The CDC (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Office of Women’s Health) recently compiled a list of 10 tips for staying healthy this holiday season.  While all are common sense – wash your hands often, stay warm, manage stress, travel safely, be smoke-free, get check-ups and vaccinations, watch the kids, prevent injuries, handle and prepare food safely, and eat healthy and be active, the list does remind us that even the little things add up to great benefits.  There is something for everyone here from the newlywed who’s preparing the first holiday feast (#9, Handle and Prepare Food Safely) to the senior executive stranded in the airport (#3, Manage Stress).

The site also offers free holiday health e-cards, a holiday health song (set to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas), and a holiday health podcast.  A Spanish version of the holiday tips is available.

Just a week ago, National Public Radio (NPR) announced their list of the 10 best cookbooks of 2009.  Because healthy eating is so critical, it’s nice to have resources that encourage and teach healthy cooking.  While not all of the titles on the list qualify strictly as health food collections, they all contain recipes and instructions that enable the cook/reader to make careful choices.  The best part of this list is that all titles are available (or on order) from the Capital Area District Library. 

They’re listed below (in random order) with a link to the catalog record.  So, bon appetit!

The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones; Asian Dumplings:  Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More, by Andrea Nguyen; Clean Food:  A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source by Terry Walters; Gourmet Today by Ruth Reichl; **Stir:  Mixing it Up in the Italian Tradition by Barbara Lynch; **Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo; **Savory Baking by Mary Cech; **Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day by Peter Reinhart; **The Craft of Baking by Karen Demasco and Mindy Fox; and, Rose’s Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

**on order

The just made it easier for consumers to stay current on the latest information on food and medical product safety and prevention and wellness topics they offer.  In the current Consumer Updates page, they annouce their partnership with Everyday Health, an online health source visited by 30 million unique users each month.  

 The partnership will initially include 2 products: 

www.EverydayHealth.com/FDA

a new co-branded web site which will offer a variety of health information from FDA, including the latest information on food and medical product safety as well as prevention and wellness topics. In the event of breaking public health information, Everyday Health will also feature special “FDA Alert” modules in select locations throughout the site and network, and in e-mail newsletters.

FDA/Everyday Health co-branded weekly newsletter

The latest FDA consumer health information will be sent to subscribers in a weekly Everyday Health newsletter. The newsletter will contain “FDA Alerts” as well as up-to-date information on topics such as drug safety, cosmetics and skin care products, and children’s health products.

                     

Concerned about the ingredients in personal care products you and your family members use?  Have you wished for a reliable resource with which you could check the known risks associated with some products?   The cosmetics database Skin Deep produced by the Environmental Working Group EWG) may be the resource you’ve been looking for; or not, because once you find out what’s really in the products you apply to your skin you may have second thoughts about continuing their use.  EWG’s data gives you practical solutions to protect yourself and your family from the health risks we all face from everyday exposures to myriad industrial chemicals.

EWG  designed and maintains the database “…to use the power of information to protect human health and the environment.”  From their website:

In 2004 we launched Skin Deep, an online safety guide for cosmetics and personal care products. Our aim was to fill in where companies and the government leave off: companies are allowed to use almost any ingredient they wish, and our government doesn’t require companies to test products for safety before they’re sold. EWG’s scientists built Skin Deep to be a one-of-a-kind resource, integrating our in-house collection of personal care product ingredient listings with more than 50 toxicity and regulatory databases.

Now in its fourth year and third major update, our Skin Deep database provides you with easy-to-navigate safety ratings for nearly a quarter of all products on the market — 52,055 products with 8,798 ingredients. At about one million page views per month, Skin Deep is the world’s largest and most popular product safety guide. 

Also from EWG, the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides which addresses food safety.

This from ResearchBuzz: 

Clinical research company Quintiles has launched Clinical Research at http://www.clinicalresearch.com, a Web site that makes it easier to find clinical research.

What you’ll find really depends on what you’re researching — I found one study of thyroid disorders, and that was in the context of breast cancer. When you review the available clinical trial studies please be sure to check the last time they were updated. Of the two autism studies I looked at, one was last updated in 2005. (The other was updated in the last week.)

The front page of the Web site asks you to provide the condition for which you’re searching and a location. If you enter something ambiguous (like “cancer”) the site will suggest topics. The location can be as narrow as a zip code, or a city (Madrid, Spain is one of the examples) or as encompassing as USA.

I did a search for autism in USA. I found 81 global studies but two within 150 miles of my stated point — one in Kansas City and one in Oklahoma City. When you look at the results for your search, you’ll notice that there are many ways to filter your search results — by age, gender, type of study, etc. — if you happen to get more than two search results. Each map pointer has a brief amount of information about the study, but to get more data you’ll have to click on the title of a study, when the map will center on that study and present more context and additional details in a pointer bubble. You’ll also be able to get study contact information  (requires creating a free account), find similar studies, or e-mail the study to a friend. 

Just in time for Halloween, the National Library of Medicine, History of Medicine Department offers insight into Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus through it’s traveling exhibit, Frankenstein:  Penetrating the Secrets of Nature.  Online content includes:  The Birth of Frankenstein; information on the author; The celluloid monster – Hollywood, magazine covers; and Promise & Peril – the search for balance, animal organs in humans.

In September, 2009 the Michigan Attorney General’s office launched the Senior Brigade initiative.  This initiative includes information available 24/7 with dozens of links that can help Michigan seniors and their families make informed decisions regarding healthcare and financial matters. The program also includes information to help protect them from seniors scams and fraud and provides links to veterans affairs resources.

The SeniorBrigade events calendar includes events for seniors around the State of Michigan. The calendar can be browsed by month, or you may search for an event by city, county, location, or title. To view events by category, use the drop-down menu.

The PATH program  – Personal Action Toward Health – is a chronic disease self-management program for anyone with long term health conditions and their family members or caregivers.  In Michigan,  the Diabetes & Other Chronic Disease Section within the Department of Community Health is coordinating participation.  Michigan Partners on the PATH is a 6 week workshop designed to provide strategies and techniques to assist with chronic health problems management.  Workshops are being held in Lansing (Michigan) on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Physicians Health Plan, Lansing; Dawe Auditorium (Washington & Greenlawn); and the Sparrow Professional Building, Lansing. 

Need More Information?  Contact:  Karen McCloskey at 517-335-1236 or mccloskeyk@michigan.gov   Or pick-up a program brochure on the 2nd floor of  the CADL Downtown Lansing Library at 401 S. Capitol. 

Have you got 1 minute for a quick & entertaining lesson on how to avoid catching the H1N1 virus?  Check out this engaging & educational rap video.  The H1N1 Rap was written, composed, produced, and performed by John D. Clarke, MD, FAAFP.  Go to Flu.gov a federal government website managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services for the latest on H1N1.

*Note: this is a repeat of an earlier post which is pertinent now more than ever as everyone struggles to combat the H1N1 virus.   A common thread in all advice about how to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus is to contain sneezes and the germ filled droplets they broadcast. 

Sneezing is what the title of this post refers to and the very clever video,  Why Don’t We Do It In Our Sleeves explains what I mean.  Most people think that covering a sneeze (or cough for that matter) with one’s hand is conscientious, courteous and a sound technique for preventing the spread of germs.  But, as the little video demonstrates, it is far from the best or even preferred method.  Think about it for a minute, you sneeze into your hand and then use that same hand to turn a door knob, pick up the phone, greet a friend with a handshake,  hmmm – well, you get the idea.   What do you think?

Producer OtoRhinoLounsburgology Productions explains:
This five minute video was designed to encourage people to cough and sneeze according to the infection control guidelines put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is aimed at the common citizen. Its message is serious, but it is presented with humor in such a way that it engages the viewer’s attention for a full five minutes while the message is repeated in interesting new ways. It can be enjoyed by individuals, but it is even more fun to watch in groups, resulting in community reinforcement. It has been used in hospitals and schools with great success. It actually makes people change the way they cough and sneeze.

This video was produced with the assistance of three infectious disease doctors, two hospitals, and the Maine Medical Association, to whom the author is grateful. The author, Ben Lounsbury MD, is an Ear, Nose and Throat physician.