Your Waterproof Mattress Protector Might Have Problems Too
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I didn’t even know what to look for when I first had kids.
I remember religiously using only the “baby” lotion that we had gotten at our shower on my own hands when I had a newborn because I figured I would be touching his body and didn’t want to “contaminate” him with harmful chemicals or scents.
So I had a consciousness. I had a drive to keep that tiny body safe from environmental harm. But I had no clue how to read ingredients.
I can bet that if I had that name brand lotion in my house right now, the components wouldn’t pass my standards anymore, not when I have 3 ingredient MadeOn lotion everywhere in the house.
It’s been a decade-long process of dozens, maybe hundreds, of baby steps to get from that level of carefulness to the crazy, eco-friendly, ingredient nazi I am today.
And I think I’m proud of that?
It’s a little annoying to be so well informed, honestly, because I have to be so careful about everything.
I’ve mentioned a bit during this healthy sleep series that it’s been both a long process of researching and purchasing healthy sleep surfaces (3-5 years?) but it was also one of the final frontiers for our green living changes. That’s a little backward, really, because of the high percentage of our time we spend sleeping. If you’re still near the beginning of your journey, kudos to you for tackling the sleep issue!
Containing the Messes
One item we had (and have) a LOT of in our house is waterproof pads.
We doublesheet our kids’ beds and cribs with them, use them under co-sleeping babies to protect our own sheets/mattress, put them on the floor for quick diaper changes, and I bet we have over a dozen in the house of all sizes, from bassinet to twin.
I never thought to check the material of all the ones we bought from Meijer with each passing babe.
And what would I have paid attention to if I had been older and wiser on those shopping trips?
3 Things to Avoid in Waterproof Mattress Protectors for Safe, Healthy Sleep
1. Vinyl/PVC
When I was shopping last fall for mattress protectors for twin and double sized beds, I suddenly was learning a lot on accident about dust mites, bed bugs, mold and mildew.
After I had about 50 tabs open and my head was spinning, I asked on Facebook for advice from the KS crowd. That thread contains advice for everything from lanolized wool to cheap vinyl-topped pads from Walmart to Babesafe mattress covers like I mentioned in the crib protection/healthy sleep for babies post the other day to just leaving the plastic on that the mattress came in.
Funny. That didn’t stop my head from spinning at all.
Ultimately through my own research, I realized that vinyl (PVC) is a very common component of waterproof mattress pads and particularly covers that protect the sleeper from dust mites and mildew that might already be in the mattress.
So vinyl is great for protecting you from your mattress and your mattress from you (waterproof) – but it comes with plenty of problems on its own.
Vinyl off-gases VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds. That’s basically a fancy name for any natural compound that leaves the solid or liquid it’s in, turns into a gas at room temperature, and enters the air. (Organic meaning “of the earth” or biological, not mineral.) Most scents from products are VOCs. Not all of them are harmful, but many are, and it’s very hard to study them because human exposure is so long-term and constant.
There’s some controversy about whether vinyl’s VOCs other than phthalates are harmful or not really, but honestly? For 8-18 hours a day depending on who the sleeper is, it’s just not worth the risk.
EDIT: Peva is another waterproof plastic found in mattress protectors – it’s a non-chlorinated form of vinyl, so the products will likely say “no PVC” on them, but it doesn’t mean “no vinyl.” Removing the chlorine seems to remove some of the VOC off-gassing risk, but it doesn’t remove all the safety questions. It seems like peva is a newer attempt at waterproofing with vinyl, so it’s likely largely untested in the long term. I’m wary of it and would rather go with something completely vinyl free, personally. Read more at these sources: 1, 2, 3.
2. Phthalates
Say that one five times fast!
Actually, I don’t rightly know how to say it even once personally.
But I know phthalates are plasticizers add to things like PVC (uh huh!) to make it more flexible. They do offgas and/or leach out into the environment. They do cause health issues like hormone disruption, cancer, and more.
I don’t want to hang out with them all night long. Another reason to run for the hills if you see “vinyl” or “PVC” on a mattress protector.
3. Polyurethane Foam/Flame Retardant Chemicals
We talked about these nasties already last week when I discussed the hazards of your mattress. You’ll see foam included in padded things like changing table pads, so it’s worth mentioning in this discussion.
In fact, while doing research for this safe sleep series, I realized that the changing table pad we’d been using for ten years had this tag:
Flame retardant tag on changing table pad - California Bulletin 117
And so of course it had this one too:
Flame retardant info tag on changing table pad - California Bulletin 117
In my opinion, care should be exercised if using this pad near a baby! Sigh. You just can’t win. I yanked the pad from our changing table in disgust and we just use one of the lightly quilted bassinet pads from American Baby that I bought on Amazon for co-sleeping and haven’t needed yet in bed:
What to Look for in Waterproof Mattress Protectors
But if not vinyl, what can make a pad waterproof? A few options:
Polyurethane
Polyethylene
Polypropylene
Wool
My big question as I research is of course safety. Here’s a quick rundown:
Polyurethane – a quick search makes it seem like it’s not super toxic but perhaps iffy. It’s the same compound as in the foam used in most mattresses though, and in that setting it’s pinned for nasty VOCs, so I’d put this one at the bottom of the list for sure. Oops, not really – see the next point for details…
Polyethylene – food grade and generally thought to be very safe. Babesafe mattress covers are made of polyethylene and proven not to off-gas VOCs. This is a good option. UPDATE 2016: Jane Sheppard of Healthy Child explained to me that polyethylene is great for mattresses themselves but won’t hold up to washing, so it’s really not a good option for washable mattress pads. She also explained that polyurethane plastic is very different from polyurethane foam in mattresses, so I wasn’t comparing apples to apples. (Oops. Sorry about that!)
Polypropylene – food grade as well, the same as the number 5 plastic in most food storage containers. Not supposed to off-gas. This one should be a good option as well. UPDATE 2016: As you’ll see on the big review, we had a pretty poor experience with this material holding up to washing, too, so I’m not sure this is a great option for effectiveness.
Wool – Wool is only “sort of” waterproof, best for minor moisture, not a total disaster like vomit or bedwetting. There is an allergy concern for some people with wool.
Ultimately with my 2016 updates, it sounds like polyurethane may actually be the best disaster-proof material for waterproof pads!
What did Katie Buy?
I had a huge document of my shopping research, and I ended up getting quite a number of mattress pads, some purchased, some as review samples, so here are all the reviews of the best natural waterproof mattress protectors I could find!
If you want more information on healthy sleeping you can read my whole Healthy Sleep Series:
Your UVA Protection Probably Isn’t Working (Especially in the Pool) Avobenzone can be found in almost all chemical suncreens and many beauty products but research has shown it can be harmful to us and doesn't protect you. See a breakdown of the latest research and what to use instead and why.
It just doesn’t stop this summer!
First, Consumer Reports says that mineral sunscreens just aren’t effective after testing 13 of them. I totally disagree with them and elucidate my points rather, ahem, pointedly, right HERE.
Avobenzone, the most popular UV filter in the world (meaning it’s used the most in conventional sunscreens to block UVA light, and in FACT it’s the only chemical ingredients that DOES block UVA light!), breaks down into hazardous chemical compounds in water, accelerated by the presence of sunlight.
The report states that “the breakdown of avobenzone may take place on wet human skin,” and that the research “simulated the real situation in which a sunscreen is applied to the skin of swimmers.” The authors target chlorinated water in particular and say that copper salts (usually added to swimming pools to make them blue) are even worse, resulting in bromoform being formed. “This substance could provoke dysfunction of the liver and kidneys, along with nervous system disorders.”
Opposite of the Actual Research?
The actual research definitely says an acidic environment increases degradation (speeds it up) – BUT wait, chlorinated pools are basic, not acidic: the normal ph of chlorinated swimming pools is 7.2-7.8. “The optimum pH for pool water is 7.4, since this is the same as the pH in human eyes and mucous membranes. A pH of 7.4 also gives good chlorine disinfection.” (source)
So that acidic environment is actually the opposite of a chlorinated pool. What is up with the Daily Mail and Phys.org reporting incorrectly?
Let’s explore the research further.
Does Sunlight and Chlorine Degrade Avobenzone in Sunscreens?
It sounds like under UV light, avobenzone’s half life is 126 minutes. I’m assuming that at least half the avobenzone has broken down into the other 2 substances at that point, chloro-avobenzone and dichloro-avobenzone. Those are quite unstable under sunlight and especially sunlight and water combined, with half lives of as little as 14 minutes.
Some of what this all turns into include benzoic acids and phenols, which are “quite toxic,” according to Albert Lebedev, one of the study’s authors – especially when they’re chlorinated.
This image from the study shows avobenzone being exposed to NaOCl (sodium hypochlorite) and water, and breaking down into chloro-avobenzone and dichloro-avobenzone – see the extra Cl and 2 extra Cl atoms there in the bottom two figures?
Avobenzone can be found in almost all chemical suncreens and many beauty products but research has shown it can be harmful to us and doesn't protect you. See a breakdown of the latest research and what to use instead and why.
What’s also interesting is that sodium hypochlorite isn’t the most popular way of chlorinating a pool – calcium hypochlorite is.
So perhaps the reporting wasn’t quite as much to call home about (and toss your sunscreens) as it sounded at first.
But – don’t stop now. There are still PLENTY of reasons to ditch avobenzone in sunscreens and personal products forever!
For example: “Avobenzone is significantly degraded by UV light and normal day light. Therefore, it will be drastically reduced over time during the course of normal use. Control degradation studies have shown that 1 hour of sunlight exposure reduces avobenzone absorbance by 36%.” (PubChem, Oppen-Bezalel, in-cosmetics Group)
Avobenzone can be found in almost all chemical suncreens and many beauty products but research has shown it can be harmful to us and doesn't protect you. See a breakdown of the latest research and what to use instead and why.
Why Ditch Avobenzone
Avobenzone, which was FDA approved in 1988 as a UVA filter, used to only be available under a trademarked name Parsol 1789. That meant it was more expensive to use in sunscreens and not seen all that often.
In the last few years, it’s able to be used in a generic form as avobenzone, and that coupled with the fact that it’s the only non-mineral ingredient approved to filter UVA rays, means that it’s in just about every conventional sunscreen you can find.
If it’s not, you’re not getting broad spectrum UVA/UVB protection anyway, so that’s no good.
But if avobenzone is so effective at filtering UVA rays, why ditch it?
It does break down in the sun (drastically, see above) faster in water, and faster yet in chlorinated water (Kalister, 2016).
When exposed to chlorinated water, more toxic compounds are created. (Trebse, 2016)
The compounds avobenzone breaks down into are quite unstable – whether this effects us directly through our skin or indirectly through pollution in the environment (your kids accidentally ingesting pool water that a bunch of sunscreen has washed off into) isn’t conclusive. (Wang, 2016)
As avobenzone degrades, which may be in less than two hours, it is no longer effective (or at least far less effective) at protecting you from UVA rays. You’ll never know it though, because UVAs don’t cause burns. They’ll just get you decades later with wrinkled skin and cancer.
“It can degrade into some very harmful compounds, some of which are known carcinogens,” said Daniel Aires, a dermatologist with the University of Kansas Health System. “What isn’t known is how much is absorbed into the skin, or if it’s to a level that can cause or potentially increase the risk of cancer. But this is certainly alarming.” (The Kansas City Star)
Even if avobenzone and all the compounds it degrades into aren’t absorbed through the skin (do you want your kids to be the guinea pigs??), I’m almost certain my kids drink gallons of pool water each summer (ew) and most certainly ingest whatever is washing off everyone else in the pool (grrrrrr).
By the way, if you don’t think sunscreens and their active ingredients including avobenzone are getting into the pool water (and hence our general water supply), they are.
Chloroform is one of the byproducts as avobenzone breaks down and super toxic and may be a probable human carcinogen (the EPA says):
“Chloroform evaporates very quickly when exposed to air. Chloroform also dissolves easily in water, but does not stick to the soil very well. This means that it can travel down through soil to groundwater where it can enter a water supply. Chloroform lasts for a long time in both the air and in groundwater…In humans, chloroform affects the central nervous system (brain), liver, and kidneys after a person breathes air or drinks liquids that contain large amounts of chloroform.” (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1997)
Avobenzone causes awful stains on clothing – even after you swim, if you change into clothes and it rubs off, you’ll get nasty rust-looking stains that only show up AFTER the clothing is exposed to water, usually in the wash. If you’ve ever experienced a load of laundry from your beach trip that was mysteriously ruined, your sunscreen may be at fault.
Avobenzone can be found in almost all chemical suncreens and many beauty products but research has shown it can be harmful to us and doesn't protect you. See a breakdown of the latest research and what to use instead and why.
Even if you’re not concerned about health or don’t buy into the research as conclusive enough for you, perhaps practicality will win out. Who wants to wreck their clothes, spend a ton of time treating stains (that are really hard to get out) or have to shower before dressing every single time you wear sunscreen?
You’ll find avobenzone in an alarming number of products, like lipsticks, creams and other makeup.
It’s on my list of “ingredients to avoid at all costs.”
How about you?
Original article and pictures take www.kitchenstewardship.com site
Your Ultimate Guide to Back to School Meal Planning
Get ready for back to school meal planning with these healthy and fun recipes, meal ideas, and tips for kids of all ages.
Back to School Meal Planning Guide | Small Bites by Jessica
After a speedy summer, it’s time once again to head back to school!
With the rush to buy notebooks, crayons, markers, and new backpacks, we almost forget to prepare school lunches and snacks in advance. As you know, when meal planning and prep are left for the last minute, meals are rarely as healthy and nutritious as they could be.
While I have been sharing back to school posts on my Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram feeds, it was time to update this post, as I do every year, with the latest recipe ideas and everything you need to make balanced meals for kids.
Charlotte & Sabrina ready for their first day of Kindergarten!
My girls just started Kindergarten – wow, where did the time go?! – and now they are responsible for bringing snack and lunch to school every day. That means more for this momma to plan, and I know I am not alone.
I hope this back to school meal planning roundup helps you feed your kids well (and safely) before, during, and after school and inspires you to think outside of the (traditional) lunchbox!
Breakfast
Strawberry Pancakes @ Don't Waste the Crumbs - Back to School Meal Planning
Your Real Food Camping Menu Primer (With 50+ Recipes & Food Ideas!)
Camping can be a wonderful way to get outside and enjoy nature.
But sometimes…there are a lot of hurdles. There’s the prep, which can make anyone wince. And eating can take all! your! time! (Or is it just that I have all teens?!?)
Camping can make you remember the more basic beauties in life, though, and it’s also great for family togetherness (not always in good ways…).
But really, camping gives us a chance to live more simply, closer to nature, with less technology, more movement, and more relaxation.
Oh, and camping also gives us plenty of time to savor delicious food! We need hearty fare to bookend days of hiking, canoeing, or seeing sites along the road.
Whether you’re grilling, cooking over an open fire, or using a gas camp stove, food prepared outdoors has a special flavor. Here are some pointers for having a well-fed camping trip!
Before You Leave to Go Camping
Whether or not you usually make time to meal plan, do plan the menu for your camping trip!
It will help you to have the right things on-hand and will answer the questions “what’s for dinner?” and “when do we need to start on (the next mea)?”
Eat meals in a logical order.
If you’re tent-camping and relying on an ice chest for refrigeration, plan to eat more perishable items (like meat) early in the trip and save the dry goods (like spaghetti) for the end.
Extend the life of perishable items by freezing what you can ahead of time. You can eat the food when it thaws, and in the meantime it will keep the ice chest cool!
Even if you’re not tent-camping, you’ll still want to spend some time thinking about how you’re using your food and in what order you’re eating it.
Make use of leftovers and have handy grab-n-go snacks ready (frozen fruit works great for this!).
Pack food (especially produce!) that travels well.
Bring hearty fruits and veggies that hold up to the rough and tumble nature of camping and that won’t spoil quickly.
For instance, I don’t bring bananas unless we can eat them the first day—otherwise, they’ll begin to bruise and make the rest of the food smell like bananas.
Make things ahead of your trip!
Camp cooking is fun, but in unfamiliar surroundings it takes longer to prepare than it would in your own kitchen. If you can get the meal ready quickly, you can spend more time sipping your coffee in the morning, or watching fireflies at night.
Here are some easy things to make and prepare ahead of time:
Baked goods, like muffins and cookies
Bread for toasting and sandwiches
Pancake mix
Meat, chopped and marinated
Most snacks
WARNING: Don’t stress yourself with endless preparations! Pick just a few meals to make ahead and keep the rest of the on-site cooking simple.
Once you’ve planned out your menu, think about what ingredients (including condiments) go into each meal and create your grocery list.
Here’s a helpful practice: mentally prepare each meal in your mind, so you can think about what cooking utensils and extras you may need for preparing, serving, or eating.
Tips for Meals When You’re at the Campsite
Make dinner early.
Don’t know about you, but cooking by the light of a battery lantern swarmed with bugs is NOT the life for me. Begin meal prep with plenty of daylight, and then you can linger long over the campfire or turn in to read in your sleeping bag and tell scary stories.
Prep lunch the night before.
You can save time on the road by making sandwiches for the next day’s lunch when you’re making supper the night before.
For that matter, it’s nice to have a picnic lunch ready to go even if you’re staying in one spot! That way, you don’t have to get all the food out and clean up extra dishes.
Give everyone a job.
Whether the job is helping with cooking, doing dishes, or another camp chore, assign a task to everyone on the trip. Rather than taking turns with different jobs, giving everyone a “specialty” makes expectations clear and allows room to learn efficiency in one particular task.
Giving each person a specific task for setting up camp, for example, lets things settle into a routine and also makes your crew efficient pretty quickly!
Ready to meal plan for your camping trip? Here are 50+ ideas for your real food camping menu!
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pans with liners or grease generously with butter or coconut oil.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, mix together the egg and sugar until well-blended. Then gradually stir in the coconut oil. Mix well. Now stir in the plain yogurt.
Slowly mix the dry and wet ingredients. Blend in milk until just combined. If your batter is too thick, you can add a little extra milk, but be careful not to add too much.
Gently fold in strawberries, reserving 1/4 to 1/2 cup for adding to top of muffins.
Pour (or scoop with a spoon) your batter into your muffin cups (approximately 12-15 muffins). Sprinkle the remaining strawberries on top.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in your preheated oven. Bake until your muffins are golden brown or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow muffins to cool in pan for a couple of minutes; then transfer to cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
Breakfast Burritos (can also make these ahead)
Eggs (you can freeze ahead, if you want!)
It can be a little challenging to take a dozen eggs and keep them from breaking…so here’s a way to freeze them ahead of time:
When mixing up your eggs before freezing, count on 2-3 per person
Grits and Sardines (since these are dry goods, this is a great meal for later in the trip)
Pancakes (make dry mix ahead. If you bring your raw milk on the trip, make pancakes a couple days in when the leftover milk begins to sour and turn to buttermilk.)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder (if you like it hot or with a bit more kick, you can increase both the cayenne and chili to 1/2 teaspoon instead of 1/4)
Instructions
Preheat your barbecue and get it nice and hot (I usually get mine close to 500 degrees).
Add oil and all spices and herbs to a bowl and stir until thoroughly combined.
Put chicken into either a bowl or a ziploc bag (my preference) and add the spice and oil mixture.
Mix the chicken and spice mixture together until chicken is well coated.
Put the chicken on the grill and close the lid for about 10 minutes, and turn it down to a lower temperature (mine has a low setting, which is what I switch it over to, and this brings it to around 350).
Flip chicken (it should have nice grill marks on it at this point) and cook for another 5 minutes. If you’re cooking drumsticks, you may wish to rotate them by a quarter turn a little more frequently for more even cooking.
Watch chicken as it continues to cook and check for doneness, which will vary depending on how large your pieces are, whether they were fully or only partially thawed, and the temperature of your grill.
Toppings (any combination of the following): lettuce, salsa, sour cream (or plain yogurt), guacamole, black olive, diced onions, fresh cilantro, sliced jalapenos, green onions, chopped tomatoes.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Add the homemade taco seasoning and beans. Stir well and let cook for 2 minutes.
Spread tortilla chips out on a large sheet pan. You can cover the pan with parchment paper to keep the nachos from sticking.
Sprinkle half the cheese over the chips. Top with the meat/bean mixture. Sprinkle on the remaining cheese.
Bake the nachos in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. While the nachos are baking, you can make your guacamole, prep the rest of your toppings, and clean up.
Once the nachos are done baking, top with your choice of toppings. Serve with a spatula.
Most of these you’ll want to make ahead of time! Store in tightly-sealed containers, as things tend to get stale more quickly in out-of-doors humidity.
Apples (these are a good pick for non-messy fruit since they’re crisp, rather than overly-juicy)
Bell Peppers (sliced)
Boiled Eggs
Carrot Sticks
Homemade Marshmallows (make ahead)
Ingredients
Instructions
Place egg whites, maple syrup, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on high until peaks form when you lift the beater out of the mixture.
While the egg mixture is beating, heat the water and gelatin in a small saucepan over medium heat until the gelatin is completely melted.
With the mixer still going, carefully pour the gelatin mixture into the bowl of the stand mixer. Try to pour it down the inside of the bowl so that it doesn’t hit the beater and make a mess. Continue beating on high for 10 minutes.
Once 10 minutes is up, spread the mixture in your prepared pan. Allow to set for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight. Use a sharp knife or kitchen scissors to cut the marshmallows into desired shapes and sizes. You can also pipe the marshmallows onto a baking sheet that has been dusted with coconut flour to make fun marshmallow shapes.
1 whole lime, sliced (optional, but highly recommended)
Peppermint Herbal Iced Tea
Fill 1/3 of a half gallon jar with fresh peppermint leaves. If using dried peppermint, you’ll cut the amount in half. Substitute chocolate mint for peppermint for a sweet treat!
Lemon Pineapple Refresher Herbal Iced Tea
Sun Tea (This one you can make at the campsite! Let it steep while you do your daytime activities, and then chill it in ice in the cooler while you prep dinner.)
Passion Tea Lemonade
Ingredients
Instructions
To make the Passion Tea concentrate:
Steep 5 tea bags in boiling water. You’ll need to use a large container for this, as it will be a large amount of water. I used an extra-large pyrex measuring cup.
Steep them for at least 10 minutes. I left mine in several hours because it was the dinnertime and bedtime craze, and they got forgotten. No big deal, it was just super concentrated. I use a little less and water it down.
Take the tea bags out and store the concentrate in the fridge.
To make the simple syrup:
Basically you are using a 2:1 sweetener to water ratio. Ie. 2 cups of water and 1 cup of honey (or sweetener of choice). I used half honey and half coconut palm sugar. Most types of sweetener will do fine. You could probably even use stevia in this recipe – just skip the simple syrup bit and add the liquid right to your drink. (I don’t know for sure, though, so if you try it – let me know in the comments!)
Bring to a boil in a pot over the heat, and slowly simmer to reduce. Simmer and stir frequently for about five minutes, then remove from heat to cool. This mixture can be stored in the fridge for quite a while, but probably won’t last long if you love this lemonade like I do!
And finally, to make the Passion Tea Lemonade:
Fill your cup about a third full of Passion Tea concentrate (I like to use a mason jar, and you’ll see why in a minute).
Add a small amount of simple syrup (maybe start with 1/4 cup and add from there, to taste), and twice as much lemonade (Try the honey-sweetened lemonade recipe here, or buy it pre-made).
Fill with ice. Taste test.
Add water if the flavor is too strong, and add additional simple syrup if desired. I like mine on the tart side, so I end up with a very small amount of tea concentrate, and lots of lemonade, then water and ice, with a small bit of simple syrup. It’s very versatile, according to taste, so taste test as you go!
In Starbucks they use a fancy shaker thingie to shake it up and give a bit of foam. I use a mason jar with a lid on it to achieve the exact same thing! Stick a straw in it, sit back in the sunshine and sip slowly. Happy summer, friends!
Your Microbiome, Probiotics, Fermented Foods and Some Surprising New Facts – You Really Need to Read This!
There has been more progress in our understanding of the microbiome and the world of bacteria in the last 3 to 5 years then there has been in all the years preceding. This is due to the new genetic testing that can analyze the DNA of the bacteria. In doing so we have identified over 35,000 species that can potentially inhabit the human gut.
It’s been very difficult to study gut bacteria because most bacteria in the gut are anaerobic – that is, oxygen is toxic to them so they die off as soon as they come out of the gut. But there’s been huge progress in this regard and that has allowed us to understand the importance and significance of gut bacteria to our health.
Microbiome Controls Our Behavior
The Human Microbiome Project discovered that the average human carries about 1000 species of microbes in the gut. However, there are about 35,000 species that could exist within the gut. No two people have the same microbial community – we all have our own gut fingerprint. Your ability to metabolize and absorb foods and medications is controlled by gut bacteria.
Antibiotic treatment is the worst thing to happen your microbiome and is still over-used by the medical community. Studies show that children who have used antibiotics before the age of 4 have much greater risk for autoimmunity, skin problems, asthma, allergies, etc.
How We Get Our Microbiome
We have ten times more bacterial cells than human cells. Some say that we have evolved to house bacteria. The inoculation of the baby’s gut, body and all organs occurs via the mom. Previously it was thought that the uterine environment was sterile.
Not so. Not only does the placenta house bacteria, but there are actually immune cells coming from the mom’s gut that transfer bacteria to the baby through the umbilical cord during the pregnancy.
This prepares the baby for the large inoculation of bacteria that will occur while it travels through the vaginal birth canal.
Typically vaginal bacteria are very different from gut bacteria. However, in readiness for birth, at the end of the first trimester of pregnancy the vaginal bacterial colonies shift to mimic gut bacteria. This supports bacteria that are helpful in digesting milk. Clearly this is to prepare the fetus to have the ability to digest milk.
Amazing!
During birth, the huge inoculation occurs when the baby travels through the birth canal and is covered with all the bacteria. There is also the close skin to skin contact with the mom or caregiver.
Another way the baby develops their microbiome is through breast milk which has 400 – 600 species of beneficial bacteria. Breast milk is high in oligosaccharides (non-digestible sugars) which cannot be digested by the baby. Instead these oligosaccharides are there as a prebiotic to feed the baby’s bacteria.
It takes close to 3 years to develop the microbiota. The diversity in individuals is a co-selection process of tissue compatibility with bacterial strains. This is not totally understood but is the reason for the individual fingerprint we all have.
The environment is also a way to develop the microbiome and playing in the dirt is the best thing for humans – something not many of us do anymore in our modern environments.
C-Section babies are at a 40% greater risk of developing autoimmunity, asthma, allergies and the other chronic conditions that we are now seeing, because they do not have the benefit of the huge inoculation through the birth canal.
A c-section baby who is formula feed additionally increases inflammatory conditions. Put antibiotic use on top of that and the risk goes even higher.
Our children are at great risk.
The diversity of the species creates health — we are learning this from the Human Microbiome Project.
Health Problems Start in the Gut
Every health condition can be traced back to the gut. For example, sinusitis is directly related to gut bacteria. Inflammation in the sinus cavity is due to imbalances in gut bacteria and using antibiotics for the treatment is making it worse. Extra-intestinal problems are also related to the gut such as, arthritis and skin conditions.
Kidney stones occur because of the absence of the bacteria called oxalobacter. This particular bacteria breaks down oxalates in food. If they are not broken down, they form tiny stones in the tubules of the kidneys. If you have ever had kidney stones you will know that it is extraordinarily painful.
Obesity is also due to the bacteria that supports weight gain. Those folks have bacteria that can take more calories from each gram of food than someone who does not. It’s a survival mechanism.
Bacteria also cause cravings that create a real neurological need for sugar. The bacteria can produce neurotransmitters that control appetite and cravings.
Gut Bacteria Give Us Molecules Critical to Our Health
Proteomics is the emerging study of proteins made by gut bacteria. They have identified 1000 of these proteins (and enzymes which are proteins). For example, glutamate dehydrogenase is an important enzyme for metabolism needed to break down glutamate to glutamic acid. We need the bacteria in the gut to make this critical nutrient.
Vitamins K2 is also a critical nutrient that can be made by our gut bacteria. We tend not to get enough K2 from the food but there are certain foods high in vitamin K2.
Gut bacteria are also producing critical nutrients such as carotinoids and anti-oxidants that we get from all the colorful vegetables. However, it is very hard for the body to extract the molecules from the food. There are certain bacteria strains that actually make the anti-oxidants for us.
What Current Research Shows About Probiotic Supplements
Have you ever taken a probiotic and not felt any change? I know I have and I have tried many different products.
It has been taught that the best probiotics are refrigerated because that keeps them alive. However, the human body is 98.6º. If the bacteria can’t survive at room temperature, which is lower, then how will they survive in the body? The answer is that they may be alive in the bottle, but once you swallow them they die. So essentially you are supplementing with dead bacteria – certainly by the time they reach the colon.
It has been shown that there is some benefit to taking dead bacteria cells. There will be some beneficial expression of DNA in the cells or a beneficial change to PH.
In nature these species that are in most probiotics are not designed to be viable outside of the body. Placing various species together and in high numbers will not recreate the original inoculation from the mom. Even the studies of specific species do not answer the question of individual fingerprints and how individual colonies live together.
Can We Get Bacteria From Fermented Foods?
It is commonly thought that eating fermented foods will provide trillions of beneficial bacterial cells. However, when you eat fermented foods, the bacteria that is in the fermented foods is not going into your digestive system.
The benefit is from the actual ferment — the breakdown of the nutrients in the food and the nutrients that are produced as a result of the ferment. These bacterial peptides and peptidoglycans can be very healing for the gut and may support the bacteria that are part of your microbiome.
You may have thought that fermented foods provide the beneficial bacteria, but these bacteria die as they travel through the digestive system and just pass through.
Diversity is the Key
The gut is an ecosystem. We need many different strains of bacteria and we need overlap in what they do for us. In this way, if some strains die off (or are killed by outside factors such as medications) you still have other species that can do the same for you.
Instead of trying to kill off the bad bacteria, the best approach is to nourish the microbiome and support it in order to increase diversity. When the microbiome is healthy it will naturally suppress the bad bacteria.
Much like a garden, instead of using weed killer, it is more productive to encourage the good organisms in the yard and soil and these will keep out the pests.
Create the environment that favors the growth of good bacteria. Diet is critical. Sugars, processed foods and grains are pro-inflammatory and the pro-inflammatory state encourages bad bacteria (and cancer and other diseases).
Another important action is to improve the PH by eating plant based foods as well as good animal fats, animal proteins and eating a diverse array of foods. Diverse foods will encourage diversity in the bacteria.
Additionally, fermented foods play a huge role here as they give you so many nutrients that are not available through foods. Lastly, get environmental bacteria such as soil based bacteria as these bacteria provide many beneficial functions and nutrients.
Potentially the Best Probiotic
Right here, I want to say that I am not paid to promote this product – I just want to give you the information that I find critically important for anyone on a health journey.
That said, there is a new probiotic on the market called Megaspore. It provides 5 strains of spore forming bacteria that will actually reach the colon and colonize there. These 5 strains support increasing the diversity of the gut and there are many testimonials that all say that this is the first probiotic that someone actually feels has made a difference.
I think you need to get it through a health care practitioner. I just ordered mine.
There is a lower dose product made for commercial use called Peakbiotics which you can probably find in health food stores.
The information for this article was gleaned from an interview with Kiran Krishnan at Primal90. He is a microbiologist (among many other credentials) and his talk was thoroughly fascinating and offers new research and a new understanding for healing the microbiome. He is a principle at Physicians Exclusive the makers of Megaspore.
Original article and pictures take realfoodforager.com site
Your Child’s Life is Worth 60 Seconds (even if it’s a battle)
It never ceases to amaze me when a child pitches a fit about something that is truly a daily occurrence, sometimes multiple times a day.
In our house, events like this might include the horrible and almost-too-terrible-to-mention tasks of:
brushing teeth
going potty before a meal
washing hands after being outside/at school
bringing lunch boxes from the backpacks to the counter
getting hair done
getting dressed
Oh yes friends – we are mean and awful parents. We actually make our children, even the teeny tiny 2-year-old, do all these things! Every day! You’d think we were throwing them to the lions with the antics we sometimes get in return.
It’s really easy to be swayed by all the complaining sometimes. Really easy to think, “Eh, it won’t kill them to skip brushing their teeth this one morning. I don’t have the energy to be consistent today.”
Sure, we know in our heads that parenting success is all about consistency, but we’re human too. We just try not to throw ourselves on the floor and kick our feet while we’re avoiding responsibility.
The story today is not my own, but it made my heart drop and my arm hair stand on end when my friend shared what was going on in their family a few months back. I alluded to it yesterday, and it’s something every parent needs to read – skim it, I don’t care – we all need this reminder that there are some situations where 100% consistency is truly necessary, that there are life-and-death consequences for certain shortcuts. (Missing brushing teeth every so often is not one of them, luckily for me!)
Do you Understand the Risks - Turtles, Salmonella and Young Children. Make sure you know the symptoms.
You may have already guessed the topic now that you’ve seen that picture, but you owe it to yourself to read at least a little more. You can’t know the magnitude of the situation until you’ve entered into one mom’s real experience, the confusion, fears, hopes, and hopes dashed…this is my friend’s story. All names are pseudonyms.
What I Did Over Christmas Vacation
Day 1, Sunday Dec 29–We returned from the overnight drive from my in-laws in NC on a Sunday morning. In church, Ben, age 3, asked to go to the bathroom twice, and I almost said no the second time. Good thing I took him; it was mild diarrhea.
I saw a friend’s son after church who said he was alone because his sisters were both sick, there was something going around their neighborhood.
That afternoon he had a fever of 102 and napped for 3 hours. When he awoke, feverish with more diarrhea. An hour later, more.
And so it continued, with a temperature teetering between 101 and 103 along with diarrhea at least every 2 hours. (This ended up being the case for 4 days straight) He had no appetite as well.
Monday Dec 30— Fever down to 100, still almost continuous diarrhea, chills.
No appetite, kept down a few Cheerios and a little Pedialyte but it seemed difficult for him to eat or even drink. Husband and I are perplexed about source, because we just spent a week isolated on a mountain with Nana and Poppa (oh, and a room full of reptiles- seems so obvious now!) and couldn’t see how we were exposed to anything.
Other kids, age 5 and 7, are perfectly healthy, as are we. Late Monday, vomits.
Tuesday Dec 31– at 2 AM Ben had a massive bloody loose stool. I hadn’t ever seen this before with my other kids. I gave him Tylenol and took him back to bed.
When he had more blood in his stool at 7 AM, I showed my husband both diapers and we agreed we should take him in.
Vomits breakfast. Diarrhea after breakfast. Almost vomits snack consumed in car on 11-minute drive to urgent care.
The urgent care doctor didn’t seem to be concerned, said that bloody stool happens in ‘infectious colitis’ and it will take a few days to go away. That did reassure me, even though I tend to be a worrier.
“He looks good, not dehydrated. Keep him drinking, no solid food for 24 hours, he should be good as new in a few days.”
I took the handout on childhood diarrhea, along with an anti-nausea med prescription. Sounds normal enough so far. (Incidentally, I don’t fault the doctor, because at this point, his symptoms did match what was on the handout, and we were only days into the illness.)
At home, husband is using his expensive medical-school brain to peruse information on conditions of the stomach and intestines in children. Separately and together, for the next few days, we comb through details on gastroenteritis, appendicitis, salmonella, colitis, Crohn’s, gluten sensitivity, food allergies, ulcers, we rack our brains over his diet on vacation.
I recalled that my cousin, a nurse, had cautioned me about reptiles around young children before. We asked Mary, age 7, if Ben had played with Nana’s turtle:
Yes.
Did he wash his hands?
Nope.
Husband calls his parents; they assure us that they change the water frequently.
(Important note! It doesn’t matter how well the animal is cared for. They just carry the disease, more likely than not, and since salmonella doesn’t harm reptiles, there is no reason for their bodies to get rid of it.)
Returning to the trusted-site salmonella info page, Husband notes that salmonella usually requires no treatment and clears itself within 5 to 7 days, so even if it were salmonella, we shouldn’t need to worry. (Usually. There are different kinds of salmonella, and the one associated with reptiles can rapidly mutate, making it more difficult for the host to fight off. I found this out later on microbe-wiki…)
We keep pushing the Pedialyte and follow Dr.’s orders on diet. A little vomiting, temperatures going up and down, a lot of diarrhea, but no more blood. I can only get him to drink a few sips at a time, and even that seems uncomfortable for him.
You Don’t Actually Have to Lick a Turtle to Get Salmonella
Day 4, Wednesday Jan 1st- Happy New Year?? Um, no. Boy is miserable. My couch-jumping tumble monkey is a too-warm blob who does nothing but sleep, poop, almost sleep, almost poop, vomit, or almost vomit.
Clings to me constantly.
Like having a newborn, except a healthy newborn brings joy, not just anxiety.
He doesn’t have the strength to sit up or hold his own sippy, and vomits his lunch. Continuing, remember, since Sunday, the pattern of diarrhea at a minimum of every 2 hours, usually more.
I pray for my kids every day, mostly in a shameful, “But of course they are doing great, and thank you God for that fact that I so take for granted,” kind of way.
But today, I really prayed for Ben. Like, please don’t let this be something really serious, please just let me find out that I am an unreasonable worry-wart.
Day 5, Thursday, Jan 2— (This is the freakiest day to me, and the one that threw a wrench in my thought processes.) The regular doctor’s office is open, and…
…at noon, instantly, my Ben is back! He eats, he drinks, he plays, he’s tired and has a little diarrhea, but is able to wear underwear again.
But he eats, drinks, and plays! For three-quarters of a day! He has a little dinner, goes to bed early, and then. . ..
Day 6, Friday, Jan 3 – Back downhill, as much diarrhea as ever. No appetite, refusing apple juice; I force it on him, sips at a time.
Temperature is ok. What do we do? Is this something different or a recurrence of the same illness? If it weren’t for yesterday, we would take him right in. Since he doesn’t have a fever and actually did drink enough yesterday, we wait and try to keep him comfortable and resting.
Day 7, Sat Jan 4– Not better. We cancel gift exchange with my side of the family. When we talk to the doc on call, she says keep him hydrated and take to ER if he gets worse.
I start texting my siblings, their spouses, my dad, asking all for prayers.
Day 8, Sunday, Jan 5– I stay home from church, trying to get some fluids in Ben. (We really couldn’t have kept up with the amount that was coming out, and that’s where the danger comes in.)
Not much success, though diarrhea is a little better, possibly because there just isn’t much left in him. When Husband returns and we check his fever after nap at 103.7, we pack a bag for the emergency room.
They are there for 7 hours, getting IV fluids, blood draws, symptom records. Ben was so weak he didn’t even flinch at the IV insertion.
The SNOWSTORM starts, work is closed the next day, my pastor cancels the service for Theophany, a major feast, the next day, which he has never done. ER sends directions to get a stool sample and follow up with our family doc the next day.
Day 9, Mon Jan 6– Shovel snow, continue trying to keep Ben hydrated.
We have an afternoon doctor appointment – they tell us the hospital had tried to catch me on the phone with lab results, and called his regular doctor when they couldn’t reach my (misplaced) cell phone.
Had he played with a turtle recently?
Sigh of relief-horror-relief, we know what it is, and it’s treatable.
So, back to the ER, and they might admit him.
Salmon Ella, Unwelcome Visitor
Day 9 continued – at the ER with Mommy — I knew from medical websites that he would have to be given strong antibiotics. I know how some people have alternative health views, and differing opinions on antibiotics. I’m not the crunchiest one in the bunch, but I myself have had times when I hated doctors, questioned their decisions, delayed vaccinations, deferred seeking treatment if i thought it safe to do so, etc.
Oh, and that whole giving birth to my second child at home because I don’t like hospitals. However, in this case, I was very pro-antibiotic. I’m sure that’s not a word. I wanted to scream, “What the hell is taking so long, just give him an IV and start pumping the stuff in! Help him not evacuate every ounce of fluid from his bowels!”
They drew blood to run more labs and gave him fluids too. The boy was, again, so weak that he could barely whimper when they poked him. He didn’t like it, but I think that besides being powerless to fight it, he knew on some level that Mommy would only let them do it if it was going to help him. I had explained that the water and medicine would help him feel better.
Five hours later, Ben had finished his IV antibiotics, kept down some crackers and juice, and only had two trips to the potty. This would also be the last time we saw a fever in him for this illness. We were given a prescription for at-home oral can’t-buy-this-stuff-everywhere-because-it’s-almost-never-prescribed gastric atomic bomb antibiotic.
On our short drive home, the temperature dropped 5 degrees. 17 below! Not my favorite night for running around the city.
Day 10, Tuesday, January 7– Happy Old Calendar Orthodox Christmas! I gave myself a shower. Yes! We have something to celebrate!
No fever, willing and able to eat and drink, some quiet, calm playtime.
Tired, and still one instance of diarrhea in the morning, but okay, and he took the Gritty Human Body Bleach without complaint. Chased by Pixie Sticks, of course.
We settled down for a nap after lunch (you know, where you sit down and ingest things, and they stay there? amazing!) and. . .ring ring. .. . They want us to come back into the ER because there are complications that can arise from salmonella, and given the amount of time it’s been in his system, his kidneys and liver, etc, should be checked.
Of course I want them checked, but couldn’t they have kept us overnight to avoid dragging a very sick child out in now 31 below zero wind-chill? Oh, and they might admit him. So husband comes home from work, and we spend our would-be naptime driving and checking into the hospital.
At least the bag was still packed from the night before.
They let him stay in his pajamas this time, so he would feel like he had something of his own for comfort. A nurse read him a story while I updated the doctor on his good morning. She explained what they would be checking for, and that we shouldn’t be long if the labs come back ok, given his improvement.
Boy was a zombie and desperately needed to nap, but a hospital is not the place to try to sleep! (That was one benefit of going home for the night.) They put on a cartoon movie for him while they drew blood and put a heart monitor on. He had developed a heart murmur, which the doc said was benign but a sign that his body was working very hard to fight the infection, and should return to normal after recovery.
Labs are clean, we are sent home to collapse after I call my pastor and ask him to bring me Holy Communion at home the next day. My human strength, which all comes from God anyway, ran out a long time ago.
Days 11-13, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday–Diarrhea changes: only one or two per day, not mucous-laden. I think I forgot to say that at first; the stools tend to be very slimy, mucous-y with salmonella, but unless you are looking for it or are in the habit of comparing different kinds of diarrhea, it might not stand out for you.
Our priest steps over the pile of toys in our living room to pray over him and give him holy water.
He continues to start eating more, drinking tons, sleeping quite a bit; checkup goes well on Thursday.
On Friday, Ben hits his big brother (a thing to celebrate when your child has been that sick), a friend brings us dessert, and the world seems a kinder place.
Though I could sleep for a week, given the chance.
On Saturday, he has a normal bowel movement, eats an adult serving of the chicken dinner I make, and sleeps 13 hours. Which brings us to today:
Sunday, Day 15– I keep him home with me to watch church over the internet while feeding him the whole time. Another normal BM. My cousins come over for brunch and would never have guessed how sick he had been.
They all talk and laugh over espresso and biscuits and gravy, and I allow them to play soccer with Ben in our dining room amidst the antique piano and breakables.
I think we’re all right now. Glory to Thee, O Lord, glory to Thee. Thank You.
(The end)
If you’re not tearing up, moms and dads…phew. That story is so hard for me to read, just scary. When you think of the times you missed washing your child’s hands after being outside, sometimes because you just get distracted and the child grabs a carrot from the table and…I always think we’re strong enough to handle a few germs and dirt (and we are!) but it’s so important to have this knowledge, this story, in your toolbox. Because sometimes, our bodies can’t fight it.
Here are the Cliff’s notes if you need to evaluate a child’s diarrhea illness:
Symptoms Summary: Warning Signs of Salmonella in Young Children
Vomiting/ diarrhea combination, with alarming frequency for one or other or both. If it’s not getting less frequent as time passes, tell your doctor.
Bloody/slimy/mucous stools
Abdominal pain. This was nearly constant.
Persistent or recurring fever.
Lethargy, a sign of dehydration, but even when hydrated, the child may not be interested in normal activity.
Loss of appetite.
These symptoms are shared by many tummy bugs in children, at least early on – so stay on guard and evaluate the sliminess of and mucous in the stool if you’re concerned.
Salmonella can also be contracted via raw meat or contaminated eggs, and although my friend misunderstood that it could be fatal, it isn’t very often, at least in the United States. (That makes the whole story all the more horrific though, knowing the mom-on-the-Internet had discovered a fatal symptom!)
The type from reptiles, Typhimurium, is more likely to require hospitalization than the kind from eggs or chicken, and the fatality rate for that is higher, though still low.
The Real Foodie Friend’s Response
I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Share the Gift of Good Health, that I tend to think “probiotics” whenever a friend has a round of strong antibiotics or any other gut-related issue. I’ve been a bit of a “probiotics fairy” if you will, sprinkling around the fruit of my labor here at KS, a wonderful bonus of this mission/ministry/business I have.
This story makes number seven, at least – she told me that her little one had salmonella and I was so surprised, wondering if it was contagious to the rest of the family, and I sort of joked via email, “Unless he licked a turtle?”
I was a bit ignorant and a lot curious about how he had gotten something so nasty.
She responded:
My brother heard “salmonella” and told me to cook my chicken. I told him to cook his turtles before giving them to children to play with.
It’s the kind that comes from contact with reptiles, of which my mother-in-law has a whole menagerie. Everyone else is fine; children under age 5 are just much more susceptible. He’s finally eating again, drinking really well, and containing what he consumes. I am tremendously grateful just to have him alive, as it was progressing for at least 10 days before the cause was known and is often fatal in the very young. (It looks almost exactly like classic childhood diarrhea to begin with, and is very rare so might not be on a doctor’s radar right away. Stomach bugs are some of the toughest to diagnose.)
She later learned that the fatality statistic she had read was incorrect, but truly – how terrifying. No more joking from me – I went right to being the health fairy:
Would you like me to send some really good probiotics over for him? He will probably need something to support his gut flora after being wiped out by the antibiotics.
They’re powdered, so you’d have to mix it with applesauce or in a smoothie to get him to take it. Hubby and I just mix some in water or juice and take it down – Ben might be able to do it with juice; just depends on his tolerance for gritty juice. Would you be interested in giving it a try/do you think he’d manage to get it down? It’s all I can do to help!
I also wondered if she wanted to share the story with you all, because I felt like it was really an important tale to be told. Her generous spirit was more than willing:
Thank you for your offer of the probiotics. The boy’s intestines have taken quite a beating. If the cost of shipping isn’t prohibitive, let’s give it a try! probably not?)
I would be very happy to help anyone avoid what we went through, so I am working on a draft of the timeline of his symptoms and treatment…
The Happy Ending
John Hamming it up in the Snow
I thought it would be appropriate share a happy family photo here for the happy ending, but of course it’s an anonymous story, so that wouldn’t work very well. Photos were pretty tough for this entire post – what do you want to see while reading about sick kids and diarrhea? So this is my son, not much younger than the Ben in the story, hamming it up. In vibrant health. Just the way we all want our kids to be.
It’s an “insert your child here” photograph, really. Insert your child in the whole story just to scare yourself, and hopefully your family will never have to live it.
I heard from my friend recently about how “Ben” is doing now, unsolicited:
I don’t remember if I told you, but I noticed a difference in Ben’s “results” soon after starting the probiotics. He still asks for his ‘medicine juice’ every morning, and the websites said it can take months for the gut to fully recover. Thanks again!
Joy to my heart! I’m just so glad and relieved that the probiotics helped, and it’s probably time to mail another tub her way.
Our family has found good things in a tub or bottle of probiotics – every human being needs to have a proper balance in their gut of the “good guys” and the “bad guys.” Or else.
Or else what? The bad guys will take over, and then you are ill.
There are many good brands of probiotics and great ways to get them via food, as well, but for those in gut-compromised situations, I really think a supplement is the way to rebuild fastest. (Plus, it can’t be denied that taking a supplement once a day is easier than making homemade kimchi, water kefir, or kombucha.)
If you want to really dig in and learn about the human microbiome, our relationship with bacteria, and the scientific basis for probiotcs and how this one is made very conscientiously, you can listen in on a free teleseminar on April 9th at 2p EST. It will likely last about an hour and includes time for Q&A at the end. Register here:
Who are you going to pass this information on to? Sharing the gift of good health, our Monday Mission for this week, may include passing on information to help catch a serious problem sooner, rather than later! I’m grateful I heard the story…
Do you Understand the Risks - Turtles, Salmonella and Young Children. Make sure you know the symptoms.
Other Natural Health Posts:
Disclosure: The Miessence “store” is mine and I will earn some commission if you make a purchase. But it will often to put to good use as the probiotics fairy! See my full disclosure statement here.
Original article and pictures take www.kitchenstewardship.com site
