This Week In Wellness

TWIW 20: Australian research unreliable

This Week In Wellness the team of science writers behind Retraction Watch has put together a database of unreliable scientific research in Australia and 247 research papers published by Australian scientists (including some of Australia’s most reputable Universities) to be compromised.
“The public should be concerned. Almost 250 [papers], that’s a number that many people would find unconscionably high,” said Professor Simon Gandevia, deputy director of Neuroscience Research Australia.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/bad-science-australian-studies-found-to-be-unreliable-compromised-20190719-p528ql.html
https://retractionwatch.com/category/by-country/australia-retractions/
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TWIW 19: Barefoot may be better for kids

This Week In Wellness a new study reveals children who are habitually barefoot between the ages of 6-10 show significantly better motor skills including better balance and jumping skills.
Shout out to Dr Jacey Pryjma from the Australian Children’s Chiropractic centre for bringing this research to my attention.
Published in Frontiers in Pediatrics, this is the first study to assess the relevance of growing up shod vs. barefoot on jumping, balancing and sprinting and shows that children and adolescents who spend most of their time barefoot develop motor skills differently from those who habitually wear shoes.
https://neurosciencenews.com/motor-skill-footwear-9552/
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2018.00115/full
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TWIW 18: Collagen as effective as sutures

This Week In Wellness topical collagen powder may be just as effective as sutures for healing skin biopsy wounds according to a study published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology by a team of physician researchers at the George Washington University.
In a comparison that included rate of healing, the quality of the wound healing, symptoms and also the early cosmetic outcomes the topical application of collagen powder onto the wounds the collagen powder proved to be just as effective in this small sample size.
Collagen powder has been a popular supplement used in recent times for gut healing when taken orally due to it’s important structural role in the skin, gut lining and other organs however it also plays an important role as a signal molecule in wound healing. This helps to stop bleeding, stimulate the immune system and stimulate new blood vessel formation and importantly does so without causing irritation or increasing the risk of infection.
“During normal wound healing, collagen acts as a scaffold for cellular entry and growth in the wound bed and encourages the deposition of new collagen,” said Adam Friedman, MD, interim chair of the Department of Dermatology at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences and an author on the study. “While collagen has been used as a wound healing adjuvant, a good comparison to the standard of wound care has been lacking.”
“Given the cost and time to place and remove sutures and the potential reimbursement for collagen, using topical collagen powder for punch biopsy wounds may be easier on the patient, not requiring an additional visit for suture removal and yielding an equivalent or possibly better wound healing outcome,” Friedman said.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190708140044.htm
https://jddonline.com/articles/dermatology/S1545961619P0667X/1/
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TWIW 17: Fructose, trans fats and your liver

This Week In Wellness high fructose corn syrup combined with trans fats has been shown to induce nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (advanced inflammatory fatty liver disease) in rodents. 
The incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is rising rapidly and much of the blame has been laid on fat. However the impact of high fructose corn syrup and also the type of fats being consumed may have been overlooked in this picture according to a new study published in the European Journal of Nutrition. 
http://healthimpactnews.com/2017/study-vegetable-oil-contribute-to-fatty-liver-disease-saturated-fats-do-not/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28676973
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TWIW 16: Nature Heals

Spending time in nature may be enough to help you feel healthier and happier. In what seems like one of the most common sense studies ever a study published in Nature, analysed over 20,000 people in England and their self reported health and wellbeing. It showed that any time in nature leads to benefits, and that the benefits to health and wellbeing seemed to peak at 200-300 minutes and showed no additional benefit thereafter.
Whilst the health benefits of nature have been long known this appears to be the first time that it has been quantified in the research, telling us exactly how much may be beneficial and the good news is that it isn’t a huge amount of time.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2206249-two-hours-a-week-spent-outdoors-in-nature-linked-with-better-health
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44097-3
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TWIW 15: The bacteria helping to build your baby

This Week In Wellness a mother’s womb may not be as sterile as we were lead to believe. Researchers from the University of Western Australia have found that the majority of babies are exposed to bacteria in the womb and have even postulated that these bacteria may play an important role in development.
Lead author Lisa Stinson says that “Over the last decade, numerous studies have detected bacterial DNA in amniotic fluid and first-pass meconium [baby’s first poop], challenging the long-held assumption that the womb is sterile,” In this study Published in Frontiers in Microbiology her team carefully collected amniotic fluid samples from 50 healthy women undergoing planned caesarean deliveries, and found that nearly all (36/43 viable samples) contained bacterial DNA, despite none of the women or babies having any signs of infection. What’s more, all 50 newborns had bacteria in their first poop. The researchers concluded that this ‘fetal microbiome’ would likely have a significant impact on the developing immune system, gut, and brain.
https://blog.frontiersin.org/2019/06/05/microbiology-fetal-microbiome-womb-bacteria/?utm_source=ad&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=ba_sci_fmicb
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.01124/full
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TWIW 14: Could cinnamon oil could be the key to preventing super bugs

This Week In Wellness research conducted by Dr. Sanjida Halim Topa with colleagues at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has shown that a major component of cinnamon essential oil could be the answer to control the dispersion of superbugs and the development of their biofilm.
As antibiotics become less and less effective against superbugs, there is an urgent need to develop alternatives to antibiotics to treat chronic biofilm-mediated infections and researchers are re-examining some traditional methods of bacterial control.
https://phys.org/news/2018-07-cinnamon-oil-key-superbugs.amp
https://mic.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000692
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TWIW 13: ACA President calls for public support

This Week In Wellness the Australian Chiropractors Association President Dr Anthony Coxon is calling for Australian Chiropractors, health professionals and members of the public to make sure that their views are heard on the topic of Chiropractic care for kids. He encourages them to head to the link attached in the show notes and fill in the survey linked to the review.
He says that political decisions based on the findings of a review being conducted by Safer Care Victoria could have detrimental effects on the way chiropractors currently practice here in Australia, potentially limiting their ability to treat children under 12.
He goes on to say that a strong community response will provide a crucial backdrop to the review’s findings and will help highlight the important role chiropractors play in the paediatric care of thousands of children across Australia.
www.chiro.org.au/important-message-from-aca-president/
Link to the review >>>> engage.vic.gov.au/chiropractic-spinal-care-children-review
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TWIW 12: Food producers “gaming” the health star rating system

This Week In Wellness Australia and New Zealand’s health star food rating system has been criticised by Public health researchers and lawyers from the George Institute for Global Health because salty, sugary and fatty products are scoring too highly as producers are accused of “gaming the system”. With the Institute’s public health lawyer, Alexandra Jones stating the system should be based on science not vested interests.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1753-6405.12908
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/30/unhealthy-products-are-gaming-flawed-health-star-food-rating-study-finds
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TWIW 11: Broccoli may reduce your cancer risk

This Week In Wellness in validation of mums and dads all over the world, broccoli has been shown to inactivate genes that play an important role in cancer development.
It has been known for some time that cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli cauliflower, cabbage, collard greens, Brussels sprouts and kale have decreased the risk of cancers however recent research published in Science may give us an indication just how it does it.
Researchers, led by Pier Paolo Pandolfi, the Director of the Cancer Center and Cancer Research Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, showed that targeting the gene, known as WWP1, with the ingredient found in broccoli suppressed tumor growth in cancer-prone lab animals.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190516142913.htm
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aau0159
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cancer-fighting-foods#section1
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TWIW 10: Screen time hurts teens sleep and health

This week in wellness 56 percent of parents of teens with sleep troubles believe this use of electronics is hurting their child’s ability to get to sleep and stay asleep.
The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll (conducted by the Children’s Health Department at the University of Michigan) took responses from a nationally representative household survey of 1,018 parents with at least one child 13-18 years old. Forty-three percent of parents reporting that their teen struggles to fall asleep or wakes up and can’t get back to sleep.
Not being able to stay off electronics — including social media and mobile phones — was the top reason parents cited for sleep disturbance. Other reasons included homework, worries about school, and concerns about their social life, in that order.
https://mottpoll.org/reports/when-teens-cant-sleep
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180917082431.htm
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TWIW 9: An integrative approach may help reduce the Opioid crisis

This week in wellness an integrative approach may help to decrease the pain and usage in prescription opioid users. With the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) stating that the number of deaths in Australia involving opioids has nearly doubled in the decade to 2016, from 591 to 1119 and AIHW spokesperson Dr Lynelle Moon stating that “Every day in Australia, there are nearly 150 hospitalisations and 14 presentations to emergency departments involving opioid harm, and three people [a day] die from … opioid use,” this is welcome news for an urgent problem.
The study, published Feb. 20, 2019, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, tracked the impact of a program for low-income, at-risk patients with chronic pain at Tom Waddell Urban Health Clinic, in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. They were offered group support, acupuncture, mindfulness, massage and gentle exercise with the aim of preventing the progression into drug misuse, overdose and ultimately death. 
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190220133629.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30783878
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/illicit-use-of-drugs/opioid-harm-in-australia/contents/table-of-contents
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2685622
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