Breast Milk Makeup May Influence Child’s Later Weight, Study Says

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The composition of a woman’s breast milk may help determine whether her baby will become an overweight adult, a new study suggests.

Previous research has found that children of obese mothers are more likely to be overweight, but the reasons for this link are not clearly understood.

In this study of 25 mother-infant pairs, a University of Southern California research team said it determined that variations in the mix of complex carbohydrates in breast milk were linked with differences in infant growth and obesity.

These carbohydrates — called human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) — are a natural ingredient of breast milk and play a role in helping an infant’s immune system develop, the researchers said.

“At 6 months of age, higher breast milk levels of [two particular HMOs] were each associated with approximately 1 pound of greater fat mass,” study lead author Tanya Alderete, a postdoctoral research scholar, said in a university news release.

“Other HMOs were protective at 6 months,” she added. For instance, increased amounts of another one was associated with about a 1-pound lower infant weight and fat mass, she said.

Individual breast milk composition was more important in predicting obesity than the mother’s obesity and her weight gain during pregnancy, the researchers said.

However, the researchers only found an association, not a cause-and-effect link, between breast milk composition and a child’s obesity risk.

The study was published online Oct. 28 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Larger and longer studies are needed to learn more about how HMOs may affect a child’s obesity risk, said corresponding author Michael Goran, director of the university’s Childhood Obesity Research Center.

“Ultimately, what we would like to be able to do is identify which of the HMOs are most important for obesity protection and then use that as a supplement that can be given to the breast-feeding infant and added to infant formula,” Goran said in the news release.

Currently, infant formulas do not contain any HMOs, he said.

More information

The U.S. Office on Women’s Health has more about breast-feeding.

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Yes, the Bacon-Cancer Link Is Real, But Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Freak Out

Photo: Getty Images

The World Health Organization (WHO) made a bombshell announcement yesterday that left many bacon lovers reeling.

In a nutshell, a group of experts conducted a comprehensive review of studies that looked at the association between processed or red meat and cancer. They declared that processed meat is definitely a carcinogen, with the most powerful link to colon cancer. Based on the data reviewed, they found that every daily 50-gram portion of processed meat—that is, meat that’s been cured, salted, smoked, or preserved, including ham, bacon, and sausages—ups the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%. A 50-gram portion is about 2 ounces, or about two breakfast sausage links. The WHO says it’s as certain that these foods cause cancer as they are certain that cigarettes cause cancer.

Their findings also prompted them to categorize red meat (like beef, pork, and lamb) as “probably carcinogenic”—the evidence linking red meat to cancer is not quite as strong as it is for processed meats.

If you’re feeling freaked out by this news, you’re not alone. But protecting yourself from cancer is more complicated than simply banning bacon and steak from your diet. Here are five important nuances to note about this announcement.

RELATED: 5 Everyday Foods That Fight Cancer

What the cigarette comparison really means

The International Agency of Research Into Cancer is the arm of the WHO that performed this analysis. The IARC’s job is to determine how likely foods, chemicals, and other items are to cause cancer, and then classify them into one of five categories: carcinogenic to humans, probably carcinogenic to humans, possibly carcinogenic to humans, not classifiable, and probably not carcinogenic.

Items that fall under “carcinogenic to humans” are the ones that have the most evidence supporting that they do cause cancer. Smoking, asbestos, tanning beds, and now processed meat can definitely cause cancer. Red meat is in the “probably carcinogenic” category because the evidence linking red meat to cancer is weaker.

Although processed meats and tobacco both fall under “carcinogenic to humans,” this basically means that the evidence that processed meats cause cancer is as strong as the evidence that smoking causes cancer.

This classification does not 100% guarantee that you’ll get colon cancer by eating bacon every morning—or lung cancer from smoking a pack a day, for that matter. However, because we know that 70-87% of lung cancers are linked to smoking, no health expert would ever say that smoking, even just one cigarette a day, is a good idea.

The truth is many cancer experts will say that bacon and other processed meats are now in the same dangerous boat as cigarettes. But frequency does play a role. The more you’re exposed to anything in this category, the greater the risk. So ultimately, it’s up to you to decide if you feel this group of foods is worth the risk.

RELATED: The Diet That May Fight Breast Cancer

The best advice for bacon lovers

I personally haven’t eaten red meat in many years, and I don’t miss it. (I also have a very strong family history of colorectal cancer and cancer in general, which is one of the reasons I became a nutritionist). But I have some clients who simply tell me flat out, “I don’t care what the research says, I am not giving up bacon.”

And for those people, I advise them to think of processed meats as an occasional treat. That could mean a few strips of bacon at Sunday brunch or a few slices of pepperoni pizza on Friday night—but not both, and none during the week. I also recommend they eat no more than 18 ounces of total red meat a week, preferably lean, which is the recommendation of the American Institute for Cancer Research. These two simple strategies will likely create some balance and help lower the risks.

How meat is cooked also makes a difference

Higher levels of cancer-causing substances are formed when red meat is cooked at high temperatures, like grilling, barbecuing, and frying. In this report, the WHO didn’t look at fish, but other research has shown that even white fish cooked at high temperatures may also be linked to cancer risk, especially when it’s cooked for a longer length of time.

There are a few super-easy ways curb the formation of these cancer-causing substances. First, cut meat into smaller portions to reduce cooking time, and marinate it using antioxidant rich herbs and spices. You should also avoid allowing fat to drip—this creates smoke that deposits carcinogens back onto the meat. Flipping the meat often, trimming excess fat, and cooking meat on tinfoil will all help.

RELATED: 11 Superfoods That Work Better Together

Cancer-protective foods can help

The overall makeup of your meals is still what’s most important. We can’t completely eliminate cancer risk, but we do know that certain foods protect against it. If you’re going to eat red meat, stick with about 3 ounces, the size of a deck of cards, along with at least 1 to 2 cups (think one to two tennis balls in size) of cancer-protective produce, such as tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, collard greens, and cabbage.

Also include a small serving of squash or a whole grain (like brown rice), a “good” plant-based fat (like a golf ball sized portion of nuts, several slices of avocado, or a tablespoon of olive oil), and plenty of herbs and spices. The worst eating patterns, for not just cancer risk but for nearly every chronic disease, are those that combine meat with other highly processed foods, excess sugar, and a lack of plants.

Don’t forget to focus on the big picture

In addition to eating healthfully, we know that many habits help keep us healthier overall, including not smoking, being active, getting enough sleep, managing stress, not drinking alcohol excessively, and securing positive social support. In fact, researchers conclude that 90 to 95% of cancer risk is rooted in lifestyle and environment, not genetics. In other words, a great deal is within your control, so don’t forget to focus on the big picture, and continually make choices that keep tipping the balance toward protection.

RELATED: America’s Healthiest Superfoods for Women

What’s your take on this topic? Chat with us on Twitter by mentioning @goodhealth and @CynthiaSass.

Cynthia Sass is a nutritionist and registered dietitian with master’s degrees in both nutrition science and public health. Frequently seen on national TV, she’s Health’s contributing nutrition editor, and privately counsels clients in New York, Los Angeles, and long distance. Cynthia is currently the sports nutrition consultant to the New York Yankees, previously consulted for three other professional sports teams, and is board certified as a specialist in sports dietetics. Sass is a three-time New York Times best-selling author, and her brand new book is Slim Down Now: Shed Pounds and Inches with Real Food, Real Fast. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

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This Recovering Teen Heroin Addict Filmed Her Own Detox

 

Mariah Powers, a 19-year-old, recently hit rock bottom of her heroin abuse. But instead of surrendering to her three-year addiction, she detoxed alone in her home and filmed it all on camera.

“I want my life back. And I am so ready. I am so ready to stop,” Powers can be seen crying out in a clip from the video, which she recently shared with CBS News. “I don’t want to live my life this way. I’m going to end up dead or in prison.”

She opened up about her experience in an on-camera interview with news correspondent Anna Werner just 10 days after she created the footage. The teen first encountered the drug when she was just 16 years old when a boyfriend at the time introduced her to it. After that her drug use quickly escalated to a $100/day habit.

RELATED: Doctors’ Prescribing Practices Key to Curbing Painkiller Abuse: CDC

“It starts as your first high, where it is just complete euphoria. And then when I didn’t get that high again after I did it again I thought I needed to do a little more,” she said. “I would steal, lie, cheat, sell my body.”

She explained that she hopes the video will remind her how bad things got as she moves forward, and also motivate others struggling with drug addiction.

“Just to see my face, like even how I looked that day, is like, wow,” Powers said.

Between 2002 and 2013, heroin use increased 63% and heroin-related overdose deaths nearly quadrupled, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last week, the White House announced an initiative aimed at fighting the ongoing epidemic of heroin abuse and prescription drug abuse in an effort to change the tide.

Before detoxing, Powers explained that she had overdosed four times in the previous month but couldn’t find a facility to take her in for a detox.  She was desperate enough to do it on her own.

RELATED: Obama Administration Takes Aim at Epidemic of Heroin, Painkiller Abuse

Her father, Joe Powers, also opened up about witnessing his daughter spiral out of control, saying that he “felt pretty hopeless” watching Mariah overdose again and again.

He explained, “I pretty much buried my daughter at that point, in my mind. And that sounds cruel; it doesn’t mean I gave up [on] her, but I figured that the disease would get her.”

Is Joe ready to believe that his daughter’s past is in the past? Not yet, he said: “She will always be an addict. I’m waiting for the shoe to drop.”

But Mariah plans to take it one day at a time. “I can’t say, ‘I’m going to be sober for the rest of my life.’ But as of today, heck yeah—I’m going to stay sober.”

She has now been clean for more than 60 days.

RELATED: Heroin Use on the Rise Among Women, Wealthier People, CDC Finds

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People With Schizophrenia Face Much Higher Risk of Early Death

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — American adults with schizophrenia face a much higher risk of an early death, particularly from heart and lung diseases associated with smoking, a new study finds.

The rise in risk “is evident in early adulthood and persists into later life. Especially high risks of mortality were observed from diseases for which tobacco use is a key risk factor,” concluded a team led by Dr. Mark Olfson, of Columbia University in New York City.

The issue is a familiar one, said one expert who reviewed the new findings.

“Individuals with mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder die, on average, approximately two decades early, and primarily from cardiovascular disease and other preventable chronic illnesses,” said Dr. Michael Compton, chair of psychiatry at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

In the study, Olfson’s team looked at data from more than 1 million Medicaid patients aged 20 to 64 with schizophrenia.

The researchers found that these patients were 3.5 times more likely to have died over the course of the study period compared to adults in the general population.

Of the more than 65,500 schizophrenia patient deaths with a known cause, almost 56,000 were from diseases and other natural causes, and nearly 10,000 were from unnatural causes such as suicide, murder and accidents (both poisoning and non-poisoning-related accidents).

Heart disease had the highest death rate and accounted for nearly a third of all natural deaths for people with schizophrenia. Cancer accounted for about one in six deaths. Other leading causes of natural death included diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, often linked to smoking), flu and pneumonia, the study found.

Since so many of these causes of death were tied to smoking, “these findings support efforts to train mental health care professionals in tobacco use prevention” for people with schizophrenia, Olfson’s team concluded.

About one in seven deaths was due to unnatural causes. Accidents accounted for about half those deaths and suicide for about a quarter. Another leading cause of death was non-suicidal substance use, mostly from alcohol and other drugs.

Two experts in the care of people with schizophrenia said the findings weren’t surprising, and are another sign that more must be done to protect the physical health of patients.

These individuals need “wide-reaching programs to intervene early in preventing obesity and smoking, and to promote healthy lifestyle choices,” said Katherine Burdick, a professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

She believes that people with schizophrenia face “unique challenges” to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and doctors must “do whatever is necessary to help patients optimize cardiovascular health through regular exercise, proper diet and the avoidance of substances including tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs.”

Dr. William Dubin is chair of psychiatry at Temple University’s School of Medicine in Philadelphia. He said that strengthening links between a patient’s psychiatrist and his or her primary care physician is key to keeping both the body and the mind healthy.

“In the future, psychiatric programs should have medical practitioners embedded [within them],” Dubin said. Also, some psychiatric drugs can promote weight gain and other metabolic issues, and psychiatrists “need better awareness” of that, he said.

The study was published online Oct. 28 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more about schizophrenia.

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Marriage May Aid Recovery From Heart Surgery, Study Finds

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Married people who have cardiac surgery may fare better after the operation than those who are divorced, separated or widowed, according to new research.

In the study, people who were not married — as opposed to never-married — had about a 40 percent greater risk of either dying or developing a new disability during the first two years after the surgery, the researchers found.

“People who were married had fewer decreases in functional status compared to people who were widowed, divorced or separated,” said lead study author Dr. Mark Neuman. Neuman is an assistant professor of anesthesiology and critical care at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

While other research has linked better survival odds after cardiac surgery to marriage, few researchers have looked at any link between marital status and surgical recovery, Neuman said.

For this study, the investigators gathered data from more than 1,500 men and women enrolled in the University of Michigan Health and Retirement study, which has been ongoing since 1998. Every two years, participants answer questions about health, disabilities and family structure.

The study, published online Oct. 28 in JAMA Surgery, focused on the participants who had undergone cardiac surgery. Neuman noted that no information was available on the types of cardiac surgery.

The researchers evaluated how well the patients could fend for themselves after the surgery, including performing activities of daily living, such as dressing, eating and taking showers without help.

Among the study patients, 65 percent were married, 12 percent were divorced or separated, 21 percent were widowed and 2 percent never married.

The findings showed that marital status was significantly associated with the risk of death or a new functional disability within two years after surgery. Neuman cautioned, however, that the study only found an association, not a cause-and-effect relationship.

And he pointed out that those in the never-married group had results similar to the married group, but their numbers were so small that he hesitated to draw any firm conclusions about those patients.

So, why do married people seem to fare better? While Newman can’t say for sure, he suggested that married patients may receive more social support from spouses to get through recovery.

The findings are consistent with other research on marital status and health, said Hiu (Cathy) Liu, an associate professor of sociology at Michigan State University, who has researched the topic.

“This adds to the general picture of the advantages of married people relative to the unmarried people, especially the divorced/separated and widowed, by extending to a more specific health outcome, a postoperative functional recovery,” Liu said.

“Married people may enjoy the support, assistance and regulation of health behaviors from their spouse, which are generally not accessible to the unmarried people. This may explain some of the differences,” she suggested.

Liu also pointed out that the similarities between married and never-married in the study “is also consistent with previous studies, which suggest that the previously married (divorced, widowed) are the most disadvantaged, while the never-married are more similar to the married.”

She said that “it is probably due to the process of dissolution of the marriage (which is stressful and has many negative effects) rather than marriage per se that explain the differences.”

The researchers also didn’t have information about how happy the marriages were, which would have been valuable, Liu added.

“The marriage link to health outcomes really depends on the quality of the marriage. A good quality of marriage provides support, care and assistance, which are good for health. A bad quality of marriage increases exposure to conflict and stress, which would hurt health. One of my recent studies actually showed that negative marital quality is associated with more types of cardiovascular risk than is positive marital quality,” Liu said.

More information

For more on marital status and health, visit Harvard University.

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New Treatment for Melanoma Gets FDA Approval

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A genetically engineered cold sore virus that “blows up” melanoma tumors has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help treat the deadly skin cancer.

Imlygic (talimogene laherparepvec), a first-of-its-kind therapy, showed promise against lesions in the skin and lymph nodes in an early trial, the FDA said Tuesday. However, the therapy did not improve overall survival and it did not work if the cancer had spread to other parts of the body, the agency noted.

“Melanoma is a serious disease that can advance and spread to other parts of the body, where it becomes difficult to treat,” said Dr. Karen Midthun, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “This approval provides patients and health care providers with a novel treatment for melanoma.”

The drug is injected directly into tumors, where it replicates inside cancer cells, causing them to rupture and die. Once the tumors have exploded, antibodies are released into the body that may trigger an immune response, the agency explained.

Treatment consists of a series of injections. After the first injection, a second dose is given three weeks later, followed by additional doses every two weeks for at least six months, until there are no remaining tumors to treat or other treatment is required, the FDA said in a news release.

The agency’s approval is based on a study of 436 patients with advanced melanoma that could not be surgically removed. Some patients received Imlygic and others received a different treatment.

Decreases in tumor size that lasted for a minimum of six months were seen in about 16 percent of patients who received Imlygic, compared with about 2 percent of those who received the other treatment, the findings showed.

Fatigue, chills, fever, nausea, flu-like symptoms and injection-site pain were the most common side effects reported among patients who received Imlygic.

Because Imlygic is a genetically modified herpes simplex 1 virus, it can also cause the kind of herpes infection that can lead to cold sores, so it shouldn’t be given to patients with weak immune systems or pregnant women, the FDA said.

Imlygic is manufactured by BioVex Inc., a subsidiary of Amgen Inc., based in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The new treatment will not come cheap. A company statement said the six-month regimen will cost roughly $65,000. Amgen said it plans to make the treatment available to qualifying patients within a week.

Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer. This year, about 74,000 Americans will be diagnosed with the disease and nearly 10,000 will die from it, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about melanoma.

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E-Cigarette Use Highest Among Young Adults, U.S. Report Finds

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — In a first-of-its-kind look at electronic cigarettes, a new U.S. government study reports that nearly 13 percent of American adults have tried e-cigarettes at least once and almost 4 percent use them.

According to the 2014 National Health Interview Survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the popularity of e-cigarettes rose slightly among men (about 14 percent) and dipped among women (about 11 percent).

But the most dramatic usage differences break along age lines, the poll of nearly 37,000 adults found. Almost 22 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 said they had tried the battery-powered aerosol nicotine-delivery device, while usage among those 65 and older was less than 4 percent.

Current users also tend to be younger, the report noted, with more than 5 percent of those 18 to 24 saying they now use e-cigarettes, compared with just over 1 percent of those 65 and older.

And among never-smokers, the usage was also highest among the 18-to-24 age group.

The report found that e-cigarette popularity is greatest among white and Native American adults, with nearly 5 and 11 percent, respectively, now using them. Only about 2 percent of blacks and Hispanics use them.

E-cigs also seem to curry much more favor among those who now smoke traditional cigarettes, or those who only recently kicked the habit: About 48 percent of current smokers have tried an e-cigarette and one in six currently use them. About 55 percent of those who stopped smoking just in the last year have tried them, and 22 percent said they currently use them.

By contrast, only about 3 percent of never-smoking adults said they’ve tried an e-cigarette, and less than half of 1 percent said they use them now. Among young (aged 18 to 24) never-smokers, however, almost 10 percent said they’ve tried one out.

So what’s driving the numbers?

“We really can’t answer that question,” said study co-author Charlotte Schoenborn, a statistician with the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics in the CDC’s division of health interview statistics. “This was the first year that the NCHS has even asked these questions. So we can only speculate as to why, as we watch to see how the trends unfold over time.”

Schoenborn and her colleague Renee Gindi outline their findings in the CDC’s October NCHS report released Oct. 28.

Erika Sward, assistant vice president for national advocacy with the American Lung Association, suggested that the CDC data will end up becoming a “very useful and much needed benchmark” for monitoring e-cigarettes.

“Electronic cigarettes are really the wild, wild West,” Sward said. “There’s absolutely no federal oversight of e-cigarettes, even though the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] has not found any e-cig to be safe or effective in helping smokers quit. And to our knowledge, no e-cigarette company has even applied to the FDA for approval as a smoking cessation product.”

But many manufacturers market the devices that way anyway, she said.

“So the real take-away message is that the people who are most likely to use e-cigs are our most vulnerable adults: the young, current smokers, and those who have recently quit or are trying to quit,” she said.

Sward added, “So just as we’re seeing traditional cigarette use decline — after years of FDA regulation and state smoke-free policies and taxation — we’re now seeing the tobacco industry continue its narrative of aggressively marketing e-cigarettes to younger people in the hopes of developing a whole new lifelong user.

“And until we act,” she said, “troubling studies like this one suggest that we’re on a path to a real public health crisis that will undo much of the progress that has been made to reduce tobacco use in the U.S.”

The report comes on the heels of a recommendation by the nation’s leading pediatricians group to raise the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products and e-cigarettes to 21 across the United States.

The new policy recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics, released Oct. 26, also called for the FDA to regulate e-cigarettes the same way it regulates other tobacco products.

More information

There’s more on electronic cigarettes at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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Doctors Can Fine-Tune Estimates of Delivery Dates, Study Finds

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A simple test could give pregnant women a better idea of when they’ll give birth, researchers say.

Currently, only 5 percent of women deliver on their due date. The study authors said estimates can be off by as much as two or three weeks, early or late.

“Measuring cervical length via ultrasound at around 37 to 39 weeks can give us a better sense of whether a mother will deliver soon or not,” senior author Dr. Vincenzo Berghella, director of maternal-fetal medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, said in a university news release.

The cervix begins to soften and change shape as a woman’s body prepares for labor.

Berghella’s team examined the findings of five studies that included 735 women in all. The women had single-child pregnancies with babies in the correct head-down position.

The analysis revealed that when the cervix measured less than 30 millimeters (1.2 inches) at a woman’s due date, she had less than a 50 percent chance of delivering within seven days. When the cervix measured 10 millimeters (0.4 inches), a woman had a more than 85 percent chance of delivering within seven days.

“Women always ask for a better sense of their delivery date in order to help them prepare for work leave, or to make contingency plans for sibling care during labor. These are plans which help reduce a woman’s anxiety about the onset of labor,” Berghella said in the news release.

“But having a better sense can also help obstetricians provide information that could help improve or even save a mother’s or baby’s life,” he added.

The findings were published in the Oct. 28 issue of the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

More information

The U.S. Office on Women’s Health has more about labor and birth.

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Narcotic Painkiller Use in Adolescence May Raise Risk of Adult Addiction

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Teens who are given prescription narcotic painkillers may run a higher risk of abusing narcotics after high school, a new study suggests.

Researchers said teen painkiller use was associated with a 33 percent increased risk of later abuse. And it was seen mostly among those with little to no history of drug use and those who strongly disapproved of illegal drug use.

“A prescription for a pain reliever can put adolescents at risk for future pain reliever misuse,” said study author Richard Miech, a research professor at the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

For the study, Miech and his colleagues used data that tracked more than 6,200 high school seniors until they were 23.

At first glance, it seems counterintuitive that the increased risk was concentrated among teens who had little experience with illegal drugs, Miech acknowledged.

“This finding may be explained in part by the novelty of drug use effects,” he said. For teens with little to no drug history, a prescription narcotic painkiller is likely to be their first experience with an addictive substance, Miech explained.

“Most likely, the initial experience of pain relief is pleasurable and a safe initial experience may reduce perceived danger,” he said. “A pleasurable and safe initial experience with a drug is a central factor in theories of who goes on to misuse drugs.”

In contrast, among teens with more extensive experience with drugs, the legitimate use of a narcotic pain reliever may make relatively less of an impression in comparison to the other drugs they have used, Miech said.

“Although these experienced individuals may go on to misuse prescription pain relievers, such misuse does not appear to result from an introduction to pain relievers through a legitimate prescription,” he said.

The findings are especially timely in light of the recent decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the use of the narcotic painkiller OxyContin for children ages 11 to 16, he said.

“These findings suggest a currently unrecognized risk of narcotic prescribing,” Miech said. “This risk should be incorporated into prescribing decisions and patient counseling.”

However, the study did not prove that prescription narcotic painkiller use in adolescence causes adult addiction to narcotics.

Doctors and parents informed of these risks may opt for non-narcotic medications as the initial treatment for minor painful conditions, Miech said.

The report was published online Oct. 26 in the journal Pediatrics.

Dr. Craig Spurdle, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, said narcotic painkillers should only be used to treat serious pain from trauma, cancer or other surgery, and then only for a short time.

After major surgery, Spurdle prescribes a narcotic painkiller, but only for three to five days.

For other patients, for example, one who has chronic back pain, narcotics are not the best medicine, he said.

“If that patient is getting narcotics, I think that’s a mistake,” said Spurdle, who was not involved with the new research. “Those patients should be in physical therapy, a fitness program, a wellness program, and they should take non-narcotic pain medicines.”

Giving narcotics to those patients is unnecessary and can cause unwanted side effects such as constipation, depression and lethargy, Spurdle said.

“There are very good solutions to some of these problems that are a lot healthier and have a lot better outcomes for the patient,” he said. “In those patients, giving narcotics is really a path to the dark side.”

More information

Visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine for more on pain medications.

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Surgeon’s Calming Words May Ease Stress of Surgery

TUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Few moments in life are more daunting than those just before a surgery. But a new study finds that some reassuring words from a doctor just before an operation begins may be more effective than drugs in easing patient anxiety.

The French study was led by Dr. Emmanuel Boselli, a physician anesthesiologist at Edouard Herriot Hospital in Lyons. His team examined the use of what’s known as “conversational hypnosis.”

This method involves the doctor talking quietly and positively to the patient — saying things such as “Keep calm and quiet,” rather than “Please don’t move” — and focusing the patient’s attention on something other than anesthesia and surgery preparations.

In a study involving 100 patients undergoing hand surgery, this approach was compared to the use of hydroxyzine, a pill often given to patients to relax them before surgery.

Fifty of the patients received conversational hypnosis while being given regional anesthesia, while the other 50 were given hydroxyzine 30 minutes to an hour before receiving anesthesia.

The patients who received conversational hypnosis were calmer and had lower anxiety levels than those who took the anti-anxiety drug, according to the study presented earlier this month at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).

“The anesthesiologist uses calm, positive words to divert the patient’s attention and help him or her feel more comfortable,” Boselli explained in an ASA news release.

“It reflects a change in the way the physician interacts with the patient and takes just a few minutes,” he added.

“Conversational hypnosis can be used prior to surgery in conscious patients having local or regional anesthesia,” Boselli said. “It also could be beneficial before general anesthesia to decrease patient anxiety.”

More information

The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has more about surgery.

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