The Flu Shot: It’s Not Just for Kids
The following post first ran on Huffington Post Healthy Living on September 23 and can be accessed here. The author is Liliana Losada Brown, PhD, Associate Director, Scientific Programs at the Society for Women’s Health Research.
Think back to the last time you got a shot. Did the doctor cover the wound with a cartoon character-printed bandage and treat you to a lollipop? If so, you are way overdue for a flu shot — but that’s OK, we all are! Adults, children, pregnant women — everyone! –older than six months should get a flu shot every year.
We all know the flu: the serious, contagious respira...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - September 28, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Men's Health Publc Health Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Disruptive Innovation in Childbirth Care
In considering what to write for Disruptive Women in Health Care, I couldn’t stop thinking about the idea of disruption juxtaposed with the experience of birth and the US maternity care system.
In the context of maternity care, the concept of “disruption” hints at intriguingly different possible meanings: the consequences of a newborn entering a family, disruption during the childbirth process, or the urgent need for disruptive innovation in maternity care.
Birth itself is an absolute disruption of the status quo. Birth can be tumultuous, even when it is a joyous occasion. It is a turning point, beyond which things a...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - September 16, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Access Childbirth Innovation Source Type: blogs
Pregnant in Prison: Maternity Care for Incarcerated Women
When thinking about maternal health access, one group of women are often forgotten, even silenced – incarcerated women. According to the two part TV series “Babies Behind Bars,” the number of women in US prisons has climbed 400% over the past 30 years. It is estimated that the majority of these women are in jail for non-violent crimes. Each year, 6-10% of all incarcerated women are pregnant.
Adequate maternal care for inmates has multiple components. Do they have access to prenatal care? Are they allowed more food? If they sleep on a top bunk can they be moved to a bottom bunk? Is access to mental health servi...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - September 11, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Access Advocacy Childbirth Children Choice Source Type: blogs
September Man of the Month: Dr. Neel Shah
September’s Man of the Month is Dr. Neel Shah. Dr. Shah gave us permission to crosspost his article below which was first published in June on The Conversation. Dr. Shah was also recently featured in this Boston Globe article. In the article below he makes the argument that giving birth outside a hospital with a midwife could be safer and cheaper for many American women.
Are hospitals the safest place for healthy women to have babies? An obstetrician thinks twice
There is a good chance that your grandparents were born at home. I am going to go ahead and assume they turned out fine, or at least fine enough, since yo...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - September 10, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Childbirth Choice Man of the Month Quality Source Type: blogs
Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice Series Overview
Each day there are approximately 353,000 babies born globally, according to UNICEF. America is actually lagging behind most industrialized countries in its maternal health quality indicators. Why is it that despite America’s high medical standards, the maternal death rate appears to be rising? While 99% of maternal death occurs in the developing world, September 2010 data ranks the US 50th in the world for maternal death.
In measuring maternal health there are multiple factors to consider: maternal death rates, infant death rates, perceived experiences of care, cost of care, and more. While statistics and numbers are imp...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - September 8, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Childbirth Children Parenting Source Type: blogs
Galacto-oligosaccharide: an extra special prebiotic?
In this study, a somewhat different form of GOS, a trans form, was used.)
GOS, 4 grams twice per day (total 8 grams per day), given to adults over 50 substantially increased the numbers of bifidobacteria: Walton 2012.
GOS, 2.5 grams three times per day (total 7.5 grams per day) partially mitigated the adverse effects of the antibiotic, amoxicillin, on bifidobacteria populations: Ladirat 2014.
GOS 5 to 10 grams per day, but not 2.5 grams per day, increased bifidobacteria populations: Davis 2014.
In an experimental mouse model of colitis, GOS dramatically reduced colon inflammation and increased bifidobacteria populations: G...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - September 5, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle bowel flora gluten grains microbiota Source Type: blogs
Narrative Matters: On Our Reading List
Editor’s Note: “Narrative Matters: On Our Reading List” is a monthly roundup where we share some of the most compelling health care narratives driving the news and conversation in recent weeks.
The Egg Taboo
Even with advancements in nearly every aspect of fertility and conception, there still remains a taboo around women using donor eggs to conceive, writes Amy Klein in her personal essay for Aeon, “Is That My Baby?”
Klein had detailed her own journey with infertility on The New York Times’ Motherlode blog; now, using anonymous donor eggs, she was finally able to carry a pregnancy to term. Klein notes that egg...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - August 31, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Rebecca Gale Tags: Drugs and Medical Technology Equity and Disparities Health Professionals Narrative Matters Population Health Quality addiction breastfeeding fertility heroin Nurses On Our Reading List prescriptions Source Type: blogs
A Simple Slice of Bread. Staff of Life for You. Poison for Me.
Celiac Disease. Know of it?
Even if you do, you may not know it’s a serious genetic autoimmune condition. Because it can cause over 100 symptoms, it often masquerades as other conditions. For that reason, and despite availability of simple blood test to detect it, the average time to diagnosis is ten years for women and six years for men. The consequences in the meantime can be significant: miscarriage, stillbirth, osteopenia, neurological conditions, gastrointestinal symptoms, headache, fatigue, failure to thrive and stunted growth in children and, over the long term, increased risk of esophageal, stomach and colon canc...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - August 28, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Chronic Conditions Food Nutrition Source Type: blogs
American Hospitals Need to Stop Offering Fast Food, Quick!
Ban on Hospital Smoking: A Model
In the 1950′s the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published what was, at the time, an incredibly surprising finding: smoking is detrimental to health1. By 1964, the Surgeon General had publically acknowledged the linkage between smoking and cancer and, by the seventies, the smoking-cancer relationship was standard curricula in U.S. medical schools 2. Despite both medical and public awareness, however, hospital policy lagged behind the science; most healthcare centers had little to no official regulation regarding smoking in their facilities2. Reducing Smoking in Hos...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - August 26, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Consumer Health Care Food Policy Publc Health Source Type: blogs
Mom’s Diet while Breastfeeding
Mom’s diet while breastfeeding can change the composition of her breast milk. It’s no wonder nursing mothers have questions about what they should and shouldn’t eat.
Here’s a quick overview of the most commonly asked questions about mom’s diet while breastfeeding.
How Many Calories Do Mom’s Need while Breastfeeding?
One rule of thumb is to take in about (15 x your current weight) + 500 calories a day. So for a woman who weighs 125 pounds, this would be about 2375 calories a day. But this is just a rule of thumb. Choosing healthy foods, following your appetite, and paying attention to you...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - July 20, 2015 Category: Child Development Authors: Dr. Alan Greene Tags: Dr. Greene's Blog Uncategorized Breastfeeding Breastfeeding Tips Source Type: blogs
Mom ’s Diet while Breastfeeding
Mom’s diet while breastfeeding can change the composition of her breast milk. It’s no wonder nursing mothers have questions about what they should and shouldn’t eat.
Here’s a quick overview of the most commonly asked questions about mom’s diet while breastfeeding.
How Many Calories Do Mom’s Need while Breastfeeding?
One rule of thumb is to take in about (15 x your current weight) + 500 calories a day. So for a woman who weighs 125 pounds, this would be about 2375 calories a day. But this is just a rule of thumb. Choosing healthy foods, following your appetite, and paying attention to you...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - July 20, 2015 Category: Child Development Authors: Dr. Alan Greene Tags: Dr. Greene's Blog Uncategorized Breastfeeding Breastfeeding Tips Source Type: blogs
Mom ’s Diet while Breastfeeding
Mom’s diet while breastfeeding can change the composition of her breast milk. It’s no wonder nursing mothers have questions about what they should and shouldn’t eat.
Here’s a quick overview of the most commonly asked questions about mom’s diet while breastfeeding.
How Many Calories Do Mom’s Need while Breastfeeding?
One rule of thumb is to take in about (15 x your current weight) + 500 calories a day. So for a woman who weighs 125 pounds, this would be about 2375 calories a day. But this is just a rule of thumb. Choosing healthy foods, following your appetite, and paying attention to you...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - July 20, 2015 Category: Child Development Authors: Alan Greene MD Tags: Dr. Greene's Blog Uncategorized Breastfeeding Breastfeeding Tips Source Type: blogs
The New York Times makes a big, bad mistake
The New York Times ran a silly piece entitled The Myth of Big, Bad Gluten by journalist Moises Velasquez-Manoff, yet another defense of the “eat more healthy whole grain” status quo. I enjoy reading most pieces from the New York Times, but they blundered in published this piece of simple-minded tripe.
I keep on hoping that some of the critics of Wheat Belly finally get their facts straight so that we can actually have a meaningful debate on the issues. Mr. Velasquez-Manoff–as so many other journalists and paid authors before him–fails to deliver, instead providing a misguided, anemic discussi...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - July 6, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle gluten grains grass New York Times Source Type: blogs
The Caya Diaphragm – What You Need to Know to Prescribe or Obtain It
A new diaphragm has become available in the United States – It’s called Caya, and it’s available in a single size and by prescription only, and is designed to be used with a nonoxynol-9 contraceptive gel.
Caya was developed as a collaboration between PATH and CONRAD, two non-profits responding to the needs of women for easy to use, effective, non-hormonal, user controlled contraception. Researchers at CONRAD, in a user-centered design process, worked their way through over 200 different prototypes to arrive at the current one-size, non-latex diaphragm, which was initially called the SILCS diaphragm. The...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - July 3, 2015 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Best of Birth Control Posts Family Planning barrier contraception Caya Diaphragm HPSRx Source Type: blogs
