You Really Are What You Eat: Can Food Actually Have an Impact on Health and Disease?

I get a lot of questions from patients about food. There’s a lot of interest lately in using food to treat disease. Now, we know that “eating right” is “healthier” in that too much of anything can make us gain weight, and being obese can put us at risk for heart disease and diabetes, for example. But more and more people are asking me if certain foods can reduce inflammation in the body, reduce cancer risk, and actually change their risks for certain diseases – not just based on the caloric content and impacts on their weight.

Along those same lines, I am seeing more and more patients who tell me that a certain dietary change had a major impact on something totally unrelated and unexpected – like their otherwise hard to treat skin condition, or their child’s behavior in school.

Is there any validity to this?

Though the temptation is to dismiss these associations as coincidence, our growing understanding of the human microbiome has opened our eyes to ways in which food might possibly have a major impact on determining our health and disease states.

What is the microbiome?

The human microbiome is the genetic blueprint of all the organisms (viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc – also called microbiota) that live within the human body. Typically, we think of “bugs” as causing infections. But there are a few areas in our bodies that organisms call home, such as the gut, vagina, lungs, and skin. They feed off of our bodies, and often help us out in various ways in exchange. In recent years, there have been efforts in Europe, the US, and China to sequence and characterize the human microbiome. And what we’ve found is that it’s rich and diverse. You thought humans had a lot of genes? The human microbiome has at least 30 times the number of genes as the human genome!

So now that the human microbiome has been sequenced, the next step is to slowly understand what all the different genes and organisms do.

What determines a person’s microbiome?

The specific organisms living in a person’s gut and the genes that those organisms carry are different from those found in that same person’s lungs, and different from those found in another person. But we’ve noticed that there are also a lot of commonalities. And the people who have more similar microbiota to one another tend to either be related, or live near each other. We’ve also noticed that people who have the same illnesses also have similar changes in their microbiome.

No one knows exactly what determines a person’s microbiome, but we know it’s complicated. It’s likely a combination of genetics and environmental determinants. We know that antibiotics and chronic inflammation can alter the microbiome, as can food.

So why does this matter? Well, it’s hard to change our genetics, and often hard to change a lot of things in our environment. But we can change what we eat, and in turn manipulate our microbiome.

Why does our microbiome impact our health?

As we begin to understand the role of the different microbiota, we’re starting to understand the important role the microbiome plays in maintaining the “status quo” of our bodies. We’re also starting to see that these organisms play a role in how our bodies develop immunity and mediate inflammation.

For example, some of the genes in some of the organisms in our gut are responsible for allowing our bodies to digest certain foods. Without these genes or these organisms, we would not be able to digest these foods. This would be both a nuisance because we would feel sick or bloated when we ate them, but would also lead to significant nutritional deficiencies if these foods were supposed to be major parts of our diets. So why is this concept unique? Because that isn’t our genes that allow us to digest our food – it’s a gene that belongs to a bacteria, that lives inside of us.

On the negative, some of the microbiota in our guts are responsible for releasing from our foods certain compounds that can signal tumours and cancers to grow. Again – these aren’t our genes doing this – these are genes that belong to a bacteria, living in our gut.

I know what you’re wondering – if certain organisms cause inflammation and cancer, and others are good and promote health, why can’t we just eat differently and create a more favourable microbiotic environment?

Food as Medicine?

Believe it or not, this is concept that isn’t far off. We already know that taking antibiotics can decrease the richness of the gut microbiota and can lead to overgrowth of a bacteria called clostridium difficile, that can lead to a severe diarrheal illness. We also know that repopulating the microbiota can treat a stubborn clostridium difficile infection – we do this by transplanting stool from an uninfected person into a person with the infection. A less dramatic example is using a probiotic to treat infectious diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome.

We know that people with fewer species making up their microbiota have more obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and inflammation. We also know that diets with more fiber, fruits, and vegetables lead to a richer microbiome. And we’ve shown a positive association between diets high in fiber, fruits, and vegetables, and  a lower risk of inflammatory bowel disease.

What next?

The problem is, we have a lot we still need to understand about the human microbiome, and the complex role it has in health and illness. We need to recognize that the microbiome is only one piece of the puzzle – we also have to contend with different genetic predispositions to certain diseases, and a whole host of other factors. But the more we understand, the closer we are to being able to actually change one major determinant of our health, and we can potentially do that by modifying what we eat.

So for the time being, when people ask me what they can do to “be healthier” – eat a diet high in fiber, fruits, and vegetables.  Consider reducing the amount of meat. And most importantly, stay tuned, because in the next few years, we will likely have gained a much better understanding of how to use food as medicine. But for now, there are very few conditions we can treat with diet alone. That being said, when people come in telling me that changing their diet lead to a major improvement in a symptoms or condition they have, I believe it! And I think it’s likely because they changed their microbiome.

The post You Really Are What You Eat appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Last week, the journal Pediatrics published a study describing the characteristics of physicians who dismiss families for refusing vaccines. Perhaps most shocking was the finding that 83% of the over 500 physicians surveyed reported that in a typical month, at least 1% of parents in their practice refused at least 1 infant vaccine.  Many personal stories from doctors followed in the news, and as I read them, my first thought was – how terrible. How could a doctor refuse to care for a whole group of patients?  Especially vulnerable children, who had no say in the decision. It goes against everything we’ve been taught.

But then I read on.

One of these doctors instituted the policy of refusing to care for unvaccinated families after an unvaccinated child showed up in his waiting room with whooping cough, exposing several infants and another child with leukemia to this potentially fatal and preventable illness.

It hit a chord. As the mom of 3 young boys, someone is always sick in my household. We’re cautious, but not over-the-top about germs. I know kids get sick, and I know they can fight colds with strong immune systems, and that it’s not the end of the world. I’ve had the flu, I even had chicken pox, and I lived to tell.

But whooping cough, influenza, chicken pox, measles, and many other vaccine-preventable infections aren’t “just colds.” They are serious infections that can kill people. And just because one of these didn’t cause a debilitating illness in me or you, it doesn’t mean that if or when we get them we can’t pass them on to someone who doesn’t have the immune strength to fight them. You may have already read about why I chose to get a flu shot this year  – to protect my son, my grandmother, and my good friend, all of whom could die from the infection that in me might only feel like a no-big-deal-kinda-cold.

The recent study in Pediatrics showed that in the states where doctors were less likely to dismiss patients for refusing vaccines, there were lower vaccination rates and higher rates of vaccine-preventable diseases. So while my gut reaction was at first that these doctors were betraying their patients by dismissing them, I then thought about all of the other vulnerable children in their practices that they were protecting. And I thought about the Hippocratic oath we all took in medical school – where we vowed to “take care that [our patients] suffer no hurt or damage.” And things got a lot less obvious.

As an adult gastroenterologist, I don’t have a ton of conversations about vaccinating children, but every day I talk to people about illnesses and various ways of treating them. And my stance has never been to be someone who paternalistically dictates a treatment plan to a patient. My patients are adults, my peers, and I respect their intelligence. I think it’s overstepping my boundaries to be telling them what to do. Instead, I see it as my job to provide them with all the info they need, so that they can make educated decisions for themselves. Except in really unique circumstances, most of the people I see are competent adults, who have the right to make their own decisions, even ones that I don’t agree with.

For the most part, I feel that way because their health decisions are their business and don’t have much direct impact on the physical health of anyone except themselves. But what I’ve realized is that when it comes to vaccines, that’s just not true. Those decisions impact the people around them far more than they impact themselves. So I really feel for those pediatricians who face this everyday. They’re trying to “do no harm.” Aren’t they doing a ton of harm by allowing unsuspecting vulnerable children to sit in their waiting rooms with people who could realistically be carrying preventable and life-threatening infections?

So why is it that people are more and more refusing to get vaccines for themselves and their kids? The short answer is, I have no idea. I set out to write a few of the most common reasons, and explain whether they are valid or not. But as I did, I realized I sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher (whaamp-whaamp-whaamp) – this is really, really old news, and did I really need to be belabouring these points? I can’t imagine that anyone, especially someone who had made the conscious choice to refuse the vaccines the pediatrician was recommending for their child, would not know that the study showing a link between thimerosal and autism was retracted and the author totally discredited (but if you’re curious, the top three reasons people refuse vaccines article can be found here). I think it goes deeper – an inherent mistrust of mainstream science and medicine, maybe that all of this “good information” is just part of a giant conspiracy theory, or some sort of secret arrangement between every doctor and the companies that manufacture vaccines. How can a doctor carry on a relationship with a patient or family who feels this way? Mutual trust is fundamental to a sound doctor-patient relationship.

Like I said, I’m a mom to 3 young boys, and my main concern is to keep them safe and happy. I’ve chosen to vaccinate them because I am overwhelmed with the amount of sound data supporting the benefits of vaccines. I don’t want my boys to get sick from whooping cough, measles, or mumps.  I don’t want any potential future daughters-in-law to get cervical cancer. And I haven’t seen any compelling quality evidence to suggest that vaccines are bad. I’m a doctor and so are 90% of the people I know, and no one I know gets kickbacks of any sort from anyone for recommending or administering vaccines. The only juice we all drank was the one called I Practice Evidence Based Medicine. And as for the unvaccinated children sharing a pediatricians waiting room with my kids? I think it’s scary. Really scary. I’m comforted because I know my kids are most likely immune to those infections. Because I’m lucky and my kids are healthy. But that’s not the case for everyone, and if it weren’t for me, I’d be out of that waiting room in a heartbeat.

Oh, and Bellyblog’s very own media producer Dr. Seema Marwaha made this video that might help explain some of those misconceptions I talked about.

The post What You Don’t Know About Vaccines appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

In a previous blog post, I talked about a recent study describing the characteristics of physicians who refused to care for families who declined vaccines for their children. I talked about how I suspected it was about something much deeper than just misinformation, or misconception. But I also promised that I would make some of the info available here in case there was anyone who really didn’t know whether to believe the hype about vaccines and autism, and who was seeking to educate themselves in order to make a good decision for their child.

Here are the 3 most common reasons why people refuse vaccines, explained.

If these infections were so serious, why don’t we hear more about them?

So polio causes a really bad disease called poliomyelitis. In the 80s, hundreds of thousands of children across the world were left paralyzed by its effects. Then a world-wide vaccination program was implemented, and 15 years later, rates of poliomyelitis were down 99.9%, and the disease was completely eradicated from the Western Hemisphere, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. That’s why we never hear about it anymore. Because we managed to eradicate a devastating disease from a large part of the world. Through vaccination.

Vaccines contain mercury (thimerosal) and that causes autism.

This association has not been shown. The study that described the association was retracted, because the guy who wrote it made up the results. They are no more valid than me saying right now that the MMR vaccines causes the apples on my apple tree to rot. I just made that up. I don’t even have an apple tree. This was a really, really bad case of research misconduct. There have been countless studies since then that have not supported the association between MMR and autism. The Institute of Medicine rejected the causal relationship in 2004.

Moreover, with the exception of certain flu shot formulations, no vaccines in the US or Canada have contained thimerosal in almost 20 years. And even if they did, thimerosal isn’t considered a dangerous form of mercury. The kind of mercury that can cause health problems is most commonly found in fish. So if you want to protect your children, ditch the tuna sandwich, not the flu shot. (PS – most single-dose flu shots and nasal flu mist don’t contain thimerosal.)

I had chicken pox and it wasn’t that bad.

Me too. Aside from some unfortunate family photos, I didn’t suffer any lasting consequences. But that’s because I was a healthy 5 year old with an intact immune system. Pregnant women, adults, babies, the elderly, and people who have compromised immune systems can die from chicken pox and other vaccine-preventable illnesses, and are much more likely to wind up in the hospital from complications. Since these diseases are so highly contagious, unvaccinated children pose a major health threat to these more vulnerable populations.

Bellyblog’s media producer Dr. Seema Marwaha made this video that also might help explain some of these misconceptions.

The post Vaccine Myths, Explained appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Childhood Obesity, A Heavy Burden

As a pediatrician who treats children and adolescents with obesity, many parents have asked me, “Why is my child obese?”

I have to admit that I don’t have a good answer to this question. It’s not as simple as an imbalance between calories consumed and calories burned. The medical literature points to the interaction of genetic, physical, behavioral, and environmental factors – meaning it’s really complicated, and there’s isn’t a single culprit.

Most importantly, it’s not the child’s fault.

The Canadian Medical Association recently declared obesity to be a chronic disease. Greater than 20% of Canadian children are overweight and more than 10% have obesity. Overweight and obese children are more likely to become overweight adults.

Children with obesity carry a heavy burden, not just physically, but emotionally, too.

Obesity is associated with the development of physical problems including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and emotional problems such as depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem.

Although clinical treatments have shown minimal impact on body weight, lifestyle changes like improving sleep, increasing physical activity, and changing nutrition and eating behaviors can lead to long-lasting emotional health and wellness in overweight and obese children and adolescents.

My team created this video to describe the complexity of childhood obesity, reduce the obesity stigma, and provide simple advice on how to improve the health and wellness of children and adolescents. We entered it into a competition through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (IHDCYH). Part of the decision on who wins is by audience vote through YouTube likes. So please watch it, “like” it, and share it, and help help us to reduce the heavy burden that children and adolescents with obesity carry.

(To vote: Play the video. On the bottom right side of the video screen there’s a YouTube icon – click there to “watch in YouTube”. Then click the thumbs up icon. You’ll be asked to sign in, which you can even do using your gmail address.)

The post The Heavy Burden of Childhood Obesity appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Let me start by saying that I love Google. Just yesterday Google taught me how to distress a pair of jeans and fix my dishwasher.

But Google didn’t go to med school.

A few months ago, after spending about half an hour discussing a diagnosis and treatment plan with a patient in my office, she pulled out her phone and Googled it. In my office. With me there.

When did Google become a reputable second opinion? Now don’t get me wrong – there are a lot of really good online resources for high quality medical information (like this blog!), and I’m all for having people learn more so that they can make educated decisions about their health and wellbeing. But there’s also a lot of crap. And it can sometimes be hard to tell what’s what.

One of the most important principles I’ve learned as a doctor is that of shared decision making.

Unlike some of the more paternalistic attitudes that were prevalent in medicine say, 50 years ago, nowadays I think our perspective has changed from seeing ourselves as “healers,” to instead seeing ourselves as “educators.”

I always say to my patients that I’m not there to tell them what to do, but rather to equip them with enough good information so that they can feel comfortable deciding for themselves.

The best part of my day is the time I get to spend answering my patients’ questions. I also recognize that it can be hard to focus or absorb a lot of information when you’re sitting there in front of your doctor, especially if you’ve just been given a diagnosis you don’t understand (or one you do understand and you’re scared of what it might mean). I’m the first person to compile a list of written resources (online or otherwise) so that people can try to learn more after they’ve left my office. Often I print out the same articles or guidelines that I use. And I always encourage a second opinion if my patients are unsure.

The problem is that finding heath information on the internet is like sailing the ocean without a compass.

And the consequences can be significant. No matter how many ads you see about them on your Facebook feed claiming otherwise, goji berries are not going to cure your diabetes. Does that mean you shouldn’t try them? Who am I to say? That’s your call. But it doesn’t mean you don’t have to talk to your doctor about what the conventional wisdom is, about what your fears are about adopting it, and what the consequences might be if you don’t. Dr. Google is great about offering you alternatives – some conventional, some promising, some that your doctor may not have ever heard of – but not so great about answering some of those other questions, particularly if you didn’t know to ask them.

So my advice isn’t to blindly listen to everything your doctor tells you. I actually urge you not to do that. I think knowledge is power, and the last thing you want is to look back ten years from now and wish you had done something differently “if only” you had listened to whoever (your doctor, yourself, your neighbor, that guy on TV…). But use your doctor as a sounding board. As your personal online compass to help you navigate the sea of too much information. Because I promise, unlike Google, your doctor has your back.

The post Why Dr. Google Doesn’t Always Have Your Back appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Social media was alive with ravenous carnivores (and smug vegetarians) after the WHO released a statement on the carcinogenic effects of red and processed meat. This prompted many news outlets to run headlines comparing red meat to cigarettes. Some serious bacon-rage ensued.

Now, before you lament your inevitable death-by-cheeseburgers, it’s important to understand what the implications of the WHO’s statement actually are.

Who are these meat-haters, anyway?

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (known as the IARC) is an agency of the World Health Organization (WHO), tasked with evaluating all sorts of things (from smoking to microwave ovens) and determining if they cause cancer or not. They do this by evaluating the body of evidence that already exists. They then make a determination – yes, no, or maybe. Being classified as Group 1 means that something is an established carcinogen, like asbestos or cigarette smoking. Groups 2A and 2B are probably and possibly carcinogenic, respectively. Group 3 means there’s not enough data to be classified.

What did the IARC actually find?

According to the full report, published Oct 26, 2015 in the Lancet Oncology, a working group made up of 22 scientists from all over the world convened to evaluate the carcinogenicity of red meat and processed meat. They reviewed 800 diverse studies, and based on their findings and the strength of their research methodologies, drew conclusions.

There were approximately 30 studies examining the association between red meat and colorectal cancer, and approximately 30 more pertaining to processed meat and colorectal cancer. About half of these showed a positive association.

There were also studies looking at the associations between red and processed meat and many other cancers, and positive associations were seen between consumption of red meat and cancers of the pancreas and the prostate, and between consumption of processed meat and stomach cancers.

On the basis of these findings, the IARC concluded that consumption of processed meat was “carcinogenic to humans” (Group 1) on the basis of sufficient evidence for colorectal cancer, and a positive association with the consumption of processed meat and stomach cancer.

They classified the consumption of red meat as “probably carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2A), based on the positive association between consumption of red meat and colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancer.

Is bacon as bad as arsenic?

The first important point to stress is that the IARC classification is based on the strength of the evidence supporting a relationship, not the strength of the relationship. In other words, it answers the question “Is there a relationship between red and processed meat and cancer?” but does NOT answer the question “How strong is the relationship between red and processed meat and cancer?” or more importantly, “How much more likely am I to get cancer if I eat red or processed meat?” or “If I stop eating red or processed meat, how much less likely am I to get cancer?”

So when you read that processed meat has “Grade 1” status, just like cigarette smoking, arsenic or asbestos, it just means that the WHO is as confident in the relationship between processed meat and cancer as it is the relationship between cigarette smoking and cancer. NOT that processed meat is as likely to cause cancer as cigarette smoking is. And want to know what else is classified as Grade 1? Alcohol. Epstein-Barr virus (the virus that causes mono). And a bunch of life-saving medications.

So… Can I have my bacon and eat it too?

I’m not trying to downplay the IARC’s findings. They are meaningful. An association was found and it wasn’t thought to be random. This means more research into this is warranted, to answer those other questions we all now have, like how risky is consuming red and processed meat? And how beneficial would it be to stop eating them? But the WHO’s statement didn’t give us much by way of guidance. They told us to eat these foods in moderation, and balance this potential risk with all the benefits of eating meat…. So, like alcohol, consume in moderation and exercise caution. And my two cents, as a gastroenterologist – if you really want to prevent colorectal cancer? Get a screening colonoscopy!

The post Beefmageddon: Understanding the WHO Warning About Meat appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Ramona is my oldest friend in the world – we’ve been friends since birth (seriously!).
The pic above is one of us taken sometime in the 80s.

And here’s a recent one of her with her family.

Ramona is maybe the funniest person I know. She’s also the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful person you’ll ever meet.

Pretty much anyone who meets Ramona remains a lifelong friend, because that’s the kind of person she is.

Ramona needs your help this year.

Ramona was born with cystic fibrosis, an inherited disease that, among other things, has made her prone to trouble breathing and recurrent lung infections. Over time, these problems led to worsening function of her lungs, and last fall she got really sick. She couldn’t breathe on her own. It was even hard for her to breathe on life-support. She couldn’t talk to her kids or hug them or kiss them, and I was worried she’d never see them again.

Thankfully, Ramona was the recipient of a life-saving lung transplant. Recovering from what she endured is no joke. She was in the hospital for almost a year.

That’s a picture of Ramona and her husband. She’s finally home, and starting to live her life again.

But in order for Ramona’s body to thrive with someone else’s lungs, she has to take a lot of medications to suppress her body’s natural instinct to recognize the lungs as foreign and attack them. They work by suppressing her immune system. An unfortunate consequence of that is that her body isn’t going to be as great as everyone else’s at fighting infections. She also might not be able to develop immunity after vaccines the way the rest of us would.

The flu is a nuisance. Some of us don’t want the flu shot because it hurts, or because we believe that it makes us feel sick.

If Ramona gets the flu this year, she could die.

The best way to protect Ramona from the flu is to prevent her from being exposed. And the only way that can be done is if the rest of us get vaccinated. For every one person like Ramona, there are a whole bunch more who are also depending on our collective immunity.

Here’s my littlest son Cole.

He’s too young for a flu shot, and his immune system isn’t mature enough to fight the flu.

And this is Nanny, my grandmother. If anyone asks, she’s 75, but (shhh) she’s actually almost 100 and her body is too old to mount great immunity to the flu shot anymore, nor fight the actual infection.

So though getting the flu shot can be a drag, for people like Ramona, Cole, Nanny, and so many more, you’re actually saving their lives.

Getting the flu shot is really easy and no, it doesn’t cause the flu.

Save someone’s life this year – Screw the Flu!

The post Want to Save a Life? Now’s Your Chance appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Losing sleep over lost hair?

Hair loss, also called alopecia, is one of the most troubling conditions for women. There’s so much social importance placed on a long and luscious mane.

And alopcia can be really frustrating for your doctor, too.

Unfortunately, because hair loss can go on for a while before your really start to notice it, it can be hard for the doctor to get an accurate history. On top of this, there can often be more than one reason for a woman to lose her hair.

Even when a cause is found, though it can be a relief to have identified the culprit, not all forms of hair loss are reversible. And sometime, particularly when the hair loss is what we call “scarring alopecia,” is doesn’t always grow back.

One important distinction I try to clarify from my patients is whether they’re experiencing hair “shedding” or hair “thinning.”  People who have shedding usually describe many hairs on the pillow, hairs all over their clothes, hairs in their food, hairs on the kitchen counter after preparing a meal…you get the idea.  People who are experiencing thinning describe a wider hair part over time, a smaller ponytail, and hair that just appears “finer.”

When women come to see me with alopecia, it’s really important for me to get a good look at their scalp and hair.

I look for signs of rash or irritation on the scalp, as this can suggest an inflammatory alopecia, which is less common, but needs treatment so that scarring does not occur.  I examine the hair’s overall density (how much hair is there?), relative density (for example, width of the part at different part s of the head), hair shaft abnormalities, and do a “hair pull test” where I see how easily hairs come out.

Often times, I can’t find a reason for the hair loss just from the history and physical exam, so I sometimes need to do blood tests or even a biopsy.

The most common cause of hair loss in women that I see in my clinic is Female Pattern Hair Loss, also called Androgenetic Alopecia. This is progressive, meaning it gets worse over time, and unfortunately, is related to genes and hormones.  The good news is that there are treatment options, including medications you either apply directly to the scalp or take orally, and if that doesn’t work, even hair transplantation!

Hair loss in women is a frustrating and scary problem.

Whether it’s fixable or non-fixable, the first step is an evaluation – call your dermatologist today!

The post Losing It! Getting to the Root of Female Hair Loss appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Other than that it’s just plain gross for them not to…

Most patients feel uncomfortable asking their health care providers to wash their hands.

But here is why it’s really important to anyway:

It saves lives. Nearly 100,000 deaths a year are linked to infections picked up in doctor’s offices, nursing homes and hospitals.

It prevents infections. Duh. But did you know that it is estimated that there are over 1.4 million cases of health care associated infection at any given time? And this is probably an underestimate since surveillance is not always happening.

It keeps you safer. Health-care facilities which embrace strategies for improving hand hygiene are usually more open to closer scrutiny of their infection control practices in general, which can help keep you safer.

WHO says? Hand hygiene is the WHO’s first pillar to promote Global Patient Safety.

It’s free and easy. It is simple, low-cost, and easy to do, and actually can prevent the spread of many of the microbes that cause health care-associated infections.

One reason healthcare workers only wash their hands part of the time is that they’re overwhelmed by other tasks, and simply forget.

The CDC actually encourages patients and their loved ones to take matters into their own hands and ask.

You can find the “Hand Hygiene Saves Lives” video here and other patient empowerment materials here.

The post Top 5 Reasons Your Doc Should Wash Their Hands appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Think you got the flu from your flu shot? Think again.

Did you know that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the PHAC (Public Health Agency of Canada) now recommend the flu vaccine for everyone over 6 months of age?

That means you.

The flu vaccine is safe, even for pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses.

Can a flu shot give you the flu?

No. The flu shot can not cause the flu. The flu vaccine is made from either NO VIRUS AT ALL (recombinant vaccine) or from DEAD virus.

The recombinant vaccine is made without any flu virus at all. Manufacturers isolate certain proteins from the flu virus, and combine them with portions of another virus that doesn’t cause disease but that grows well and can replicate. This “recombinant” virus then grows and grows in insect cells, and the flu protein is then harvested and purified. When injected in you, this protein triggers an immune response, resulting in immunity to the flu virus.

The more common flu vaccine uses an inactivated, or dead, flu virus. The live flu virus is injected into either mammalian cells or hen’s eggs and allowed to grow and replicate. Once there’s enough, the virus is harvested in large amounts and killed, and the antigen (the protein in the virus that triggers an immune response in people) is purified out to make the flu shot.

The one exception to this is nasal spray flu vaccine, in which the flu virus isn’t killed. It’s just weakened (“attenuated”) to the point of not being able to cause illness. In addition, it’s cold-adapted, meaning that even if it could cause illness, it would only be able to so at cooler temperatures, not in the warm environment of human lungs.

What are the most common side effects of the flu vaccine?

The most common reactions from the flu shot are soreness, redness, tenderness or swelling where the shot was given. Low-grade fever, headache and muscle aches lasting a shot period of time (less than 2 days) can also occur.

There have been a few studies done looking at reactions to the flu shot. In one study, investigators gave some people flu shots, and other people salt water injections. The only difference was that the people who got the real flu shot had more soreness at the injection site.  There were no differences at all as far as body aches, fever, cough, runny nose or sore throat.

So you can’t get the flu from the flu shot. The whole point of the flu shot is that you don’t get the flu, or if you do, that it’s a milder illness. Check out our pulmonary and critical care expert Dr. Robyn Scatena’s 4 Reasons to Get Vaccinated. Also take a look at this Screw the Flu video from Bellyblog.ca’s own Media Producer, Dr. Seema Marwaha, along with her op-ed piece on Healthy Debate about the recent ruling striking down the “vaccinate-or-mask” policy for nurses.

The post Screw the Flu: Getting the Flu From Your Flu Shot appeared first on Talia Zenlea.