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Autism exacts a heavy toll on the families of teens who struggle with the disorder, but the fight to get treatment and services is even harder among minorities who live in poverty, new research suggests. “We must understand that many families parenting teens on the autism spectrum are also struggling to make ends meet while trying to navigate complex systems of care and get the help their children need,” said report author Paul Shattuck. He is program director of the Autism Institute’s Life Outcomes Program at Drexel University in Philadelphia. “We cannot assume that programs developed to help relatively affluent families will work for financially disadvantaged families,” Shattuck said in a university news release. The transition from school to young adulthood can be especially challenging. “Inadequate preparation during the last few years of high school can hinder success on many fronts: physical health and mental health, employment, continued education, friendships and integration into community life,” Shattuck said. The report found that black teens with autism are more likely than other teens with autism to have difficulties in several areas, including communication, self-care, adaptive behaviors and independently getting places outside of the home. “Students do not always receive transition planning, or sometimes it begins too late in high school to allow for adequate preparation,” Shattuck explained. “Community-based help is not always available after high school and… read on >

Think exercise has to be high-intensity to make a difference to your health? Think again. New research shows that even routine housework and gardening can help older women’s hearts. “For older women, any and all movement counts towards better cardiovascular health,” said Dr. David Goff. He’s director of the division of cardiovascular sciences at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), which funded the new research. “When we tell people to move with heart, we mean it, and the supporting evidence keeps growing,” he said in an institute news release. Heart disease remains the leading killer of American women and nearly 68 percent of women aged 60 to 79 have heart disease, according to the NHLBI. The new study was led by Andrea LaCroix, of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Her team tracked the activity of more than 5,800 U.S. women, aged 63 to 97. Each wore a device that measured their movement 24 hours a day for a full week. The researchers then tracked each woman’s heart health over the next five years. The investigators found that even light physical activity — gardening, going for a stroll, folding clothes — appeared to reduce the risk of stroke or heart failure by up to 22 percent, and the risk of heart attack or coronary death by as much as 42 percent.… read on >

(American Heart Association News) — Overweight children may be more likely than normal-weight children to develop life-threatening blood clots as adults, a new Danish study suggests. The good news is, getting to a healthy weight by age 13 eliminated the extra risk. For the study, published Friday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the research team used medical exam records to calculate the annual body mass index of more than 300,000 Danish children ages 7 to 13 born between 1930 and 1989. They then used Denmark’s Civil Registration System to study the same children’s health records as adults. Researchers focused specifically on adult risk for venous thromboembolism, a condition in which a blood clot forms in a deep vein, usually in the leg. If one of these clots travels through the body into the lungs, it can block blood flow and cause a pulmonary embolism, a life-threatening condition. The study is the first to investigate what role childhood obesity might play in the risk for venous thromboembolism as an adult, said the study’s lead author Dr. Jens Sundboll, an epidemiologist at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. “Because more children are becoming heavier at progressively younger ages,” he said, “our results merit focus on helping children to attain and maintain appropriate weight to prevent cardiovascular disease in adulthood.” The study showed that children with… read on >

Think of it as another example of a refined palate. The ability to make speech sounds such as “f” and “v” is due to diet-led changes in humans’ bite, researchers say. The range of speech sounds people can make was generally thought to be fixed since modern humans appeared about 300,000 years ago, but this new study challenges that theory. The findings suggest that sounds such as “f” and “v” — common in many modern languages — are a relatively recent development linked to humans’ eating habits. The teeth of adult humans used to meet in an edge-to-edge bite in order to cope with harder and tougher foods. As softer foods became available, the overbite that had previously disappeared by adulthood remained, with upper teeth slightly in front of lower teeth, the researchers explained. This enabled the emergence of a new class of speech sounds called labiodentals, now used in half of the world’s languages. These sounds are made by touching the lower lip to the upper teeth, as when pronouncing the letter “f.” “In Europe, our data suggests that the use of labiodentals has increased dramatically only in the last couple of millennia, correlated with the rise of food processing technology such as industrial milling,” said study co-first author Steven Moran, a linguist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. “The influence of biological… read on >

Eggs may not be all they’ve been cracked up to be. A new study says eggs are a major source of dietary cholesterol and that cholesterol in the diet ups the risk of heart disease and premature death. The researchers followed nearly 30,000 adults over three decades and found that eating three or four eggs a week was tied to a 6 percent higher risk of heart disease and an 8 percent risk of dying from any cause. “The more cholesterol you consume, the higher your risk of heart disease and dying,” said study senior author Norrina Allen. She’s an associate professor of preventive medicine from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. When the researchers looked at what foods contained a lot of dietary cholesterol, eggs, red meat and processed meats stood out. “We found dietary cholesterol, particularly eggs, had a strong association with cardiovascular disease, especially stroke,” Allen said. The researchers controlled the data to account for other foods in the diet, so while that pile of bacon on your breakfast plate may be a problem, it doesn’t exonerate the eggs. This study did not find a cause-and-effect relationship; it only found an association. And other factors may affect that association. They include the way the eggs were cooked, or changes to peoples’ diets that occurred after the study information was gathered.… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Overeating on a regular basis can lead to weight gain. About 25 percent of adults eat 1,300 calories weekly from food they buy or get free at work, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics says. The academy recommends limiting these workplace snacks: French fries. Pizza. Cookies and brownies. Soft drinks. Potato chips.

You’ll find plenty of nutrient-enriched flavored waters on grocery shelves, but are they any better for your diet than a glass of water with a squeeze of lemon? Many drinks promise health benefits, from more energy and better exercise performance to a stronger immune system. The latest fad is alkaline water, with claims that its manipulated pH has health benefits. But none of the claims of enhanced water products have been substantiated with serious research. In fact, Coca-Cola, parent company of Vitaminwater, voluntarily agreed in 2016 to remove claims from its labels to end a lawsuit brought by the Center for Science in the Public Interest seven years earlier. Drilling down into what’s inside the bottle brings up other concerns. Some products contain unnecessary nutrients. For example, most people who perform average amounts of exercise don’t need to replace electrolytes the way athletes do, and don’t need enhanced “sports” waters and other drinks, but there’s no science to support that either. Other products contain excessive amounts of some nutrients. Among 46 drinks tested in one study, most had at least one nutrient in excess of the daily required amount. Yet other than vitamin D, most Americans aren’t lacking in vitamins, and getting an abundance of certain nutrients can pose health risks. Of greater concern, whether you’re limiting calories to lose weight or want to eat… read on >

No type of bullying is acceptable, but cyberbullying can be harder for parents to spot because it takes place via cellphone, computer or tablet, often through social media. Cyberbullying can be a hateful text message or post of embarrassing pictures, videos and even fake profiles of the victim. Victims are often bullied in person, too, and have a harder time escaping it. But unlike facing a bully at school, cyberbullying can happen 24/7, even when your child is home with you. Messages and images can be posted anonymously and spread in no time. And it can be difficult or even impossible to find the culprit. The consequences of being cyberbullied are far-reaching. Young victims are more likely to use alcohol and drugs, skip school, lose self-esteem and develop health problems. What can parents do? The website Stopbullying.gov recommends being proactive — talk with your kids about cyberbullying, including why they should never bully others, and encourage them to tell you about any incident right away. Friending or following your kids on social media may help you know if they become the victims of unwanted postings. More tips for parents: Teach kids not to share anything that could hurt or embarrass them or others to avoid retaliation. Regularly check your kids’ social network pages to look for signs of bullying behavior, such as mean images of… read on >

Drowning can be swift and silent, making it a leading cause of accidental death among children. To help parents protect their kids in and around the water, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has updated its water safety recommendations. Drowning is the third-leading cause of accidental injury-related death among 5- to 19-year-olds. Nearly 1,000 children in the United States died from drowning in 2017, and 8,700 were seen at hospital emergency departments after a drowning event, according to the AAP. Toddlers and teens are at highest risk. “Drowning is the single leading cause of injury-related death among children ages 1 to 4,” said Dr. Sarah Denny, lead author of the updated policy statement. “Many of these deaths occur when children are not expected to be swimming or when they have unanticipated access to water. Toddlers are naturally curious; that’s why we must implement other strategies, such as pool fencing and door locks,” she added in an AAP news release. But little kids aren’t the only ones at high risk. Nearly 370 young people between 10 and 19 years of age drown each year in the United States. “Adolescents can be overconfident in their swimming abilities and are more likely to combine alcohol use with swimming — compounding their risk significantly. Children of color, especially African American teens, are especially at risk,” Denny said. The policy… read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Burden of Autism in Teens Weighs Heaviest on Minorities, Poor

Even Housework, Gardening Can Help an Older Woman’s Heart

AHA News: Overweight Kids at Higher Risk for Blood Clots as Adults

Human Ancestors’ Diet Led You to Pronounce Your F’s and V’s

Heart-Breaking News for Egg Lovers

Health Tip: Eat Healthier at Work

Are Enhanced Waters Better for Your Health?

How to Keep Your Kids Safe From Cyberbullying

How to Protect Your Kids From Drowning

Burden of Autism in Teens Weighs Heaviest on Minorities, Poor