Lifestyle « Weekly Gravy

There have been good and bad changes to U.S. children’s diets during the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers say. “Providing healthy meals and snacks to our kids can be a challenge even when we’re not experiencing a pandemic,” said senior study author Susan Carnell. She’s an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore. “The pandemic has massively disrupted families and caused a lot of stress, and this has naturally affected interactions around food,” Carnell said in a school news release. To find out how the pandemic is affecting children’s diets, the Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers surveyed 318 parents of children aged 2 to 12 across the United States. Parents who reported higher levels of stress due to the pandemic were more likely to use food to manage children’s emotions and behaviors. For example, they might use less healthy food and snacks, such as cookies, to reward their children, the study found. Stress specifically related to COVID-19 among parents was also associated with children eating more sweet and savory snacks throughout the day. But the survey also revealed some positive trends. For example, 75% of respondents said their children had regular breakfast, lunch and dinner times. The researchers also found an association between lower stress levels, consistent mealtimes and routines, and positive food-related interactions, such as parents eating… read on > read on >

Consuming greater amounts of certain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish may reduce the risk of asthma in kids — but only those with a common gene variant, British researchers say. They focused on the long chain omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which are known to have anti-inflammatory properties. “Asthma is the most common chronic condition in childhood and we currently don’t know how to prevent it,” said study senior author Seif Shaheen, of Queen Mary University of London. “It is possible that a poor diet may increase the risk of developing asthma, but until now most studies have taken ‘snapshots’, measuring diet and asthma over a short period of time,” he said in a university news release. To find out if intake of omega-3s might matter, the researchers analyzed data on more than 4,500 Britons who were born in the 1990s and whose health has been tracked since birth. The researchers analyzed the association between intake of EPA and DHA from fish at 7 years of age and rates of newly diagnosed asthma in these kids as they reached 11 to 14 years of age. Overall, omega-3 intake from fish was not associated with asthma onset. But it did seem tied to a lower odds for asthma in a subgroup of children with a particular genetic makeup. The DNA… read on > read on >

Dry and chapped lips are common during the winter, but there are a number of things you can do to protect them, an expert says. “Cold, dry weather; sun damage; and frequently licking your lips are just some of the reasons your lips might feel dry and chapped this winter,” dermatologist Dr. Noëlle Sherber said in an American Academy of Dermatology news release. “Understanding these causes and anything else that might trigger your chapped lips goes a long way in preventing and treating them.” Sherber offered the following advice on preventing and treating dry, chapped lips: Use non-irritating lip products. Stick to lip balms, lipsticks and other lip products that contain ingredients like castor seed oil, ceramides, dimethicone or mineral oil. Choose products that are labeled “fragrance-free” and “hypoallergenic.” Avoid harsh ingredients. Camphor, menthol or eucalyptus can irritate your lips. If your lips burn, sting or tingle after using a lip product, stop using it. Refresh often. Apply your lip balm throughout the day and before you go to bed. If your lips are very dry and cracked, use a thick ointment, such as petroleum jelly. Ointment seals in moisture longer than waxes or oils. Protect your lips outdoors. Before going outside, apply a lip balm with an SPF of 30 or higher. Use a lip balm with titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide and reapply… read on > read on >

Heart surgery can be stressful, but researchers may have found a way to reduce patients’ anxiety and postoperative pain — without any extra side effects. A team from the Netherlands found that the simple act of listening to music around the time of surgery may help patients as they recover. “This is a fascinating question for heart surgeons because we perform the most invasive procedures that require opening the chest, stopping the heart, using a heart-lung machine while we fix the heart, and then allowing the patient to return to life again,” said Dr. Harold Fernandez, a U.S. cardiac surgeon unconnected to the new study. “Undoubtedly, there is a significant amount of both anxiety and pain associated with these procedures,” said Fernandez, who is chief of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at Northwell Health’s Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. In the new research, published Jan. 25 in the online journal Open Heart, the Dutch team analyzed data from 16 studies looking at the effect of music on post-op care. The studies included almost 1,000 patients, and about 90% of the procedures involved coronary artery bypass grafts and/or heart valve replacement. A majority of the time the type of music used was relaxing and did not have strong rhythms or percussion, the researchers noted. The choice of music varied; sometimes it was from the… read on > read on >