A study published in the August 2004 issue of the Archives of Disease in Childhood shows that despite a belief to the contrary, use of the influenza vaccine increased asthma related visits to the clinic as well as emergency room visits.

The study conducted on 800 children with asthma was divided into 2 groups of 400, one group that received the influenza vaccine and one group which did not. Both groups were equally matched in respect to age, sex, and rates of exposure to tobacco smoke.

The hope of the study was that vaccination would lead to a “70% risk reduction” in asthma events. However, the study results showed that after adjusting for multiple variables the vaccine group was more likely to have clinic visits for asthma or pneumonia and were also more likely to have an emergency room visit or hospitalization. In fact, the vaccinated group had nearly a 3 times increased odds of having a clinic visit for asthma or pneumonia and a 2 times risk of emergency department visits or hospitalizations. The authors do note that the risk for hospitalizations did not reach statistical significance.

It has been a long-standing assertion that there is no proof that sugar is a contributing cause behind diabetes. It is generally stated that diabetes is more related to family history, wrong eating habits, and little or no physical activity. Now a new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition challenges that assertion. In a large study of 91,249 women followed over 8 years the study authors found that a diet in rapidly absorbed carbohydrates and low in cereal fiber was associated with an increased risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes. The increased risk between the bottom and top fifths (or quintiles) was observed to be a large 59%.

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes has increased rapidly during the past decades in the United States. Although diabetes has increased for all age groups it has increased most in younger groups. From 1990 to 2001 diabetes nearly doubled in the 30-39 year old age group and increased by 83% in the 40-49 year old age group. Certain characteristics of lifestyle such as obesity, physical activity, and smoking are established risk factors for this disease.

According to the authors of the study, “Increasing glycemic index was strongly associated with a progressively higher risk of type 2 diabetes. The age-adjusted relative risks across quintiles 1-5 were 1.00, 1.13, 1.08, 1.31, and 1.79.” The study authors also found that, “We observed a significant inverse association between total dietary fiver intake and risk of diabetes”, and that “Of the different sources of fiber, cereal fiber was most strongly associated with decreased risk.”