Tainted China Formula Caused High Rate of Kidney Stones in Kids

(HealthDay News) -- The melamine-tainted infant formula in China that sickened more than 50,000 kids last fall resulted in more than 10 percent of the youngest ones developing kidney problems, according to just-released Beijing research on the scandal.

About 20 percent of melamine-exposed infants in Taiwan and 10 percent of those who drank the formula in Beijing ended up getting kidney stones. And children born prematurely had an even greater risk, concluded the authors of a study released online Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine and scheduled to appear in the journal's March 12 print issue.

"We've had reports of roughly the number of children affected, but this is the first report that is more systematically looking at the ramifications of the exposure in kids," said Dr. Michael Somers, a pediatric nephrologist with Children's Hospital Boston and a spokesman for the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology. "This is from the hospital in Beijing, which is their equivalent of a big academic hospital with very good pediatric nephrology."

The children involved in the study all survived and are basically thriving after their encounter with melamine-contaminated formula, said Dr. Craig B. Langman, author of an accompanying editorial and a kidney diseases professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago.



Less is known about the children who fared poorly. And their future remains unclear, Langman said in his editorial.

Much more study needs to be done, he wrote, "before we know whether apparently thriving children have a major ongoing health risk from previous melamine exposure through their infant formula."

Melamine is an industrial chemical found in plastics and other products. It was added to infant formula and other foods in mainland China to boost the protein content and help the products pass muster on food-quality tests.

Since September, such melamine-contaminated baby formula sickened more than 54,000 children and is being blamed for at least four deaths in Asia.

The chemical has turned up in dairy products sold across Asia and, to a lesser extent, in Europe and in the United States.

U.S. health officials decreed in early October that no amount of melamine was safe in infant formula and later set a threshold of 1 part per million (ppm), provided that cyanuric acid, a chemical relative, was not also present. For all other foods, only amounts less than 2.5 ppm are considered risk-free.

Many U.S. consumers first became aware of melamine contamination in 2007, when tainted pet food from China killed more than 4,000 dogs and cats in the United States.

For the latest study, the parents of 589 children 36 months of age or younger who were being screened for melamine exposure and for urinary tract or kidney stones filled out questionnaires about their children's condition and symptoms. The researchers, from Peking University First Hospital in Beijing, also performed various lab tests.

They found that about 9.9 percent of Chinese children who had ingested the tainted products developed kidney stones. In Taiwan, close to 20 percent developed stones. In Hong Kong, only one child exposed to melamine was reported to have developed kidney stones.

Children who had been exposed to high-melamine-content formula (more than 500 ppm) were seven times more likely to develop kidney stones than were those exposed to non-contaminated formula, the study found.

Infants born prematurely were 4.5 times more likely to develop the stones than babies born at term.

"These children were asymptomatic and had no laboratory abnormalities that we normally would associate with kidney stone disease," said Dr. Prasad Devarajan, director of nephrology and hypertension at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "The big problem we think about in kidney stones is obstructions, and that was very rare. And even those who had obstruction were asymptomatic."

"We don't know what's going to happen down the line, but it's clear that the problem has been identified by the Chinese government, and they have taken the right steps to control it," Devarajan added. "I don't anticipate this to be an ongoing problem. Clinicians should be aware of the problem but should not panic."

And the message for Americans who have adopted Chinese children is, in essence, not to worry.

"In healthy, thriving kids in the U.S. who are of Chinese ancestry and may have lived in China in [the affected] provinces during 2007 and 2008, I would not do anything," Langman said. "This should not make people who've adopted Chinese infants panic."

More information
The American Society of Pediatric Nephrology has more information on melamine.

Ayurveda Helps To Maintain Optimal Prostate Health Naturally

Ayurveda Medicine : Ayurstate - Maintain Optimal Prostate Health Naturally

Prostate problems too often put a damper on the activities of men of all ages and they are far more common than previously thought. According to numerous studies, more than half of all men over 50 years of age suffer from an enlarged prostate and its symptoms. As men age, up to 80% will suffer from uncomfortable symptoms that may include difficulty urinating, increased frequency and urgency of urination, bouts with sleep-disturbing nighttime urination and painful lower backache. Prostate difficulties are costly, too. Every year about 400,000 men have prostate surgery; adding over $3 billion annually to our national health care bill.

Most men know more about a women's monthly cycle than they do about their own body and its sexual health, yet problems with prostate gland are as common in men as period problems in women.

Prostate function

A small donut-shaped gland, the prostate surrounds the urethra where it leaves the bladder. The prostate produces an alkaline substance which makes up the largest part of the seminal reproductive fluid. From around the age of 45, the number of cells in the prostate gland starts to enlarge in most men. This non-cancerous process known as benign prostatic hyperplasia, or
BPH for short. In some men, the prostate gland grows large without causing problems with passing water. This may be because their urethra is wider than average, or because the gland tends to enlarge outward. In many, however, enlargement of the prostate gland squeezes the urethra to interfere with urinary flow.

This, in turn, can lead to urological symptoms such as difficulty when starting to urinate and dribbling after urinating. In addition, the bladder may feel full even after urinating. While aging contributes to an enlarged prostate gland, hormones may play a role. Once in the prostate cells, testosterone is converted into another, more powerful male hormone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is responsible for triggering the division of prostate cells so their numbers increase. Levels of DHT are known to be 5 times higher in enlarged prostate glands than in those of normal size.

If the conversion of testosterone to DHT is prevented, BPH does not occur and can even be reversed once it has developed. (If you suffer significant prostate problems, consult your health practitioner.

Prostate-Friendly Herbs

For prostate benefits, many men combine Saw Palmetto with Pygeum Africanum, an herb containing beta-sitosterol and other plant estrogens. Plant substances from the botanical red clover, called isoflavones, may also aid in maintaining a happy prostate and proper urinary function. Research has found that isolavones, also known as plant hormones, boost prostate health by inhibiting the enzymes that lead a prostate to grow bigger. (Researchers believe that the low incidence of prostate health problems in Asia is due to the fact that Asian men consume many more isoflavone-rich legumes than in US citizens). Soy also represents prostate hope. Recently genistein was found to decrease the growth of both BPH and prostate cancer cells in the laboratory, which the researchers suggested showed that the genistein found in soy has the potential to be used as a treatment for both.

Lycopene, an antioxidant in tomatoes, may also help lower risk of prostate cancer. In an analysis of 72 studies, most evidence showed that men who consumed more lycopene suffered less prostate cancer (Natl Cancer Inst 91 (4):317-31,1999). Research showing lycopene's benefits was presented to health care professionals at the Prostate Cancer Prevention 2000 symposium in Toronto. "Our finding suggest that lycopene may not only help prevent prostate cancer but also may be useful in treating prostate cancer," commented Omer Kucuk, MD, a faculty member at the Barabara Ann Kamanos Cancer Institution in Detroit, Michigan.

Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting elderly men in developed countries and a major cause of death. Regular rectal exams are recommended for older men to detect prostate cancer early. Research has shown that regular ("more than five times per week"[2]) masturbation can cut the risk of prostate cancer by up to 66%. This is because regular ejaculation reduces the buildup of carcinogenic deposits in sperm which can damage the cells lining the prostate.

Male Sexual Response

During orgasm sperm are transmitted from the ductus deferens into the male urethra via the ejaculatory ducts, which lie within the prostate gland.

The prostate is often referred to as the male g-spot. Some men are able to achieve orgasm solely through stimulation of the prostate gland. Men who report the sensation of prostate stimulation often give descriptions similar to women's accounts of G-spot stimulation.

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