Sugar makes kids hyper: fact or fiction

"Wait an hour after eating before going swimming." "Don't go out in the rain or you'll catch a cold..." We've all heard these before...mostly because our parents told them to us...but who told it to them? Sometimes their parents...sometimes even doctors...but is there actual science behind the myths that most of us believe - and will more than likely pass on to our own kids?

Pediatricians Andrew Adesman (author of "Babyfacts: The Truth About Your Child's Health From Newborn Through Preschool"), Aaron Carroll and Rachel Vreeman, (co-authors of "Don't Swallow Your Gum! Myths, Half-Truths and Outright Lies About Your Body and Health") all agree - many of the leading myths just don't have the scientific evidence to back them up. When in doubt, doctors often fall back on what their own mentors taught them without questioning the facts on which their advice is based. (Story by Liz Szabo, USA Today http://tinyurl.com/p6nmox)

So what are these wives' tales that parents believe and these pediatricians say are myths? Here are some of my favorite:

• Adding cereal to a baby's diet will help him sleep longer (...we really do so want to believe)
• Teething causes a fever (apparently no more so than anything else)
• Vitamin C, echinacea or zinc will prevent a cold (a number of studies to the contrary)
• You can catch poison ivy from someone else with poison ivy (only if they haven't washed off the oil )
• Birth control pills don't work as well on antibiotics (apparently no proof of this)
• Must stay awake with a concussion (not unless the doctor says so).
• Timing when you have sex will determine your baby's sex (even if it's not true - this one might be worth double checking...just for the fun)

In reality, there are infinitely more questions than there are answers when it comes to the many important medical decisions we often face. That is why I believe it all comes down to this. If you look at the heart of these "myths" there is one common theme...at the end of the day, their goal is to keep us and our children healthy and safe. And until we are inundated with good, credible scientific data to the contrary, it is highly unlikely we will ever give them up.

Truthfully, if I ask you right now do you believe sugar makes kids hyper - fact or fiction? ...what would you say???

...And Then There's the Joy

For those of you who watched Grey's Anatomy last night, there were some sad moments and some gut-wrenching unbelievably awful ones...and then there was one unbelievably beautiful one...the joy of a child who was given another chance at life. One doctor gathered several of her colleagues to witness it. Together they stood outside her room, quietly smiling and taking in the moment. There wasn't much more that needed to be said - the message was clear. Saving one childs life trumped everything.

Given the project I've been working on, it has meant that over the years most of the news stories I've captured have been the sad stories of the children involved in ambulance crashes. This blog gives me the opportunity to share all kinds of pediatric patient stories. Today, I am grateful to be able to share something incredibly uplifting...

(by Roni Caryn Rabin: NYT 5/13/09 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/health/14scorpion.html?_r=1&ref=us )

10 year-old Michael Moerdler-Green was stung by a scorpion during a recent family trip to Phoenix. At the emergency room, doctors offered his parents a choice of treatments: heavy sedation to help calm his symptoms or an experimental scorpion venom made in Mexico, but not yet approved for use in the US by the FDA. His father, Dr Moerdler-Green, chose the antivenom. His son was able to leave the hospital ONE HOUR AFTER RECEIVING THE MEDICATION.

No other antivenom specifically for scorpion stings is available in the US. A study published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine documents a small clinical trial of young children stung by bark scorpions - most given the drug recovered from most of their symptoms within 2 hours. Dr Leslie Boyer, director of a venom research institute at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson said wider use of the antivenom could make treatment much easier in rural areas and small towns in the state that do not have PICU's and usually have to helicopter children to hospitals for care.

I would like to thank everyone for sharing this with me today. I am grateful to have your company when the news I have is sad or scary and my hope is to raise awareness about some child safety issue. I am thrilled that the only message I have to pass on today is one of hope...and life. Welcome to the joy.