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Bambini April 2018 Newsletter
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Practice News
- First, some good news: our newest clinician, Dr. Sarah Sercombe DNP, has settled in, and Bambini is once again accepting new patients! We wish to extend our appreciation to the many families who had signed on to our waiting list during the first quarter of the year
- A related topic: we would like to remind you that summer camp season is just two months away (hard to wrap our heads around that after the long winter!). Please do not wait until last minute to schedule camp physicals.
- On a somber note, Dr. Malak was recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. In recent years, the incidence of this disease has doubled. It is now the fifth most common cancer. Dr. Malak, of course, is pursuing an integrative approach to care and will continue to work in the office on a regular basis in supervisory and managing capacities, but will not be seeing patients for at least the next several months.
- In January 2018, Bambini was certified by the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a Patient Centered Medical Home Level-3 (the top tier)!
Through the medical home model, primary care practices seek to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of the care they deliver while responding to each patient's unique needs and preferences.
Only about 7% of US physicians currently practice in an NCQA medical home. Our care coordinator is Donna Lyons LPN. More updates on this important development yet to come.
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Growing Pains
For years, pediatricians have been totally stumped as to why so many children get growing pains!
In 2011, doctors from Karachi, Pakistan, checked the vitamin D levels of 100 successive children with growing pains and found that only 6 had normal vitamin D levels.
Four years later, researchers from Verona, Italy examined 33 children with growing pains. Their average 25-OH vitamin D level was 15.7 (optimal 50-80). After three months of treatment with supplemental vitamin D, growing pains were dramatically reduced (p< 0.001).
In our experience, growing pains peak around age 4-5 years. They are more common in children with hyper-mobility (flat feet, "doubled-jointed"). With the growing number of Bambini parents using vitamin D supplements, we don't see this condition like we used to.
Growing pains classically strike near bedtime in the shin area. They never cause a limp or swelling. That is really important to keep in mind.
If vitamin D does not do the job, some other practical suggestions are listed here. In addition to those, arnica is worth a try for the occasional late night growing pain.
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Wheat Woes
In a study published last year by William Shaw PhD, urine samples from a set of 47 month-old triplets were examined for the presence of glyphosate (Roundup by Monsanto). The two boys had autism and their sister had a seizure disorder. Their glyphosate levels averaged 34 mcg. In addition, tests showed signs of mitochondrial dysfunction and heavy growth of clostridia species in their gut.
The trio was placed on an organic diet. Fourteen months later, repeat glyphosate levels on one of the triplets had fallen 94% to 2.25 mcg. One of the boys had lost their diagnosis of apraxia and severe speech delay and his sister's fatigue had resolved.
Starting about 20 years ago, farmers began using Roundup in earnest. Initially, it was used to kills weeds in fields planted with genetically-modified crops that were resistant. But in more recent years, the use dramatically expanded as they began to spray wheat with it shortly before harvest to improve yield.
This dramatic change in farming practice parallels the autism epidemic. And, as this small triplet study shows, children exposed to Roundup have more toxic bacteria in their gut and mitochondrial dysfunction.
Not only is 21st century wheat a problem because it has been hybridized to dramatically increase it's gluten content as Drs. William Davis (Wheat Belly) and David Perlmutter (Grain Brain) have aptly noted, but also because of residual Roundup - and not to mention bromine and alloxan.
This is something for us all to think about next time we're stopping for a bagel / croissant in the morning or going out to dinner for pasta / pizza.
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Charcoal & C-60
In a rather obscure study published in 1989, researchers from Kiev, Ukraine, fed charcoal to 28 month-old laboratory rats. (the average lifespan of a lab rat is three years). However, when fed charcoal 10 days per month, these critters had an increase in lifespan of 43%. Not bad!
In 2012, however, scientists from France reported their findings on rats fed C60 - a 60-carbon fullerene (a.k.a. buckyball) suspended in olive oil. The rodents were given a tenth of a gram of this relative of charcoal several times per week. A control group was given straight olive oil.
The results? Olive oil alone increased lifespan by 18% -- again not bad. Rats fed C60, however, almost doubled their lifespan with one subject that lived 66 months!
What do these studies really mean, and how might they relate to raising healthy children today? Well, we all know that good nutrition is very important. Kids need vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats (like olive oil).
But neither charcoal nor C-60 supply nutrients. Rather, these substances are potent detoxifiers. So the key to raising exceptionally healthy children, especially in the toxic world we all live in today, may not only be good nutrition but also regular detoxification.
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