What!? I thought this was conclusive?  I guess not. (Source: BMJ-British Medical Journal) Breastfeeding exclusively or for a prolonged period does not protect children against developing asthma and allergies, according to the results of a large randomised trial published on bmj.com. Whether breastfeeding protects against the development of allergies and asthma has been the subject of numerous studies and a topic of hot debate for the past 70 years. Yet research findings have been conflicting and all the evidence to date has been based on observational studies.

(Source: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions ) Nearly 30 years after Nobel laureate Linus Pauling famously and controversially suggested that vitamin C supplements can prevent cancer, a team of Johns Hopkins scientists have shown that in mice at least, vitamin C - and potentially other antioxidants - can indeed inhibit the growth of some tumors ¯ just not in the manner suggested by years of investigation.

The conventional wisdom of how antioxidants such as vitamin C help prevent cancer growth is that they grab up volatile oxygen free radical molecules and prevent the damage they are known to do to our delicate DNA. The Hopkins study, led by Chi Dang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and oncology and Johns Hopkins Family Professor in Oncology Research, unexpectedly found that the antioxidants’ actual role may be to destabilize a tumor’s ability to grow under oxygen-starved conditions. Their work is detailed this week in Cancer Cell.

I thought it would be interesting to ask a back surgeon a few questions about fitness, weight control and back problems. I contacted famed NYC Dr. Nathaniel L. Tindel. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed his residency at Lenox Hill Hospital.  He is a Board Certified Orthopaedic Surgeon who practices in New York City and Long Island.  Dr. Tindel is affiliated with Lenox Hill Hospital and is an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine and chief of spinal surgery, at the Jacobi Medical Center. From 2001-2006, Dr. Tindel was the Director of the Spine Service in the Department of Orthopaedics Surgery at the Montefiore Medical Center.  He has been honored by New York Magazine as a top doctor in the New York metropolitan area.

He is the Director of the New York Center for Spinal Disorders that offers comprehensive evaluation and treatment for all back and neck problems including back and/or neck pain, scoliosis, back related trauma, fractures, deformity, infection, cancer, osteoporosis, sciatica. (www.nycenterforspinaldisorders.com).

Dr. Tindel’s first book I’ve Got Your Back: The Truth about Spine Surgery Straight for a Surgeon was published in January 2007 by New American Library and is entering its second printing. The book is designed to help patients make the match between a particular back problem and the treatment option most likely to work for them. 

Do you like to read recipes in magazines but lose interest in following them because they take too long to make? Do you ever consider making a dish that looks intriguing only to discover that you do not have half of the ingredients or the time it takes to make it? Have you ever carefully measured all the spices and herbs, only to find the dish too bland or tasting strange?