Dr. Michael Rich, an adolescent pediatrician with Children’s Hospital and Director of the Center on Media & Child Health (CMCH), will provide insights guidelines for parents about teen health focusing on the ways media powerfully affect the development, health and behavior of adolescents and teens.

Following Dr. Rich’s presentation, Sara Frost-Azzam, President of the Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project, will address concerns and answer questions regarding personal care products, chemicals and teenage health.  Beauty may cost your teen more than you think.

Wakelin Room – Wellesley Free Library, 530 Washington Street

Free and open to the public.

· achieve and maintain a healthy weight throughout life

· adopt a physically active lifestyle

· consume a healthy diet, with an emphasis on plant foods

· limit consumption if you drink alcoholic beverages

One of the key changes, since the American Cancer Society first began releasing cancer prevention guidelines in the 1980s, is a strong emphasis on nutrition.  As the ACS website states: “One of the key changes is the evolution to an emphasis on encouraging a healthy dietary pattern as opposed to individual foods or nutrients to reduce cancer risk. As time has gone on, research suggests that it is likely that all those vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals working together help to reduce risk.”  It is important to emphasize that while many of those “vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals” can be found in dietary supplements (and there are a plethora of those on the market!), there is no substitute for healthy eating.

The United States also faces a health crisis because of our alarming obesity rates. Being overweight increases the risk of many types of cancer; thus that recommendation rates as #1 on the list of the four American Cancer Society general guidelines.   Over the past three decades, the childhood obesity rate has more than doubled for preschool children ages 2-5 years and adolescents ages 12-19 years, and it has more than tripled for children aged 6-11 years. (http://www.stop-childhood-obesity.com/childhood-obesity-statistics.html).

It is no secret that poor nutrition and being overweight plays a role in many health hazards, cancer being just one of them.  Dietary factors also contribute to heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.  More recently, medical research points to poor nutrition as a contributing factor in psychological and neurological disorders as well, including depression, eating disorders, distorted body image, and low self-esteem.  The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry states that obesity in childhood and adolescence can also be related to endocrine, immune and neurological problems.  Problems in these systems can also be involved in neurodevelopmental conditions like autism.  Dr. Martha Herbert, a Harvard pediatric neurologist, states “There is more and more published evidence that autism can involve many systems of the body beyond the brain, particularly the gut and the immune system.  Because of this I no longer see autism as a disorder of the brain but as a disorder that affects the brain. It also affects the immune system and the gut.  Many children with autism have food allergies or frequent infections, rashes or gut problems like diarrhea or constipation.  Sometimes when these problems are overcome such children do a lot better.”  Herbert’s review of autism research and treatment is covered in her soon-to-be released publication titled “The Autism Revolution: Whole Body Strategies For Making Life All It Can Be.”  The strategies in this book cover things that are health-promoting not just for autism but for everyone.

Read more: Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project presentation focuses on how food, environment can affect young child – Wellesley, Massachusetts – The Wellesley Townsman http://www.wickedlocal.com/wellesley/news/education/x950637099/Wellesley-Cancer-Prevention-Project-presentation-focuses-on-how-food-environment-can-affect-young-child#ixzz1lc3FL0b1

Ashley Bade, RD, LDN, CNSD, a pediatric dietician at Newton Wellesley Hospital, will speak about how to develop a healthy eater. Ashley Bade specializes in many health-related areas including weight management, eating disorders, feeding behaviors and non-diet approach to life-long healthy eating.

Following Ashley Bade’s presentation, Dr. Martha Herbert will speak about developmental challenges and opportunities for the school-age child.  During the elementary school years, the child’s brain is learning to tackle increasingly complex challenges.  The child’s social and academic life will flourish when the brain is doing well, and suffer when the brain is not at its best.  And the health of the body can be a partner or an obstacle.

Rachel Hamilton

WeCanRow is a wellness and recovery program for breast cancer survivors.

It provides an opportunity for women recovering from breast cancer to develop healthy and strong bodies, become active participants in their own recovery, rediscover the joy of movement, and be part of a group of women with a common bond supporting each other.

http://wecanrowboston.org/

The mission of Our Space is to embrace children and teens who have faced or are confronting cancer. Our Space will inspire peace, spirit, and healing within a supportive community, through play, learning, and creative exploration.

http://ourspacerocks.org/

When:

“We and our children are exposed to toxins invisibly, stealthily, without our knowledge. The U.S. now makes or imports 27 trillion pounds of chemicals per year, (a number that doesn’t even include pesticides, drugs, food additives or polymers).”

(from Poisoned for Profit, by Philip and Alice Shabecoff)

This is a staggering statistic. It is highly possible that chemical exposure increases the risk for cancer at any age. We can be exposed to chemicals by breathing them in, having them touch our skin, or getting them into our eyes or mouth (including on our fingers). There are many environmental toxins over which we have little to no control, but we can control how we choose to interact with them in our homes, our food and water, and our personal care products. The most important thing that we are informed consumers.

In our homes, we expose ourselves to chemicals in two different ways. The first are the so-called “hidden chemicals.” These are the ones that are in our household items because we have been told, by industry, that there is a need for them. We really don’t even think about them. One example is Scotchgard, a stain-resisting chemical that keeps our carpets and furniture from getting stained. One of Scotchgard’s main ingredients belongs to a large family of chemicals called perfluorochemicals. These chemicals persist in the body for decades, acting through a broad range of toxic mechanisms to present potential harm to a wide range of human organs. These same perfluorochemicals are in the Teflon coating on the pots and pans that we may cook with. These chemicals can disrupt fetal development, hormonal function and the immune system and increase the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Our food supply has the potential to damage the reproductive systems of a large number of women of child-bearing age, according to a 2009 study published in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction. The Toxics Reduction Institute, located in Massachusetts, reports that obesity, diabetes, malnutrition, childhood cancer, and other chronic disease impacts are costly human consequences of our industrialized food system. Antibiotics are added to animals to increase their growth, and become ingested into our systems when we eat meat and poultry, resulting in antibiotic resistance, which contributes to the emergence of resistant forms of disease-causing bacteria, according to the World Health Organization. Artificial growth hormones are regularly added to the diet of livestock. These hormones are of no benefit to humans, and two of these hormones – estradiol, a type of estrogen, and progesterone – are considered probable carcinogens by the National Toxicology Program at the National Institutes of Health. Estrogen has been linked with breast cancer in women and testosterone with prostate cancer in men, while progesterone has been found to increase the growth of ovarian, breast and uterine tumors. The European Union has already banned use of hormones in their animal products.

The average American uses somewhere between six and ten personal care products per day. As we shampoo and condition our hair or moisturize our bodies, we may be covering our hair and skin with dibutyl phthalate, one of the family of phthalates which have been found to disrupt the endocrine system, potentially cause liver cancer, and cause reproductive system damage, according to research published in the journal Pediatrics. We can avoid using this chemical simply by reading the ingredients’ labels on the bottles of our personal care products, and choosing alternatives. Triclosan, found in almost any soap labeled “anti-bacterial,” also disrupts the body’s endocrine system, which regulates growth and development. This chemical is so pervasive that it is found in the urine of 75 percent of the population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Incidentally, the European Union has already banned or restricted use of phthalates and triclosan in their personal care products.

These are certainly gloomy facts to deal with, but once we are armed with knowledge, we can attempt to prevent harm. We can demand that products be tested and, even without conclusive evidence, removed from the market if there is sufficient weight of evidence indicating they are causing harm. We can produce and/or purchase chemical-free food and products for our families. However, most crucial is that we talk about these issues, and don’t sweep them under the proverbial (and, no doubt, Scotchguarded!) carpet. In understanding and taking action regarding the chemicals in our food, our homes, our lawns, our personal care products – indeed everywhere around us – we can become informed citizens and work together for a better world for us and, more importantly, for our children. In the words of Philip and Alice Shabecoff: “Environmental health can be a great unifying, empowering force.”

As we begin breast-cancer awareness month, it is important to note that the Massachusetts Breast Care Coalition is advocating for dedicated research and resources to answer the difficult question, “What is causing breast cancer?” The Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project asks you to join us in broadening that question to “What is causing all cancers?” by joining us as we host “Keeping Children Healthy From the Start: What Every Parent Should Know About Toxins,” a presentation by Philip and Alice Shabecoff, authors of Poisoned for Profit: The Toxic Assault on our Children. This free event is open to the public and includes informational resources and tips on how you can avoid unnecessary chemicals in our environment. The program will be held on Tuesday, October 11 from 7:00pm-8:30pm at the Wellesley Free Library.