Breakfast of Old School Kickers!

Can't close out this blog without passing along a fantastic website on the history of my favorite cereal. HAVE FUN!












http://www.wheaties.com/history/index.aspx

"ENJOY THE JOURNEY"

Dear Fellow Bloggers,

It has been a great ride this past semester with Dr. Munoz' online course, hasn't it? I for one have learned a great deal about nutrition, it's impact on bone and muscle development, and general health and well being. No question that this knowledge will stay with me forever as my eating habits have already evolved for the better throughout the course. (Of course I still love my "Muscle Milk" protein drink for post workout recovery, too!)

Finally, learning how to create a blog has been kick ass too! Who woulda thunk it could be this easy to share stories, news, info, pics and videos with other folks?

Here's wishing you all the best that life has to offer. But never forget, it's all about the JOURNEY, not the destination. ENJOY it to it's fullest!

Very respectfully,

Tim "Old School #55" Davidson

"The anti-bone TRIFECTA"

WASHINGTON - Too little milk, sunshine and exercise: It's an anti-bone trifecta. And for some kids, shockingly, it's leading to rickets, the soft-bone scourge of the 19th century.

But cases of full-blown rickets are just the red flag: Bone specialists say possibly millions of seemingly healthy children aren't building as much strong bone as they should — a gap that may leave them more vulnerable to bone-cracking osteoporosis later in life than their grandparents are.

"This potentially is a time-bomb," says Dr. Laura Tosi, bone health chief at Children's National Medical Center in Washington.

Now scientists are taking the first steps to track kids' bone quality and learn just how big a problem the anti-bone trio is causing, thanks to new research that finally shows just what "normal" bone density is for children of different ages.

Dr. Heidi Kalkwarf of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital led a national study that gave bone scans to 1,500 healthy children ages 6 to 17 to see how bone mass is accumulated. The result, published last summer: The first bone-growth guide, just like height-and-weight charts, for pediatricians treating children at high risk of bone problems.

Next, the government-funded study is tracking those 1,500 children for seven more years, to see how their bones turn out. Say a 7-year-old is in the 50th percentile for bone growth. Does she tend to stay at that level by age 14, or catch up to kids with denser bones? If not, if she more prone to fractures?

Ultimately, the question is what level is cause for concern.

"I don't know if we're raising a population that's going to be at risk" for osteoporosis, Kalkwarf cautions. "It's really hard to know what the cutoff is, how low is too low."

But almost half of peak bone mass develops during adolescence, and the concern is that missing out on the strongest possible bones in childhood could haunt people decades later. By the 30s, bone is broken down faster than it's rebuilt. Then it's a race to maintain bone and avoid the thin bones of osteoporosis in old age.

"There's some early data showing that even a 10 percent deficit in your bone mass when you finish your adolescent years can increase your potential risk of having osteoporosis and fractures as much as 50 percent," says Dr. James Beaty, president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Already there's evidence that U.S. children break their arms more often today than four decades ago — girls 56 percent more, and boys 32 percent more, according to a Mayo Clinic study.

Kalkwarf's hospital recently found that kids who break an arm have lower bone density than their playmates who don't. That suggests the fracture rise isn't due solely to newer forms of risky play, like inline skates.

And last year, government researchers found overweight children were more likely to suffer a fracture, even though theoretically their bones should be hardier from carrying more weight. Maybe they have poorer balance; maybe they fall harder. Kalkwarf says there even are hints that fat itself may produce bone-harming substances.

Doctors have long known that less than a quarter of adolescents get enough calcium.

But strong bones require more than calcium alone. Exercise is at least as important. Consider: The dominant arm of a tennis player has 35 percent more bone than the non-dominant arm.

And Canadian researchers recently reported that postmenopausal women who had exercised more as teens had 8 percent stronger bone decades later than their more sedentary counterparts.

Yet childhood exercise is dropping as obesity rises.

Likewise, the body can't absorb calcium and harden bones without vitamin D. By some estimates, 30 percent of teens get too little.

It's not just that they don't drink fortified milk. Bodies make vitamin D with sunlight. With teen computer use, urban youngsters without safe places to play outdoors and less school P.E., it's no wonder D levels are low. Because skin pigment alters sun absorption, black children are particularly at risk.

Rickets marks the worst deficiency, where bones become so soft that legs literally bow. Rickets was once thought to have been eradicated with milk fortification, but "I am now treating rickets in a way that I never treated it 20 years ago," says Tosi, who diagnoses rickets or super-low D levels in children every month at a bone clinic she runs for mostly inner-city children.

Doctors who've never seen rickets can miss it. Charlene Bullock repeatedly asked her 5-year-old's doctor why his leg was bending inward and he could no longer run with his playmates. It took a trip to Tosi's special clinic to learn Na-shun had rickets — the once energetic child had quit running because his bones ached like an old man's.

Fortunately, rickets caught early is easily cured with high-dose infusions of vitamin D and calcium, and Bullock's son quickly rebounded. "He's doing everything with that little leg."

It's the kids whose low vitamin D hasn't gotten quite bad enough for symptoms that Tosi most worries about. They may never get treated.



EDITOR's NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.
26 November 2007

Winter Hits Humboldt!

If this is a new phenomenon to you, and you wake up on a gloomy, rainy day feeling depressed for no apparent reason, you might be suffering from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder.) Yes, the shrinks have invented a mental illness especially for those of us in the Northwest.

But seriously, for many people it's no joking matter. It might be pretty random on a Protein blog, but I'm a firm believer that our mental health is DEPENDENT on our maintaining a healthy diet. Check this out:

http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/mental_health/sad.html

And for those of us football players about to experience Post Football-Season Depression, time to stay OUT of the sports bar and stay active even without daily practice to suit up for. It's time to get back in shape for next season! (The attached photo is a tribute to my wacky teammates Garrett "the holder" Hubrich, and Chris "the snapper" Vicory. Thanks for the great memories, guys. It's NEVER TOO LATE to diet!)

There's something "fishy" about Protein

Fish Really May Be Brain Food
3 studies suggest regular consumption boosts thinking
-- Robert Preidt

(HealthDay News) -- There may be truth to old adage that eating fish can make you smarter, according to three new studies.
Each suggests that fish intake, particularly the consumption of omega-3 fatty acids in fish, may improve cognitive performance.
A Norwegian study of more than 2,000 elderly people found that those who ate more than 10 grams per day of fish had markedly better test scores and a lower prevalence of poor cognitive performance than those who ate less than 10 grams of fish a day.
The more fish a person ate, the greater the effect. People who ate about 75 grams a day of fish had the best test scores.
A Dutch study of 404 people, ages 50 to 70, found that higher plasma concentrations of omega-3 fatty acid at baseline were associated with a lower decline in several cognitive measures over three years.
Finally a New Zealand study of more than 2,400 people found a strong and consistent association between circulating concentrations of the omega-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid and physical health and a less compelling link between omega-3 fatty acids and mental health.
The studies were published in the November issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
While these are interesting observational studies, they don't establish a direct link between consumption of fish/omega-3 fatty acids and cognitive function, Dr. Irwin Rosenberg, of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston, wrote in an accompanying editorial. There is growing evidence of such an association, but randomized clinical trails are needed to confirm the link, he noted.

Protein Supplements & RECOVERY from Exercise

THE DEBATE RAGES ON IN THE NUTRITION COMMUNITY!

Here's a link from our course's readings for this week, just one of many actually, that exposes some of the arguments. Personally, I've been on daily doses of "Muscle Milk" since starting with my personal trainer, Navy special ops guy, J.T. Walker, in July 2006, I'm a true believer. It seems to really help me speed up post-workout recovery. Though all this scientific evidence fuels the controversy (excuse the pun.) And lest ye think my trainer is an imaginary ghost, here's a recent pic with his new toy. (Neither the bike nor his "guns" are street legal. ha!)

http://www.gssiweb.com/Article_Detail.aspx?articleID=602

FOOTBALL FOOD

SPECIAL THANKS TO BRYAN VALLE FOR THE HEADS-UP ON THIS COOL NEW LINK!

http://www.mvla.k12.ca.us/apps/pub.asp?Q=1313

You don't need to be a player to learn something from this link. Football FANS welcome too! Coach Adkins must already know this since the recommended pre-game meal is pasta and red meat sauce (which we eat at the "J" before each and every home game.) The post game meal recommendation is steak! Maybe USC Trojans get steak. We get KFC or pizza!

GO JACKS! Beat SO. Oregon Saturday Nov 3 @ 6pm in Redwood Bowl (Senior Night.)