Bacteria. Most of the current generation of parents have been dosed – and dosed their children – with antibiotics designed to kill these single-celled microorganisms, and have scrubbed everything from kids to kitchen counters with soaps intended to wipe them out.

Those echoes from the early 1980s about “friendly bacteria,” a type our bodies actually need, hadn’t yet taken hold. But today “probiotics” have gone from the fringe to the front shelves of health food stores, and even your local grocery. (Pictured above is Lactobacillus acidophilus from SciMAT/Photoresearchers Inc.) Learn more about the benefits of probiotics, and how to choose quality products …

Everyone make it through the holidays intact? Back to healthy eating, regular exercise, and a good night’s sleep (except for New Year’s Eve, of course)? Excellent! Here’s some news you can use:

FDA Warns About Tainted Weight Loss Pills

First off, if you’ve overindulged and want to shed a few pounds, do it the old-fashioned way. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning that more than 25 different weight loss drugs currently on the market contain dangerous ingredients not listed on the labels. Among these ingredients is sibutramine, a controlled substance that can cause high blood pressure, seizures, heart attack and stroke. Rimonabant, a drug approved in Europe but not in the U.S., is also found in some of these pills, and has been associated with five deaths and 720 dangerous reactions during the past two years in Europe. Also part of the cocktail: phenytoin, an anti-seizure medication; and phenolphthalein, a suspected cancer causing agent. Learn more … 

L.A. Local: Nutrition For Conception

If you live in the Los Angeles area and are hoping your new year will include a new baby, you might be interested in an upcoming lecture by nutritional and wellness consultant Haylie Pomroy. She’ll be talking about her book, Craving Conception, at 1 p.m. Jan. 21 at InnerMovement Wellness Center, 1218 E. Broadway, Glendale, CA. The book includes quizzes, shopping lists, menus, plus a “power cleanse” designed to get your body ready to conceive. Seats are $10, and can be reserved by phone at 818-849-1300.

Pediatrics Bashes Alternative Vaccine Schedules

Planning a visit to the pediatrician soon? Here’s food for thought: Parents worried that vaccinations (kids currently receive 26 vaccine shots by age 2) are turning their children into pincushions, or concerned about the still-simmering controversy that vaccines cause health problems have increasingly been taking refuge in alternative schedules described in The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision For Your Child by Dr. Robert Sears, son of renowned pediatrician William Sears. But an article in Pediatrics takes those schedules, and Sears’ book, to task, claiming that “Sears’ misrepresentation of vaccine science misinforms parents trying to make the right decisions for their children.” The authors worry that following Sears’ schedules will decrease vaccination rates, or at least increase the time during which kids are vulnerable to vaccine-preventable illness. Learn more …                          Read Dr. Sears’ response …

FDA Warns of Suicide Risk With Antiepileptic Drugs

Antiepileptic drugs – used to treat psychiatric disorders, migraine headaches and epilepsy – will now be prescribed with a warning that their use can increase risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced. The agency advises that people being treated with these drugs be monitored for depression, suicidal thoughts or behavior, or any other changes in behavior. In clinical trials, patients receiving these drugs had almost twice the risk of suicidal behavior or thoughts as did patients receiving a placebo, but the biological reasons for this haven’t yet been uncovered. Learn more … 

If there was an earthquake while your child was at school, would she remember your cell phone number? How about Dad’s number at work? What if her own sparkly pink cell phone – with these numbers in the address book – was left behind or damaged?

Or maybe your child is one of the 326,000 in the U.S. living with epilepsy, the more than 4 million who had an asthma attack last year, or as many as 3 million with type 1 diabetes. Would he know what to tell his teachers or a paramedic about his condition?

The answer could be as simple as a little new bling.

Camper Alert child safety bracelets ($19.95, www.hopepaige.com), for instance, let parents hide phone numbers and other important information under a metal tab. They look like those trendy rubber bracelets kids love, come in lots of bright colors, and are sturdy enough to handle kid-level wear and tear. And they’re great for field trips, theme parks, and summer camp because they stay right with your child.

For $5, you can have the company engrave two lines of text or numbers, 20 characters each, on the back of the metal tab. That keeps your info out of the public eye, but handy if your child (or a teacher or emergency personnel) needs it.

And for kids with medical conditions, there’s Lauren’s Hope medical I.D. jewelry ($39.95-$169.95, www.LaurensHope.com), which allows kids to choose anything from waterproof sports bands to ankle bracelets, stone and charm bracelets or even guitar pick necklaces. They’re a much cooler twist on the traditional MedicAlert bracelet, but still offer tags engraved with all the pertinent info.

Two fun ways to make sure all the needed information is on hand in an emergency.

– Christina Elston

Holiday Myths Debunked

For the Christmas issue of BMJ, published online Dec. 18, researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine decided to look into a few commonly held beliefs that seem to go along with the season. Studies, they say, have proven the following false:

• Suicide rates are higher during the holidays.
• Poinsettias are toxic if eaten. (But they aren’t tasty.)
• Hangovers are curable. (So moderation, moderation, moderation.)
• Sugar makes children hyperactive.
• You lose most of your body heat through your head.
• Eating at night makes you fat. (Not as long as you stick within your normal calorie total.) Learn more …

Stay Out of the ER This Season

The nice folks at the American College of Emergency Physicians offer the following tips to help keep you from clogging up their emergency departments during the holidays. Note: 11,000 people in the U.S. are treated in those emergency departments for decoration-related injuries each year. And that’s far from the only holiday hazard. On to the tips:

• Be responsible when consuming alcohol. Especially don’t drink and drive.
• Be careful opening gifts with sharp objects.
• Watch those leftovers. Refrigerate promptly after meals to avoid bacterial food poisoning.
• Use proper-sized ladders for outdoor decorations, and work with a helper.
• Make sure Christmas trees and holiday decorations are secure and sturdy. Learn more … 

CDC Says Tamiflu May Not Help This Season

Didn’t get your flu shot this year? You need to know two things: First, it isn’t too late. And second, if you’re counting on Tamiflu, a leading flu medicine, to help if you get sick, you might be out of luck. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported last week that the medication might not be a good match for the most prevalent strain that seems to be circulating this season. The flu vaccine, however, seems to be a good match this year, the agency reports. An online survey conducted by RAND Corporation in November found that just 30 percent of adults had gotten a flu shot this year. It’s recommended for adults over 50, kids ages 6 months to 18 years, and folks with certain medical conditions. And it’s worth considering. Learn more … 

– Christina Elston

Years ago, when I was all but flattened by a raging sinus infection, a doctor named Lorber offered the following advice:

Mix up an 8-ounce glass of warm water and a half-teaspoon of salt. With a bulb syringe (the kind you use to clean out a baby’s nose), squirt it in one nostril and let it run out the other. Do that every four hours or so.

I was desperate, so I tried it. And by the end of the day I could actually breathe. It was unpleasant and pretty gross. And messy, because I had to tip sideways, keeping one nostril over the sink while squirting the water into the other. But for years whenever I got a cold I would stand with lots of towels at the ready and faithfully flush my sinuses. Read on …

Ovary Transplant Restores Fertility

Doctors from the Infertility Center of St. Louis have transplanted the intact ovary of a 38-year-old woman into her identical twin sister, who experienced premature menopause at age 15. And that woman gave birth to a baby in November, the New England Journal of Medicine reported. Dr. Sherman Silber, who led the transplant team, said the technique could one day help preserve fertility for young cancer survivors, and even for women who decide to delay childbearing. Learn more … 

IVF Over – But Then What?

Once a woman is finished with in-vitro fertilization attempts, whether she becomes pregnant or not, she almost always has frozen embryos left over. And a Duke University survey of more than 1,000 women found that decisions about what to do with them can be as complicated and painful as the infertility itself. Options are few: thaw and dispose of them, donate them to other women, give them to researchers, or leave them frozen indefinitely. The majority of women in the survey, published online in Fertility and Sterility, didn’t care for any of those. They preferred the idea of either inserting the embryos into their bodies at a time when they were unlikely to become pregnant and letting nature take its course, or having some sort of disposal ceremony. But those options aren’t commonly offered. Learn more …

The Pill Effective Against Endometriosis Pain

Good old low-dose oral contraceptives can really reduce the pain associated with endometriosis – a condition where uterine tissue grows outside the uterus, which affects more than 5.5 million women in North America (an estimated 2-10%). That was the conclusion of Japanese researchers reporting in the November issue of Fertility and Sterility. They divided 100 women with endometriosis into two groups. One received the pill, and the other took placebos, but both were allowed their usual pain medications. The group treated with oral contraceptives reported less pain overall, and saw significant reduction in the amount of endometrial tissue growing outside the uterus. Learn more about endometriosis … 

– Christina Elston

The “batten down the hatches” feeling in the air these days tends to focus on the financial, but we still need to be ready for other types of crisis. The new year is a good time to take stock of how well you’re prepared – and how well you’ve prepared your kids – for disasters that strike outside Wall Street.

As director of the Disaster Preparedness Project at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Dr. Jeffrey Upperman participated in the Great Southern California Shake Out Nov. 13. The drill was a learning experience for thousands, and followed this summer’s wildfires as a new experience for Upperman. “Being an East Coast guy, I did not realize that fire was a season,” he jokes.

But Upperman takes disaster preparedness seriously, and has these tips for families: Read Upperman’s tips …

Wash Up!

The CDC estimates that as many as 80% of all infections are transmitted by the hands, and few people wash as well as they should. This video will clue you in to the proper technique.

The Family That Skips Meals Together …

Is likely to get fat together, according to a new study from Pennsylvania State University. Obesity does tend to run in families, but causes go beyond genetics, the study of 5,000 people found. The biggest familial factor in whether an adolescent was obese appeared to be having a family that frequently missed meals – which leads to overeating later. Another factor: the amount of time the family screen (TV or video game) time. To buck this trend, experts suggest developing healthier family patterns, such as regular family meals, and maybe taking a walk together after dinner.

Common Nausea Drug Linked With Post-Op Bleeding in Tonsillectomy

One of the most common complications among the 186,000 children who have their tonsils taken out in the U.S. each year is PONV (that’s “postoperative nausea and vomiting”). And one of the most widely used ways to prevent this complication is a steroid medication called dexamethasone. But a study reported in the Dec. 10 issue of JAMA found that it was associated with a nearly sevenfold increase in the risk of postoperative bleeding. Eight of the 215 children in the study needed emergency re-operation because of the bleeding, and the trial was stopped early for safety reasons. The authors recommend that use of the drug be avoided in kids undergoing tonsillectomy until further research is conducted. Learn more … 

– Christina Elston

My husband takes a daily dose of calcium to ward off bone loss, and beyond the occasional hit of vitamin C if he’s feeling sniffly, that’s about all I can convince him to do. And he could be right.

Two new studies show that for men, healthy living is sometimes much more worthwhile than taking a supplement.

The first, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed that vitamins E and C didn’t reduce risk of heart disease in men. “Our trial, perhaps surprisingly, showed that there seems to be no benefit derived from taking these supplements,” says Howard Sesson of Brigham and Women’s hospital, who led the study of more than 14,000 men over age 50.

The second, also reported in JAMA, concluded that selenium and vitamin E – even when taken for 5 ½ years, didn’t prevent prostate cancer. That study, out of the Univeristy of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic, followed more than 35,000 men and found no benefit from taking Vitamin E, selenium, or both combined.

Few preventive measures against prostate cancer have been proven, though the benefits of a low-fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables are being studied, and high dietary levels of dairy products and calcium are thought by some to increase risk. But in terms of heart disease, preventive measures are clear. Don’t smoke, exercise, stay slim and eat right.

Learn more about prostate cancer … 

Learn more about cardiovascular disease … 

– Christina Elston