Holistic holiday first aid kit – part 1

Multiple sclerosis, MS is often seen as an immune reaction.  However researchers surveyed 1,349 MS sufferers.  The respondents were asked to reveal any allergic reaction to food, environmental factors or drugs, only those with a food allergy suffered more frequent relapses and had more severe pathological changes related to MS. It is not yet know whether an allergy can cause the MS in the first place, but researchers do know that sufferers often experience a relapse after a reaction to food.  This suggest that MS isn't just an immune reaction but is more closely assocated with gut and inflammatory responses to foods.  This discovery by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston ties in with earlier observations that people with MS seem to suffer relapses after an allergic reaction - but nobody has been sure it was a reaction only to food. Researchers concluded there is a strong link between MS and food allergy.  The common factor seems to be inflammation in the gut. Reference Fakih R, Diaz-Cruz C, Chua AS, Gonzalez C, Healy BC, Sattarnezhad N, Glanz BI, Weiner HL, Chitnis T. Food allergies are associated with increased disease activity in multiple sclerosis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2019 Jun;90(6):629-635.    

I know that fitness trackers are very popular, particularly with joggers and althletically minded indivduals.  I think fitness trackers are great for desk bound indivduals as it helps your monitor your physical acitivity.  However, I personally don't have a fitness tracker, I have considered buying one, but I am saving up so I didn't see it as an essential purchase.   However I had always assumed that a fitness tracker would help you lose weight.  But do they? Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh were interested in testing a conventional weight-loss programme against the use of a fitness monitor to determine the latter's effectiveness as part of an anti obesity iniative.  During the randomized control trial they tested weight-loss programmes and fitness trackers on a group of 471 obese volunteers.  During the two year experiement those wearing a fitenss tracker lost 7.7lb (3.5 kg) whereas those who just followed a weight loss programme and didn't use a tracker lost 13lb (6kg).  I was quite surprised by this result as were the researches who couldn't explain it.   It seems that fitness trackesr give feedback and encouragement to lose weight but those wo are better at just sticking to a programme lose the most weight.  So what is really required is persistance. References JM Jakicic, K K Davis, R J Rogers et al, 2016, Effect of Wearable Technology Combined with Lifestyle intervention on Long-term Weight Loss - The IDEA Randomized Clinical Trail, JAMA, Vol 316, No 11, pg 1161-71 See >> http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2553448          

Patients who have a cystectomy following bladder cancer may benefit from massage and reflexology to reduce pain and improve wellbieng, according to a pilot. The pilot sevice provided 38 cystectompy patients with one hour of massage, reflexology of a combination the day after they had surgery and this was followed by another one hour treatment two days later. Self-reported concerns, wellbeing and pain were measure before and imediately after each treatment and in the evening of each therapy day.  Common concerns among patients included pain at the wound site, anxiety, nausea and bloating. Self-reported concerns, wellbing and pain were significantly reduced after treatments.  These results were maintained on the evening of the day one but not on day three. Reference https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1744388118304316?via%253Dihub=