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| With thousands of million dollars in annual sales, every day more they try to obtain better health across these pills. But the question is: are they really effective? |
| Food supplements: Do they work? |
Writing / agency
Washington Hispanic
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| The Administration of Drugs and Food (FDA for his acronym in English) regulates these supplements as food and not like medicines. |
The nutritive supplements are defined as a preparation that includes nutrients like vitamins, minerals, greasy acids or amino acids and that think about how to incorporate them into the diet of the persons.
The Administration of Drugs and Food (FDA for his acronym in English) regulates these supplements as food and not like medicines. This detail is important because, of regulating them like medicines, then the federal organism would have to do tests with regard to his efficacy and safety before they go out to the market. At present the FDA makes sure that the content of the supplements should have relation with his labeling.
The current market of the food supplements reaches thousands of million dollars on a global scale, but the fund question is: do they work?
Next we present a list with everything basic that he must know about these supplements and what the scientific studies say on his effectiveness.
Oil of fish, acidic grades Omega-3
Source:
Greasy fish, like the grouper and the mackerel, they contain two of three greasy acids; the third one is in the nuts, the olive oil and the oil of seeds of linseed.
It is said that:
He helps to prepare cardiac problems.
Does it work?
Several studies indicate that the fish oil reduces the cardiac evil. There is no enough information about his role in the control of the cancer, mental problems and the mitigation of the arthritis and the dementia.
Some organizations 3 promote the Omega consumption in certain food or supplements.
The children must not consume capsules of oil of fish.
Reactions:
Minimal or void, but in big doses it can generate hemorrhages, especially if it is used by aspirin and warfarina.
Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and NIH Medline Plus
Oil of Linen
Source:
Linen.
It is said that:
It serves like laxative. Also for the heats of the menopause, pains of the breast, cholesterol, prevention of the cancer.
Does it work?
The linen contains soluble fibre and it is an effective laxative. It has not been demonstrated that serves to prepare cardiac illnesses or cancer. The studies on the heats have given turned out compounds.
Reactions:
It is necessary to take with a lot of water, in the opposite case it can aggravate the cold or, in some cases, provoke intestinal blockade. The linen can reduce the aptitude to absorb oral medicines. It is not necessary to take simultaneously with other medicines or supplements.
Source: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Ginseng
Source:
Root of the Asian or American ginseng, a natural grass of Korea and China. It appears in the shape of pills, capsules, extracts, tea and cream. (The Siberian ginseng or eleuthero is not a real ginseng).
It is said that:
It strengthens the immune system, raises the physical and mental resistance; it reduces the sugar in blood and the blood pressure.
Does it work?
There do not exist forceful proofs that the ginseng is effective for anything. A study suggested that it was relieving the fatigue in cancer patients, but the doctors said that it was too prompt to recommend it. The ginseng used in the study was of the root of American ginseng, of purity verified by the scientists. Some studies suggest that it lowers the blood pressure.
Reactions:
Generally none. It usually produces migraines and gastrointestinal disorders and of the sleep; some reports speak about mammary sensibility, aberration of the menstrual cycle and high pressure, but the products were not analyzed, so that the reactions could owe to another drug or grass in the product.
The ginseng can lower the sugar levels in the blood, so that the diabetics must be cautious, in particular for his interaction with medicines or other grasses.
Source: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Ginkgo, Gingko Biloba
Source:
Sheets of the tree of gingko are used to produce pills, capsules or teas.
It is said that:
It improves the memory, treatment for the dementia or the evil of Alzheimer's disease.
Does it work?
A study of six years with elders discovered that he does not prepare the dementia not the Alzheimer's disease. A study of short term revealed that it does not improve the memory in the persons older than 60 years.
Reactions:
It can increase the hemorrhages risk, so that the persons who take anticoagulants or have hemorrhagic problems, or are in dental surgical treatment they must consult his doctor. There have been brought migraines, morning sickness, stomach disorders, sickness and allergic reactions.
The raw seed of the gingko — not the extract of the sheet — contains a substance that can cause convulsions. The consumption of big quantities of seeds in a lot of time can be fatal.
Source: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Garlic
Source:
Cloves of garlic. Crude oil or stew is consumed, in extracts or dry and reduced to dust or in capsules.
It is said that:
It reduces the cholesterol, prepares cardiac illnesses and the hypertension. He prepares stomach cancers and of colon.
Does it work?
A study financed by the government revealed that it does not affect the cholesterol. Another study on the long-term supplements consumption with garlic base to prepare the stomach cancer did not find any effect. Preliminary investigations reveal that the garlic might delay the hardening of the arteries and reduce the risk of some cancers, but rigorous studies have not been realized.
Reactions:
It does not seem harmful for most of the adults. But it can cause bad breath, corporal smell and stomach disorders. How it usually acts like anticoagulant, it is convenient not to consume it from one week before a surgical operation. It can affect the efficacy of saquinavir, used in the treatment of the VIH. His effect on other medicines has not been studied.
Source: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Glucosamina and Sulfate of condroitina
Source:
The glucosamina generally is extracted from the shells of shrimps, lobsters and crabs. The controitina sulfate comes from the cartilages of sharks and cattle. There are also synthetic laboratory versions.
It is said that:
They relieve the pain of the arthritis, especially in the knees.
Does it work?
They did not give results, although they helped any persons with light pains.
Reactions:
Minims. A light stomach discomfort.
Source: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Echinacea
Source:
Purple Echinacea.
It is said that:
Principally to treat or to prepare the cold
Does it work?
Two studies of the government found that it was not effective to treat the cold either in children or in adults. Other studies hint that it has some benefits, and the chief of the institute of American alternative medicine wants new studies.
Reactions:
Generally none, but it can provoke stomach problems, hives, asthma. It can provoke reactions in persons allergic to the ambrosia.
| The FDA will supervise commercialization of the tobacco |
| Eye with the new regulations to the cigaret |
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| Olivia Carter-Pokras, PhD. photo: Felipe Lagos/WH. |
For Andrea Alemañy
Washington Hispanic
The Administration of Drugs and Food (FDA, for his initials in English) regulates many of the food and medicines that we consume every day. It is difficult to believe that the government agency was not regulating the tobacco products. Till now.
In June, the President Barack Obama approved a legislation so that the FDA has the aptitude to regulate even certain level the tobacco industry. With the new law, the companies of tobacco cannot change the ingredients of the cigarets without indicating him to the government agency and have to indicate clearly the risks of health that the person covers on having smoked. Of equal form, now it is prohibited to promote the products to young people (four thousand persons prove it every day for the first time, according to the American Association for the Public Health). Also, beginning in October, the sale of cigarets with flavors, such as chocolate and vanilla (which it attracts the children), it will be prohibited.
Still with the new amendments, in important stressing that no type of tobacco product is healthy. They all, with the regulations of the FDA, are still harmful, indicates the Dra. Olivia Carter-Pokras, teacher of the department of epidemología and biostatistics of the University of Maryland.
Carter-Pokras recommends the persons to stop smoking. Not only for the individual health and of the family, if not also for the economic load of the vice. “We are in an economic crisis. Smoking is the most expensive”, says Carter-Pokras. “There are so many other things that we can do with our money.”
The Hispanics can obtain help calling the Latin American Health Initiative to 240-777-3221 or to 1-800-QUIT-NOW or can use the patches and chewing gums of nicotine that are easy to manage in the drugstores and that the doctor indicates that it has very good results.
| To his health |
| Adolescent daughters and the Pregnancy |
For Maria Gomez
the Mary's center president
One of the topics more appellants in the news about this year, it was that of the increase of pregnancies in the Latin young people, which must worry all of us like community, since we are heading the list of this phenomenon with our adolescent population.
Sadly in Mary's Center we have had and keep on having frequent cases of adolescent young people, beginning from ages as early as 11 and 12 years. An age in which no girl, for more mature that it is, is prepared physically, mentally and psychologically for the arrival of a baby to his life. No father is prepared for this event either that most of the times will relapse into his hands.
As parents we must question our role in this phenomenon and wonder what we are doing and what can do to help to lower these numbers between our population and how to prevent this situation from presenting before itself in our hearths.
Although our responsibilities to extract forward our families imply arduous working time and sacrifice, we must not be careless in the attention and education of our children because the consequences hit in the eye.
As mother of an adolescent and like part of this community, what less I want is that our hearths do part of these statistics. Nevertheless, the numbers keep on rising and our commitment must be stronger.
The communication with our children since they are born is one of the keys to establish an ambience of confidence and friendship with them. Not because they should be small, we must wait further on to inculcate certain values and behaviors since often they are more intelligent than we and understand the messages more quickly.
Let's lose the fear of the word ‘sex education‘ since otherwise we are going to refuse to a latent reality in this society and it is that the young people every time is more awake from earlier age and if we do not educate them in these topics, the curiosity can lead them to committing errors.
Let's speak without mufflers of the methods of prevention of pregnancy and if we prune, mostrémoselos like part of an educational activity that if they do not learn it at home, they are going to learn on the outside, running the risk that they learn the wrong lesson.
Many of the cases that we see every day in our Center, have taught us that for simple absence of information, the girls did not look after and did not measure the risks before remaining pregnant women.
Although the ideal thing is that our adolescent daughters do not enter an early sexual activity, it is important to provide this information to them on time, to avoid unfortunate consequences.
Let's speak to them with the reality of what it would imply for them having a son at early age. They are in the stage of wanting to go out, dance, to travel and to amuse themselves and a pregnancy would be only an obstacle. It is important to make clear to them that the responsibility will belong to them and not to you and that many of his future projects will remain pendent. Although it sounds cruelly, it is necessary to speak to them with crudeness on this topic so that they understand the gravity of this situation.
Finally, let's bear in mind that the example that we give them at home is essential for his future. Remember that the children are the mirror and the reflex of his hearth. They repeat the pattern of what they see in his house and of what his parents do. Let's speak with them on the consequences of his actions and the importance of trusting in you and for that, it is necessary to achieve an ambience of sincerity and confidence from children.
As community that has stood out for his rooting and familiar union, let's put our sand granite so that the future of our adolescents does not turn out to be darkened by a not planned pregnancy; on the contrary, that turns out to be illuminated by a determination to prepare itself professionally and that when it is the moment, plan the arrival of a wished son.
| Actuality |
| Contamination affects intellectual children coefficient |
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| The pollutants affect the future of the fetus. photo: AP. |
Agencies
aP
The exhibition to the air pollution before the birth can reverberate in the low indexes of intellectual coefficient in the infancy, according to the conclusions of a group of investigators who for the first time associate two factors and reinforce the evidence of which the "smog" is capable of injuring to the brain in development.
The result is in a study of 249 women's children of the city of New York that in rucksacks carried monitors of the quality of the air for 48 hours in the last months of pregnancy.
The women were living in the local communities of the north of Manhattan and the south of the Bronx, inhabited mostly by persons with low income. They had diverse exhibition levels to the typical forms of urban air pollution, principally of the gases expelled by motorcars, buses and trucks.
Five years after age, before beginning the studies, the children happened for tests of Intellectual Coefficient. Those who were at the biggest contamination levels had in average four or five points less than the children with a minor exhibition.
This is a big difference that it allows to see that this situation might affect the infantile performance in the school, said Frederica Perera, the principal authoress of the study and director of the Center Columbia of Environmental Health of the Children.
The pediatrician Michael Msall, who works in the University of Chicago and who did not take part in the investigation, thought that the study does not mean that the children taken root in congested cities "are not going to learn to read, write and spell".
Nevertheless, the study hints that it is not necessary to live next to a smoky factory and to face risks in the health for the contamination and that there can be more dangers in the typical contamination of the air in the cities of those that earlier one believed, it clarified.
" Every time we know more of the exhibition to low concentrations and how the things that we give made cannot be completely calm", he said.
Although other investigations are needed to confirm the new results, the results hint that the exhibition before the childbearing can have the same aftermath to the air pollution in the brain in growth that the exhibition to the lead, there warned Patrick Breysse, specialist in environmental health of the school of public health John Hopkins.
Together with other environmental damages and the disadvantages to that the children are exhibited in families of low income, the results might tell why they usually have more bad academic results that his pairs of wealthy families, Breysse indicated.
" This is a deep observation", he said. "This document is going to open many eyes".
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