(NaturalNews) Stimulant drugs such as Ritalin provide no long-term benefit in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to the latest findings of the ongoing Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA), published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
According to previous analysis of MTA data, stimulant drugs do improve the social functioning and reduce symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity in children with ADHD for the first year of treatment. In the current analysis, however, researchers followed 485 children for eight years and found that children who remained on medication for that entire time showed no improvement in symptoms over those who had stopped taking the drugs.
"If you put a child on medication, he or she is far better right at that time. The question for parents is: Is this going to make a benefit for my child long term?" said researcher William Pelham, of the University of Buffalo. "The answer is no. Behavioral treatments are going to have much better benefit in the long term."
Another analysis of MTA data, published in the same journal, found that use of ADHD drugs appeared to stunt children's growth. Children who had never taken stimulant drugs were an average of six pounds heavier and 0.75 inches taller than children of the same age who had taken the drugs for three years. This height and weight difference was permanent.
According to Pelham, behavioral treatments for ADHD can be harder to find than drugs, and often insurers will not cover them. Nevertheless, such treatments are available and have been proven to work without the side effect risk of pharmaceuticals.
"It's wrong for a doctor to say to a parent, this treatment is harder to find, so instead we're going to put your child on a drug that will have no long-term benefit," he said.
Sources for this story include: health.usnews.com.
Chasteberry has been used for centuries in Western and Chinese Medicine to treat gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis. Combined with Dong Quai it makes a powerful treatment for balancing hormones and reducing the pain of endometriosis. When Chasteberry is combined with Wild Yam it relaxes the uterus, reducing cramps and spasms.
Dong Quai is also used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat female reproductive health complaints, including endometriosis, fibroids, PMS and infertility.
Wild Yam has been used in the West since the 18th century to treat menstrual cramps and other gynaecological condition such as endometriosis. It is rich in diosgenin, a substance used by the body to create progesterone.
Cramp bark has been used for hundreds of years by Native Americans to treat pains and muscular cramping in the body. It is used to relax muscles, and is particularly effective on the smooth muscle cells of the uterus.
Ginger has been used for thousands of years in Chinese Medicine to reduce nausea, reduce pain, treat digestive complaints and to boost energy levels. It has been effectively used in India to improve allergic response, due to its anti inflammatory effects.
Echinacea helps combat endometriosis by boosting the immune system, helping the body to get rid of stray endometrial cells, and by reducing inflammation and infections associated with endometriosis.
Goldenseal has been used for hundreds of years by Native Americans for its anti bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.
Calendula is very effective for boosting the immune system (especially when combined with Echinacea), repairing connective tissue, and improving the circulation of blood. It is also a natural pain killer.
WEDNESDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News) -- Children who were breast-fed do better in high school and are more likely to go to college than their bottle-fed siblings, researchers report.
While the health benefits of breast-feeding to both infants and mothers is well known, this study suggests the practice may have educational benefits as well. This is the first study using data on siblings to examine the effect of breast-feeding on high school completion and college attendance, the researchers noted.
"We compare sibling pairs -- one of whom was breast-fed and one of whom was not, or siblings who were breast-fed for different durations -- and find consistent evidence that breast-fed children have higher high school grade point averages and a higher probability of attending college," said study co-author Joseph Sabia, an assistant professor of public policy at American University in Washington, D.C.
Since their sample contained a variety of adolescents, the researchers ruled out factors such as socioeconomic status in the connection between breast-feeding and educational achievement, Sabia said.
The report is published in the June 11 issue of the Journal of Human Capital.
For the report, Sabia and his colleague Daniel Rees, a professor of economics at the University of Colorado Denver, used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. They looked at the breast-feeding histories of 126 siblings from 59 families; high school graduation and college attendance data was obtained for 191 siblings from 90 families.
"If you're breast-fed, your high school GPA goes up substantially, and the likelihood that you go on to college goes up," Rees said.
For every month you are breast-fed, your high school GPA goes up about 1 percent and your probability of going to college goes up about 2 percent, Rees added.
"We found that more than one-half of the estimated effect of being breast-fed on high school grades can be linked to improvements in cognitive ability and health," Sabia said. "Thus, we conclude that improvements in cognitive ability and adolescent health may be important pathways through which breast-feeding affects long-term academic achievement," he said.
About one-fifth of the increased likelihood of going to college appears to be due to breast-feeding, Rees added.
"This is another benefit of breast-feeding," Rees said. "We know that breast-feeding leads to better health, higher IQ, but the next step is what are the implications, and this is an important implication," he said.
Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, said this study may not prove a connection between school performance and breast-feeding, but it could be another reason to breast-feed your baby.
"An array of health benefits is convincingly associated with breast-feeding, including a reduced risk of both infections and obesity in the breast-fed child," Katz said. "Less certain, but long suggested, is enhanced cognitive development in breast-fed children as well."
It could be that factors that determine whether or not a baby is breast-fed are an important piece of the puzzle, Katz noted. "Why a baby is fed one way or another may matter as much as which way a baby is fed," he said. "A study of association such as this cannot fully resolve that issue."
More information
For more on breast-feeding, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
