So moms who took antibiotics during pregnancy have kids with a higher rate of "asthma" and allergies?
uh, maybe it was because mom had low grade "asthma" and usually needs or wants antibiotics when she got bronchitis?
Or did they include the moms who took antibiotics for UTIs?
without reading the study, who knows.
And the side bar contains similar GIGO articles.
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In "asthma", there are two reasons it is more commonly diagnosed: one, the threshhold is lower (in the past, unless one wheezed all the time you didn't get diagnosed with "asthma". Now if you get a little bronchospams when running etc. you are diagnosed as such), two, air pollution.
David Warren writes a scathing essay on these studies, that justify the nanny state, and of course, more funding for more "research"...
and he notes that they are aiming at other people's sins, the innocent pleasures of ordinary people, not the traditional sins of promiscuity, seducing children, aborting offspring etc. But I'll probably quote that part on my boinkieblog.
According to the latest research, he writes facetiously, coffee may be good for your heart. It just might prevent cholesterol build-up in the arteries and … blah blah blah. I refer to some Korean study in the news this morning, but the findings (not of causation but of statistical correlation) are hardly new. There was for instance a big Dutch study five years ago, which redeemed tea as well as coffee, and I vaguely remember others. “More research is needed,” say all the people who make money from such pointless research. We are trained to nod sleepily in agreement. These hugely expensive, perpetually inconclusive, and very soft epidemiological studies are what most people have in mind when the magic word, “science,” is invoked: for we are living in an age of magic.Actual science would show the mechanism by which a specific constituent in coffee, such as caffeine, operates within the human metabolism to produce specific reactions in a long, very specific chain, leading to a specific result.
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related item: divorce fuels kid's sugary intake.
why, yes.
"When families separate, one of the things that is most impacted for kids is their day-to-day routines," said Jeff Cookston, professor and chair of psychology at SF State and lead researcher on the study. "Children are looking for consistency in their family environment, and family routines provide that security and continuity."
The study is the first to examine the real-time eating habits of divorced and married families, rather than rely on family members' recollections of past meals or behavior. Cookston and his colleagues interviewed the participants -- parents and children in both married and divorced families -- and asked them to keep five-day diaries of their eating habits. When they looked at the data, they found that children whose parents were separated or recently divorced were much more likely to drink sugar-sweetened beverages than children whose parents are married. Divorce did not appear to have a major impact on other unhealthful behaviors such as skipping breakfast or eating dinner outside the home.
The reason, Cookston says, is likely ease and access. Divorce can put a great deal of stress on families, including children, and drinking sugary beverages can be a "quick fix" for dealing with that stress.
And as StrategyPage notes: Ways that soldiers cope with stress are sugary drinks and junk food, cigarette smoking, and video games...
The troops know that the drugs they take have bad side effects, but combat is inherently dangerous, and staying awake and stress free is the easiest way to avoid all the other dangers. In addition to these immediate problems there is the longer term impact of stress and tobacco has always been good at that. So when pilots land they go looking for a drink and a cigarette. Same with sailors, who are still allowed to smoke in specified areas and these smoking stations are always busy when the crew is under a lot of stress. Thus for all its long term problems, tobacco is still one of the best short term anti-stress solution. The other one is candy, but that has more immediate shortcomings as well as long-term dangers that explains all the efforts to cure bad eating habits. Then there are violent video games, which unexpectedly turned out to be an excellent combat stress reliever as well as useful in dealing with long-term (PTSD) combat stress problems. It’s still unclear what the long-term downside is for these games. The problem with video games is that they are not as convenient as tobacco. In any event the search continues for more effective combat stress relievers.
and I would add: Alcohol and sex.
this last part is a problem in Muslim lands, since honor killing might be the fate of the friendly girls. But there are some lovely ladies among the military who help...alas, some men mistake the lovely and willing with the non willing, so rape is a major but little talked about problem...and now, with Obama pushing gay/transvestites in the military, expect more unreported problems.
Am I being cynical? Well, we can't keep young male employees here since they get sexually harassed by a family member who will remain nameless. Half just quit, and the other half go along for the money until the wifey finds out and fires them...and this doesn't include the guy at the farm party who passed out and ended up raped. Luckily he was greedy, but our cook got upset because she was no longer getting any love from her boy toy.
Ah life in the Philippines....
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related item: How beer made civilization.
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