Daily Dose of DrGreene

You Are What You Watch?!

Television commercials work. They work well enough that it makes sense for fast food restaurants and junk food manufacturers to spend lots of money to entice your child to overindulge. When children watch a cartoon with a single food commercial, they tend to eat twice as much food as when they watch a cartoon with a toy commercial according to a study announced April 24, 2007 by the University of Liverpool and presented at the European Congress on Obesity. All of the kids in the study had free access to a variety of snacks, ranging from high fat, high sugar choices to several healthy choices. Some of the kids in the study were overweight or obese, some were of normal weight. Food advertising affected all of them. Interestingly, the food commercials had the biggest effect on ... (more)

Alan Greene MD FAAP

Breastfeeding, Diarrhea, and Pneumonia

In the modern United Kingdom, about 12 percent of all normal, healthy, full-term babies are hospitalized at least once in their first 8 months of life. Many of these hospitalizations are for pneumonia, bronchiolitis, or other chest infections; many are for diarrhea or other gastroenteritis. How big a difference might breastfeeding make in preventing these kids from being hospitalized? The results of a huge study of almost 16,000 babies were published in the April 2007 Pediatrics. Researchers from Oxford and University College London looked at the outcomes of babies who were exclusively breastfed for 8 month, those who were exclusively formula-fed for the same period, and those who received a combination. After accounting for other factors,* the investigators calculated that ... (more)

Alan Greene MD FAAP

ADHD and Omega 3 fats

ADHD is one of the most common behavioral and learning problems in childhood. It can affect the school experience, families, and friendships. It’s often associated with other problems as well, including learning disabilities and mood problems. Wouldn’t it be great if there were nutritional ways to help? The relationship between what kids eat and their behavior is complex, and something we are learning a lot about in the 21st century. One emerging link is that between ADHD and...(more)

Alan Greene MD FAAP

What’s in a Name?

Whether or not babies respond to their names by their first birthdays can be an important clue to whether or not they will end up with autism or other developmental delays, according to a MIND Institute study published in the April 2007 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Finding early ways to detect autism is important. This study focused on babies who were known to be at high risk for developing autism because they had an older sibling who had already been diagnosed. In the study, the researchers gave babies a small toy to play with while they were seated at a table, either in a parent's lap or in a baby seat. Then the researcher moved out of sight, behind the child. When the child's attention was clearly focused on the toy, the researcher called the child's name in a normal voice. If the child disengaged attention from the toy, turned, and made eye contact with the stranger, he passed the test. If the child did not respond completely, the researcher called the child's name again 3 seconds later. This was repeated a third time if there was still no response. In this small study, 75% of those that never responded ended up with a developmental delay diagnosed by age 2 (more than half of these with an autism spectrum disorder). By contrast, only 8% of those who did respond to their names ended up with an autism spectrum disorder.

We've still got a lot to learn, but babies who don't respond to their names by their first birthdays deserve careful consideration to look for developmental problems. By identifying and treating problems early, while the brain is developing so rapidly, we could make a big difference in kids' lives.

Alan Greene MD FAAP

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