11 American Foods that are Banned in Other Countries

Did you know that most Americans eat foods on a daily basis that are banned in other countries because they are known to cause inflammation, growth defects, and even cancer? For numerous reasons the US government and FDA allows those foods into your food supply.

Here’s a list of 10 common American foods banned in other countries:


1. Hormone-Infused Beef and Milk

Non-organic farms often inject their cows with growth hormones (rBGH) to increase milk production and promote faster growth. Those milk boosting hormones often lead to inflammation of the cow’s breast tissue, which is treated with antibiotics. This is one of the reasons that some people prefer to avoid milk and I’ve already written in the past about healthy and easy homemade milk substitutes.

Meat or dairy coming from these injected cows are linked to increase the risk of breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer. rBGH infused beef or dairy is banned in Australia, New Zealand, Israel, the European Union, and Canada.

2. Food Preservative (BHA and BHT)

BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) are 2 common food preservatives used to prevent oils from going rancid. BHT has a waxy consistency and can be found in cereals, nut mixes and bubblegum.

There is strong evidence that BHT and BHA are carcinogenic and are banned in UK’s baby food, and completely in most EU countries and Japan. BHA is also linked to trigger allergic reactions and can cause hyperactivity.


3. Arsenic-laced Chicken

This poison is permitted by the FDA to use in poultry feed to stimulate growth and make the meat look pinker. Long-term exposure to arsenic can cause digestive disorders, muscle cramps, numbness of extremities, skin lesions and skin cancer.

Arsenic based compounds are not only banned in the EU but have never been approved for use in animal feed.

4. Genetically Modified Papayas

Papaya is one of my most favorite fruits and it’s a key ingredient in my Digestive Enzyme detox smoothie but did you know that most Hawaiian papayas are genetically modified to protect them for the ringspot virus? More and more research studies are linking GMOs to a wide range of diseases like intestinal damage, tissue damage, tumors, birth defects, and infertility.

At this point, GM papayas are not approved in the EU. Until now, no application for approval has been submitted. Therefore, importing and marketing genetically modified papayas is not permitted in the EU.

In general, GMO regulations are much more strict in the EU – The European Union (EU) may have the most stringent GMO regulations in the world. All GMOs, along with irradiated food, are considered “new food” and are subject to extensive, case-by-case, science-based food evaluation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

5. Irradiated meat

This treatment is used to preserve food, reduce the risk of food borne illness and prevent the spread of invasive pests. Food irradiation is criticized because of its potential to cause chemical changes in the food and the potential danger of these substances.

In many countries of the European Union only dried herbs, spices, and seasonings can be processed with irradiation and only at a specific dose.

6. Toxic Soft and Energy Drinks

Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) is used by the food industry to emulsify citrus-flavored soft and energy drinks like Mountain Dew and Stars & Stripes. Although the FDA considers BVO as a safe food additive, in Europe, India, and Japan it is banned and considered toxic.

Excessive consumption can lead to memory loss, fatigue, loss of appetite, acne, skin rashes, headaches, migraines, muscle loss, muscle spasms, thyroid issues, birth defects, growth problems, and cancer.

You don’t need to buy these toxic energy drinks – just make your own ultimate super food energy smoothie or just use my own 8 secrets for endless energy.

7. Artificial Food Coloring In Processed foods

I’ve written in the past about the dangers of artificial colors in my article about the top 10 worst ingredients in food. Artificial color additives are added to almost all the processed food on the US market. Many cause inflammation, birth defects, allergies and increase the risk of cancer. In the US over 3,000 different kinds of additives are found, and most of them are banned in other countries.

Red 40, blue 1, blue 2, yellow 5, and yellow are the most common used colorings in American foods like boxed mac and cheese, cheddar flavored crackers, cereals, and Jell-O.

Food additives and colorings are banned in Norway and Austria and the British government advices against the use but they are still allowed though. In the EU most food requires a warning when colorings or additives are added.

8. Toxic Pork

Ractopamine, a drug that increases protein levels and muscle mass, is found in up 45% of the US pigs. This drug is added to their food and a few days before slaughter the animals are pumped with this drug. Up to 20% remains in the meat that end up in the supermarkets. Ractopamine is linked to infertility, birth defects, genetic mutations, and it affects the human cardiovascular system.

In Europe, China, and Russia ractopamine is banned.

9. Bread With Potassium Bromate

Did you know that almost every time you eat a slice of bread, hamburger bun or other flour-based food in a restaurant, you are eating potassium bromide? This additive is often added to flours to make the dough more elastic and decrease baking time. Potassium bromate has been linked to kidney and nerve damage, thyroid issues, digestive disorders, and cancer.

Potassium bromate is banned in Canada, China, and EU.

10. Olestra/Olean

Olestra or Olean is found in diet or fat-free chips like fat-free Pringles, ruffles, and lays. It prevents vitamin and carotenoid absorption and can cause digestive issues. So fat-free is definitely not the healthier snack option. The use of Olestra is banned in the UK and Canada.

11. Pink Slime

This name is used in the meat industry and is produced by processing low-grade beef trimmings and other meat by-products such and is added to other meat products such as beef-based processed meats.

In the United States, products can contain up to 15% of pink slime without additional labeling, and it can also be added to other meat products such as beef-based processed meats. Because of the use of ammonium hydroxide in its processing, the product is not permitted in Canada. The product also does not meet the legal requirements for sale in the UK, and the European Union has banned it and other mechanically separated meats for human consumption.

Take control of your health and opt for fresh, whole foods to avoid all those questionable ingredients that are banned in other countries and linked to many diseases.

www.worldhealthinfo.net

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7 Freaky Reasons to Ditch Plastic Containers

Why is it that in a natural world our society has become so attached to unnatural products? People surround themselves with processed materials that require large machines and complicated pollution-producing processes when there are simple natural alternative all around them – and plastic is the worst offender.


Plastic poses a threat to humanity simply because it’s so versatile and used almost everywhere. Every year shoppers use more than 500 billion plastic bags – enough to wrap around the planet more than 4000 times. Over ten thousand pieces of plastic are flushed into the ocean every day, worsening water acidification and killing hundreds of thousands of animals every year.

Plastic doesn’t only harm our distant environment but it also impacts our everyday routines in ways that we hardly realize. The most common health threat of plastic use stems from an overlooked source – what we eat. As a matter of fact, the Subway franchise was only just recently forced to remove a plastic chemical from their bread!

Plastic Invades our Food and Drinks

Let’s suppose you’ve got your diet fine-tuned with healthy habits. Organic vegetables next to non-processed foods and plenty of vitamins and minerals. If you’re carrying the food in plastic containers and guzzling your water from a plastic bottle you’re eating habits might not be as safe as you thought.

Here are a few reasons for you to separate plastic from your eating habits ASAP:

1. BPA

BPA (bisphenol A) is a chemical that became widely used in industrial plastics during the 1960s. It was only recently that scientists concerned themselves with researching the effect of this chemical on our health. So far they have linked it to heart problems, effects on the brain, hormone imbalance, and possibly other conditions like ADHD and diabetes.

People were alarmed to find out that this toxin was so abundant in food storage containers. Canned drinks/food, plastic bottles, and even supply lines for water can all contain BPA.


2. BPS

Don’t think that because a plastic is “BPA Free” it’s completely safe. Many manufacturers have launched deceptive marketing campaigns that ensure the safety of their product without discussing the use of BPS (bisphenol S), a similar chemical with equally toxic properties.

The studies surrounding BPS are frighteningly limited. What they have found is similar hormone-copying properties that can affect our health. To top it all off, BPS is actually less biodegradable than BPA, making it an environmentally destructive alternative.

3. Leaching

Leaching is the process that makes BPA and BPS such a major threat. The manufacturing of plastics produces several chemicals that can easily be absorbed in a process called migration, or as the media has more commonly labeled “leaching”. During leaching bits of plastic can be transferred from the containers to the food we eat, creating a direct transfer of foreign material into our bodies.

4. Absorbing Smell and Color

Unlike the healthier natural alternatives, plastic has a porous texture that isn’t ideal for storing certain products. It can easily soak of the odor and color of particular foods and taint your tupperware. You may notice that after several uses the plastics look and smell like a food regardless of how hard you scrub.

5. Environmental Impact

As we mentioned earlier, plastics play a huge role in the destruction of our environment. They take incredibly long time to decompose compared to alternatives and fill up landfills. While leaking toxins into our environment they also pose a serious threat to wildlife.

Recycling has been posed as a solution to this but it might not be as effective as we thought. Plastic has to be down cycled and produces a lower quality each time. While it is a lot better than simply throwing the plastic away, avoiding it all together could be a godsend to our planet’s health.

6. Leading to Obesity

I’ve already written at the past about the top 10 worst ingredients in food and I’ve mentioned that one specific ingredient can cause obesity. But did you realize that your plastic water bottle can cause obesity as well ?  That’s right, plastics around your food can actually contribute to weight gain as well. A study using mice found that BPA played a big role in reducing the animals’ sensitivity to insulin. This made the production of fat cells more likely. The adipocytes (also known as lipocytes and fat cells) accumulated with increased speed, enabling the mice to become fatter quicker. Studies between humans and BPA are still limited but evidence suggests that our infatuation with plastics could make our fat situation worse.

7. Fertility

A new line of studies shows a shocking connection between plastic chemicals and human fertility. Research done by scientists at Harvard suggests that one fifth of unexplained infertility issues could very well be a result of BPA and BPS exposure. An additional terror is the possibility of birth defects like down syndrome in developing fetuses.

Where Does it Come From?

Some of the plastic sources near our food are fairly obvious. Others are appear deceptively innocent. Here is a short list of common food and drink items containing plastics:

● Canned foods
● Canned drinks
● Infant bottles and pacifiers
● Register Receipts
● Food storage containers
● Disposable drink bottles

Simple Solutions

You don’t have to sacrifice convenience and versatility if you switch from plastics. As a matter of fact, most alternatives provide much more long term use than plastic products. Glass can be used countless times over for food storage without absorbing food odor or releasing chemicals into our food. It can store liquids, solids, jams, or even pickle vegetables. Get creative and use leftover glass for arts and crafts, plant storage, or turn a mason jar into your own personal chalice.

It’s not incredibly difficult to divorce yourself from a plastic consuming lifestyle. Follow some of these tips to reduce your exposure to chemicals and ensure the safety of your food.

● Buy mason jars and glass products of assorted sizes to store your food and leftovers in.
● When you buy food that already comes in plastic, take it out and store it in glass as soon as you get home.
● Get a water filter on your tap to avoid buying plastic bottles and save money.
● Shop around organic markets, they tend to use much more natural packaging.

Can you think of more ways to reduce our plastic use? Please let me know!

Avoiding plastic containers is only one step towards improving your health but it’s even more important to make sure that the food in these containers is not toxic. Have you realized that some of the food that we eat is actually fake food ? You also need to make sure that your food doesn’t contain toxic food ingredients and that it wasn’t banned in other countries 

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How to Determine if an Egg is Fresh

Fresh egg is considered to be a very important ingredient when you are baking something scrumptious and savory on special occasions for your family. But what is the worst thing that could happen to you while preparing your delicious meal? Finding out that the egg you just added-in is not fresh rather it is a bad egg and now you have to discard all the material, you have been working on so diligently – that’s not only annoying but equally awful as well as it leads to wastage of time, material and money.

But do you know this situation can be keep from happening if you could determine the freshness of eggs before adding them into the material. Yes this could be done very easily at home as there are various methods available to test the freshness of an egg.

Now without wasting any time, let’s move to the next section where different measures are listed to check whether an egg is good to consume or not.

Water and bowl test for freshness
Follow the below mentioned instruction to pull of this test:


Get a bowl which should be deep enough to contain water twice the size of an egg so it could be soaked completely into it
Carefully put and lower egg into the bowl
Now there are 4 possibilities which can happen:

If an egg immediately sinks to the bottom and lies flat on the side of it then this means that the air cell within the egg is very small; hence it is fresh and perfectly fine to use.
If an egg is slightly older than it will lie on the bottom of bowl but in a different angle. Moreover it will also bob-up and down rather than being still
If the egg begins to float and stand upright in a way where smaller end will look at the bottom of bowl whilst broader end looks upward towards the surface then you could say this egg is still good to consume; however, it is about 3 weeks old now and due to the entrance of more air in the egg shell, it has started to lose its freshness

When you see that the egg you put into the bowl has begun to float on the surface and it does not touch the bottom of that bowl then it can be concluded that, it is a bad egg and should be discarded at once. Bad eggs tend to give pungent smell and they are also very light weighted

Why this test works?
This test works because eggshells are very porous and when more air enters the shell then its life begins to diminish. The more air enters the egg the more less-favorable-to-eat it becomes.

Cracked egg and plate test
To do this test, you would have to break the egg into a flat plate or flat surface instead of soaking or breaking it into a deep bowl. If the egg is fresh then:

Yolk of the egg would have round and compact appearance while it will also be in still position. Moreover, the white of the egg which is also known as albumen will be thick and it would also stay closer to the yolk
If the albumen has cloudy coloring then it means the egg is extra fresh as this cloudiness indicates the presence of carbon dioxide in it. However, the egg white tends to become more transparent with time due to the dispelling of carbon dioxide
If you see the yolk is flatter which could be broken easily and which also has thinner white, spreading quite easily far over the plate then this means, it is a less fresh egg
Lastly, bad egg would have a flat yolk and its albumen will be runny just like water. if this is the case then egg should be discarded and not to be consumed
Sloshing test
Another test to check the freshness of an egg is through slushiness. Now what you need to do to conduct this test?

Pick up an egg and bring it close to your ear
Shake the egg
Now determine what kind of sounds you hear when shaken? If the sound is sloshy then it is a bad egg, you can discard it else if the sound is not sloshy then you can consume it
It is that simple!

Blood Spots in egg

At times what happens, when you break an egg then you realize there are some reddish brownish spots in it which are also known as blood or meat spots. People often tend to avoid eating such kind of eggs but to break the ice, let me tell you that such eggs are safe to eat as these eggs show the particular freshness of them as the redness fades with age. Moreover, these tiny spots only represent blood vessels which have been ruptured when egg formed.

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RECIPE: NO-COOK CHOCOLATE-ALMOND ICE CREAM

Ingredients

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (5-ounce) can evaporated milk

2 cups whole chocolate milk

2/3 cup chocolate syrup

3/4 cup toasted sliced almonds

Preparation

Whisk first 4 ingredients in a 2-quart pitcher or large bowl until blended. Cover and chill 30 minutes.

Pour milk mixture into freezer container of a 1-quart electric ice-cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. (Instructions and times will vary.)

Remove container with ice cream from ice-cream maker, and place in freezer 15 minutes. Stir almonds into prepared ice cream. Transfer to an airtight container; freeze until firm, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Note: For testing purposes only, we used a Rival 4-quart Durable Plastic Bucket Ice Cream Maker and a Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker.

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Discover How To Get Rid Of Belly Fat Once And For All

 'Discover How To Get Rid Of Belly Fat Once And For All!'

Do you want an attractive body in this summer?

Learn How To Literally Burn Off That Stubborn Excess Belly Fat That Has Been Bothering You For Years Without Dieting, Taking Pills Or Expensive Gym Memberships. Martial Abs Is A Complete Program Of E-manuals, Digital Videos And Audio Files.

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Kitchen cutting boards infected with drug-resistant bacteria

Cutting boards in home and hospital kitchens may be sources of drug-resistant bacteria, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University Hospital Basel in Switzerland and published in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology in March.

Over the course of 16 months, the researchers collected and tested 154 cutting boards and used gloves from the kitchen of their hospital, and 144 cutting boards from private homes in France, Germany and Switzerland. All the cutting boards were swabbed for bacteria after use but before cleaning.

The researchers found a drug-resistant strain of E. coli bacteria on five of the cutting boards from private homes, and on 10 of the cutting boards from the hospital. Half of the used hospital gloves also tested positive. Bacteria could easily spread from either of these sources to patients' rooms or food, the researchers said.


Growing health concern

Commenting on the study, Lance B. Price of George Washington University (who was not involved in it) said, "These E. coli are resistant to some of the last good drugs we have to treat them. The 'nightmare superbug' is just one step further than these."

The emergence of drug-resistant bacteria is a growing public health concern, as more and more varieties develop immunity to many of the most potent antibiotics used to treat human patients. Scientists attribute growing rates of drug resistance both to overuse of antibiotics by doctors and patients (including for the treatments of viral conditions, such as colds, which do not respond to antibiotics) and to their widespread use as growth-promoting agents in animal agriculture.


The World Health Organization estimates that 75 percent of global antibiotics sold are for animal use. Europe has now banned the use of antibiotics to promote growth in livestock, but the United States is still working out a plan to phase out such use.

Take precautions at home

Infectious disease researcher James R. Johnson of the Minneapolis VA Health Care System (who was not involved in the study) said that he was not surprised by the findings, though he did find them worrisome. Cutting boards are regularly used to process meat, the major source of E. coli bacteria.

"If other foods go on those boards before the boards get cleaned, or even after they're cleaned if the cleaning isn't 100 percent effective, the other foods, which may not get cooked, or not as thoroughly as poultry, likely would get contaminated and so could possibly pose an even higher risk of transmission to humans than the poultry products themselves," Johnson said.

Although drug-resistant bacteria are among the infectious agents of greatest concern, cutting boards can be a vector for conventional bacteria as well. The researchers emphasized that all home cooks and food service workers should wash their hands carefully after handling not just meat but used cutting boards too. Price noted that cutting boards used for raw meat or poultry should never be used for any other foods.

Home cooks need to realize that simply wiping off a cutting board does not sanitize it, Johnson said. Hot water and detergent should be sufficient, however.

"For industrial kitchens, I'm not sure what's recommended, or the standard," he said. "I'd think a bleach solution, or other disinfectant, might be desirable, if the boards can't undergo high-temp detergent washing."

www.worldhealthinfo.net

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Three Amazing Uses for Tea Tree Oil

Long before the advent of modern medicine, people were using essential oils for medicinal purposes. The oil of the evergreen shrub, tea tree, was particularly venerated by ancient cultures, especially the Australian Aborigines. In fact, evidence shows that the Aborigines have been using the oils of their indigenous Melaleuca alternifolia tree for centuries to treat a wide array of conditions ranging from simple coughs to serious skin conditions.


Today, tea tree oil enjoys a reputation comparable to that of baking soda or coconut oil: A must-have health product whose sanitary and medicinal uses could fill (and have filled) numerous books. This article provides a distillation of the three most popular uses for tea tree oil.

Mouth Cleanser

There’s a good reason why so many mouth care products contain tea tree oil as a central ingredient: Being a potent antibacterial, tea tree oil is able to kill just about anything harmful residing in our mouths. Adding a few drops of tea tree oil to a mixture of baking soda and purified water, for instance, makes an excellent homemade toothpaste. Alternatively, you can make a simple but potent mouthwash by mixing a few drop of tea tree oil to purified water and swishing the mixture around your mouth for a couple of minutes after brushing. Some people like to add peppermint oil to the mixture to improve its taste.

Incidentally, if your morning consists of an oil pulling routine using sesame or sunflower oil, consider adding a few drops of tea tree oil to the oil to give it additional antibacterial power. Those of you who oil pull using coconut oil don’t need to do this since coconut oil is already an antibacterial.


Skin Care

Since tea tree oil is a antimicrobial and antifungal as well as an antibacterial, it can help treat almost any skin condition through topical application. If you’re suffering from acne, psoriasis, eczema, athlete’s food, insect bites, cuts, rashes, or any other skin issue, apply tea tree oil to the affected area using a cotton bud and leave it to absorb for at least a few hours, but ideally overnight. If you find that the oil is too harsh for your skin, you can dilute it with purified water.

Note: Even though it is a natural product, using tea tree oil to treat certain skin conditions might be futile if those conditions stem from certain dietary or lifestyle issues that remain undiagnosed. For example, a lot of people unknowingly suffer from common skin ailments like acne or eczema due to a wheat or gluten intolerance. Therefore, if tea tree oil or other antimicrobial products are failing to treat a certain condition, that condition probably has a deeper cause that needs to be treated before any residual symptoms can be addressed.

Household Cleaner

Who needs artificial and overpriced household cleaners when tea tree oil can kill germs and microbes just as well, and without filling your house with chemicals? To make a homemade cleaner out of tea tree oil, simply combine two teaspoons of it with two cups of purified water in a spray bottle. Then, the sky is the limit: from tiles to kitchen surfaces to sinks to toilets, tea tree can clean it – and without leaving an unpleasant, lingering aroma.

www.worldhealthinfo.Net

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Can Your Child Hear You?

Birds chirping, the phone ringing, a song on the radio, or a baby crying-these are all familiar sounds for most of us. But imagine not ever having heard these sounds and suddenly being able to hear them? Or to have lost your hearing and to be able to regain it back? With today’s medical advances, all of this and more is possible with a cochlear implant. HEALTH meets with Steffen Rose, the Clinical Technical Manager of Cochlear to learn more about this groundbreaking device.

Can Your Child Hear You?


Social Skills

For a child, hearing and speech are essential tools of learning, playing and developing social skills. In fact, children learn to communicate by imitating the sounds they hear and if they have a hearing loss that is undetected and untreated, they can miss much of the speech and language around them and in their immediate environment. These result in not only in delayed speech/ language development, but can also lead to social problems and ultimately academic difficulties. To help with this problem, an ingenious scientific innovation—the cochlear implant– can help alleviate the deafness or poor hearing in your child’s life.

How We Hear

To understand the way a cochlear implant actually works, there should be a basic understanding of the ear anatomy and why deafness may occur. The ear is made of three major parts: the outer ear canal, the middle ear apparatus which is formed of the ear drum and 3 little tiny bones called hammer, anvil, and stirrup, the third part is the inner ear that is divided into two organs which are the cochlea and the balance organ or the Labyrinth. When we hear, sounds move through the ear, hit the ear drum and move the three tiny bones and in doing so, amplify sound. The amplified sound gets delivered into the cochlea which acts as a transformer. This transforms the sound waves into tiny electrical impulses and this travel through the nerve to the brain and sound is perceived. The cochlea’s main job therefore is to transform mechanical sound waves into electrical neurological impulses.

The Basics

According to Rose, a cochlear implant is an electronic medical device that does the work of the damaged cochlea and enable sound signals to the brain. “The first patients were implanted in 1978, by Professor Graeme Clark from the University of Melbourne, Australia,” he says and today, more than 250.000 patients have received this established, effective and long-term solution by the company “Cochlear” whose vision is to connect the hearing impaired to a world of sound by offering life-enhancing hearing solutions.

Indications

Cochlear implants can help patients, from infants to adults, who have moderate to profound hearing loss in both ears or/and receive little or no benefit from hearing aids, tells Rose. “Cochlear Implants can be considered for infants and adults and essentially it becomes a worldwide standard to implant children around 12 months of age, assuming that there are no contra-indications,” he says, however most children will be implanted between one to three years of age; however, even children up to seven years of age is still a good time to implant. And every subsequent year later, will increase the need for rehabilitation. Also the expectations of an achievable outcome should be discussed carefully with the family and caregivers. However for patients with a less significant degree of hearing loss or patients that have no hearing nerve, a Cochlear Implant is not indicated, points out Mr. Rose.

How It works

Mr. Rose explains that a Cochlear Implant System consists of an implantable device that is under the skin and an external part that is placed on the ear. “The external sound processor, worn behind the ear just like a hearing aid which captures sounds and converts them into digital code,” he explains and this transmits the digitally coded sound through a coil to the implant that is placed under the skin. The implant then converts the digitally coded sound to electrical impulses and sends them along an electrode array, which is positioned in the cochlea. “The implant’s electrodes stimulate the cochlea’s hearing nerve fibres, which relay the sound signals to the brain to produce hearing sensations,” says Mr. Rose who adds that the necessary surgery is a well-established procedure that requires about two hours, depending on the anatomy, and most patients can be discharged from the hospital the very next day.

Hearing Begins

With a Cochlear Implant, Mr. Rose explains that the individual’s brain will perceive a lot of sounds which it is not used to ‘hearing.’ “Recipients can hear immediately after the device is switched on, however, depending on various factors, individuals adapt differently to the new hearing,” he notes and stresses that this is an exciting time as there is so much to hear in our today’s busy world. Some compare it with learning a foreign language – each day you get a little bit better.

Follow-Up

Rehabilitation for children after cochlear implantation is an accepted part of the implant process, stresses Mr. Rose. “Indeed, many cochlear implant clinics feel it is so important that they require parents of young children to sign an agreement laying out the vital role of the family and their responsibilities for rehabilitation and their child’s developing communication skills after surgery,” he says. “Cochlear recognises the essential part that rehabilitation plays in achieving the best outcomes for each individual.”

Afterwards

Cochlear has developed a range of resources to support children and their families throughout their listening and language learning journey as well resources to help teenagers and adults to develop the skills that will allow them to enjoy participating in the hearing world. Mr. Rose emphasizes that many factors come into play to determine success post-surgically that is why the pre-surgical counselling and diagnostic is paramount in the decision-making process. “In other words, a team of experts reviews all test results before surgery to ensure that each patient gets a maximum of benefit,” he says and for children, experts strive to enable them to attend mainstream schools.

Hearing Milestones for your child:

Even if your newborn passes the initial hearing screening, watch for signs that he or she is hearing well. Hearing milestones that should be reached in the first year of life include:
• Most newborns startle or “jump” to sudden loud noises.
• By 3 months, a baby usually recognizes a parent’s voice.
• By 6 months, an infant can usually turn his or her eyes or head toward a sound.
• By 12 months, a child can usually imitate some sounds and produce a few words, such as “Mama” or “bye-bye.”
• Kids who seem to have normal hearing should continue to have their hearing evaluated on a regular basis at checkups throughout life.
• Hearing tests are usually done at ages 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, and 18 years, and at other times if there’s a concern.

A child may be at higher risk for hearing loss if he or she:
• Was born prematurely
• Stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)
• Was given medications that can lead to hearing loss
• Had complications at birth
• Had frequent ear infections had infections such as meningitis or cytomegalovirus

The Benefits of Using Cochlear Implants

• Most people are able to perceive soft, medium, and loud sounds: People who use cochlear implants have reported the ability to perceive a variety of different sounds, such as ringing telephones, slamming doors, barking dogs, the sounds of engines, the sound of a light switch turning on or off, rustling leaves, a whistling tea kettle and more.
• Many people can understand speech without lip-reading: Even when this is not possible, using a cochlear implant helps people with lip-reading.
• Many people can make phone calls: A number of people find they can make phone calls and understand familiar voices over the phone. Some people can make phone calls and understand others they are not familiar with.
• Watching Television: A number of people can watch television more easily, particularly when they are able to see a person’s face.
• Enjoying Music: Some people with cochlear implants enjoy the sounds of certain instruments, such as guitar or piano, as well as certain voices.

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Making Time For Family Communication

With kids glued to the laptop or busy studying or doing homework, while mom and dad are worn out and tired from working long hours and commuting, communication between family members is becoming a dying art. Yet HEALTH learns that the very crux of a healthy family is communication and the family that talks with one another, stays together…

Classic Scenario

Mom is tired, dad is tired, kids are busy….no one is talking. Instead we send messages via Twitter, email, and text messaging; whatever happened to the art of good old fashioned communication? According to Dr. Valeria Risoli, Clinical Psychologist at Dubai Physiotherapy and Family Medicine Clinic, communication is the essential ingredient for the healthy and positive functioning of any group of people. She explains, “In a family, communication is absolutely important for the relationship within the couple, between parents and children and among siblings.” And communication is much more than talking, but rather, paramount for sharing ideas, showing affection and respect to each other. “Communication is not only an expression of words or gestures, but is listening and paying attention to each other in an active and positive way,” she says and communication encompasses many aspects; from sharing meals together at the table as a family, sitting together and chatting as well as playful interaction are all effective ways to enhance communication.

Communicating to Children

Communication within a family should always be clear, direct, positive and assertive, stresses Risoli and the way parents communicate with their kids’ changes upon the age of their children. “The tone and the visual expression used when communicating to a baby and toddler are obviously different from the tone used when talking to a teenager,” she says. “At different ages, your son or daughter’s needs are different; for example, a baby and a toddler need to be reassured and cuddled, at ages four and five, he/she needs to be listened and answered to hundreds of seemingly endless ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ while at ages 9 and 10, he/ she needs to be asked clear questions about his/her day and praised for his/ her successes.” Teenagers on the other hand, need to feel comfortable and understood so they can trust and open up to their parents.

The Toddler

A baby, says Risoli, is more sensitive to the tone and volume of mom’s voice; he may cry if his mom says ‘stop’ or ‘no’ loudly because of her tone more than from the meaning of the word. “For this reason, parents should be careful with their tone and volume when talking,” she states, and remember that parents also communicate through their body posture and gestures. Babies and toddlers want to stay close to mom and dad as these are ways that he/she feels loved and safe. “Hugging, holding and cuddling is a communicative way to reassure your child and tell him that you love him,” she says. And essentially, parents adapt to their children’s ages accordingly and learn to talk like they do, using songs and chanting rhymes to communicate and give instruction. “An example is asking a toddler to pick up toys by singing a ‘clean up song’ and in fact, most of moms sing and use a playful tone to communicate with their children,” points out Risoli, and in fact, this is actually very positive and functional because it helps children better memorize instructions and rules in a playful way and become more cooperative. To further enrich your toddler’s language and vocabulary, she advises to not stop talking, even if you are not sure if your child understands what you are saying; do not stop talking to him or her.

Five Years Old to Pre-teen

School age kids spend more time at school than at home so if you want to communicate with them, Risoli says that you will have to find time for them and you have to make an effort to spend quality time together. She explains, “Your school age children do not like to be threatened like babies so you have to change your tone when speaking to them. An effective key to communicate with them is to be clear and direct, avoiding open questions or comments, but focusing on details of their life at school and home.” This stage of children is not as sensitive to your tone or volume of voice as before but they pay attention to the content of what you are saying, so try always to be assertive, firm and emotionally controlled when you are unhappy. And when you are proud of him or her, be positive and convincing.

The Teenager

Teenage years are a moment of transition when your kids are becoming more mature and are looking for independence. “They often become more introverted and private and have difficulty opening up to their parents,” she notes therefore mom and dad should make an extra effort to praise them and make them feel comfortable with themselves. Risoli adds that if your son/daughter does not feel like talking, you cannot force the teenager but instead remind him/her that you are interested in how he/she feels. Show interest and give them time, do not press or control. “Gaining their trust is a long and complex process that starts from childhood,” she says and healthy and positive families are those in which respect and free exchange or feelings and ideas are promoted from the beginning. She advises to aim to understand their feelings before judging them and involve them and talk to them, instead of waiting for them to come to you. “Also ask questions and pay attention to their words and silence, and choose the right time to talk to them,” she says, if however the teen is upset, let him or her calm down and do not attack with a barrage of questions… they will not answer, they will just get more and more upset and close up.

Why It Matters

Communication, emphasizes Risoli, is not only an exchange of words, but also understanding each other’s feelings even without words. And this cannot happen when we are chatting on the computer or text messaging. “Family relationships help children learn how to communicate verbally and non-verbally,” she explains and non-verbal communication is a fundamental aspect of human and animal communication. Further adding, “While on Facebook you can click on ‘I like’, however in real life you can look at your child and with a smile you can say many more things that a click of your mouse cannot communicate…” The bottom line, stresses Risoli, is that if we do not promote real communication amongst people, within families and social groups, the future generations’ society will be made up of people unable to talk to each other, a society of individuals unaware of the existence of other people around, and ultimately a society burdened with loneliness.

Tips to enhance communication within the family:

Listen: Communication is based on saying and listening to each other’s words and reading each other’s face and body language. If you want to talk to your child, you have to start listening to what she/he wants to say to you. When they are talking to you, stop doing what you are doing, look at them and listen.

When you are upset : wait until you calm down. Always talk in a calm but firm way if necessary. Firm and positive communication is more effective than negative and aggressive words.

Do not compare your child’s qualities with anyone else, not even his siblings. Children need to understand that they are unique with their strengths and limits. You can express your disappointment in a positive and firm way without comparing or humiliating.

Do not assume. Wait for your kids to finish their say before jumping to conclusion and evaluation.

Use a positive way of talking even when you are unhappy with your child’s behaviour. Instead of “don’t do that” or “this is very bad”, say “I’d like you to do this” or “you can do better”.

If your child is not very talkative, accept this without criticizing but reinforce his/her efforts to communicate when he share something.

Things we should NOT be communicating with our kids:

Kids do not need to be informed about adults’ issues; these include arguments between parents, financial difficulties, and family issues. Respect the age of your children and do not load them with worries and situations that they are not emotionally ready to deal with.

Your children do not need to know how good other children are. They need to be praised and appreciated for what they are and have, without being compared to anyone else.

Your children do not need to be informed about disturbing and traumatic events of life: let them enjoy their age without spoiling their serene development with details that they are not ready to face.

If you do not know how to talk to your children about topics that may be difficult and uncomfortable to explain, wait for them to ask. Let them know that you are there any time they have a doubt or curiosity about anything, let them feel open and comfortable with you and wait for them to ask.

If you are facing difficulties within your marital relationship, your children do not need to be informed about details and should not hear negative comments about their mom or dad.

Parents should not keep secrets about important events of the family’s life–divorce or parents, illness of a family member as children can understand and sense if something is happening. Parents should communicate to their kids what is going on, always adopting a simple and clear way of talking, appropriate for their age.

www.worldhealthinfo.net

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Oral Health Overview and Facts

What is oral health?

Oral health primarily refers to the condition of your teeth, mouth and gums. Having good oral health is not only important for your teeth and gums, but it is an important part of being healthy overall. From taking care of teeth to preventing decay, there are many aspects of oral health that are important in being as healthy as possible. About 75% of Americans have some type of periodontal disease, which when not treated can be very damaging to one's health.

Dental practitioners recommend visits to the dentist every six months. Not only does this help to take care of your teeth, but it can provide for early detection of periodontal disease.

Symptoms of poor oral health

Poor dental hygiene and habits can not only cause symptoms such as bad breath, but it can lead to more serious things such as gum, or periodontal, disease.

Halitosis.

This is the medical term for bad breath and happens as a result of poor dental habits. When you don't brush and floss every day, food particles remain in the mouth and cause bacterial growth between teeth and on the tongue, which in turn causes bad breath. Other causes of halitosis include:

Smoking or chewing tobacco

Eating certain types of food such as onions and garlic

Not cleaning dentures properly

Low-carb diets

Dry mouth, a medication condition in which the mouth is drier than usual

Yeast infections of the mouth

Diseases such as diabetes, acid reflux, pneumonia, bronchitis or kidney problems

Good oral hygiene will prevent or reduce bad breath. Brushing teeth twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste and flossing is important to remove food particles. Other tips on preventing bad breath are:

Get professional teeth cleanings and examinations at least twice a year

Don't smoke or chew tobacco

Chew sugarless gum or suck on sugarless candy

Brush your tongue when brushing teeth

Stay hydrated - drinking water keeps mouth moist

Replace toothbrush every three months

If you have dentures, remove them every night and clean well before placing them back into your mouth

Avoid foods with strong odors

Gingivitis and Periodontal Disease.

Gingivitis is also known as gum inflammation, and it is a condition that usually precedes periodontis, which is gum disease. At the beginning stages of gingivitis, bacteria in plaque causes gums to become inflamed and irritated, and sometimes it causes bleeding gums. If this condition is left untreated, the gingivitis can advance to periodontis. In periodontis, the inner layer of the gum and bone start to pull away from the teeth, creating spaces between teeth and gums that can become infected.

Signs and symptoms of gingivitis:

Tender, swollen gums

Gums that bleed during brushing or flossing

Bad breath

Soft gums

Red colored gums

Signs and symptoms of gum disease:

Tender, swollen gums

Pus between teeth and gums

Bright red gums

Changes in the way teeth fit together when biting down

Bad breath or bad taste in mouth

Feeling of loose or shifting teeth

Teeth that look longer than normal

Taking care of teeth

Brushing your teeth is the easiest thing can do to maintain good oral health. Choosing a toothbrush and toothpaste that is approved by the American Dental Association is important. Most dentists prefer toothbrushes labeled as 'soft,' but some people have a personal preference for a tougher bristle. Regardless of the type of toothbrush, it should be replaced every three months. Here are some additional tips for taking care of teeth and preventing tooth decay:

Brush and floss teeth after meals and before going to bed

Use an ADA approved toothbrush and toothpaste

Drink water with fluoride in it

Avoid carbohydrates such as chips and pretzels that can remain on the surface of the teeth

Go to the dentist twice a year for professional cleanings and exams

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