons of it in their sodas, fruit juices, cakes, cookies, breads and even health food products. HFCS entered our food supply in the early 1970s. This man-made sugar is exceptionally sweet, so manufacturers can use less. It is also very cheap, so manufacturers have higher profits. HFCS metabolizes differently than sugar and may be responsible for higher triglycerides. It also does not cause the release of the hormone leptin, which makes us feel full. Therefore, a person can eat a package of cookies and several sodas and not feel full, which, of course, can contribute to obesity.
So, what can you do? Avoid all products with these three ingredients. Choose more fruits, vegetables, lean meats, dairy, nuts, seeds, beans and whole grains. Flavor them when necessary with natural sweeteners and fats that have not been created in a laboratory.
The Sunscreen Dilemma
Experts have encouraged sunscreen use as protection against the skin damage that leads to malignant melanoma. Unfortunately, these sunscreens prevent the skin from making vitamin D from sunlight - and many studies now suggest that vitamin D is protective against cancer. Sunscreen is designed to block UV penetration into the skin. That's precisely why it prevents sunburn. This is also why it prevents production of vitamin D. Even relatively weak sunscreens (as low as SPF-8) will block UV and stop vitamin D production.
But does sunscreen help prevent skin cancer? A 1999 meta-analysis of 13 epidemiological studies on the relation of sunscreen use to melanoma risk found that three studies showed a decreased risk of melanoma, but four showed an increased risk and six were inconclusive. Why would it increase risk? The explanation is simple. Most chemical sunscreens block ultraviolet B (UVB), but are transparent to ultraviolet A (UVA). More than 90 percent of the ultraviolet light from the sun is UVA.
So, wearing sunscreen prevents sunburns, but research suggests it might not reduce your risk of developing cancer; in fact, it might actually increase your risk. That's the sunscreen dilemma. Is there an easy solution? Not necessarily. Applying sunscreen will prevent vitamin D production and result in more skin damage, since it enables you to increase your sun exposure without burning. On the other hand, staying out in the sun for hours without sunscreen certainly won't help you avoid skin cancer, either.
Perhaps the morale to this story is that sun exposure for as little as 10 minutes a day will stimulate ample vitamin D production, but is not likely (unless perhaps you are extremely fair skinned) to cause any sunburn or skin damage - and that's the best way to reduce your risk while still enjoying the health benefits of vitamin D.
Catch some ZZzzz's
Experts generally recommend that adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep each night, a goal most people fail to achieve. What about your children? How much sleep should they be getting?
In a study that followed nearly 1,500 Canadian children from birth to age 6, researchers discovered that those who slept less than 10 hours per night in their preschool years were more likely to show problems with their verbal and spatial skills when they entered school. They also tended to be more hyperactive and impulsive than their less sleep-deprived peers.
Overall, children who persistently underslept were three times more likely to score poorly on a standard language test than children who consistently slept at least 10 hours nightly. Even if children increased their sleep time as they got older, the risk of hyperactivity and poor visual/spatial skills remained. Thus, experts recommend that preschool-age children sleep 11 to 13 hours per night; children ages 5 to 12 years should sleep 10 to 11 hours; and teens should get 9 hours per night.
Sleep has the power to refresh and restore, and it can help keep you and your family functioning at your best. Make sure your children are ready for life's challenges by ensuring they sleep at least 10 hours per night, particularly if they are age 3 or younger.
