April 28, 2009

Rashes in the nappy area can usually be identified by their appearance, their location, and other typical symptoms of different types of rashes.

Simple nappy rashes are red, slightly rough, and scaly. The rash may appear over the whole area touched by the nappy. The skin may by irritated by chemicals used in laundering cloth nappies-detergent, bleach, whitener, water softener, or soap. Plastic or rubber pants worn over cloth nappies sometimes affect the skin. The skin may also react to chemicals used in manufacturing disposable nappies or to the plastic outer layer on disposable nappies.

Ammonia rash is a form of nappy rash caused by the urine itself. The skin is burned by ammonia that is formed when the urine is decomposed by normal bacteria on the skin. Ammonia rash is worse after the child has been asleep for long periods of time without a nappy change. It is identified by an ammonia smell that can be noticed when changing the nappy.

Besides these basic nappy rashes, a variety of other rashes may appear in the nappy area including rashes caused by an allergy to a food or drug, by a skin infection, or by contagious diseases (chicken pox or measles).

If your child develops a rash in the nappy area, look for the signs that indicate these different types of rashes. The appearance and location of the rash, an ammonia odor, or rash elsewhere on the body are all clues. Have you recently changed to different nappies or changed your way of laundering them? Has the child recently been given a new food or drug which could be causing an allergic reaction? Noting these factors can help you and your doctor find the cause of the rash.

*157/84/5*

April 23, 2009

No one knows what causes Type 1 diabetes. Undoubtedly genetic, environmental and immunological factors play a part. It is currently thought that certain genetic abnormalities make particular individuals more susceptible to outside agents that affect the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

•     Several experimental findings are not easily explained by this hypothesis, though, especially the fact that there are such different incidences of the disease in genetically very similar populations-for example, different generations in Scandinavian countries. If a population is genetically stable yet has very different variations in incidence over the years, it suggests that an environmental factor must be involved.

All of this led a team of doctors in Denmark to look at the link between breastfeeding and childhood diabetes. They found that when breastfeeding rates were low in a population the babies subsequently went on to have more diabetes than when breastfeeding rates were high. So, breastfeeding appears to protect against childhood insulin-dependent diabetes. The peak onset of diabetes was nine years after the low-point in the breastfeeding-popularity graph and this figure coincided with the average age of onset of diabetes in Oslo children (9.3 years).

The authors of this study propose that breast milk (already known to contain many protective factors) contains certain anti-infective agents that prevent viral infections that would otherwise affect the insulin-producing cells in certain people. Another possibility is that cows’ milk formula actually changes the pancreatic cells because of the abnormal protein or chemical load it contains. Whatever is the case, it is clear that children from susceptible families would be more vulnerable if bottle-fed.

•     It is current practice to give sugar water very early on -often in the nursery of the post-natal ward. I feel that this must be harmful and it is proven that such slugs of sugar (which are of no physiological value) produce surges of insulin production way beyond normal. Perhaps such over-stimulation of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas also damages them early in life. No one knows if this is so but it seems a reasonable hypothesis.

•     Diet has always been seen as a major factor in the control of diabetes of both types. Since the end of the eighteenth century low-carbohydrate diets have been advised on the basis that diabetics, being low in insulin, could not handle the glucose produced by high levels of ingested carbohydrate. A study carried out in 1974 found that the majority of diabetic clinics were recommending a diet providing 40 per cent of daily calories as carbohydrates. In reality such diets usually yield only about 30 per cent of calories in this way and about 50 per cent of all the calories come from fat. There is now substantial evidence that diabetics should be advised to eat a high-fibre diet rich in unrefined, complex carbohydrates. This is an intrinsically slimming diet (if such carbohydrates form 60 per cent or more of total daily energy), which helps middle-aged Type 2 diabetics, whose treatment depends mainly on losing weight. But more excitingly research has found that insulin-dependent diabetics also prosper on the diet and that some can even come off insulin entirely. It seems likely that bulk-forming fibres smooth out the absorption of sugar from the intestine. Such a diet also alters various risk factors for heart disease (namely lipoprotein levels and blood-clotting factors), which is good news because diabetics are especially liable to suffer from heart disease. In fact heart disease is a main cause of death.

•    There is no doubt that Type 2 diabetes is caused by obesity, especially in middle age.

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What causes it?

• If the brain is starved of blood sugar, it may appear that the answer must be to eat more sugar and sweet foods. The answer is in fact exactly the opposite. Hypoglycaemia is caused by overindulgence in sugary foods. The average westerner eats or drinks more than forty teaspoons-full of sugar a day. He or she also eats large amounts of refined carbohydrate foods-all of which are converted into sugar by the body. The pancreas, faced with this overload, is forced to produce abnormally large peaks of insulin. This effectively sweeps away the excess glucose from the blood but often there is an over-supply of insulin, which causes the blood glucose to plummet. The result is low blood sugar-hypoglycaemia with all its symptoms.

• Two interesting studies bear this out. In the first a doctor researcher in the field gave a glucose-tolerance test to 220 neurotic patients with obvious symptoms of low blood sugar, such as fatigue. In fact 205 of them had low blood sugar. When these depressed, anxiety-ridden people were put on to a sensible diet, both their physical and psychological symptoms disappeared.

Next, the same researcher did a hypoglycaemia blood test on 700 people who had no physical symptoms of hypoglycaemia yet had all kinds of odd psychological signs and symptoms. The test showed that 600 had the condition! When put on to the right diet they all regained their mental health.

A study of 144 children with Teaming disability’ found that 78 per cent had hypoglycaemia, and many other studies have produced similar findings.

Many experts in this field now see hypoglycaemia as a source of marital and family problems that is almost entirely overlooked.

When the blood sugar drops, the adrenal glands pour out their hormones to release sugar from the body’s stores, but unfortunately caffeine, alcohol and nicotine also stimulate the adrenal glands in this way, so triggering the pancreas to produce more insulin. This produces hypoglycaemia. The cigarette or drink of coffee makes the person feel good for a while but once the blood sugar plummets they are forced to go back to the cigarettes and coffee to give them a lift again. And so it goes on.

Chronic stress seems to predispose people to hypoglycaemia.

There is now evidence that certain specific foods can produce an abnormally low, or indeed high, blood sugar, irrespective of their actual carbohydrate content.

Given that wheat and dairy products are two of the most commonly offending foods in adults; it is hardly surprising that a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet is of provable value in managing hypoglycaemia.

• Deficiencies of certain nutrients, such as magnesium, chromium, potassium, manganese, zinc and the  vitamins can all produce the condition.

• Certain drugs, notably metronidazole (Flagyl) used to treat vaginal thrichomoniasis and parasitic infestations of the gut, can cause hypoglycaemia.

• Missed meals are a common cause, in children especially. Tea and coffee increase the release of insulin from the pancreas and can produce hypoglycaemic symptoms.

• Smoking causes both insulin and glucagon to be released with resulting hypoglycaemia. Often a smoker then needs to ‘top up’ his blood sugar with another cigarette.

• Alcohol can produce profound hypoglycaemia and alcoholics coming off alcohol should always be given an anti-hypolglycaemic diet.

Prevention

• Change your diet to remove all added sugar and unrefined carbohydrates.

• Eat six small meals a day rather than three large ones. Don’t eat more food-simply eat the same amount spread out more evenly.

• Eat more unrefined, complex carbohydrate foods and plenty of fruit and vegetables.

• Take brewers’ yeast tablets-the chromium these contain helps sugar metabolism.

• Cut right down on caffeine-containing drinks, alcohol and cigarettes.

• Be sure to keep up your level of animal-protein intake. This provides a substance known as carnitine – a deficiency of which can produce hypoglycaemia and heart disease.

• Take a vitamin and mineral supplement containing the following:

Vitamin  complex, 100 mg daily

Tryptophan, 500-1500 mg daily

Chromium GTF, 200 mcg daily

Zinc, 15-25 mg daily

Manganese, 5-10 mg daily

Magnesium, 250-300 mg daily

Potassium, 500-1000 mg daily

Vitamin C, 2-3 g daily

• Talk to your doctor about stopping metronidazole if you are on it.

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• NUTRITIONAL NEEDS OF PRESCHOOL AND SCHOOL CHILDREN
• SEEDS, NUTS AND GRAINS AS ONE OF THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE AIROLA DIET (OPTIMAL NUTRITIONAL PROGRAM FOR CORRECTING DISEASE AND MAINTAINING HEALTH)
• CHILD’S HEALTH/INFECTIOUS DISEASES: ROSEOLA INFANTUM
• LEAVING YOUR CHILDREN SOMETHING TO LOVE BY: SOME MOST OFTEN ASKED CHILDREN’S QUESTIONS ABOUT SEX
• YOUR MARITAL HEALTH/WIVES’ SEXUALITY: MS. MYTH – THE WAITING-GAME MYTH
• THE DESEXUALIZATION OF THE AMERICAN MARRIAGE: EXTRAMARITAL SEX VS. SUPER MARITAL SEX – THE REASONS FOR EXTRAMARITAL SEX
• OBESITY – CONCLUSION
• CLAUDICATION – TREATMENT

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