NATIONAL: Gates Funding Olympics Smoking Ban, Raise Worldwide Awareness

(previously published here at www.thebulletin.us)

By: Heather J. Chin, The Bulletin

07/29/2008

The effect of smoking and tobacco on people's health is well known in America, but the World Health Organization (WHO) still estimates that in the next 20 years, eight million people will die each year, with one billion dying worldwide in the next century. Today, 5.4 million deaths are attributed to smoking each year - more than tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS combined.

With statistics like these in mind, tech billionaire Bill Gates has earmarked $130,000 from his foundation to support a "smoke-free Olympics" through advertisements in an anti-smoking campaign. Beijing has pledged a smoke-free Games, banning smoking from most indoor public spaces, workplaces and spectator areas of open-air stadiums.

The Wednesday announcement came at a press conference where the retired Microsoft co-founder expressed his desire to use funds from his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to spread awareness of the dangerous effects of smoking to people living outside the United States, where this health issue is more prevalent.

China's Ministry of Health cites a one-million-a-year death toll from smoking-related issues, and the WHO says medical costs from smoking also impoverish more than 50 million people.

The funds and campaign in China is part of a larger international initiative by the Gates Foundation to invest $125 million over the next five years to cut rates of tobacco use in China and India, as well as stemming a tobacco epidemic in Africa. The Gates Foundation has collaborated with China's Health Ministry on other public health campaigns, including HIV prevention.

Mr. Gates and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also announced plans to contribute a combined total of $500 million through their respective foundations toward anti-smoking awareness campaigns, to include efforts to raise tobacco taxes and ban smoking in public places. Mr. Bloomberg's foundation will contribute $250 million over four years, on top of a previous pledge of $125 million.

According to the American Lung Association, second-hand smoke can cause or exacerbate serious health problems, such as cancer, respiratory infections and asthma in both children and adults. It causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700 to 69,000 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers every year.


Heather J. Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us

©The Evening Bulletin 2008

HEALTH FEATURE: Summer Allergy Miseries

(previously published here at www.thebulletin.us)

By: Heather Chin, The Bulletin
07/18/2008

Don't think it's just you. It is not your imagination. Age has nothing to do with it. Things really are worse this year. Everyone is feeling the pressure.

Yes, this is a vintage year, maybe a historic year, for allergy miseries. Many of us are having just a little more trouble breathing. Our sinuses feel as though they are under attack. Coughing and sneezing and scratching incessantly at dry eyes seems to have become a more or less permanent condition.

Although observers described last year as an especially bad allergy season on the East Coast, with a mild winter and late growing season exacerbating already warm weather, 2008 is already providing even more frustrating conditions for allergy sufferers.

Tree pollen, mold and grass pollen were the most common, active pollen types in the Philadelphia area during June, with "very high" levels according to Weather.com's Pollen Almanac, and mold allergens have dominated the scene through the first half of July.

Seasonal allergies are caused by airborne pollens, which are released from trees and grasses during pollination and reproduction. Beginning with the spring pollination of trees and the early summer introduction of grass particles, allergens trigger the strongest reactions in summer and early fall.

This year, "with the mild winter, the trees have been blooming earlier, and the first cases of allergy exacerbation started in early March," said Corinna Bowser, M.D., an allergist at Adult and Pediatric Asthma and Allergy, in Havertown, whose practice serves patients throughout the region. "The counts have been [especially] high because it hasn't been raining a lot and rain usually clears the air of allergens."

Dr. Bowser said she has observed an increase in reports of first-time allergy suffering by people in their 40s and 50s. Allergic reactions to outdoor allergens usually first present themselves in teenagers and those in their 20s.

The creation of a seemingly new group of allergy sufferers may be the result of more people reporting their allergies, rather than the development of new airborne issues, Dr. Bowser, who is also part of the teaching faculty at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, said. Either way, it can be excruciating for allergy sufferers.

"People who have had allergies for some time, but never bad enough to seek care [may be] finally pushed over the edge [to seek treatment] now that the counts have been higher and the effect has been worse."

There are other theories and possibilities being considered by asthma, allergy and immunology specialists, including the impact of climate change (warmer temperatures leading to higher pollen counts) and something called the hygiene hypothesis.

"Our super clean environment, perhaps, may actually put more people at added risk for developing allergies down the line," Dr. John Sundy, an allergy specialist at Duke University Medical Center, told a local television station. This risk would come not from too little hand-washing, but from a lack of early exposure to natural environments that include allergy triggers like pollen, dust and animal fur.

American Lung Association statistics indicate residents under age 18 and over age 65 living in the five-county Philadelphia area are at a high risk of developing everything from pediatric asthma to chronic bronchitis and CV disease to diabetes.

Common allergy triggers in Pennsylvania, as listed on Weather.com, include alfalfa, honeysuckle, horse chestnut, poison sumac [leaves], post oak and prairie ragweed.

In addition to the typical plant-related allergens such as pollen and ragweed, atmospheric conditions such as ozone levels and levels of particulate matter also cause concern.

A recent German study suggests that pollution levels, especially those from vehicular-derived particles and aerosols, can increase the possibility of sensitivity to allergens.

Many options exist to aid allergy sufferers, ranging from asking doctors about allergy medications and antihistamines to timing outdoor activities to avoid early morning pollen saturation.


Heather Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us


©The Evening Bulletin 2008

HEALTH NEWS: Eating Nuts While Pregnant May Raise Risk Of Asthma For Child

(previously published here at www.thebulletin.us)

By: Heather J. Chin, The Bulletin
07/18/2008

Mothers-to-be might - or might not - be better off reducing consumption of nut-based foods if they wish to decrease their child's risk of developing asthma.

According to a recent study, pregnant women who daily consumed at least one nut product, like a peanut butter sandwich, had children with a 40- to 60-percent higher risk of developing asthma or asthma-related symptoms within the child's first eight years of life.

Still, researchers don't recommend removing nuts from pregnant womens' diets, since they contain nutrients such as vitamins A, C and E, which previous studies say may have protective properties against asthma development.

"While it is too early to make recommendations of avoidance, it is important for pregnant women to eat healthily," said Dr. Saskia Willers, who led the study at the the Netherlands' University of Utrecht. "What is true for many foods is that too much is never good."

The study observed women who ate nut products "rarely" throughout their pregnancy.

It showed that children whose mothers had previous history of asthma or sensitivity were on a restricted diet and also reported suffering from the condition.

On the other hand, women who ate nut products in moderation did not have children who showed any more risk of asthma development.

In this cohort (group) study, the Dutch researchers examined 4,146 pregnant women who completed diet questionnaires about how often they consumed fruit, vegetables, fish, egg, milk, milk products, nuts and nut products during the previous month. Of the women, 1,327 were atopic, having asthma or allergic sensitivity, and 2,819 were nonatopic, with no pre-existing sensitivity or related condition.

Researchers were able to maintain contact with 80 percent of the mothers and children/families, allowing for a great amount of communication during the process.

The health of the children born to participants was monitored from ages 1 through 8, with complete data available for 2,832 children.

The results found no associations between maternal intake of vegetable, fish, egg, milk or milk products and nut consumption and observed childhood outcomes.

This is the first study to examine the mother's diet while they were pregnant (instead of relying on memory years later) and to track the asthma outcomes past the first five years of life. It was published in the July 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which is put out by the American Thoracic Society.

Asthma affects over 20 million adults and more than 9 million children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with it.

Despite the strong study and promising findings, the specific factors during pregnancy and early childhood that cause some children to develop asthma [and allergies] over others is still unclear. One known factor is an inherited genetic predisposition.

"Genes play a large role in whether or not the child is eventually going to develop food, or environmental allergies in the future," Dr. Nora Lin, a pediatric and adult allergist with Allergy and Asthma Specialists in King of Prussia. "The effects of the maternal diet on how those genes play out is a pretty complex issue, but [there has not been much] definitive evidence that what a mom eats will affect the outcome of what the child develops or not."

"We don't know what other things the parents did or were exposed to... what supplements or food or medications ... they were using," said Dr. Jonathan Steinfeld, pediatric pulmonologist at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. "This is an association study - between eating more nut products and the children being diagnosed with asthma later in life, but this does not imply causation (that it caused the asthma)."

The study would also be difficult to apply to American and other families throughout the world since we have such a variety of genetic makeup, Dr. Steinfeld notes.

"While they did it well and with a large group, it needs to be repeated to be sure that elsewhere in the world, [these findings] are reproducible."



Heather J. Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us


©The Evening Bulletin 2008