The following table shows calories used in common physical activities at both moderate and vigorous levels.

The improvements found in cognition and in certain measurements of mental abilities were also extrapolated to imply that the supplementation of choline may also be protective against neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: More Choline for Pregnant, Nursing Women Could Reduce Down Syndrome Dysfunction, Guard Against Dementia

A recent study has found that there may be a connection between exposure to organophosphate type pesticides and a diagnosis of ADHD. It appears that children exposed to even common levels of this class of pesticide were found to have an increased risk of developing the condition.

To learn more about holistic treatment options for ADD and ADHD, click here to listen to Wednesday’s Clinical Rounds call with Bert Mathieson, N.D. 

Sources: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Urinary Metabolites of Organophosphate Pesticides

The bone blues.

An unlikely but serious side effect for people taking bisphosphonates for osteoporosis is the risk of developing osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ). Bisphosphonates are a class of drugs that includes the medications Fosamax and Boniva.

Osteonecrosis literally means bone death and the jaw is the typical place for this side effect to occur.

Source: Osteoporosis, Medications and Oral Health

View our Nutritional Support Protocol for Osteoporosis.

The big threat to growth in the next decade is not oil or food prices, but the rising cost of health care. The doubling of health insurance premiums since 2000 makes employers choose between cutting benefits and hiring fewer workers.

Rising health costs push total employment costs up and wages and benefits down. The result is lost profits and lost wages, in addition to pointless risk, insecurity and a flood of personal bankruptcies.

Sustained growth thus requires successful health-care reform. Barack Obama and John McCain propose to lead us in opposite directions — and the Obama direction is far superior.

Sen. Obama’s proposal will modernize our current system of employer- and government-provided health care, keeping what works well, and making the investments now that will lead to a more efficient medical system. He does this in five ways:

- Learning. One-third of medical costs go for services at best ineffective and at worst harmful. Fifty billion dollars will jump-start the long-overdue information revolution in health care to identify the best providers, treatments and patient management strategies.

- Rewarding. Doctors and hospitals today are paid for performing procedures, not for helping patients. Insurers make money by dumping sick patients, not by keeping people healthy. Mr. Obama proposes to base Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals and doctors on patient outcomes (lower cholesterol readings, made and kept follow-up appointments) in a coordinated effort to focus the entire payment system around better health, not just more care.

- Pooling. The Obama plan would give individuals and small firms the option of joining large insurance pools. With large patient pools, a few people incurring high medical costs will not topple the entire system, so insurers would no longer need to waste time, money and resources weeding out the healthy from the sick, and businesses and individuals would no longer have to subject themselves to that costly and stressful process.

- Preventing. In today’s health-care market, less than one dollar in 25 goes for prevention, even though preventive services — regular screenings and healthy lifestyle information — are among the most cost-effective medical services around. Guaranteeing access to preventive services will improve health and in many cases save money.

- Covering. Controlling long-run health-care costs requires removing the hidden expenses of the uninsured. The reforms described above will lower premiums by $2,500 for the typical family, allowing millions previously priced out of the market to afford insurance.

In addition, tax credits for those still unable to afford private coverage, and the option to buy in to the federal government’s benefits system, will ensure that all individuals have access to an affordable, portable alternative at a price they can afford.

Given the current inefficiencies in our system, the impact of the Obama plan will be profound. Besides the $2,500 savings in medical costs for the typical family, according to our research annual business-sector costs will fall by about $140 billion. Our figures suggest that decreasing employer costs by this amount will result in the expansion of employer-provided health insurance to 10 million previously uninsured people.

We know these savings are attainable: other countries have them today. We spend 40% more than other countries such as Canada and Switzeraland on health care — nearly $1 trillion — but our health outcomes are no better.

The lower cost of benefits will allow employers to hire some 90,000 low-wage workers currently without jobs because they are currently priced out of the market. It also would pull one and a half million more workers out of low-wage low-benefit and into high-wage high-benefit jobs. Workers currently locked into jobs because they fear losing their health benefits would be able to move to entrepreneurial jobs, or simply work part time.

In contrast, Sen. McCain, who constantly repeats his no-new-taxes promise on the campaign trail, proposes a big tax hike as the solution to our health-care crisis. His plan would raise taxes on workers who receive health benefits, with the idea of encouraging their employers to drop coverage. A study conducted by University of Michigan economist Tom Buchmueller and colleagues published in the journal Health Affairs suggests that the McCain tax hike will lead employers to drop coverage for over 20 million Americans.

What would happen to these people? Mr. McCain will give them a small tax credit, $5,000 for a family and $2,500 for an individual, and tell them to navigate the individual insurance market on their own.

For middle- and lower-income people, the credits are way too small. They are less than half the cost of policies today ($12,000 on average for a family), and are far below the 75% that most employers offering coverage contribute. Further, their value would erode over time, as the credit increases less rapidly than average premiums.

Those already sick are completely out of luck, as individual insurers are free to deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions. Mr. McCain has proposed a high-risk pool for the very sick, but has not put forward the money to make it work.

Even for those healthy enough to gain coverage in the individual insurance market, the screening, marketing and individual underwriting that insurers do to separate healthy from sick boosts premiums by 17% relative to employer-provided insurance, well beyond the help offered by the McCain tax credit.

The immediate consequences of the McCain plan are even worse. The McCain plan is a big tax increase on employers and workers. With the economy in recession, that’s the last thing America’s businesses need.

Finally, Mr. McCain does nothing to bend the curve of rising health-care costs downward. He does not fund investments in learning, rewarding and preventing. Eliminating state coverage requirements will slash preventive service availability.

The high cost-sharing plans he envisions will similarly discourage preventive care. And as he does nothing about the hidden costs of the uncovered — expensive ER visits, recurring conditions resulting from inadequate follow-up care.

Everyone agrees our health-care financing system must change. But only one candidate, Barack Obama, has real change we can believe in.

Mr. Cutler is professor of economics at Harvard and an adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Mr. DeLong is professor of economics at University of California, Berkeley. Ms. Marciarille is adjunct law professor at McGeorge School of Law.

Dear Friends, 

I am glad to have this opportunity to again share my thoughts on the role doctors of chiropractic play in the American health care system. As I have said before, doctors of chiropractic play an important role in our health care system, and my commitment to you and your patients remains strong. 

As I have said, I believe steps should be taken to acknowledge the important care provided by doctors of chiropractic. We need to knock down unreasonable barriers of access and discriminatory insurance coverage so Americans in need of quality chiropractic care can access it without difficulty. We need to expand the range of chiropractic services covered by Medicare, facilitate integration of doctors of chiropractic into the health care systems of the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense, and allow commission of doctors of chiropractic as officers in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. And again, under my health care plan, many, if not all, chiropractic services would be included in the benefit package offered in the public plan. 

America faces challenges both at home and abroad. To remain competitive, we must ensure that our health care system is accessible for every American. That is why my plan ensures quality, accessible heath care for all Americans. Doctors of chiropractic will play an important role in achieving this goal. I look forward to a strong relationship as we build that future together. 

Sincerely, 

Barack Obama 

American Chiropractic Association

1701 Clarendon Boulevard

Arlington, VA 22209

Dear Friends:

I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge and applaud the contribution of the chiropractic community in providing quality care for millions of Americans every year. As valuable members of our health care delivery system, more than 60,000 licensed chiropractors all across our nation provide cost-effective and non-invasive services every day.

Without reforms, within a decade health spending will compromise twenty percent of our economy. This is taking an increasing toll on America’s families and businesses. For every American family, access to quality and affordable health care is a key to economic security and another step toward their realization of the American dream. I believe we can, and must, provide access to quality and affordable health care for every American – the time to act is now.

The greatest threat to our health care system is rising costs. Through comprehensive policies that include payment reform, rewarding quality, promoting prevention, creating new treatment models for chronic care disease management, investing in health IT and empowering Americans with better information, we can lower costs for all families.

I will reform the tax code to give American families a $5,000 refundable tax credit ($2,500 for individuals) to allow them to purchase insurance of their choice including keeping their current employer coverage. Furthermore for the first time, those without employer coverage, including the self-employed and the uninsured, will have the same tax benefit to purchase coverage that best meets their unique needs including across state lines. American families – not government bureaucrats or insurance companies – should choose the coverage and services, including chiropractic services, that best meets their unique needs.

With a strong focus on prevention and wellness along with creating new treatment models to better manage chronic care diseases in a more effective and patient-centric manner, chiropractors will play an important role in my health care reform agenda. By allowing families to purchase coverage across state lines I will ensure that families who currently desire chiropractic services but do not have access to them, will now be able to purchase policies that cover these services. Through payment reform I will ensure that chiropractors, along with other health care providers, are fairly reimbursed for their services in the Medicare program.

A McCain-Palin administration will work in a bipartisan and inclusive manner to ensure that reforming our health care system is a top priority. I looked forward to your continued valuable contribution to our health care system as we work together to ensure that access to quality and affordable coverage for every American becomes a reality.

John McCain

Clinical Features: A 24-year-old soldier presented with low back pain and urinary urgency of 12-15 times per day with unsuccessful medication results.

Intervention and Outcome: Contact-specific, high-velocity, low-amplitude adjustments (ie, Diversified Technique) were applied to sites of vertebral subluxation. The patient reported a decrease in low back pain and urinary urgency after chiropractic care.

Conclusion: The chiropractic care of a soldier with low back pain and urinary urgency is presented. Marked resolution of the patient’s symptoms was obtained concomitant with a reduction in subluxation findings despite the history of unsuccessful medication results.

Key Words: Low back pain, chiropractic, urinary urgency, urinary incontinence, enuresis

Dear Patients and Friends,

        Back pain is a very common condition.  Research estimates nearly 8 out of 10 people will suffer with back pain at some time in their life, and it is a common reason why many people visit the emergency room.

        If a condition is bad enough to make people go to the emergency room – you would think it would be life-threatening. Well, with back pain, that is usually not the case.

        You see, back pain can have several different causes, and some are VERY serious like tumors, aortic aneurisms and infections.  Other causes can be kidney stones, pregnancy, endometriosis, prostate conditions and fibromyalgia, to name a few.

        But, the most common cause of back pain is mechanical in nature.  This occurs when either your spinal muscles or ligaments are over stretched.   Over stretching and injuring your muscles is called a strain… over stretching and injuring your ligaments is called a sprain.

        Some Chiropractors call a sprain of the spinal joint complex a subluxation. A subluxation can cause severe pain… pain so severe it can cause you to go to the emergency room.

        However, with back pain, the severity of pain is not always associated with the severity of injury.  For example, a relatively “simple” subluxation can bring you to your knees and land you in the emergency room due to pain and fear.

        Countless subluxations are effectively treated by Chiropractors everyday – even on people whose back pain was so bad they thought for sure they had a broken bone or cancer.

        On the contrary, some of the more severe conditions mentioned above can cause mild back pain, with more serious consequences.

        That’s why, no matter how bad or infrequent your back pain is, you should get it checked out by a qualified specialist.  If you have back pain, our door is always open to you.  We can do a thorough examination and tell you what’s causing your back pain and what to do to have the best chance of relieving it.

        Often, it is nothing to worry about and can be taken care of in no time.

Michael LoGiudice, DC

Chiropractor

18750 Willamette Dr

Ste F

West Linn, OR 97068

Tel: 503-908-0122

Fax: 503-908-0334

www.linncitychiro.com

Info@linncitychiro.com