Splenda, Farm Animals, and Football Safety – PediaCast 047

Listen Now (right-click to download)

Topics

  • Should Kids Use Splenda?
  • The Benefit of Pigs (and other farm animals)
  • Which Parent Stays Home with Sick Kids?
  • High School Football Safety
  • BB Gun Injuries on the Rise
  • Pregnant and Nursing Mothers Should Pass on Junk Food
  • Codeine Warning for Breast-Feeding Moms

Interview

Listeners

  • Warm vs Cold Milk
  • Growing Pain
  • Does Candida Yeast Affect Behavior?

Links

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Transcription

Announcer: This is PediaCast.

[Music]

Dr. Mike Patrick: Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of PediaCast.

It's a pediatric podcast for moms and dads.

This is Episode 47. Dr. Mike coming to you from BirdHouse Studio, I'd like to welcome each and every one of you to the program.

This week Codeine, Splenda and Growing Pains that's what we're calling it, but of course we pack a lot more information and then just that.

We'll start with News Parents Can Use. I'm going to talk about the benefit of pigs and other farm animals. Yes. You heard me right—pigs which parent stays home with sick kids.

High school football safety.

BB Guns injuries are on the rise.

0:01:00

Pregnant and nursing moms, they should pass on junk food. It seems like a no-brainer but there is a little bit more to it than just that.

We have a codeine morning out from the FDA for breastfeeding moms. We'll discuss that.

And then this week, our interview is with Mark Barry. He is the creator of Bundlo which you can find at bundlo.com. If you've not heard of it before, well, you're going to find out all about it.

They are sponsoring our current contest. And we'll go through all the details with that here in just a few minutes.

And then we have an In-Depth feature this week "Should Kids Use Splenda?" We'll back that up with some research and let you know what we think.

And then this week in our Listener's segment "Warm versus Cold Milk". That's a question that actually comes from Moscow, Russia.

"Growing Pains," we'll discuss that in this Candida yeasts affect behavior.

0:02:02

We'll give you some information on that for you as well.

Don't forget if there's a topic you would like us to discuss, it's easy to get a hold of us. Just go to pediacast.org and click on the Contact link.

You can email pediacast@gmail.com or call the voice line which, of course, is at 347-404-KIDS, K-I-D-S.

Now before we get on with the rest of the show, I just want to share a couple of things that in my life this week because, well, you guys are all my friends. And there's just a couple of interesting things.

First of all, in our neighborhood we have underground utilities. I'm sure a lot of you have the same thing. And for some reason, our house is going on about 30 years old now. And the underground electrical lines and I'm talking the big high amp lines that basically not the ones that actually come into your house from where it's downgraded, in terms of the amount of amps that are coming in.

0:03:08

But I mean the big lines that cruise from yard to yard underneath the ground between these big green utility boxes.

I'm sure you know what I'm talking about if you have this in yard. In any case, for some reason this summer, some of the segments of line have decided to short out and deteriorate probably from, I'm guessing, I don't know for sure, but I think it's probably because the insulation around the wire is deteriorating or some such thing.

In any case, we've had a couple of instances where the electric has been out for several hours and then there's basically a huge giant high tension extension cord goes from one of these big green boxes in one person's yards, strings out across driveways, on the ground to the next big green box, utility box. And it's just exposed.

0:04:04

Now we put cones on it and wrapped it and placed tape. And where it crosses driveways they put rubber things that you can drive over them. But it's just been crazy.

One time they did this and it took about a month before the thing got buried talk about a safety and liability issue.

Well, they finally got that one buried. And then this last week, it happened again between a different set of boxes, actually a little bit closer to our house and basically the same thing and now this high tension wires just sitting on the ground.

So there are pictures. Karen did a blog entry over on the Pediascribe blog and posted some pictures. You can see exactly what I'm talking about. And we'll put a link to that in the Show Notes.

But it's been pretty crazy and you just hope that kids stay away from the thing because it's definitely safety hazard.

Now the other thing I wanted to talk about is, I did my first appearance, you could say, at the Columbus Zoo this past weekend.

0:05:05

They have what's called a Teddy Bear Safari. And last year, they had about 3,000 families go through. Basically, it was sponsored by Columbus Children's Hospital.

And if kids brought a teddy bear to the zoo, they got in free and then Columbus Children's Hospital had an activity building where kids would go from station to station with their teddy bear.

And basically, I was at the doctor is in-house table and did physical examinations for about eight hours [Laughter], about 3,000 teddy bears. But it was fun. And I also got to tell people a little bit about PediaCast and passed out some cards.

So if any of you are joining us for the first time and you heard about PediaCast at the Columbus Zoo, welcome.

All right. Don't forget the information presented in PediaCast.

0:06:00

It's for general educational purposes only. We do not diagnose medical conditions or formulate treatment plans for a specific individual. If you have a concern about your child's health, be sure to call your doctor and arrange a face-to-face interview and hands-on physical examination.

Also your use of this audio program is subject to the PediaCast Terms of Use Agreement which you can find at pediacast.org.

And with that in mind, we'll be back with News Parents Can Use right after this short break.

[Short Break Music]

0:07:01

Our News Parents Can Use is brought to you in conjunction with news partner, Medical News Today, the largest independent health and medical news website. And you can visit them online at medicalnewstoday.com.

Move over bacon, and no, I'm not making wafer sizzling. It's just that pigs may have a different job to do, at least where kids are concerned, according to German researchers.

Contact with farm animals, including pigs might decrease the risk of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, two common forms of inflammatory bowel disease.

Over 2,000 German kids, ages 6 through 18 took part in the study. Half of the children suffered from either Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis while the other half had no evidence of intestinal illness.

The result of the study showed kids with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis were more likely to live in urban areas and kids without inflammatory bowel disease were more likely to live in the country and have regular contact with farm animals and pets.

0:08:02

Previous studies have linked to contact with farm animals to reduce risk of childhood allergies. And the researchers speculate early farming animal exposure may protect kids from inflammatory bowel disease by a similar mechanism.

And just when you thought the story couldn't get any crazier, scientists actually have reason to believe it's true. The thinking goes like this.

Early exposure to allergens and microorganisms may lead to a better functioning immune system. The city kids those who grow up in more sanitary environments do not get this immune conditioning.

And the result might be an immune system that goes haywire causing allergies and inflammatory bowel disease in the process. But before you pack up the penthouse or the brown stone or the studio and move next door to Auntie Em's Farm, or if you're thinking you'll stay put in the city and adopt the pot-belly piglet comes your way, well you better think again.

0:08:58

According to WebMD, Katja Radon, head of the study at Munich's Ludwig-Maximilian's University, says, "At the moment, we unfortunately cannot give direct advice to the parents because a causal relationship should never be assumed based on one single epidemiological study."

She goes on to say, "We should not forget that an improved level of hygiene has relevantly contributed to today's health and industrialized countries. Therefore, we should wait until the relevant components of the exposure have been found and safe therapy has been developed from these findings.

In other words, stay in the city while they find a way to bring the country to you [Laughter]. Did I really use the word sizzling in the story? Ah, boy.

Last week, I reported single fathers aren't making it great when it comes to keeping their children current on the immunizations and well check-ups. This week, the criticism falls on the shoulders of marry-the-dads.

New research at the University of Cincinnati finds that the more times are changing the more traditional gender roles between husbands and wives remain the same.

0:10:04

Research conducted by UC Sociology Professor David Maume finds that in the case of urgent child care, women are more likely to leave their jobs to attend to their children.

Conventional wisdom suggests men are getting more involved in family life as women get more involved in the workforce. But this study suggests men's commitment to work remains a priority over family duties.

Researchers analyzed data from random telephone surveys of 813 working women and 599 working men all from dual-income families. They asked each participant, "Who is more likely to take time off from work, mom or dad, if a parent attending to take care of a child due to an illness or a failed child care arrangement, an appointment, school closing, or other urgent child care event?"

Analysis of the data found a large gender disparity in providing urgent child care with women missing work 78% of the time.

0:11:04

The study also inserted control factors for the number of dependent children having a preschool child, education level, number of hours worked, employment as a professional or manager, annual income and spouses annual income, as well as the number of years with a current employer, and the expected chance of moving up in the organization.

The study found men's likelihood of being the sole provider of urgent child care significantly increases with the number of years they've worked with their employer and if they work flex-time schedules.

These findings suggest men are more likely to provide urgent child care after acquiring some power in their employment relationships, either by their record of service or by acquiring favorable job benefits.

As women reported higher pay, they became less likely to take sole responsibility for urgent child care. But women had a higher probability of missing work in child care emergencies as family size increased and as husbands work longer hours.

0:12:03

The authors say this generation of men report more sharing of family responsibilities compared to past generations. But what if redistribution of work and family priority continue? And if so, how will men manage the adjustment? Only time and future research will tell.

Now, on the football, it's one of the most popular sports in the United States but it's also the leading cause of sports-related injuries. During the 2005 to 2006 season, high school football players sustained more than half a million injuries nationally.

A study conducted by researchers in the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Columbus Children's Hospital is the first to compare injuries among high school and collegiate football players using a nationally representative sample.

According to the study published in the August issue of the American Journal Sports of Medicine, 4 out of every 1,000 high school football exposures resulted in an injury while 8 out of every 1,000 collegiate football exposures resulted in an injury.

0:13:04

I don't want these numbers for you. Sure college football players were twice as likely to sustain an injury as high school players but the high school players sustained a greater proportion of season-ending injuries, fractions and concussions compared to the college players.

Well, football does have a high rate of injuries. "Injuries don't have to be a part of the game," said Christy Collins, research associate at Columbus Children's Hospital and co-author of the study.

There are ways to reduce the number and severity of football injuries through targeted interventions. Because we observed high levels of ankle and knee injuries, we recommend an increasing conditioning of ankles and knees and rule changes aimed at protecting these vulnerable body sites.

As most of the injuries to these regions were due to ligaments, sprains, targeted stretching exercises may also be beneficial.

Running in place were the leading cause of injury in both high school and college football.

0:13:59

And then high school, the running plays accounted for the majority of season-ending injuries and concussions. Positions with the greatest risk of injury were running backs and line backers.

Dr. Dawn Comstock, a faculty member at the Ohio State University College of Medicine and co-author of the study, suggests additional instruction on appropriate tackling and blocking techniques, as well as position-specific conditioning, may help produce the risk of injury during running plays.

You noticed it's two women researchers studying the football injuries. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to be sexist. But isn't it always the mom who doesn't want little Bobby playing football for fear of an injury?

And speaking of worried moms, Ralphie Parker's yearning for Red Ryder BB Gun in the 1983 film "A Christmas Story" caused much grief for his mother, 'cause it turned out she was right about the dangers of the BB Guns.

For this story, we travel 90 minutes west of Columbus on Interstate 70 and visited the Children's Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio. Doctors there report a rise in serious injuries from BB Gun pellets.

0:15:04

Lisa Schwing, the hospital's trauma program manager told the Associated Press, "It's not unusual for us to see some flesh wounds. But when we see BBs penetrating into the chest and abdomen and doing organ damage, that's a pretty significant injury."

She goes on to say, "Because small children don't have much muscle mass, these BBs aren't bouncing off. They're penetrating and doing damage."

Her hospital has seen five BB pellet injuries in the past month with two serious enough to require stays in the pediatric intensive care unit. Nationwide retailers sell 3.2 million non-powdered pellet guns each year, which according to the U.S. Consumer Safety Commission and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention result into 22,000 annual visits to emergency rooms.

And of those visits, nearly half occur in the 5 to 14 age range. So listen to Ralphie Parker's mom and pass on the BB Gun for the upcoming holiday season.

0:16:01

Mothers who eat junk food during pregnancy and breastfeeding maybe putting their children at risk of overeating and developing obesity, according to a study funded by the Wellcome Trust and carried out at the Royal Veterinary College in London.

That's right. A veterinary college is looking at junk-food-eating breastfeeding moms. [Laughter]

Pregnant and breastfeeding women should not indulge in fatty, sugary and salty foods under the misguided assumption that they are eating for two.

The study published in the British Journal of Nutrition found out rats fed the diet of processed junk food of course, this is an all junk food processed such us doughnuts, muffins, biscuits, crisps, and sweets during pregnancy and lactation gave birth to offspring which over ate and had a preference for junk foods rich in fat, sugar and salt when compared to the offspring of rats given regular feed.

0:16:59

The research team behind the study believed the findings have implications for humans. Obesity is a major cause of disease associated with an increased risk of Type II diabetes, heart disease and cancer, according to report by the World Health Organization.

Around 1.6 billion humans were classified as overweight worldwide in 2005 and 400 million were obese. Obesity affects populations increasingly earlier in life with over 20 million children under the age of five being classified as overweight.

"Our study has shown that eating large quantities of junk food when pregnant and breastfeeding could impair the normal control of appetite and promote an exacerbated taste for junk food in offspring," says Lead Author Dr. Stephanie Bayol.

This could help offspring on the road to obesity and make the task of teaching healthy eating habits in children even more challenging.

Controlling appetite is complex involving hormones which signal to the brain to regulate energy, balance, hunger, and the feeling of fullness.

0:17:59

However, feeding is not only a matter of regulating energy balance. It's also a pleasurable experience that involves reward centers in the brain, such as the combination of pleasure with feeding may occasionally override the normal regulation of feeling full.

Previous research has shown that junk foods rich in fat and sugar inhibit the fullness signals while promoting hunger and stimulating the reward centers. "Exposure to a maternal junk food diet during pregnancy and nursing might explain why some individuals find out harder than others to control their junk food intake even when given access to healthier foods later in life," explains Dr. Bayol.

Professor Nicky Stickland, a co-author of the study who heads the research group at the Royal Veterinary College believes that mothers need to be made aware of the risk associated with a poor diet.

"The government is trying to encourage healthier eating habits in schools but a research shows that healthy eating habits needs to start during pregnancy and nursing of an individual', says Professor Stickland.

0:19:01

Giving children better school lunches is very good but more needs to be done to raise awareness in pregnant and breastfeeding women as well. Future mothers should be aware that pregnancy and breastfeeding are not the time to overindulge on fat and sugar with a misguided assumption that you are eating for two.

And a codeine warning for nursing moms, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is concerned that nursing infants maybe in increased risk of morphine overdose if their mothers are taking codeine and are ultra-rapid metabolizers of the drug.

The agency has reviewed all available information on the subjects since a medical journal reported the death of a 13-day-old breastfed infant who died from morphine overdose.

The morphine levels in the mother's milk were abnormally high and taking small doses of codeine to treat episiotomy pain was the only thing different that the mothers had done, a genetic test showed that when this one mother was an ultra-rapid metabolizer of codeine.

0:20:01

"Our best advice to physicians prescribing codeine-containing products to nursing mothers is to prescribe the lowest dose needed for the shortest amount of time," said Dr. Sandra Kweder, Deputy Director of the Office of New Drugs in the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

And any nursing mothers should also consult their physicians before taking any codeine-containing products.

Codeine is an ingredient found in prescription and non-prescription medicines that are used to relieve pain or treat cough. Once in the body, some of the codeine is converted or metabolized to morphine.

Some people due to their genetic makeup, they're called ultra-rapid metabolizers, metabolize codeine much faster and more completely than others. And they're more likely to have a higher than normal level of morphine in their blood after taking codeine.

Mothers who are ultra-rapid metabolizers may have higher than usual levels of morphine in breast milk.

0:21:01

According to the FDA, nursing mothers have used codeine safely for many years. In medical practice, codeine is generally considered the safest choice among narcotic pain relievers for nursing mothers and their babies.

However, to raise awareness of this possible health risk and to prevent morphine overdose in nursing infants, the FDA is requiring manufacturers of prescription codeine medicines to include information about codeine ultra-rapid metabolism in drug package insert information.

In addition, the FDA has posted information about this issue on the FDA website for healthcare providers and patients.

Nursing mothers taking codeine or other narcotic pain relievers should know how to watch for science of overdose in their babies. Breastfed babies normally nurse every two to three hours and should not sleep for more than four hours at a time.

Science of morphine overdose in a nursing baby includes increased sleepiness, difficulty breastfeeding, breathing difficulties, or limpness.

0:21:58

The chance of being an ultra-rapid metabolizer varies among different population groups from less than 1 per 100 people to 28 per 100 people.

For people who are ultra-rapid metabolizers, the risk of having an adverse event when taking codeine is not known. The only way to know if someone is an ultra-rapid metabolizer is to do a genetic test.

There is a FDA-cleared test to check for ultra rapid metabolism but there's only a limited information about using this test for codeine metabolism.

At this time, the test result alone may not correctly predict if a mother's breast milk will have too much morphine if she uses codeine to treat pain. This test cannot substitute for a doctor's judgment.

Mothers and babies gain many health benefits from breastfeeding. When a nursing mother must take medication her infant maybe exposed to some risks from that medicine.

It's important for health care professionals and nursing women using codeine or other medicines to discuss these risks and benefits.

0:22:59

Boy, if I have to say the words "rapid" "ultra-rapid metabolizer" [Laughter] one more time, I think my tongue is going to go numb [Laughter].

All right. That concludes our News Parents Can Use, and we will be back with this week's interview right after this.

[Short Break Music]

All right. Welcome back to the program. This week in our interview segment, we have a special guest with us. Those of you who have listened to PediaCast the last few weeks know that we are in the midst of a contest.

0:23:58

And we are going to be giving away three free lifetime subscriptions to Bundlo. And in case you don't know what Bundlo is, we brought along the man who invented it Mark Barry to the program.

So welcome to PediaCast, Mark.

Mark Barry: Hello. Thanks for having me.

Dr. Mike Patrick: How are you doing today?

Mark Barry: I'm doing all right. I'm getting by.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Great [Laughter]. Oh, I guess the first thing those people who are out there who have not heard a Bundlo before, I've described it the last few episodes, but I guess who better to describe exactly what it is than the guy who invented it.

Mark Barry: Oh, actually you did. I really like your comment when you said it's sort of Web 2.0 answer to the traditional baby book and that's kind of really what it is. Although I don't want peg myself into Web 2.0 too much because as soon as Web 3.0 shows up, I don't want to get left behind.

Dr. Mike Patrick: [Laughter] That's right.

Mark Barry: But basically it's just a place for parents to safely and easily share their kid's lives with friends and family using the Web.

0:25:09

I'm not reinventing the wheel or anything but I'm kind of reinventing how it's done for this audience the parents.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Sure. And, well, I guess, when you look at Bundlo at least when I was exploring it, there are basically sort of three components to it. And one of them I think that most people are going to be familiar with is sort of likely the Flickr kind of part of it where you can upload photos and share those.

Mark Barry: Right. Yes. How it came about is and this will kind of give you a perspective on kind of what it is. When my son was born about two years ago, I'm a military brat, and my family's spread around all over the country then at that time outside the country.

0:26:00

And so, I wanted to put, you know, I'm online and be able to share pictures and blog and sort of keep a baby book and do all of those things.

The problem was I ended up having to use Flickr and Blogger and you know various tools and stuff, none of it was, you know, couldn't in the same place and I'll group together.

There are baby book options out there but none you know I'm a designer. That's kind of my day job, if you will.

And so, none of them quite look very good and stop so I ended up using Blogger and customized it myself and you know tried to make it look good and things. But it's a real hassle for my grandparents and my mom and dad, my wife, wife's family to go to Flickr then go over the Blog and then keep track of this and keep track of that.

So basically, I just kind of wanted to put all those things together.

0:27:01

You know with Bundlo you can manage and share the photos yourself. You can create photo albums and upload batches of photos and rename them and give them descriptions and give titles and things.

So it's all in one place that's combined with the traditional blog and also a nice simple, super easy to use baby book to keep track of big milestones so I'm saying, I mean, smallest too if you'd like it, from the first the first steps to first day of school and whatever else.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yes and with being online, it's just so easy to get to it no matter where you are because I know with our kids, my daughter, she was born first and she had, you know, her baby book basically chronicles her entire first three or four years.

I mean I can tell you exactly when she said her first word, when she took her first steps. I mean everything.

Mike Barry: Right.

Dr. Mike Patrick: And then my son comes along and if you're just going by the baby book, he only has three teeth.

0:28:05

Mark Barry: [Laughter] You're right.

Dr. Mike Patrick: He's 10 now and has three teeth.

Mark Barry: Yes, yes. The second baby generally gets one or two entries and there's like a 'yeah, there's a whole I don't remember that what's I shared'.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right.

Mark Barry: That's fine.

Dr. Mike Patrick: It's easy as checking your email then it's simple to add things to it. I think it's a wonderful idea. I think it's one that's going to catch on to.

Mark Barry: I really hope so. I tried to make it easy as possible because I want to be able to use it. Me and my wife, we don't have the time to do that type of stuff either. So we wanted to try and make simplify and make it as easy as possible to use so you can get in, post up new photos, in your blog entry if you'd like, put up baby book entry and get out.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Great. I even heard of them. I heard them talking about Bundlo and Jumping Monkeys, too. [Laughter]

Mark Barry: Yes, they did.

Dr. Mike Patrick: That's great.

Mark Barry: They mentioned this over in their Give Section when they talked about sites that give back.

0:29:03

And the reason I mentioned Bundlo there is for the paid subscriptions, another free subscription and there's some upgraded paid subscriptions. I give 10% of that money to child-focused charities.

And the actual administrator the account holder gets to choose which of those charities there they want their portion of money to go to.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, that's great.

Mark Barry: Yes. I'm trying to give back and make it sustainable and stuff.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yes. I think it's a wonderful idea, really. Have you put any thought into what specific charities you're going to offer or is that still kind of in the planning stages?

Mark Barry: No. It's there and to tell you exactly which ones they are right now. Basically, there's four of them that we offer.

0:30:02

And it's St Jude's Children Hospital, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Shriners Hospitals for Children and National Center for Missing and Exploited children.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Well, that's a great roundup. Yes.

Mark Barry: Yes. I get those four because those are sort of four well known charities that people kind of already, you know. There's not much explanation to it. You kind of know what they focus on and what they do.

At some point, I may or may not add more or to change the lineup. But that's the starting lineup.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Now, if someone wanted to let's say, they wanted to give to one specific charity for the first six months or something. Then after that could they switch?

Mark Barry: Absolutely. Everything on the site, again, being me, I can change my mind on things a lot. So I tried to leave everything on the site.

0:30:59

With the ability that the account holder has complete control over their account, they can change all their settings as well as their charity choice and stuff. They can change all of that.

That actually includes how their site looks. They can change the colors and the fonts and the content on their site and stuff like that, as well as upgrade and downgrade their plan whenever they want.

I'm not into long-term commitments and things like that, at least, financially long term. [Laughter]

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right, right. Yes. married reaction, you know.

Mark Barry: I'm looking to say married as possible so

Dr. Mike Patrick: [Laughter]

Mark Barry: But yes. So they have complete control to move, to change things and update their account however they'd like, whenever they like.

0:31:59

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yes. Speaking of updating the account, so you got the free account and then what do you get with the paid ones that you don't get necessarily with the free one?

Mark Barry: With the free one, kind of carry that. The blog entries free you get unlimited blog entries. You can blog as much as you'd like.

You get 20 photos, space for 20 photos. All of the sites are defaulted as private and which just means it's password protected. Side customization you can change the colors and fonts and things like that. So that's the free account.

The upgraded account there's three upgraded accounts and there's a basic and standard and premium. It's $6, $9 and $16, respectively.

Dr. Mike Patrick: And that's per month.

Mark Barry: That's per month. So you can upgrade and downgrade as much as you'd like. And you'll just be charged whatever that month's fee is based on what your plan is for that month.

0:33:03

And all of those, all the upgraded accounts include unlimited blog entries, unlimited baby book entries, space for photos, private site, site customization, download an archive to their site–which means, at any time, they can choose to download their sites.

Say, you're on for six months and then you decide you just don't want to do it anymore, I don't want to have people just you know. They've been consistently keeping a baby book and uploading photos and doing all these wonderful things for six months and their situation changes. And they don't want to do it anymore.

It's really not fair for them to just lose all of the contents. So at any time, a paid subscriber can go in and just basically click a button and it will download all of your content as a Zip file to your desktop. So they can keep it forever.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yes. That's a great idea.

0:34:00

So really the free account, if people are going to want more than what you can just get with a free account. So, again, the free account is really good to, sort of, test the service out and see if it's something that you're going to like.

But it sounds to me like you're really going to take advantage of what the paid account is offering. And certainly they're very reasonably priced for what you get.

Mark Barry: Yes. The free account really is so that people can kind of come in and see what it is about so others know. There's no hoax or anything in there. It's really just a free account for you to take a look and take it out for a test drive.

And then when you upgrade sorry. Let me mention this. On standard and premium plans, there's also email alert so that when you're your friends and family that you've invited to your site, they can choose to receive email alerts so that when you post your content up on your site, they receive an email.

They're saying, "Heads up. There's new content on Baby Joe's site. And go check it out."

0:35:02

And so that way, they don't have to kind of keep tracking every single day if you post on your content and stuff. They get to be alerted when there's new pictures of Baby Joe's first birthday and whatever.

Dr. Mike Patrick: That's great. Cool.

Mark Barry: And then premium plan, you can choose to have your own domain as well. So you can choose babyjoe.com and have it point straight over to your Bundlo domain. You have your own domain name and everything and it keeps all the functionality and stuff.

And obviously, premium plan and the $16 plan, you're basically getting the then you're getting the "soup to nuts". You get everything that I have to offer. And basically it's much as much as I can give there.

Dr. Mike Patrick: You have a little experience with Web design, don't you?

Mark Barry: I've done a few things in the past. And like I've said, I'm a graphic designer.

0:36:03

It sounds like I'm super hero or something. I'm a graphic designer by day.

Dr. Mike Patrick: [Laughter]

Mark Barry: But that's my day job. And Bundlo is something I did basically for myself and then it became something that I kind of saw a need for it. I wanted them to see if I can fill that need and see what it came up.

So doing graphic design, I've done a number of websites and things in the past. But Bundlo is definitely in my first real adventure in trying to make a sustainable… You know I've done fun things in the past but making this sustainable company.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Sure.

Mark Barry: Bundlo is really the first big adventure for me.

Dr. Mike Patrick: We definitely wish you luck and I hope it really takes off for you. What now? Let's say, that there are features that a mom or a dad have an idea for, are you open up to suggestions from your users, in terms of adding features?

Mark Barry: Absolutely. Actually, I can give an example of features that have come up.

0:37:06

We've had I've had requests for the photo navigation within the photo section a few users said "It'd be really great if we can do it like this, and this, and this….

That's the only way I know really what people wants so I take that stuff very seriously. And I made that. We made that upgrade and the Admin. Account holders now have access to all of their invited people, Invited Friends and Families Section Preferences so that they can update their password and stuff in case, you know, grandma loses her password or forgets it.

You can go in there and update it. I want to mention that actually as well as users that you invite. They get to upload a photo of themselves and give themselves a description and update their username and things like that.

So that when they leave comments on the photos or the blog in the baby book, they actually get to see the person and not just read the name, read the email of the person that's leaving the comments.

0:38:07

You actually get to see the person that's leaving the comments. They get to personalize it and customize it themselves, too.

But, yes. Getting input from the users is I'm definitely, definitely open.

Dr. Mike Patrick: That's great.

Mark Barry: It's wonderful, wonderful when I get an email saying, "You know, this is great but I'd like to see this or something." It lets me know exactly where I can put my focus."

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yes. It's the same thing with PediaCast, too, because people ask questions about topics that I wouldn't even have necessarily thought to bring up. And I think, "Oh, yes, that's a good idea."

So I think it's really great to get people involved in, you know, to tailor things to the people who you're serving. You know.

Mark Barry: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Why don't you tell everyone how they can find Bundlo?

Mark Barry: Oh, it's pretty easy. It's just bundlo.com. B-U-N-D-L-O.com. You can remember it. It comes from the idea of, you know, a bundle of joy.

0:39:04

And everything that you need is there. There's on the homepage, you can see what I have to offer there. And the pricing and sign up page, it has the different plans and what the upgrades are, as well as the company blog on there.

That's where I do a lot of the posting as far as like updates that I've made and news items like "Hey, there's new contest on PediaCast."

So the blog is where I keep doing updates as far as information goes. Everything they need is right there at bundlo.com.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Great. So B-U-N-D-L-O.com. We really appreciate you stopping by.

And again, for those of you who have just started listening to PediaCast because, you know, iTunes sent out a letter, an email that had a parent podcast in it, and we were one of them.

0:40:02

And we've had a large influx of new listeners. So those of you who are listening for the first time, you want to go back and listen to the last three episodes because during the interview segment, we'd had a key or a code word.

And this week, we're going to wrap that up so we have the last code word this week, which by the way I was supposed to tell, Mark, before we started, [Laughter] sort of "off air" what it was, then I forgot. I apologize.

Mark Barry: I have a guess on what it might be.

Dr. Mike Patrick: OK.

Mark Barry: Does it have anything to do with Massachusetts?

Dr. Mike Patrick: No. No. Nope. Nope. Nope. But it does have to do with another state. [Laughter]

Mark Barry: [Whispering] Ohio. I just get one of the old passes, codes words away. I'm sorry.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, no. That's it. It's all right. It is. It is. Are you ready? It's "The Wolverines".

Mark Barry: Ahh.

0:41:00

Dr. Mike Patrick: Makes sense?

Mark Barry: I thought it was I thought it was something to do with sports. I did.

Dr. Mike Patrick: You were right about that. Oh, I see, I'm giving away too much.

Mark Barry: I know. I am, too. I am, too. I'm sorry.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, that's OK. What you have to do is just the last three episodes plus this episode, there are four code words, although this week, it's actually two words that go together "The Wolverines".

And you want to put them together in the right order and then you want to just email pediacast@gmail.com and put Bundlo contest in the subject line and then you'll just type the phrase out and the order that we're looking for, all those words. And then we're just going to pick three people at random to get a free lifetime subscription.

And I believe since you have three plans, we're giving away one of each type of plans so the basic, the medium and the high-end one. I'm sorry. I forget what do you call those?

Mark Barry: It's just the basic, standard and premium plan. We're going to give one of each of those away.

0:42:01

Dr. Mike Patrick: Great. And if you don't have a baby yourself at home or, of course, you don't I guess you don't really have to do it, just for babies, do you? I mean, you can use this for older kids and sort of journal what's going on in your life.

But even if you don't have a baby at home or this isn't something that you're particularly interested in, you can give if you win you can assign any person that you like the prize.

So we encourage everyone to write in and let us know what you think the phrase is. [Laughter] All right.

Mark Barry: It's going to be pretty exciting.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yes, I think so, too. And we're going to throw in PediaCast T-shirts to the three winners as well.

All right, well, thanks for stopping by, Mark. We really appreciate it. Wish you luck with Bundlo!

Mark Barry: Thank you, Dr. Mike. See you soon.

[Music]

Liz: Hi, Dr. Mike. My name is Liz from New York. And my question is I have a six-year-old daughter who has grown up for the past few years with a diabetic grandfather in the house and has taken to using Splenda instead of sugar.

My concern is that it's an artificial sweetener I mean in the past. There's been some talk as far as children shouldn't use artificial sweeteners.

0:43:58

My question was, because Splenda is made from sugar and it's a "replica" kind of chemical. Is Splenda OK for her to use or should I not allow her to use Splenda, just like I don't allow her to use Equal or the pink stuff Sweet'N Low.

I love the program. Keep up the great work. I enjoy listening to it. I just recently started listening and I've been listening to every episode and thoroughly enjoyed the information. It's an enjoyable way to be enjoyable and entertaining way to become smarter about my kids.

Thank you. Bye!

Dr. Mike Patrick: All right. Well, thank you to Liz in New York. And we're going to use her question to kind of spring board in to our In-Depth Segment this week.

So we're going to talk about "Splenda and Is It Safe"?

Now, I'm going to let you decide what you think about that after I present you with some facts then we're going to kind of go from there.

0:44:58

So Splenda is an artificial sweetener. You probably heard of it before and it contains the chemical, what the sweetener actually the sweet part of it is a chemical called sucralose.

So sucralose is the chemical that is the so I guess you'd say active ingredient it's what makes Splenda sweet.

Now sucralose is a 600 times sweeter than sucrose, which is table sugar. It's twice as sweet as saccharin and four times as sweet as aspartame, another artificial sweetener.

It was first introduced to consumers in 1999. And since then it's overtaken the Equal in the $1.5-billion artificial sweetener market. And they currently holds a 62% market share.

In 2006, consumers spent 212 million on Equal products and only 49 million on Equal. So it's quickly become really the major player in the artificial sweetener market.

Now, how does that work?

0:46:01

Well, first let's talk about how they make this stuff.

Sucralose actually starts with sucrose, which is table sugar, and through a complex process, a three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sugar molecule are replaced with a chloride. So they take three OHs, if you remember from Chemistry.

OH groups off of the sugar molecule and replace them with three chloride atoms.

So the result is sucralose, which is absorbed in the intestine, but it's not recognized by the body as an energy source so it's not metabolized. It's not turned into simple sugars and then stored as fat, if you don't need simple sugars at that particular moment.

So it's eliminated by the body without being metabolized. So it tastes very sweet but it just goes into your bloodstream and then your body gets rid of it. So that's the reason we say it doesn't have any calories.

0:47:01

Now, because it's so sweet, the sucralose has to be diluted with something, a filler of some sort; otherwise, you couldn't measure the tiny, tiny amount that you would be required to get the amount of sweetness that you want.

So what Splenda uses is highly fluffed dextrose and maltodextrin to dilute the sucralose and basically add bulk or filler to the product.

Now they have to use since the bulking agent or the filler is going to be a large portion of the resulting stuff, you have to have something that's not going to alter the taste of the sweetness.

So what the company that makes Splenda decided to do was to use dextrose, which is actually a simple sugar on its own right. In fact it's a form glucose and maltodextrin, which is a carbohydrate which is basically a chain of simple sugars.

So Splenda does have natural sugars and carbohydrate in it, and this improves the overall taste.

0:48:05

But because of the sucralose, you have to use far less of it compared to the amount of table sugar, or sucrose that you would need for the same amount of sweetness.

But still, even though you know it is basically the sucralose has zero calories since your body just processes it and doesn't turn it into energy, the dextrose and the maltodextrin, because they're natural occurring sugars, they contain about four calories per gram.

So the sucralose has zero calories but those fillers have four calories per gram. Now one serving of Splenda is basically a teaspoon, so they consider one serving as a teaspoon of the product. And one teaspoon of the product weighs one gram.

And remember, it's part sucralose and part dextrose and maltodextrin.

0:49:01

So in one gram of Splenda, the amount of dextrose and maltodextrin that are in there that equals two calories. So one serving of Splenda actually has two calories, or one teaspoon of Splenda has two calories in it.

Now the FDA permits food with less than five calories per serving to be labeled as "zero calories" so Splenda is advertised as containing zero calories. And labels would show one teaspoon of Splenda has zero calories. Two teaspoons of Splenda have zero calories.

But three teaspoons of Splenda has six calories. [Laughter] That, by the way, is government math. [Laughter] All right.

So we see, it's very low in calories, has a nice sweet flavor. It has some natural sugars in it. And theoretically, this sucralose molecule gets absorbed into the body and then you just get rid of it without metabolizing it into energy.

0:49:59

OK. So that sounds great now, so what about safety?

Well, sucralose, or which you know is the active ingredient in there, has been accepted by several national and international food safety regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, Expert Committee on Food Additives, the European Union Scientific Committee on Food, Health Protection Branch of Health and Welfare Canada and the Food Standards Organization of Australia and New Zealand.

So all of these national and international food safety regulatory bodies have basically said that they feel that sucralose, or which is in Splenda, is safe and that the "acceptable" safe intake is 9 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day.

Now there are 11.9 milligrams of sucralose in each teaspoon of Splenda. So let's do some real math, not government math.

0:51:02

So if you're allowed to have 9 milligrams per kilogram of body weight of sucralose ingestion per day that equals 90 milligrams per 10 kilograms, and then you just have to trust me here, that means that 7 1/2 teaspoons of Splenda everyday per 10 kilograms of body weight.

So I know your head is spinning right now because you don't have to stop on paper to look at. But let's put this in perspective that's a little bit easier to understand.

Ten kilograms is the average 12-month-old infant so a 12-month-old infant could have 7 1/2 teaspoons per day of Splenda, which is 7 1/2 of those little packs that you find in a restaurant.

So they can have 7 1/2 and still be considered what all those organizations and agencies would consider a "safe daily intake". Twenty kilograms is the average five-year old.

0:51:59

They can have 15 teaspoons per day or 15 packets. And 30 kilograms is the average 10-year-old size so they can have 22 teaspoons per day or 22 packets per day and still be considered on the safe side.

So according to these organizations, a moderate use which will be far less than the numbers I just gave you. You're not going to give 7 1/2 packets of Splenda to a 12-month-old baby. And if you are then, there are problems that we need to talk about, not just how much Splenda they're getting.

So in everyday normal moderate use, it would be considered safe in kids because with their weight they fall well into the acceptable intake category.

Now, where do these numbers come from? I mean, why do they say 9 milligrams per kilogram of body weight is the safe amount?

With regard to the FDA, they reviewed over 100 studies in animals and humans, and many of these studies were designed to specifically identify possible toxic effects, including carcinogenic or cancer causing effects, reproductive effects, and neurological effects.

0:53:09

And none of the studies showed any harmful effects at that recommended daily maximum intake. Now since the FDA approved sucralose, there has been a published study linking it to DNA damage in mice so sucralose has gotten sort of a "bad rap" legally in the online blogs and news communities because of this new study that linked DNA damage in mice with sucralose.

However, you got to remember these mice were given 2,000 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, so that's 222 times the recommended daily dose.

So the amount that they gave these mice would be equivalent to giving 1,666 packets of Splenda to a 12-month-old, or over 3,000 packets of Splenda to a 5-year-old, or nearly 5,000 packets to a 10-year-old.

0:54:08

Now of course you're not going to do that in a single dose but the big question then becomes, over many years the accumulative amount of Splenda or sucralose that the child could expose to could certainly equal 3,000 packets or 5,000 or whatever number.

So what is the accumulative effect of all those packets of Splenda over a long period of time rather than being given in a single dose? We simply don't know because there aren't any long-term studies.

Remember Splenda or sucralose has already been in the market since 1999. So what's a parent to do?

Well, this is one pediatrician's opinion, which is mine, and of course you should talk to your doctor to see what he or she advises for your children.

But in my opinion, table sugar is best. It's been around for a long time. It has an excellent safety record.

0:55:01

So really there's no reason that you need to use Splenda in normal-weight kids. Even if everybody in the house, or there's diabetics in the house, and they're older and they're using Splenda, I would just stick with table sugar for your normal-weight kids.

However, if your child is overweight or obese, being overweight or obese has health consequences, and the advantage of decreasing calories in the diet which then leads to helping with weight loss probably outweighs any risk of long-term Splenda exposure.

Meaning is long-term Splenda exposure going be 100% without risk? No we can't say that. But how many things in life are a 100% risk-free? Not many, right?

Now, I mean, I wouldn't seek out Splenda just for the sake of using it. But if your kids are overweight or obese, using Splenda in moderation in conjunction with a low-fat, low-calorie well-balanced diet and a regular exercise program might not be a bad idea.

0:55:58

But as always consult your personal physician for specific recommendations regarding your particular children. Do you like that? [Laughter]

So I thank your friendlier, not so friendly, as the case maybe, neighborhood trial lawyer for its inclusion.

I did put some links in the Show Notes. The official Splenda website, if you want to see the company's party line about Splenda safety, you can look there.

And then, I did find a site called "Everything You Wanted To Know About Sucralose" from the International Food Information Council. And I found that to be a well-balanced and informative choice. It didn't really seem to be biased in one way or the other and gave lots of very objective types of information.

So may want to check that out if you're really interested and both of those links will be in the Show Notes.

So like so many things in medicine, it's a matter of what are the advantages, what are the disadvantages and weighing those advantages and disadvantages against your particular exact situation and then making a decision based on that. And that really can only be done on a one-to-one basis with your personal physician.

0:57:05

All right. That wraps up our In-Depth Segment this week. We'll back.

We have some listener questions for you, three of them, with little bit quicker answers than the one I just provided. And we will get to that right after this.

[Music]

OK. Our first question in the Listener Segment comes from Nikolai in Moscow, Russia.

Hi, Dr. Mike. I've been an avid listener to your show for a few months now. It certainly makes my daily commute to work from country home a lot more tolerable.

0:58:02

I'm a proud father of two girls, Masha, three years old and Anya, four months old. Please settle a dispute I've been having with my wife. It concerns giving cold drinks to children.

I believe that there's nothing wrong or dangerous giving the child from two or three years of age a chilled beverage out of the fridge, or with ice. I think that doing this will even do "good" for the child and make her more resistant to cold in the future.

My wife thinks that this is not such a good idea and that drinking cold drinks can lead to catching a cold. She insists on warming child's drinks in a microwave to a tepid temperature.

What's your professional opinion on this and would your advice differ for summer and for winter?

Thanks for the great show and please keep it up. Nikolai from Moscow.

Well, I don't want to be blamed for any marital discord in Russia [Laughter] so I'm going to have to partially side with Nikolai on this one but not a 100%.

0:59:00

I mean I think it comes down to each kid's preference in the end. And you've got to be careful about drinks that are too hot because you don't want to cause burns. And you got to be careful about it being too cold, and we're talking like "ice cold' because you don't want to cause any kind of frostbite.

You don't a young infant sucking on a piece of ice and the ice is directly on their gum for long period of time because that could cause some problems. But a refrigerator temperature or with you know just being chilled with ice but it's not a block of ice that's not going to cause any kind of harm to the tissues.

And anything in between those two extremes is really going to be OK and a personal preference for young kids. I mean some are going to prefer their milk warm, some at room temperature and some chilled.

I don't think it really matters. It won't take long for the milk to reach body temperature in the stomach, I mean, whether it starts out warm, cold or at room temperature.

Now I would definitely side with Nikolai on "whether cold that causes colds".

1:00:04

Remember colds are caused by viruses. Illnesses are caused by microorganisms, or infectious illnesses are caused by microorganisms, not by temperatures. So definitely, drinking cold drinks is not going to give you a cold.

I definitely side on Nikolai with that one.

Now on the other hand, I'm not going to side with Nikolai on "Will drinking cold drinks make you called hardy?"

I don't think drinking cold milk will do that. But that's my temperate Midwest climate upbringing telling me that. Those from more northern latitudes may disagree with me. And on this point, I'm fine with that.

So thanks for your question, Nikolai. And I appreciate you're listening.

And if someone who has traveled to Moscow in the past, I can say you definitely live in a vibrant and friendly city. And I hope you're able to spread the word about PediaCast to your friends, family and neighbors.

OK. Up next is Tina from Houston.

1:00:58

And Tina says, "Hi, Dr. Mike. I'm a PediaCast addict. Your podcast is the perfect supplement to my pediatrician's advice and I appreciate that you use your personal time to help so many parents who you don't even know."

I have a very healthy four-year-old son who is 95th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight. He's always been in the 95th percentile for his height, so to no surprise of ours, he grew almost two inches in two shoe sizes from the end of February to the middle of June this year.

Recently, my son has complained of leg pains in the middle of the night. When I asked him where his legs hurt, he points to the front of his legs spanning from his ankle to the top of his thigh.

Since he doesn't complain of any leg pain during the day, I have to assume that he is experiencing growing pains.

Can you please discuss this topic on your show including when and how long children usually experience them and what if anything can be done to ease the pain?

Again, thank you for your well-organized, informative and very entertaining podcast.

It comes from Tina from Houston, Texas. And she adds a P.S. "I'm looking forward to your How To Make Grey's Anatomy a better segment once the new season begins on September 27th."

1:02:09

I didn't realize it began on September 27th so thanks for letting me know. So I was wondering about that.

Grey's Anatomy, surprisingly, I didn't get any complaints about that segment last year, which I thought I might. This year we do have a bigger audience. And I'm not sure it will be as well tolerated but it's something I did enjoy doing. So we'll have to see.

So on the 'growing pains," there is no firm evidence that growth causes pain. No still intermittent periods of nighttime leg pain is a common occurrence in children, and it affects nearly one-third of all kids at some time or another.

It's particularly common in a 3- to 5-year-old group and in the 8- to 12-year-old group. They're uncommon during the rapid growth spurts of the teenaged years, again, suggesting that growth is not the underlying cause.

1:03:01

So what is the cause? Well, we really don't know. Most cases are likely caused from the jumping, climbing, running, wrestling, and generalized horseplay that active children do during the day. I mean their muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons are not immune to repetitive use and strain injuries.

But why do we see the age clustering of three- to five-year olds and then in the preteens?
Again, we really just don't know. We do know that this so-called "growing pains" are not serious and that they will eventually go away on their own.

Day time rest and anti-inflammatory medicines, such as ibuprofen, may help the episodes if they are related to repetitive use and strain injuries.

Now you should consult your doctor before disregarding leg pain in kids as being the so-called "growing pains" because there are more serious disease processes that can result in chronic leg pain infections, fractures, immune system diseases, and even some cancers can cause leg pain in children.

1:04:01

So it's a good idea to see your doctor before labeling these nighttime aches as growing pains.

Now I don't want to scare you because most of these kids you're going to see your doctor, let them know the history and what's been going on. Let them examine them. They might do some x-rays. They might not. They might do some blood work. They might not, depending on the story and what they find.

And really, though, it has to be in the context of a medical appointment to determine whether we're just going to call it growing pains or whether we are more concerned about this.

So again, we're not practicing medicine here. We're just providing information. So I would say, again, thanks to the lawyers out there. [Laughter] I'm going to add and say, "Talk to your doctor." Because it's important, you got to have the examination with it. But it's probably nothing to worry about probably.

All right. And then also in the Show Notes, I do have a link to an information sheet on growing pains from kidshealth.org.

1:05:01

OK, moving on to our last question in the Listener Segment this week.

This comes from Deb in Michigan. And Deb says, "Hi, Dr. Mike. I've been listening to PediaCast for a while now and I've listened to all the previous shows. I'm so appreciative of all the time and effort you put into answering the questions that parents have."

I also am a regular reader of Pediascribe, Karen's blog, which I also really enjoy. I have a question for you.

My six-year-old daughter has issues with social skills and how she interacts with other people. I've done research on both ADD and Asperger's as she seems to fit some but not all of the symptoms of both. I've talked to our pediatrician about this and we're looking into testing options.

A friend of mine recently brought up the idea of Candida as a possibility. I don't know much about this. And again from what I've read, some things seem to fit what's going on with our daughter but not everything.

There's a lot information out there on the Internet about Candida but it's hard to know which sources to trust especially since so many of them seem to be trying to sell one product or another that is supposed to "cure" this problem.

1:06:11

I was wondering what you know about Candida and whether this is something that mainstream medicine recognizes as a valid issue. And if so, what can be done to diagnose and treat it?

Thank you so much. Deb.

All right. First, let me say Candida but not Canada the country, but Candida, C-A-N-D-I-D-A is a type of yeast. It's a very common, typically grows in warm, moist areas of the body especially when there aren't competing bacteria in that space.

So mouths are nice warm bacteria so we'll see Candida growing in the mouth in young babies and we call that thrush. They also can cause diaper rashes because the diapers are warm, moist environment and because a lot of babies don't have a good colonization of skin bacteria yet to basically keep the Candida from growing there because only so many things can grow in a given space.

1:07:08

And then in older children and especially teenage girls and then into adult women, you do an antibiotic. You kill the normal bacteria that lives on the skin and inside the vagina and that's a warm, moist environment and so you can get a vaginal yeast infection from Candida. So that's sort of what we're talking about.

Now, newer sort of, it's in vogue in certain Internet circles for people to talk about this yeast that is ubiquitous pretty much everywhere. Does it release toxins that get into the blood and then they go the brain and then that causes ADHD and other behavioral problems?

Well, I think on this whole topic the most telling line of Deb's email is, it's hard to know which sources to trust especially since so many of them seem to be trying to sell one product or another that is supposed to quote "cure" this problem.

1:08:10

I would be leery of any site that claims to understand the problem better than mainstream medicine and for just 9.95 has the "cure all" answer to the problem. I mean the fact is that mainstream medicine wants to help the kids with ADHD.

And if there was any valid scientific evidence to suggest that Candida yeast or anything else is the culprit in treating it in a specific way would be safe and effective when pursued the treatment.

And there is no conspiracy in mainstream medicine to keep kids suffering from ADHD for the sake of putting money in the pockets of big-named drug companies. It just doesn't exist.

I mean we want your kids to do well in school and to grow up into law-abiding productive citizens, just like you do.

The sites that promote crazy explanations based on poorly constructed pseudo scientific studies and selling you the cure in a 9.95 bottle are nothing more than modern diversions of snake oil salesman.

1:09:08

And in my opinion, they should not be trusted anymore than the hundreds of too-good-to-be true offers that are caught in your spam folder everyday of the week.

So that's my two cents, Deb. Thanks for asking and thanks for letting me rant a bit.

All right. We will take another quick break here, and we'll be back to wrap up the program and bring you our "featured" music segment and will get to that right after this.

[Music]

1:10:06

Once again, the information presented in every episode of PediaCast is for general educational purposes only. We do not diagnose medical conditions or formulate treatment plans for a specific individual.

So if you have a concern about your child's health, call your doctor and arrange a face-to-face interview and hands-on physical examination.

Also your use of this audio program is subject to the Pediacast Terms of Use Agreement, which you can find at pediacast.org. PediaCast is licensed under an Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works Creative Common's License.

For more information on this copyright license, please visit pediacast.org and click on the Creative Commons link at the bottom of the page.

If you're interested in using PediaCast material for a commercial project, please email pediacast@gmail.com for details.

All right. Thanks to our news partner Medical News Today.

Also Website and Feed Artwork were brought to you by Vladstudio so be sure to check his work out at vladstudio.com.

1:11:06

Reminders. Pediacast.org. Click on the Contact link and you can let us know what topics you're interested in, or you can email pediacast@gmail.com, or call 347-404-KIDS. That's 347-404-5437.

Promotional materials are available on the Poster Page and it is just so helpful to spread the word to other parents because it's a difficult think to get the word out about a program like this.

I mean podcasts are still to a lot of people out there, sort of, they don't understand exactly what it is. And I think a lot of people would really enjoy this format especially moms and dads. And they really don't understand how to get to it.

So we rely on you to spread the word and then to help you do that, we do have posters that you can download at the website at pediacast.org.

1:12:00

We also have the PediaCast shop with the shirts and the other merchandise for you to look at.

And of course, reviews in iTunes are always just so very, very helpful.

By the way, we did have an email go out that had parent spotlight on parent podcasts which included PediaCast. And I want to thank everyone, because I think without good reviews and lots of them at iTunes, we really would not get that kind of recognition.

So thanks a lot again. And if you haven't done that yet, please do.

Also don't forget the Bundlo contest. All you have to do is listen to this episode and the previous three. There were code words, or in one case, two words, that were given in each of these four episodes.

And all you have to do is unscramble them and email me the phrase, and we'll put your name in one time for the drawing.

1:12:58

And basically just email what you think it is to pediacast.org and then the subject line, you put "Bundlo contest" and then in the main body just write what you think the code phrase is.

Then during our first show after the first of the month in September, so you got about just slightly less than two weeks, then we're going to pick three winners. And they will each get lifetime subscriptions at bundlo.com and they get free PediaCast t-shirts, one each, as well.

Well, again will pick those here soon, just after the first of the month in September when we do that.

Also I want to let you know. Next weekend I am going to be taking a four-day trip to Chicago. Never been there.

I've never been to the Windy City. Can you believe that? So we're really excited about this. We have some friends that live there and they're going to show us the town.

So I'm really excited about it. But what that means is I have less time to get out a show.

1:14:01

So what my current plan is although this could change but I think this will work out as we're still going to put a show together. But it's going to be an abbreviated show next week because of the trip. And we'll probably just catch up on some "listener" questions. Maybe have another many listener question marathon like we had a few months back.

OK, the PediaCast blog. Karen puts lots and lots time and effort into this. And my favorite blog post this past week was "Beware of Live Electrical Whines in your Yard". It just goes into a little bit more detail about the story I told you in the introduction of this podcast.

And it also includes some pictures of the "wires" so you can get an idea of exactly what we were talking about.

So if you thought your neighborhood had problems, well, I can commiserate. You can commiserate. We can commiserate together.

So just check the Pediascribe blog. It's at pediascribe.org, or you can look for a link in the Show Notes at pediacast.org.

1:15:00

All right. This week's music, featured music, is brought to you by Iota Promo Net and the Preservation Hall record label.

In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, record producer Benjamin Jaffe salvaged the master tracks of early recordings from a legendary Sea Saint Studios, which had been flooded by 8 feet of water.

He went on to use those master tracks of early recordings to create a musical experience that bridges the past to the present.

So this is the Preservation Hall Jazz Band from their "Made in New Orleans" their hurricane sessions and the track is called "Complicated Life".

If you like the song, there's a link to download it absolutely free for your personal use as a plain MP3 and the remainder of the album is available for purchase from several online merchants by following one of the links in the Show Notes.

So since we are definitely heading into the middle of hurricane season, I'll leave with you with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and their rendition of complicated life.

1:16:05

And until next time, this is Dr. Mike saying, "Stay safe, stay healthy and stay involved with your kids."

So long everybody!

[End Music]

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