Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

Earlier in the month we learned that Omega-3s help with blood pressure, and today, Reuters reports Omega-3s boost baby’s brainpower. More from reporter Amy Norton:

Researchers found that 9-month-olds whose mothers had eaten DHA-fortified bars during pregnancy performed better on a test of problem-solving abilities than infants whose mothers had not added DHA to their diets.


DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, is one of the major omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish like salmon, sardines and tuna. Because of the fat's vital role in brain development, experts recommend that pregnant women get 300 milligrams (mg) of DHA each day.
However, research shows that few U.S. women meet this goal.

The new findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that women who do get adequate DHA may aid their infants' cognitive abilities.

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Amie Hamlin is the Executive Director of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food, and, she’s steamed over the resistance to the idea of feeding kids healthfully. Here’s a recent Op-Ed piece she wrote for the Buffalo News. Look:

Contrary to food industry public relations, there are good and bad foods. Whole, unprocessed, nutrient-dense plant foods contribute to good health. Schools should be setting a good example by focusing on these foods. Children go to school to learn. When schools offer foods that are inconsistent with what is being taught about nutrition, what message are we giving them?


Children will not starve in a healthy school food environment. They eat junk food because adults make it available and give them money to buy it. Schools are undermining the efforts of parents who feed their children healthfully at home. And for kids whose parents are not setting a good example at home, it’s even more important that schools offer only healthy choices.

Be sure to check out Amie’s website: www.healthylunches.org

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Hey, we all know Dr. Fuhrman thinks breastfeeding is a smart move. One of it's critical function is supplying babies with important antibodies and nutrients. Dr. Fuhrman explains in Disease-Proof Your Child:

The antibodies derived from mother’s milk are necessary for maximizing immune system function, maximizing intelligence, and protecting against immune system disorders, allergies, and even cancer. The child’s immune system is still underdeveloped until age of two, the same age when the digestive tract seals the leaks (spaces between cells) designed to allow the mother’s antibodies access to the bloodstream. So picking the age of two as the length of recommended breast-feeding is not just a haphazard guess, it matches the age at which the child is no longer absorbing the mother’s immunoglobulins to supplement their own immune system. Nature designed it that way.

And this video report by ABC News provides even more reasons to breastfeed that baby:

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That’s what ParentDish is wondering. Apparently some doctors are calling for legislation that would prosecute parents who overfeed their children. Take a look:

Dr. Matt Capehorn, a general physician who has treated children with dietary disorders says: "My colleagues and I were concerned because we noticed a discrepancy in the way society, the medical profession and the courts treat an obese child compared with a malnourished child. There is outrage if a child is skin-and-bone – but it only happens in extreme cases with obese children."


Dr. Capehorn believes that parents should first be educated about how to improve their children's diets. If they fail to follow recommendations, he says those parents should be turned over to authorities. But the Chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, Tam Fry, says the proposed legislation is " "too sweeping and simplistic" and that many parents of obese children are trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to keep their children healthy.

Personally, I don’t think this is a criminal issue, but if it is, you’d have to arrest most of my family—anyone growing up with an Italian nonna knows what I mean. Anyway, Dr. Fuhrman doesn’t think over feeding your child is a good idea. Actually, you shouldn’t futz with how much you kids eat at all. Here’re his tips from Disease-Proof Your Child:

1. Keep only healthy food in the house. Every person in the household should have the same food choices available.


2. Offer and feed a wholesome diversity of natural foods, vegetables, beans, raw nuts, seeds, and fresh fruit, while giving each child as much latitude as possible to eat what they prefer.

3. Don't attempt to manage your children's caloric intake. They can do that on their own.

4. If you, as parents, do not demonstrate proper respect for your own bodies by eating healthy, exercising regularly, and engaging in other healthful lifestyle practices, don't expect your children to do any better than you, now or in the future.

5. Educate your children about their nutritional needs and the importance of eating healthfully. Start this when they are young and continue to reinforce their learning, as they will be exposed to more toxic food choices as they get older and spend more time out of their home.

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ParentDish is annoyed about all the commercialism in the supermarket—quite frankly—I think its annoying too, but apparently if you have small children it’s doubly bad. I don’t have kids, but I feel her pain:

I'm taking my kids to the grocery with me this morning, which is mostly fine because they are old enough to help load the cart and to make some decisions about what they will get for snacks. At the same time, though, taking two kids to the grocery is an exercise in insanity because they are so won over by the packaging that it's hard to get them to focus on the actual food. Henry--who wouldn't eat a fruit roll up if it were the only food left in the world--once sobbed in the snack aisle because I wouldn't buy him Scooby Doo fruit roll ups. Sheesh.

Although, I think sticking pictures of Disney characters on fresh fruits and vegetables is a good idea, even if the food at Disney World is less than desirable—hey, it’s still a start!

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According to this report by the Associated Press, it’s better to call extremely overweight kids obese, instead of less harsh or cutesy sounding terms. More from Lindsey Tanner:

Less blunt terms used by the government and many doctors diplomatically avoid the term "obese." Instead, they refer to children many would consider too fat as being "at risk for overweight," and "overweight" for those others would consider obese…


...To some extent, the fuzzier labels let pediatricians "off the hook," allowing them to avoid counseling patients who clearly need to lose weight, said Dr. Peter Belamarich, a pediatrician with Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York City.

The blunter terms make sense if they motivate doctors to work with more kids who need help, "but you have to be real careful about labeling or saying it in front of a child," Belamarich said.

"I've had mothers ask me not to use the (obese) label," he said. "Sometimes you can see it in the child's face. They're ashamed."

Eek! This brings back repressed childhood memories, “I’m not fat. I’m big boned.” Or my mother shushing me and asking the department store clerk, “Excuse sir, where the husky sizes?”

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