Family Dinners Linked to Less Risky Behavior in Teens

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Family meals are getting another big thumbs-up Thursday, this time thanks to a new study examining the link between dinnertime and lower rates of risky behavior in teenagers.

"Family meals are the strongest factor that we've come across in any activity that families do," said William Doherty, a professor of family social science at the University of Minnesota. "It really tops them all as a predictor and contributor of a wide range of positive behavior."

Compared to teens who ate with their families five to seven times a week, teenagers who had fewer than three family dinners a week were almost four times more likely to try tobacco, more than twice as likely to use alcohol and 2.5 times more likely to use marijuana, according to new information released by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

Doherty, who did not take part in the study, said family dinners conveyed a sense of belonging, gave teenagers security and stability, and provided them and their parents an opportunity to communicate.

"So much of the rest of the day, kids, especially teens, are spending with their peers by themselves," Doherty said. "They have a chance for talking and connecting at family dinners."

Three-quarters of teens who reported having dinner with their family at least once a week said the interaction and the togetherness were the best part of the meal. Those who spent seven hours or less per week with their parents were twice as likely to use alcohol and twice as likely to say they expected to try drugs, compared with teens who spent 21 hours or more per week with their parents.

Previous studies have shown that family meals have many benefits.

Female adolescents who ate family dinners at least most days were less likely to initiate purging, binge-eating and frequent dieting. Children who ate breakfast with their families at least four times a week were more likely to consume fruit and vegetables.

And findings have revealed that by making family dinner a priority, families with teenagers might enhance child-parent communication and ultimately promote healthy adolescent development.

Doherty had this advice for parents and caregivers who have given up on family dinners: Start on a Sunday night.

"I recommend starting one a week. The more you do it, the better," he said. "One is better than zero. It's quality, not quantity."

Doherty urged families to turn the television off, put all cellphones away and for parents not to use the sit-down meal as an opportunity to nag or scold.

"Make it a connecting meal. It's the quality of the connecting. Just try to have a good conversation," he said. "Don't grill them about their grades."

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Birds and Bees: Tips for Having ‘The Talk’ with Kids

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- How old should children be for parents to start talking to them about sex? Is it 8 to 12 years old? 12 to 15? 15 to 18?

Bringing up the intimate topic can be difficult, sometimes embarrassing, for many parents, but having “the talk” with your children is a necessity, experts say.

Here are few tips from ABC News health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser for how you can broach the tricky subject with your child:

It’s not just ‘the talk.’ Make sure to have a series of talks with your children. They may be uncomfortable asking you questions initially, so be sure to come back to the subject and keep the door open.

Start when your child is young and talk about his or her body’s changes. Keep the conversations age-appropriate.

Children are Internet-savvy, so be sure to ask them what they already know and verify that their information is correct.

Planned Parenthood says it’s best to begin talking to children about sexuality during early childhood. But don’t worry if you haven’t started yet. It’s never too late. Just don’t try to “catch up” all at once. The most important thing is to be open and available whenever a child wants to talk.

Planned Parenthood offers four basic steps that can help parents talk to their children about sex.

Step 1: Validate your child’s question and ask why they’re asking.

If your child approaches you, you might say something like, “That’s a really interesting question. How did that come up today? Why are you asking me that today?”

Don’t assume there’s anything beside curiosity behind the question. A young girl may ask a question about pregnancy without being pregnant. A young boy may ask a question about condoms without planning to have sexual intercourse.

Step 2: Ask, “What do you think?”

What seems like a straightforward question might not be. To find out the true nature of the question, you might ask, “What have you heard about that?” “What do you think about that?” or “Can you tell me what you already know about that?”

Step 3: Answer the question honestly, based on your values.

It is very important to gain children’s trust when talking with them about sex so they feel comfortable approaching you about decisions and questions. Answer questions age-appropriately. Pre-teens and younger adolescents may need simpler, more concrete answers. The ability to handle more information and more sophisticated information increases with age, but if they are old enough to ask, they are old enough to understand the facts.

It is also important to tell children or teens about your values and beliefs and to understand theirs. You might say to a teen, “I don’t believe anyone is allowed to pressure or force anyone else to have sex, even in a relationship. Do you agree with that?”

Step 4: Ask your child if they understand the answer.

After answering the question, ask, “Does that answer your question?” Ask them to tell you what they heard. You may even want to bring up issues you already talked about to find out how much your child understood during the previous conversation.

Try to be open and available when a child wants to talk.

Some common fears that many parents have include:

Looking dumb. Many of us weren’t taught about sex and sexuality, yet we may feel that we should know all the answers. But if our children ask us about something we don’t know, we can simply say, “I don’t know. Let’s find out together.”

Feeling embarrassed. It’s very common for parents or children to feel embarrassed when talking about sex and sexuality. The best way to handle it is to admit how we’re feeling -- we can simply say, “I might get a little tense or uncomfortable during this conversation, and you might, too. That’s OK for both of us -- it’s totally normal.”

Encouraging sexual experimentation. There is a myth that information about sex is harmful to children and that it will lead to sexual experimentation. The fact is that our children won’t be more likely to have sex if we talk about it. In reality, kids who talk with their parents about sex are more likely to postpone having sex.

Feeling as though talking won’t make a difference. Children look to their parents to teach them about sexuality. Most young people prefer to hear about it from their parents than from other people. In fact, young adolescents place parents at the top of their list of influences when it comes to their sexual attitudes and behaviors.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Venezuelan President Cracks Down on Breast Implants

Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(CARACAS, Venezuela) -- Forget oil.  There is no commodity more valued in Venezuela than feminine beauty.  The country holds six Miss Universe titles and five Miss World titles -- a total of 11 titles compared to America's 10.

In some countries, if a woman shows too much skin, it is considered scandalous -- even punishable by death -- but in Venezuela, breast implants are to be flaunted, not just among beauty contestants, but also by the working-class folks who admire them.

This kind of public attitude towards breast implants explains the resulting shock when Venezuela socialist President Hugo Chavez made an out-of-the-blue address on state-run television earlier this year, venomously criticizing doctors who rake in cash from performing breast augmentations.  Chavez claimed these doctors "convince some women that if they don't have some big bosoms they should feel bad."

The self-proclaimed feminist president also criticized poor women who pay for these costly breast implant procedures that they couldn't afford, calling it "a monstrous thing."

Dr. Pete Romer has personally nipped, tucked and enhanced thousands of Caracas women, including two of Venezuela's pageant queens.

"We just polish the beauty," he said.  "All those girls are gorgeous and have good material.  The proportions of face and body are almost perfect.  My work is just change a little things."

Romer said he didn't think President Chavez should tell people how to spend their money.

"We have a free country," he said.

But others think the president has a point.  According to the Venezuelan Society of Plastic Surgeons, nearly 40,000 women in Venezuela undergo breast augmentation each year, and many sacrifice to do so.  Implants can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000.

"It's a lot of money, of course well beyond the means of most Venezuelans," said Eva Gollinger, one of Chavez's advisers.  "That's the major criticism that President Chavez was saying.  This is not where your money should be invested in."

Still, some Venezuelan women agree think the government doesn't have the right to restrict the freedom of women to do what they want with their own bodies.

"It's a silly thing," one woman said.  "It's a personal choice."

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Scientists Found A Way To See Through Another Person's Eyes

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(BERKELEY) -- Researchers from UC Berkeley were able to reconstruct YouTube videos from viewers' brain activity -- a feat that might one day offer a glimpse into our dreams, memories and even fantasies.
"This is a major leap toward reconstructing internal imagery," said Jack Gallant, professor of psychology and coauthor of a study published in Current Biology. "We are opening a window into the movies in our minds."

Gallant's coauthors acted as study subjects, watching YouTube videos inside a magnetic resonance imaging machine for several hours at a time. The team then used the brain imaging data to develop a computer model that matched features of the videos -- like colors, shapes and movements -- with patterns of brain activity.

"Once we had this model built, we could read brain activity for that subject and run it backwards through the model to try to uncover what the viewer saw," said Gallant.

Subtle changes in blood flow to visual areas of the brain, measured by functional MRI, predicted what was on the screen at the time -- whether it was Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau or an airplane. The reconstructed videos are blurry because they layer all the YouTube clips that matched the subject's brain activity pattern. The result is a haunting, almost dream-like version of the video as seen by the mind's eye.

The researchers say the technology could one day be used to broadcast imagery -- the scenes that play out inside our minds independent from vision.

The brain activity measured in this study is just a fraction of the activity that lets us see moving images. Other, more complex areas help us interpret the content of those images -- distinguish faces from lifeless objects, for example.  

Whether the technology could also be used to watch people's dreams or memories -- even intentions -- depends on how close those abstract visual experiences are to the real thing.

"We simply don't know at this point. But it's our next line of research," said Gallant.

If the technology could be used to broadcast imagery, it could one day allow people who are paralyzed to control their environment by imagining sequences of movements. Already, brain waves recorded through electrodes on the scalp can flip a switch, allowing people with Lou Gehrig's disease and other paralyzing conditions to choose letters on a computer monitor and communicate.

Gallant and his team are often asked whether the technology could be used in detective work or court cases -- an idea that brings to mind the futuristic crime-foiling action in Minority Report.

But the potential to watch a person's memories may not be so far off. Whether such memories could be used in a court of law, however, would be limited not only by the technology but also the nature of memories. After all, Gallant's website reads, an accurate read-out of a faulty memory only provides misleading information.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Eating Experts Have Bone to Pick With Controversial "Anna Rexia" Costume

Comstock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- A skin-and-bones costume titled "Anna Rexia" found its way onto the online inventory of popular beauty and costume store Ricky's before being pulled from the company website, according to the Village Voice.

The reaction to the item was swift.

"I'm just appalled because eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness," said Trish Jones-Bendel, a board member of National Association of Anorexia Nervosa & Associated Disorders.

"Depending on the rates, and how long people have had the disorder, mortality [for the illness] can be from 10 to 15 percent. There are also high suicide rates with people that have anorexia. There's not a system of the body that it does not impact."

An advertisement for the costume shows a woman in a provocative pose holding a measuring tape wrapped around her waist, showing off a bone atop her head, and a skeletal view on the dress that includes a little red label spelling out "Anna Rexia." The overview stated, "Miss Anna Rexia costume has knit dress with glitter screenprint." The then-expected price tag for the item: $49.99, according to VV.

"It's no laughing matter. It reinforces the comments that people don't understand them. This really saddens me to see how people misunderstand them. In a culture like ours where we're supposed to be so educated, we just missed the point so much with the population that need our help," said Jones-Bendel, who noted that upwards of 12 million people suffer from eating disorders.

The Gothamist reported that the costume was not available for Ricky's Costume Superstore shoppers. The item was listed online as "coming soon."

A quick Internet search netted results for the costume in sizes from extra small to plus sizes. The costume has been around for a while. In 2009, the costume was listed as one of the eight weirdest, tackiest, creepiest, and sickest costumes. While some stores are dropping the Halloween costume, the item can still be found at stores in the United Kingdom.

One store, Halloweenstore.com, fails to be spooked by the controversy surrounding the costume, providing a clarification note about the costume.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Single-Sex Schools Bad for Kids, Says Study

Comstock/Thinkstock(PHILADELPHIA) -- Boys and girls may be opposites, but new research shows that in the classroom, separating the two sexes may not be the best way for either gender to learn and grow.

A new study from Penn State researchers states that students who attend single-sex schools are no better educated than those who attend co-ed schools. Plus, children are more likely to accept gender stereotypes when they go to an all-boys or all-girls school.

Supporters of single-sex schools argue that boys' and girls' brains are wired differently, and therefore require different teaching styles to maximize education, but study authors note that neuroscientists have not found hard evidence that show differences in girls' and boys' different learning styles.

The report, published in the journal Science, compared two preschool classes. In one class, the teacher used gender-specific language to address the children. The other teacher did not. After just two weeks, the researchers reported that children who had the teacher using sex-specific language played less with children of the other sex. The kids also showed an increase in gender-specific stereotypes (i.e. boys played with trucks, girls with dolls).

The study also noted that a review commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education found little overall difference in academic outcomes between children in single-sex schools versus those in coed schools.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Fatality from Bed Bug Insecticide

Hemera Technologies/Comstock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a report out showing some of the harmful effects of the war against bed bugs. The report shows 111 cases of acute illness stemming from the use of insecticides in seven states from 2003-2010.

New York took the lead with nearly 58 percent of the cases, and nearly all cases happened in a home. Some factors include excessive insecticide application and failure to wash pesticide-treated bedding.

Although most of the cases of illness were not severe, the report does detail one fatality.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Blogger Says He's on Breast Milk Diet

BananaStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- A blogger named Curtis has created quite an unusual mission for himself: to see how long he can sustain a diet made up solely of his wife's breast milk.

Curtis plans to document his experimental diet on his blog, "Don't have a cow, man."

On the blog, Curtis wrote that he is a first-time father to a baby girl who was born nine months ago.  Katie, Curtis' wife, has an extensive surplus of breast milk in the freezer.

Preferring the taste of breast milk over cow's milk, Curtis said he drinks breast milk to settle digestive problems.

"And yes, I know how weird this may sound, it is kind of weird to me as well but why not?" Curtis wrote on his first post.  "I mean cow milk was made for baby cows, why not drink human breast milk that was made for baby humans."

Curtis did not return ABC News' request for comment.

The breast milk consumer said he's 6-foot, 4-inches, weighs 185 pounds and estimates he needs about 2,000 calories per day, which he says equals about 66 ounces of breast milk each day.

After the first day, Curtis wrote that his hunger "is pretty much non existent and manifests itself mostly as thirst."

"I may even be sad when all this milk is gone from the freezer," he wrote.

But Martin Binks, clinical director of Binks Behavioral Health, questioned the logic behind the diet, since humans' needs change as they grow.

"While babies' digestive systems and nutritional needs are provided for in such a diet, as we develop into adulthood, our nutritional needs evolve in such a way that we need a balance of nutritional foods for good health, including fiber," said Binks.  "Breast milk cannot provide all we, as adults, need nutritionally and, in fact, [breast milk] has very high levels of cholesterol."

Curtis' wife, Katie, also took to the blog, saying she is a doula and childbirth educator.  While Katie donated her breast milk after giving birth to her other two children, she did not find a mother in need this time around, and shipping the milk and going through the necessary tests were too costly for the couple.

Binks argued that there are surely other children out there who could use Katie's milk surplus much more than Curtis.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Brain Stimulation Found to Speed Up Learning

Digital Vision/Thinkstock(BRADFORD, England) -- A mild zap to the brain could help people learn faster, according to new research recently presented at the British Science Festival.

The same technique might also some day help stroke patients recover lost motor skills.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have found that applying a small amount of electric current to the brain sped up learning, said the British Science Association, which sponsored the festival.

Using a technique called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a team of scientists, led by Heidi Johansen-Berg, electrically stimulated the brains of subjects trying to learn a computer game that required a series of button presses. The current was applied to the part of the brain that controls movement for about 10 minutes either before or during the game.

Subjects who received the current learned the sequences faster than subjects who received only a quick burst of electricity before the game.

"While the stimulation didn't improve the participant's best performance, the speed at which they reached their best was significantly increased," Johansen-Berg told BBC News.

The stimulation, Johansen-Berg added, could help people recovering from strokes. In a separate experiment, stroke patients who received the same electrical stimulation showed improved motor function.

Dr. Sarah Lisanby, chairwoman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University in Durham, N.C., has been involved in her own research using tDCS. She said the current acts on the parts of the brain affected by a stroke.

"By using direct current application during the performance of a task that engages the circuits affected by a stroke, the current can help facilitate the response that leads to recovery," she said. The technique, she said, shifts the electrical potential of the brain to facilitate learning.

Experts say it makes sense that a technique such as tDCS that might affect learning could also help stroke patients improve their level of functioning.

"Stroke recovery is a form of learning, but the brain cells involved in learning are damaged," said Dr. David Alexander, professor of neurology and medical director of the UCLA Neurological Rehabilitation and Research Unit. "We want brain cells uninvolved in the stroke to take over function, but those cells will have to learn that function that's been lost."

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Chicago Woman Loses 135 Pounds to Give Her Brother a Kidney

Digital Vision/Thinkstock(CHICAGO) -- Kari Roberts always wanted to lose weight, but a powerful motivation finally helped her succeed: She needed to be healthy enough to give her brother a kidney.

Roberts, 35, of Crestwood, Ill., a Chicago suburb, weighed 320 pounds three years ago when her brother, Tony Bolda, learned he had a serious kidney disorder. She started trying to lose weight as soon as she heard he needed a transplant because she couldn't even be tested to see if she was a match until she slimmed down.

"You have to be healthy to even be considered as a donor, so there was no question but to get up and do it," Roberts said.

Bolda, 40, has IgA nephropathy, an illness in which an antibody builds up and attacks the kidney, leading to kidney failure. He first realized something was wrong when his father checked his blood pressure with a home machine and it was sky-high.

"I was scared for him, I was real scared for him," Roberts said, adding that she and Bolda are the closest siblings in the family.

Their two other sisters both had medical issues that ruled them out as potential donors. "It felt silly to not be able to help him because I was overweight," she said.

Her brother knew she could do it: "I have faith in her," he said.

Roberts' biggest helpers were her mom Marty Bolda and her MP3 player. "My mom…would get excited every time I lost a few more pounds," she said.

Roberts followed a strict low-fat diet with lots of chicken, chicken tacos and salads. "My mom found the most ways to make chicken taste different," Roberts said, laughing.

Roberts, a working mother of three, loves music and found it helped her keep to an exercise routine. "I would put music into my MP3 player every couple of days to keep myself motivated, to make me want to get out there and work out," she said.

She started out walking a mile a day and worked up to three miles a day.

"I think it's really cool that she was able to do it without all those crazy fad diets and all that....She did it by eating well and hard work," Bolda said.

The weight loss was necessary, according to Dr. R. Michael Hofmann, medical director of the Living Kidney Donor Program at the University of Wisconsin Hospital, because of the potential risk to Roberts, not her brother.

"The more a person is overweight or obese, the greater the chance they have of developing high blood pressure or diabetes," said Hofmann, who is not involved in this specific case. "Having one kidney instead of two, you're at a little more risk" if you develop those conditions, he said.

Most centers would turn down potential living donors who have BMI (body mass index) greater than 35, he said.

In April, Roberts was in good enough shape to be tested to see if she was a match. Waiting for the results, she called every couple of days. "They called me one day and said Kari, 'You're a match and not only are you a match, but you're a perfect match.'"

His surgery is scheduled to take place shortly at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Both brother and sister are keeping fingers crossed that there is no rejection of the transplanted kidney and that both bounce back quickly.

The chance of rejection is low, Hofmann said. About 98 percent of transplanted kidneys will be working a year later if it's a first-time transplant, he said.

But he cautioned that Roberts should be aware that her weight loss needs to be maintained for her lifelong health. "We do have people who have been able to lose weight [to be donors]," he said, "but more than 80 percent will gain weight back."

Roberts is feeling optimistic about her long-term health, and her brother's. "Everybody keeps telling me that they think I'm great for saving him, but in reality I think we saved each other," Roberts said.

As for naming her weight-loss regime, she suggested, "the inspiration diet."

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio