The TV Diet
 
The average American watches 5 hours of television a day.  It's the third most time-consuming activity after sleep and work. A recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine (Dec 14, 2009) attempted to find out what would happen if viewing time was cut in half.  The study found that calorie intake did not change but that those who watched 50% as much TV burned 120 more calories per day.  This is the equivalent of walking a mile. The researchers summarized that almost any activity, except sleep, burns more energy than watching television. 
 
Decreasing activity at school and in our kids normal lives coupled with eating habits that are less than healthy are starting to create real health problems for our country. One thing that parents can really do is control the TV. There is proven benefit to not having a TV in your child's bedroom....so make sure there isn't one in there. Try to make sure that screen time (video, computer, TV, phone texting) for children is no more than 2 hours a day (and ZERO hours for those kids under 2 years of age). Turn the TV off when you're having dinner. If you want to watch TV, make a decision about what is going to be watched....don't just have it on all the time. Let's try and put our families and our children on a TV diet. The pediatricians at West End Pediatrics would enjoy talking about this with all our patients.

Great Link with one of my favorite statistics about TV exposure: Pulling the Plug on TV Violence 

Additions to the Tylenol Recalls:

Please see the following link for a few more lot numbers added to the McNeill Tylenol/Motrin recall from last month: http://www.mcneilproductrecall.com/?utm_source=Email-Campaign-TYL_Recall_June_2010&utm_campaign=Email-Campaign-TYL_Recall_June_2010&utm_content=Email-Campaign-TYL_Recall_June_2010-Link1

Pesticides and ADHD:

****Update:  Have read article now and I agree with what is written below.  Study should not lead parents to change their behavior at this point.  The discussion of odds ratios in the press misrepresents the statistics.  While the press says having a ten-fold higher level of pesticide-breakdown products in your urine nearly doubles your risk of having ADHD, statistically the actual possible effect is much lower (around 1-3% increased risk) and  the paper does not address in any way how those children got higher levels (Do kids with ADHD have a behavior that makes them more likely to be exposed to more pesticides, like running/playing outside?).  No causality can be drawn from this study and more research needs to be done. ****

Blogs are very interested in an article to be published in the June edition of Pediatrics magazine which is said to "link" pesticides with ADHD.  Unfortunately, at this time I am unable to read a copy of the actual article myself.  At this point, I have to rely on AP wire and Time magazine interpretations of the article.  My first impression is that while the findings are significant, they IN NO WAY prove a link between ADHD and pesticides.  The study (as I understand it) looked at one-time urine levels of pesticide breakdown products and correlated them with parents’ reports of childrens’ hyperactivity, reported diagnosis of ADHD or "ADHD medication" use.   Studies of this kind are very useful to guide further research in a given direction, but do not actually show a cause and effect relationship. (In research I believe this is called "Confounding by Indication")  This study is also limited by a relatively small size.

We have always known that high levels of pesticides have the potential to cause cancer.  I don't see this paper having a dramatic effect on your grocery shopping plans at this time.  Limiting childhood exposure to pesiticides is a good idea.  Focus on buying certain organic foods and washing fruits and vegitables well.  The overall effect of pesticides on your likelihood of having ADHD is probably pretty small and one of many variables playing a role in ADHD. At this point we could say that there is a very small chance that eating all organic foods and limiting your pesticide exposure “might” decrease your child’s likelihood of developing ADHD.  We will have a full review of the article when it becomes available to be sure that our interpretations are correct.  It will be important to follow this story into the future to see if it does change some of the other ways we use pesticides in our environment, such as treating lawns with permethrin to kill mosquitos.   

As always, we will try to keep you up to date with our interpretations of important information as it becomes available. 

If you read something interesting and have concerns or questions, please feel free to email us through our website http://www.westendpediatrics.com/online/ask-read-once.htm

Article from TIME: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1989564,00.html  

"But the author stresses that her study uncovers only an association, not a direct causal link between pesticide exposure and the developmental condition."

Article from MSNBC which may overstate the significance of the statistics: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37156010/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

****** Interesting aside:   Pesticides are not the only chemicals that scientists have begun to find at high levels in children.  The article below found elevated levels of Polyflourocarbons (PFCs) in children.  ( If this pans outs, I'm going to need to get rid of all those Calphalon pots I got from my wedding registry.  bummer)

From AAP Grand Rounds Nov 2009:  " PFCs, known best for name brands like Teflon, Stainmaster, ScotchGard, Gore-Tex, and Silverstone, are used in a variety of everyday household items. PFCs are very resistant to degradation and have long half-lives. Results of surveillance studies indicate that PFCs are in the blood of almost every American – regardless of age or occupation. PFCs share many of the same properties that have earned chemicals like DDT, PCBs, and dioxin their placement on the United Nations Persistent Organic Pollutant "dirty dozen" list: they defy normal degradation processes and have potential carcinogenic and endocrine disruptor health effects. In animal studies they are linked with both hepatocytic and Leydig cell hypertrophy, and prenatal exposure is associated with poor growth, delayed neurodevelopment, and altered mammary gland development. PFCs have also been shown to bind to cell membrane proteins resulting in altered membrane fluidity and aberrant cell signaling.

Compared with data from a previous study conducted by the same group of investigators, six of the eight PFCs found in every sample in the current study in young children were present in concentrations greater than those found in similarly pooled sera samples from teens and older adults.   PHHxS, a marker for chemicals used in treatment of carpets and textiles, was found in high concentrations in archived house dust samples from 2000 to 2001, 8 and therefore the higher sera concentrations in young children may reflect crawling and increased hand-to-mouth behaviors.

Until more is known about the exposure patterns and potential short- and long-term health effects of PFCs, parents may want to avoid overheating Teflon and other similarly coated cookware which can cause inadvertent release of PFCs into the air and to "opt out" of purchasing "stain-proof" clothing and optional stain-proof coatings on furniture and carpet. Minimizing the intake of food packaged and heated in PFC-coated containers (eg, microwave popcorn) may also help decrease exposures ."

Kato K, Calafat AM, Wong L-Y, et al. Polyfluoroalkyl compounds in pooled sera from children participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2002. Environ Sci Technol. 2009;43(7):2641-2647; doi:10.1021/es803156p

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