Debate!: Childhood Allergies

Bailey Jane and Piper Jaimes in their favorite spot: the kitchen.

My gal pal, Bailey and her partner in crime and cuteness Piper, have this great blog called Foodie Patoodie!  (love the use of exclamation points in titles, by the way) where she actually got some heat for giving her 10+ month old baby a PB&J for the first time. This, coupled with my obnoxious obsession with teaching people, made me realize how misinformed... and slightly paranoid... a lot of people are. So, I blog. Hey, any excuse to update this thing, right?

First off: I am not denying that childhood allergies exist. I AM saying that they aren't as prevalent as you would think and a lot of contributing factors to the ones that do have allergies. Now on to the studies!

Some info on Allergies:

While it is true that approximately one in five Americans have allergies, only about 2.5% of Americans have food related allergies. Allergies are your immune systems abnormal response to a harmless substance (like a flower) causing varying reactions from sneezes to rashes.

When a person is exposed to an allergen, a few things happen. First, the body produces antibodies. The antibodies produced attempt to contain the allergen. Then through a serious of really complicated chemical reactions, you get histamines in your blood and you react. WebMD does a great job of explaining the really scientific jargon, but you know me... I don't wanna scare you off that fast!

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Kids Planet

To add to the list of appropriate science sites for children (I should just do a compilation, but another day perhaps), I found out about a Defenders of Wildlife site created for children and teachers. It's called Kids Planet and is full of facts on endangered species, games, a teaching curriculum, coloring pages and more.

The site is pretty easy and seems like a great tool to introduce your kiddies to wildlife. There is even a page that explains ways even children can make a difference in the protection of our planet's animals.

Happy surfing!

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Preventing Psychosis

Yes, I know, it has been a minute, but I swear, I have a good reason... but we're ignoring all that and getting straight to the news!

There were two articles mentioned on ScienceDaily yesterday pertaining to things that cause psychosis and violence in children. Both articles were published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. In one study, 6,356 12-year-olds were looked at. All of the children were tested/interviewed for psychosis (hallucination or delusions). About 11 % of the children were found to have symptoms, most of which had mothers that smoked during pregnancy. The children with the highest levels of psychosis were born to mothers who smoked heavily. There was also a correlation found between women who drank alcohol within the first 21 weeks of pregnancy and psychosis. There was no relation at all to women who claimed to have smoked cannibis. You can read the published article here. It is an open access article.

In the second study, 17,500 people were studied since 1970. Data was taken at 5, 100, and 34 years of age. The purpose of the study was to determine if sweets affected adult behavior. By age 34, some of the people were considered violent. Of these people, almost 70% were given some sort of confection or chocolate everyday as a kid. This link was present even after other factors were removed. Here's what researchers had to say:

"Our favoured explanation is that giving children sweets and chocolate regularly may stop them learning how to wait to obtain something they want. Not being able to defer gratification may push them towards more impulsive behaviour, which is strongly associated with delinquency."

In otherwords, be kind to your body while pregnant and don't spoil your kids. It could be bad for them later in life!

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Science for the Kiddies

While carousing on a site where I have gotten some great science news in the past, I actually clicked the link on the right for Science News for Kids, and I must say, I WAS BLOWN AWAY! The site is run by Eureka Alert. Needless to say, the writing style is easy to understand, makes references to kids pop culture so that they can relate, and is really just great. Go see for yourself!

Some examples of recently published articles are:

• An article about invisibility cloaks in real life making reference to Harry Potter
• Stories about other kids crusading to help the honey bees
• A list of the top science books for kids and teens

and so much more!

If you have a little budding scientist, this site is for them. There are even fun links like birds and their songs and other sciencey websites to visit. Ok, I am off for more browsing!

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An Up and Coming Wildlife Host

... and no it's not me. This is what I get for not having a TV. I found him surfing the web today... Apparently there is this syrupy sweet boy who does his own wildlife minis also and they are really good. If I had a television perhaps I would have caught his appearances on various shows. His name is Enzo and his show rocks. His show is ENZOology and is quite popular apparently. I was blown away. It makes my videos seem pointless... *le sigh* What he is doing is amazing though. I really wish more children viewed the outdoors and sciences this way. You should go to his website. It really is awsome. Yay, Enzo!

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