Blog Posts by Dr. Ayala

A few years ago, a large study of more than 150,000 women helped clear poor, vilified coffee of the suspicion it was contributing to hypertension .

But while that 2005 study found no connection between even many daily cups of coffee and high blood pressure, it pointed a finger at another suspect (indeed-one of the usual suspects): It found that soda intake-regular and diet alike-was associated with higher blood pressure.

A new study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association explored the sugary drink-hypertension connection further, and found that by cutting daily consumption of sugary drinks by just one can a day, people can lower their blood pressure significantly.

The study followed 810 pre-hypertensive (people whose blood pressure is elevated but shy of the definition of hypertension) and hypertensive adults, who received diet and exercise advice and behavioral interventions. Blood pressure was measured several times over the 18 months' study period,

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A new study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology reports that the rate of peanut allergies in kids more than tripled in just ten years.

According to the study, 1.4 percent of kids reported peanut allergies in 2008, as opposed to just 0.4 percent in 1997. The rate of combined peanut and tree nut allergies reported in kids was 2.1 percent in 2008, compared to 0.6 percent in 1997.

Alarming, but before we panic, let's take a closer look at the study design: This study randomly surveyed more than 5,000 homes in the US by phone, and the allergies were self-reported.

Is self-reporting an accurate way to assess the prevalence of food allergies?

On the one hand, who knows kids' food reactions better than their parents, right? But when it comes to food allergies, it seems that even medical experts can't really agree on what makes a diagnosis of food allergy, so

Thanks to Hulu and a few sleepless nights due to jet lag, I'm finally caught up on all six episodes of Food Revolution.

In the series, celebrity British chef Jamie Oliver goes to Huntington, WV-one of the unhealthiest and most obese cities in America-to reform the town's school lunch program and teach it some healthy eating.

Jamie won over Huntington's hearts and minds. Those he didn't charm with his personality and passion were persuaded by his arguments for health and community. Any remaining naysayers seemed to be swept away by his authenticity and generous spread of love and good cheer.

But was his food revolution a success? What can we learn from Jamie's attempt to change a town's eating habits? Here are some of my thoughts:

1. Let's start with the kids

Jamie's move to change targets kids' food at school and at home; he motivates parents and other adults as he taps into our irresistible urge to do the right thing for our kids-because we love them and

We like to eat. We especially like indulgent foods - desserts, snacks and tasty treats.

We'd love to believe it's okay to heap our plates with foods we perceive as "healthy".

In fact, studies have shown time and again that foods perceived as healthy or foods with a health aura drive us - if only subconsciously - to eat more. Foods with "low fat" or "low calorie" claims lead to overconsumption of snacks. A study using hidden cameras at Italian restaurants showed that people dipping their bread in olive oil will eat more fat and calories than if they instead spread some butter.

Organic food labels can lead to overeating, too. In presenting findings from their new study , Jenny Wan-Chen Lee and Brian Wansink showed that the organic seal appears to make people believe their organic snacks have a lot fewer calories than they do. For example, people who ate cookies labeled as "organic" believed that their snack contained 40% fewer calories than the same cookies that had

First Mom Michelle Obama said to food makers recently: "If there is anyone here who can sell food to our kids, it's you. You know what gets them to drive their parents crazy in the grocery store."

We parents are quite aware of a TV ad when we see one, but marketing efforts go way beyond direct advertising on TV and internet games. Kids are exposed to slick marketing and a call for their eyeballs everywhere and especially where food is sold-manufacturers design food and packaging in a way that appeals specifically to kids and affects their choices, or at least their nagging choices.

These "fun foods" are very easy to recognize-let any toddler loose in a supermarket and they'll spot them from a mile--it's the rare kid who will pick milk, apples and baby carrots as kids' food.

Food and beverage companies spend $2 billion a year on marketing food to kids. They have excellent reasons to do so: Toddlers have been known to sing the tunes and repeat the message after being

Although many Americans know they should be eating more fruits and veggies (F&V), only 11 percent actually meet the recommended minimum of five-servings-a-day.

Many parents are worried their kids don't eat enough F&V and this concern is actually encouraging. There's no better time to address the issue of good nutrition than in childhood. This is the time when eating habits are formed, and what we do as parents can be a lifelong gift of healthy eating and better overall health for our kids.

I think there are plenty of reasons why many American kids don't jump with joy at the sight of F&V:

It's the middle of the night. Your baby's sick. You're sick with worry.

Ever thought of Googling his symptoms for some free medical advice or a second opinion?

Many people use the Internet for health-related information, and used correctly it's a great resource. But how reliable or accurate is a search engine without medical guidance?

A group of British researchers found that health information on the Internet ranges from poor to excellent, depending on the topic and the resource. They Googled UK-based websites on five common pediatric issues in which the best practice is pretty clear, and found that only about 200 of 500 sites offered correct information. The results of their study were published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood .

The five search topics chosen for the study were "MMR autism" (current practice: there's no association between the vaccine and autism ), " HIV breastfeeding" (current practice: HIV-positive moms are advised not to breastfeed), "

Many health organizations, including the World Health Organization and the National Cancer Institute, recommend five servings of fruit and vegetables daily to help ward off disease.

Some people (I'm not one of them) go even further and propose that eating enough fruits and vegetables provides strong protection from cancer.

Cancer is a complex group of diseases. We still know very little about what causes some cancers, but it's probably safe to say that increased risk for most cancer types usually stems from a combination of factors-some genetic and environmental, which are hard to control, and some that we have much more power over. Smoking, exercise, obesity, diet and sun exposure have all been shown to affect cancer risk.

A healthy lifestyle has many components, and I personally don't believe any one healthy diet habit by itself-even if practiced religiously over a lifetime-has a hugely dramatic effect on cancer incidence in a population.

Having said that,