Medicine and Weight Loss

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Still A Danger In The US.

A campaign that started in 1994  to prevent sudden death changed how parents in the United States put their infants to sleep. The decrease in babies dying has stabilised in recent years, but some deaths remain preventable, according to a study published in Pediatrics.

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) kills about 2,500 babies each year in the US. Babies put to bed on their stomach and side, especially with blankets and pillows, or those who share a bed with their parents, are known to be at more risk of SIDS, or “crib death”.

Dr. Henry Krous and his colleagues from the University of California, San Diego school of Medicine compared the cases of all babies who went through the San Diego Medical examiner's office with SIDS as  cause of death between 1991 and 2008, a total of 568 infants. They found that fewer babies died suddenly after the campaign.

The study team said, however, that there were still preventable risks involved in most recent SIDS cases. “The safest sleep environment for a baby is to be placed in a crib with a well-fitting mattress, the mattress is firm, there are no soft objects in the bed — no bumper pads, no blankets, no overstuffed toys and the baby in the crib is sleeping alone,” Dr Krous said.

WElGHT-LOSS SURGERY ‘MAY BE BEST MEDICINE‘ AGAINST DIABETES.

For some people with diabetes, surgery may be the best medicine.

Two studies have found that weightloss operations worked much better than standard treatments to control Type 2 diabetes in obese and overweight people. 

Those who had surgery to staple the stormach and reroute the small intestine were much more likely to have their diabetes go into cornplete remission, or to need less medicine, than people given the typical regimen of drugs, diet and exercise. The surgery also helped many to lower their blobd pressure and cholesterol. 

The new studies, published by The NEW England Journal of Medicine, are among the first to rigorously and medicine as ways to control diabetes.

Doctors have noticed for years that weight-loss operations, also called bariatrit surgery, sometimes get rid of Type 2. 

The studies are part of a push by surgeon and obesity experts to establish a role for the operations in treating diabetes as well as obesity.