Looking Twice at Supplements for Infants

Nearly one in 10 babies are given supplements or plant-based teas to soothe colic or help with teething during the first year of life, even though the products are unproven and may contain contaminants or spur allergies, a new study says.

The report, published in the journal Pediatrics, is believed to be the first to look at supplements given specifically to infants.

The researchers drew data from the Infant Feeding Practices Study II, a survey of women in late pregnancyFood and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2005 to 2007, the study included a nationwide sample of 2,653 healthy mothers and newborns. and through their babies’ first year of life. Conducted by the

The most common products were chamomile and other teas, teething tablets and “gripe water

The most frequently given reasons for using supplements were to help with fussiness, digestion, colic, relaxation and teething.

Sara B. Fein, who researches consumer habits at the F.D.A. and is one of the paper’s authors, said mothers may think of dietary botanical supplements as natural and therefore of less concern, even though they may contain biologically active ingredients.

Excercise makes Fitness

Mr. Jackowski, who also wrote the book “Jump Into Fitness,” describes jumping rope as an intensive cardiovascular workout that has one-fifth the impact on the back and the knees as running and burns more calories in less time.

“Jumping rope for 10 minutes at 150 turns per minute is equal to 30 minutes of running between six and seven miles per hour,” he said.

Exude offers one-on-one sessions at your home or at one of its eight locations in the city, but there are other places to jump in a group setting.

Aerospace, a boutique gym in the meatpacking district, incorporates ropes in many of its classes, including boxing and sculpting. It also has a dedicated class called Aerojump offered in 30- and 60-minute sessions.

Classes start with two-foot jumps and progress to jumping jacks, arm crossovers, forward and back steps, jumping on one foot and making double turns that require exercisers to jump up and spin the rope twice before landing. The only short breaks involve the use of light weights for upper- and lower-body work. Classes, for 10 to 15 participants, take place in a spacious room.

Michael Olajide, the former boxer who teaches the classes, said that skippers of all levels were welcome and that there was no pressure to do every move.

“It’s natural to start slow and take breaks,” he said. “But eventually you will build up your endurance enough to be able to do the whole class.”

Jeremy Abelson, a 30-year-old from the West Village who works in finance, said that he had been attending twice a week for the past two years and that the program had transformed his body. “I lost more than 15 pounds right away and went from undefined abs to an eight-pack,” he said.

Adding Food and Subtracting Calories

To lose weight, eat less, right?

Not always. New research shows that eating more of certain foods can stave off hunger pangs and control calories.

The foods, which include cayenne pepper and puréed vegetables, are natural appetite suppressants. As diet pills fall into increasing disrepute — since Abbott Laboratories withdrew its drug Meridia last year, the Food and Drug Administration has rejected three new diet drugs in recent months — these foods offer a welcome option to people struggling with their weight.

For the research, published in the journal Physiology & Behavior, scientists at Purdue studied the effect of just half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper on a group of 25 diners.

While hot red pepper has been studied before as an appetite suppressant, this study was notable in that it compared people who liked spicy food with those who did not. At various times, diners were given a bowl of tomato soup laced with a half teaspoon of pepper, plain tomato soup, or plain tomato soup with a supplement of red pepper in pill form.

Medical Detectives New Disease

Ms. Benge’s family doctor in Mount Vernon, Ky., was at a loss, as were a vascular specialist, a hand specialist and a kidney specialist. Her two sisters and two brothers had the problem too, but no doctor could figure out why.

It was clear from X-rays why Ms. Benge could barely walk: The blood vessels in her legs, feet and hands were accumulating calcium deposits like the scale that sometimes forms inside water pipes. The deposits had grown so thick that blood could hardly squeeze through. But calcium was only in those blood vessels of her legs and hands; her heart’s vessels were spared, so she was not in immediate danger of dying.

A doctor prescribed weekly infusions of a drug, sodium thiosulfate, Ms. Benge said, thinking it might bind to the calcium so her body could flush it out. But the drug did not work — it only made her vomit.

Finally, Ms. Benge’s family doctor sent her medical history to a detective agency of sorts, the Undiagnosed Diseases Program at the National Institutes of Health. Set up in the spring of 2008, the program relies on teams of specialists who use the most advanced tools of medicine and genomics to try to figure out the causes of diseases that have baffled doctors.