While doctors have been saying for quite sometime that breastfeeding your baby has a gazillion and one health benefits for your baby, many doctors agree that breastmilk could also help with common ailments – colds, ear infections, scrapes, you name it!  According to Dr. Basil Bruno, a pediatrician in New Jersey, breast milk offers cures to several maladies.  Feeling a little stuffy lately?  Drop two drops of breast milk into each nostril and then blow (or use an aspirator).  Have a kid with a scrape?  Breast milk is naturally antibacterial and antiviral, so rub it on the abrasion instead of Neosporin.  A drop of breast milk in each eye twice a day can even, apparently, alleviate pink eye!

Even patients with more invasive conditions are trying breast milk as a remedy.  Some cancer patients drink breast milk regularly to increase their immune system and for its nourishing qualities.  “We’re noticing an increase in the number of patients who are adults and children who have a variety of types of cancer who are using human milk,” said Pauline Sakamoto of Mothers’ Milk Bank.  Mother’s Milk Bank provides breast milk to over 60 cancer patients, each with a doctor’s prescription.  All this milk donated to adults, however, gives some milk donation advocates a startle.  According to Dr. Pamela Berens with the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, there is already a shortage of breast milk as it is. Yet another precious, natural resource to be appreciated!  Still, before trying breast milk as a remedy, contact your doctor to be sure its the best option for you.

Sure, we make decisions large and small day by day, even moment by moment. A coin toss? If it is, the best advice is to remember to call heads, according to Dr. Randy Pausch. For Dr. Pausch of The Alice Project/Carnegie Mellon fame, the decision was made for him when he was diagnosed more than a year ago with pancreatic cancer (adenocarcinoma).

Summary: Late in the summer of 2006, I started having some unusual symptoms, culminating with jaudice. Scans revealed it was pancreatic cancer. At this time, my wife Jai and I had a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and a three month old baby.

The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the team there, together with Dr. Pausch himself, has put this devastating diagnosis on notice: the news according to the blog is that for now, palliative chemo is WORKING!!!! [Emphasis Dr. Pausch's] Obviously, guarded optimism is what the Pausch family is facing during the next weeks and months as he battles this terminal medical condition.

If you wish to learn more about the value of time — and the point is that we may be good at valuing money, but not as skilled at valuing our time — from a person who has something to say about the topic, please consider viewing Dr. Pausch’s Time Management lecture at Google video.

Be well.

This is the largest one-year research grant awarded to the university and will involve the largest number of test subjects—1,000 participants over the next year.

The American Cancer Society writes that there is no reliable clinical evidence that quercetin can prevent or treat cancer in humans. However, with the large study beginning now, valuable science may be forthcoming.

Earlier this month, quercetin was a component found in one of these three prostate-specific dietary supplements: Trinovin, Provelex and ProstateRx, which were under scrutiny by American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO). Researchers determined these products were problematic for patients being treated for prostate cancer with radiation. The warning was to avoid use of the supplements during radiation treatment. This information was reported by Doctor’s Guide. View the 2 hour lecture sets yourself!

Again from the ACS: Quercetin is a common chemical pigment in the rinds and barks of a wide variety of plants. It is one of the main flavonoids in the diet, and is found in large amounts in apple skins, onions, teas, and red wines. It is also found in leafy green vegetables, berries, and in herbs such as ginkgo and St. John’s wort.