Get a grip, baby. Those swimming lessons pay off in several ways

hmmm.

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Get a grip, baby. Those swimming lessons pay off in several ways: "

Teaching babies to swim might assuage their fear of water and provide good exercise, but it could have other benefits as well, according to a new study.

Researchers from Norway and the United Kingdom found that children who had taken baby swimming classes did better on tests involving gripping and reaching as well as balance, compared to children who had no experience swimming as babies.

The study participants included 19 4-year-olds from Iceland who had taken part in baby swimming lessons for two hours a week for at least four months when the children were infants. They were matched with 19 Icelandic 4-year-olds who had not done any baby swimming.

Baby swimming lessons typically include a warmup session with parents moving the children through water and encouraging them to stand supported on a hand. The babies also do somersaults on a floating mattress, dive under water, pick up floating rings and jump into the pool from a supported position on the side.

The 4-year-olds were tested for manual dexterity, ball skills and balance. While there were no overall differences in performance between the groups, researchers found that the swimming group did better on prehension (seizing or grasping objects) and static balance.

Although this was a small study, the authors considered the results encouraging enough to warrant further study to see what other benefits baby swimming and aquatic therapy could offer. The study appears in the May issue of the journal Child: Care, Health and Development.

-- Jeannine Stein

Photo credit: Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times

"

The Slow, Winding Path to Adulthood

Interesting
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The Slow, Winding Path to Adulthood: "A study reports that young Americans are more like the young adults of the early 1900s than the baby-boom generation."

Los Angeles is still the nation’s smoggiest city

/sigh
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Los Angeles is still the nation’s smoggiest city: "The metropolitan area averages more than 140 days a year with dangerous ozone.




Metropolitan Los Angeles, extending to Riverside and Long Beach, remains the smoggiest city in the United States, with an average of more than 140 days a year of dangerous ozone levels, the American Lung Assn. reported Wednesday in its annual assessment ."

Santa Clara County votes to remove toys from salty, high-calorie fast-food kids' meals

I don't disagree but I don't like the precedent.

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Santa Clara County votes to remove toys from salty, high-calorie fast-food kids' meals: "

In Santa Clara County, one out of every four kids is either overweight or obese. Among 2- to 5-year-olds from low-income families, the rate is one in three. The county health system spends millions of dollars a year treating kids for health problems related to obesity, and the tab is growing.

On Tuesday, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors took action by prohibiting fast-food restaurants from using toys to lure kids into buying unhealthy meals. The vote was 3-2.

In order to combine trinkets with burgers, chicken nuggets or other children's fare, a meal must meet some basic nutritional requirements. Among them:

-- No single food item can contain more than 200 calories, the drink cannot have more than 120 calories, and the entire meal cannot exceed 485 calories.

-- No single item can contain more than 480 milligrams of salt, and the entire meal is limited to 600 mg of salt.

-- No more than 35% of the calories can come from fat.

-- No more than 10% of total calories can come from added sugar.

None of McDonald’s Happy Meals meets these criteria – even those that substitute apple slices for french fries.

The ordinance must be approved at a second Board of Supervisors meeting in May. If so, restaurants will have 90 days to offer up alternative plans for squeezing fat, salt, sugar and calories out of kids’ meals. If none of the suggestions is suitable, the measure will become law for the 12 fast-food outlets in unincorporated parts of the county that are subject to the board’s jurisdiction. Violators would face a fine of up to $1,000.

Not surprisingly, the toy ban has angered folks who resent government efforts to help Americans eat healthier. The California Restaurant Assn., which represents fast-food eateries, commissioned a poll that found 80% of Santa Clara County residents opposed to the measure.

-- Karen Kaplan

Photo: Toys like this could not be included in kids' fast-food meals unless they meet nutritional standards in an ordinance approved by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Credit: George Wilhelm / Los Angeles Times

"

Canada Opposes Abortion Funding For Developing World

Blame Canada...
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Canada Opposes Abortion Funding For Developing World: "

By Jaclyn Schiff

Family planning advocates have cheered the Obama administration's international policies -- including its funding of contraceptives and support for access to abortion, a significant shift from former President George W. Bush's stance.

But now it appears that Canada may take on the international role the U.S. used to assume: abortion opponent.

'Canada's contribution to maternal and child health may involve various interventions, including family planning, which includes the use of contraceptive methods,' Bev Oda, Canada's international cooperation minister, said as development ministers from the G8 countries prepared to meet in Halifax. 'However, Canada's contribution will not include funding abortion,' she said, according to the Associated Press.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spelled out the U.S. position last month:

You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health and reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortions.

On Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper affirmed the country's commitment to improving the health of mothers and children in the developing world, even without funding abortions. 'We have a lot of ways of saving lives,' Harper told the Canadian House of Commons, according to the Canadian Press.

Clinton's words enraged Canadians who oppose abortion. 'How dare she stick her pro-abortion nose into Canadian politics. Hasn't she done enough damage to the unborn in the U.S.?' Mary Ellen Douglas, national organizer for Campaign Life Coalition, told LifeSiteNews.

Now the question turns to what the other countries will do in response to Canada. 'They're laying out their position ... and what's missing here is a proactive statement from Obama,' says Jodi Jacobson, editor-in-chief of the reproductive health blog RH Reality Check. 'Obama needs to follow suit on Clinton' says the advocate who has worked on family planning and reproductive health issues for more than 25 years. 'We will never eradicate maternal mortality, unless we address the abortion issue.'

But others say that keeping abortion out of the picture is an opportunity to focus on other health issues. Jim Hughes, the president of Campaign Life Coalition, said the initiative 'will include safe water and good pregnancy treatment and care before and after the child is born.'

Late Tuesday, the Toronto Sun reported that the U.S. and Canada aren't at odds over definitions of family planning, citing comments from Canada's Oda and a U.S. aid official. The rest of the G8 meeting, just getting underway, may bring a clearer answer.

Schiff is a reporter for Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit news service.

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"

EPA Climate Change Indicators Report Shows the Evidence of Global Warming All Around Us

EPA Climate Change Indicators Report Shows the Evidence of Global Warming All Around Us: "

EPA released an achingly beautiful report today compiling 24 indicators of climate change. Starting with basic data on emissions and the rising concentration of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere the report covers changes in the air, water, land, and ice that define our environment and that of all other living things.

I have seen most of these data before, but it’s extremely useful to have it all in one place and presented in a visually appealing—and appalling—fashion. Over the last two decades scientists have patiently assembled the pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle into a crystal clear picture of how our planet is changing. Professional climate science deniers will continue to focus on the handful of pieces that have been misplaced or lost under the sofa, but for everyone else there is no denying that this picture spells trouble.

Take, for example, the data on heavy rains (p.30), ocean heat content (p.36), glacier volume (p.48), and bird wintering ranges (p.66).

One heck of a conspiracy would be needed to get all of these completely independent data sets to point in the same direction.

"

Don't just flush those leftover meds

Important stuff!

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Don't just flush those leftover meds: "

Unused medications create a dilemma -- what to do with the things? They obviously shouldn't be left lying around accessible to bored teenagers or curious kids. Nor should they be flushed; medication traces are already showing up in the water supply. But just dumped in the trash...? Maybe they should be taken back to a pharmacy.

The National Community Pharmacists Assn., which represents independent community pharmacists, and Sharps Compliance, a medical waste management company, is offering a disposal method that may provide more peace of mind than the traditional "toss 'em in the rubbish bin and hope for the best" approach.

Go to www.disposemymeds.org for a list of pharmacies that will dispose of those meds for you. There are 800 participating pharmacies in 40 states, but it's a big country. Even in the L.A. area, you might have to search beyond a 5-mile radius to find one.

For people who can't find a pharmacy or would have to travel too far, the site offers a link to the Office of National Drug Control Policy's guidelines on medication disposal.

That, in a way, seems to bring consumers back to where many started -- at a bit of a loss. Among the tips are to take unused drugs to a collection program, of which there seem to be precious few. (Kudos, guys, for this one.)

But the guidelines do include useful advice as well -- such as, if you must trash the pills, mix them with kitty litter first.

-- Tami Dennis

Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

"