By Ann Pietrangelo

Ann Pietrangelo is the author of “No More Secs! Living, Laughing & Loving Despite Multiple Sclerosis.” She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and a regular contributor to Care2 Healthy & Green Living and Care2 Causes. Follow on Twitter @AnnPietrangelo

“Emergency physicians see poisonings every day in the ER, which is why we urge people to learn about the potential dangers lurking right in their homes,” says the president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), David Seaberg, M.D., FACEP. “Parents in particular should be alert to those items that might entice a child to put something in their mouth. Children act fast and so do poisons.”

The ACEP wants the public to learn how to “prevent poison” during the 50th Anniversary of National Poison Prevention Week, March 18-24, 2012. The goal is to create national awareness about the risk of injury or death due to poisoning. From unintentional child poisonings with household products to prescription medicine abuse, poisonings and poisoning-related incidents affect every community. Even a swallowed button battery can be deadly for
a child.

Child-resistant packaging on medicines and household products, as well as the ban on lead-based paint in the home are among poisoning prevention success stories. But emerging hazards involving pest control products, prescription medicine abuse, and button batteries have again reignited the need for increased awareness. Four million calls were placed to America’s poison control centres last year.

10 Tips to Prevent Accidental Poisoning of Children

1. Store all medicines — prescription and non-prescription — locked safely away from children.
2. Use child-resistant packaging properly by closing securely after use.
3. Never refer to medicines as “candy” when speaking to children.
4. Ask guests to keep purses, bags, or coats that have medicines in them away and out of sight when they are in your home
5. Keep cleaning supplies locked up and out of the reach of children.
6. Keep all products in their original containers with the original labels.
7. When products are in use, never let young children out of your sight, even if you must take the child or product along when answering the phone or doorbell.
8. Lamps or candles containing lamp oil should never be left within reach of a child.
9. Households with children should never use loose bait or loose pellet rodent control products.
10. Households with children should never use soft drink bottles or cups to hold paint thinner, turpentine, gasoline, or other household chemicals. Children may be tempted to drink them.

Children do act fast, and those under age five are particularly vulnerable to accidental poisoning because they learn by touching and putting things in their mouths. From crawling to learning to walk, they quickly learn to reach and explore new things. The best way to baby proof the home is to get down to a child’s eye view.

“Every household should have the national Poison Help Line phone number posted by the telephone,” said Dr. Seaberg.  “The Help Line, 1-800-222-1222, connects you to your local poison centre 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year.” Source: PoisonPrevention.org

Citrus fruits can lower stroke risk

Eating lots of citrus fruits may lower the risk of ischemic stroke by as much as 19 percent in women, according to a new study. Ischemic stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain becomes blocked.

Flavonoids are a type of antioxidant found in foods such as fruits, vegetables, red wine, and dark chocolate. The researchers found that a particular sub-type of flavonoid called flavanone, which are abundant in citrus fruits, seemed to have a protective effect against stroke.

Study participants’ main source of flavanones came from oranges and orange juice (82 percent), followed by grapefruit and grapefruit juice (14 percent). Women in the study who consumed the highest amount of flavanones had a lower risk of ischemic stroke when compared to women with the lowest intake.

The research, conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), was published in the American Heart Association’s journal, Stroke.

Kathryn M. Rexrode, MD, BWH Department of Medicine, and colleagues from the University of East Anglia, UK, and the University of Bari, Italy, studied 69,622 women using data from the Nurses’ Health Study. Following up with study participants over a 14-year period, the researchers were able to calculate flavonoid intake, as well as track the occurrence of stroke in the group.

Vitamin C and potassium contained in citrus fruits may also play a role, say researchers.

“I would certainly not recommend that anyone take flavanone supplements based on this research,” cautioned Rexrode. She went on to state what we all should know anyway — that a piece of citrus fruit is far better than commercial fruit juices containing added sugar and other ingredients. Also worth noting is that some citrus fruits, like the grapefruit, can have bad interactions with some prescription medications.

The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

We must take this study with a grain of salt — or should I say a grain of sugar? Of course there are many factors that contribute to the risk of stroke and heart disease, and eating an orange a day is certainly not a cure all, as the researchers themselves point out. But a diet rich in fruits in vegetables, along with exercise, will go a long way toward your overall good health. And you’ll feel better, too.

Reaching for an orange or other piece of fruit in place of a junk snack sounds like a pretty good idea. Orange you glad?