Ask the Pediatrician: Dr. Molly

I learned a lot at pediatrics conference

I recently got back from a five-day meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which hosted its annual National Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C. Boy, did I learn a lot! I will have fodder for blogs galore!

I love this meeting. More than 7,000 pediatricians from all over the world attend and there are hundreds of lectures, workshops, plenary talks and meet the expert sessions on topics ranging from genetics to orthopedics to feeding issues to advocacy to obesity to you name it! I was on the planning group for six years and helped put this meeting together so I know the staff, speakers and leadership of the AAP well. This year, however, I didn't help plan it and just got to go, learn and enjoy!

Here are a few of the pearls I learned, some of which will be fleshed out into longer pieces over time:

• High fructose corn syrup (or just fructose) is in everything we eat that we don't make ourselves and is metabolized in ways that are shocking. Consuming fructose leads to fatty liver, high lipid levels in the blood (which can lead to atherosclerosis), excessive insulin production (which can lead to diabetes), and unlike glucose actually sends a message to the brain to eat more even when you have consumed a lot of calories! I am already limiting fructose in my family's diet since coming home!
• Tics in kids really can't be diagnosed until they are around age 5. Before then many kids will have repetitive movements that are tic-like called stereotypies but only a small portion will go on to have frequent tics as older children. Most kids with ADHD on stimulant medication who have tics do not have to stop their medication. Data show that even if the medication increases the tic frequency a bit, the ADHD is worse than that symptom.
• The ability to know how your body will respond to medications based on your genetics as well as whether or not you will go on to have any one of hundreds of diseases is just on the horizon. Primary care docs will have the opportunity to do an even better job guiding wellness.
• Aromatherapy isn't a crock! There is actual data that show it can work for certain things like nausea.
• One in five children in the United States lives in poverty.
• H1N1 live virus vaccine needs to be separated from the seasonal live virus vaccine by only two weeks. The shots can be given simultaneously as can one shot and one live virus.
• The Nuvaring contraceptive is really easy for teens to use and they don't have to remember to do something every day.
• None of the additives to infant formulas (DHA, probiotics, etc.) have been shown to have significant benefit over the old formulations in otherwise healthy term infants.
• When starting infants on solid foods, veggies, fruits, and meats should be first, not rice cereal.
• Babies who see allergenic foods early and often (even before six months) are significantly less likely to be allergic than those whose parents wait to introduce them.
• Developmentally disabled adults who cannot read or do math can be trained to do complex repetitive tasks, so don't sell your cognitively or developmentally challenged child short!
• There is almost no role for soy formula. If a child can't tolerate milk formula, he should go to the extensively hydrolyzed formulas.
• Assistive technology and gadgets for kids with disabilities are amazing, varied, creative and can help almost any child communicate more easily.
• The brains of kids with ADHD and dyslexia are actually wired differently as seen by functional MRIs than typical kids, lending more credence to the concept that these are not deficiencies in parenting or teaching but true physiologic differences.

Whew! I really did learn a lot! And I didn't even mention the sessions on hiring Gen Y, fainting, parasitic infections and sports medicine I attended.

Let me know which of these "pearls" you are interested in learning more about!