>> eric: it's time for sunday housecall. joining us as always this morning is dr. mark siegel at nyu and the author of the inner pulse, unlocking the secret code of sickness and health.

>> jamie: and dr. david sa samai from the mount sinai medical center. we'll unlock a lot of stuff this morning. good morning. >> jamie: great to see both of you this morning. let's start right now because february is american heart month detd indicated to raising awareness about what turns out to be the number one killer of men and women in our country. dr. siegel, what do you want folks to know about heart disease? it's the number one killer for men and women. in february it's the go red campaign. that's why we're wearing red today for women to raise awareness. a couple of things. one out of three women who die every year, die of heart disease. only one out of 31 die of breast cancer. we talk about breast cancer, but the main killer by a longis hea. why? women don't always look for the same symptoms. they watch television and see if you're not grasping your chest, if it isn't an elephant sitting on your chest, it can't be your heart. wrong. 64% of women who present with lethal heart attacks have no symptoms they recognize.

you know why? because often times it's just shortness of breath or dizziness, nausea, they're not feeling quite right. you have to be on the lookout, especially if you have a risk factor and almost all of the women who have heart disease have certain risk factors. either they smoke or they have high blood pressure or they're overweight or sedentary, high blood pressure. these are all the issues that everyone needs to look for it. >> jamie: if you have any of those risk factors, get yourself under the care of the physician so you recognize the symptoms, is that what you recommend? >> you have to recognize the symptoms as mark mentioned, and the pneumonic for that is pulse which is really point. persistent chest pain is one of the major risk factors. upset stomach. you may not know if you have the flu or you may have like a heart attack. light headedness, dizziness, and certainly shortness of breath, s, and e is excessive sweating. you want to be careful about that. what i want people to know is when you go he to the doctor twice a year, walk out four witr

things. you want to know what your blood pressure is. what is now and what is it compared to last visit? you have to know about your cholesterol. we talk about ldl, and good cholesterol. find out your numbers. hemoglobin is an indication of what your sugar level has been over the course of 40 months. that's extremely critical. the last one is your body mass index. four things you need to know before you walk out. a lot of times, jamie, knowing these and changing your diet and your lifestyle can change, but i think what happens in medicine is cholesterol is high, you get immediately statins and that's bad medicine. stick to your vitamins. make sure you take your vitamin b, e, c, and d. vitamin d, there's a lot of research about how it's important for the health of your vessels. >> jamie: let me get dr. siegel in here. you mentioned sugar. >> yes. >> >> jamie: that surprises me. what's the connection between your sugar level and heart disease? >> extremely important because

diabetes is one of the number one risks of heart disease. there's millions out there that have diabetes or prediabetes and don't know it, and it's associated as we've said on the show before, with weight gain, with obesity, so if you're overweight, if you're sedentary, if you have a family history of diabetes, you must be checked for that. >> all of those are risk factors for coronary artery disease which is 70% of all the heart disease we see in women. i think a lot of people ask me on line exactly what they should take in order to lower their cholesterol i. remember, red, yeast, rice. red yeast rice lowers your cholesterol. niacin increases your good cholesterol. before you talk these medications, these are good alternatives. >> i want to throw in a tiny plug for statins. i think the cholesterol lowering statin drugs have saved millions of life. they retard plaque in your coronary arteries. if you have high risk for heart disease or have heart disease, they're great drugs. >> and you have failed every

other treatment option. >> eric: have you heard about a lot of something people do every single night while sleeping, do you snore or have a snorer next to you? well, now they say it could be a risk factor for stroke and heart attack. dr. samadi, that sounds kind of frightening. >> it's actually acute study. it's a very small series coming from detroit. what the lead author wants you to know is that snoring is just not cosmetic or you don't get away with just kicking the person next to you and wake them up. it may have some health hazards, and the risks could be as bad as smoking for heart disease. the idea behind this is that when you snore, you would have a lot of vibration in your neck. that affects the vessels that goes to your brain and it increases the risk of stroke and heart disease. he's been able to back it up with carotid dopplers meaning that if you have any plaque in your neck, you can get a doppler and what they see is that there's thickening of the

vessels on people that snore. what i get out of this is that number one, you need to get checked. it's not normal to have snoring. now, we're not talking about sleep apnea that we've spoken about in the past. we know that's a health hazard. this is without sleep apnea. go to a sleep center, get checked out, find out what's going on with you, and then finally, you will get your answers. >> eric: you talk about the carotid arteries. they put up the stethoscope and listen, but that's an important point to get that gel and what is it again. >> the carotid bruit. you can do a sound wave study where you actually see the plaque. what i want to start by saying is that's been shown, the thickening in those arteries in the neck, has been shown to be directly correlated with heart disease. we know that, and when we try to lower cholesterol with statins or other ways, we look to see if the plaque diminishes, but eric, that's not the same thing as saying we've proven here that snoring actually causes that. this study is not even published yet, and we are actually for the first time on housecall looking

at a study that hasn't been peer-reviewed which is actually good because we both got the manuscript. we looked it over. it's been presented at a meeting, and i think it's interesting to bring up this correlation. in 2008 a study did seem to show a correlation between snoring and heart disease, and it's possible. you know what? since we usually say if a patient comes to me snoring, i usually look for sleep apnea, and if i don't find it, i usually say well, 40% of men, 27% of women, you're just irritating your partner. i'm probably wrong to dismiss it. this is a wake up call for me as a physician to say maybe there's something else with snoring. > >> eric: it's a wake up call to patients to say i snore. see what the doctors say. >> if there's a merit to this, then the insurance companies have to treat snoring as a disease and would end up paying for it which is the importance of this study, i think. >> jamie: that's an interesting concept as well. we're going to get a lot more on our headlines, a lot of news breaking today, but we're going to have more sunday housecall

for you where the doctors will answer a viewer e-mail about mysterious stomach pain. that's coming up. >> eric: there's a disturbing new link between childhood obesity and a disease that could cause a permanent physical disability. what parents need to know. the doctors will tell us ... next. >> jamie: you can go to foxnews.com/sundayhousecall, join the chat. keep the questions coming. the doctors will have an answer ... next. [ female announcer ] today, jason is here

to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lin grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. >> jamie: welcome back, everybody. you know, as parents we always worry about our kids and their health, and there could be a link now between childhood obesity and the risk of multiple sclerosis. pediatric ms is more common than it was just 10 years ago. dr. siegel, you're going to tell us why. >> well, first of all, we have

to talk about multiple sclerosis which is called the great imitator. it can cause many different symptoms. what it is for people out there, it's the white matter in the brain which is like the lining on wires, the insulation on the wires is the best way to look at it. there's 400,000 people in the united states with ms, but rarely does it affect childhood. because of that, a study that tries to show what causes ms in children is extremely unlikely he to succeed. it's too rare. when something is so rare, it's hard to figure out what causes it. we know ms is an autoimmune disease where something is attacking the brain or the spinal cord, and we know that it's more common in women partly, we think, because of menstrual cycles. we think that that's true, but we haven't been able to prove that. now they come along and they show in a very small study, they he look at obesity and they say that the kids that were obese were one and a half times more likely overweight or obese to get ms. extremely obese, four times more likely. now, the media loves making

something out of that. four times more likely. but you're talking about really small numbers here, and 37% of kids already overweight obese, so i don't think they proved anything. i think they're on right track to try to figure out if inflammation in the body which david and i have talked ton the show that inflammation on the body can be associated with a lot of disease. they're on the right track to look at it. this is far from proving it. >> jamie: one quick question. is there a way to test a child to see if they're at risk for ms, and is that an autoimmune disorder that you're born with? >> that's a really smart question. that's why they call you dr. colby. ms tends to come in clusters. if there's a family history, you want to look for it. of course, we diagnose it with mri of the brain. there's no blood test we can do on that. >> jamie: perhaps that's the future. we don't know. dr. samadi, what do you think? >> the parents again need to recognize what the symptoms of ms are. a lot of times they may go

without recognizing, so if you don't have that myelin and the formation is not getting from one nerve to the other, you'll have problems with. missouri, tingling and numbness around the tips of the fingers. you'll have visual issues and blurry vision. these are the things to look for if you have a young child. with he knowe know obesity is oe in children. this will become more and more common. what they're finding out is the further away you go from the equator, you're going to have a higher number of ms which is very interesting. after i read this study, that has to do with the sun and sun is equal to vitamin d. so if your vitamin is low and you have a higher chance, so there's a lot of ongoing studies. by the way, everything that's healthy for your heart, it's also helpful for ms, so i think it's a study that needs longer follow up. >> eric: okay. fascinating. >> jamie: great to hear about

it. >> eric: the doctors respond to e-mails. we got one from melanie in fairfield, connecticut who said, quote, i am 20 years old and am suffering from severe stomach cramps. i just got a colonoscopy and arm waiting for the results. the dr. said it could be colitis or irritable bowel syndrome. what's the difference? aren't i too young to get this? dr. samadi, irritable bowel syndrome and colitis seems to be on the rise. >> you know something? irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease are completely separate families. when you talk about inflammatory bowel disease, you're talking about ulcerative colitis and croan'crohn's which we've covern the past. they affect your gi system. when you talk about irritable bowel syndrome, you're talking about a lot of women affected by this. whether it's stress or inflammation causing it, we don't know. these people always know where the bathrooms are. it affects their social lives. they're always running to the bathroom.

they can't travel long distance. it is a real deal. now, you talk about crar crampi. in the gi system we have good bacteria and we have some bad bacterias. when the bad bacterias overcome, they feed off our food, gluten, corn, starch, sugar, and they ferment and they create gas. the gas causes bloating, bloating causes abdominal cramps, so i think what you need to do is wait for the result of the colon o colonoscopy, let's t what we're going to find. number two, find out what food allergies. there's an anti-body called igg food allergy. it's a test that you can get. finally, there's anti-body that you need to take for about ten days to wipe out those bad bacterias, and i know marc is a big fan of probuy october which increases your good babbling tearia. if you do that your symptoms will go away. >> eric: you go to a restaurant, it's a gluten free menu. is it that widespread of a

problem? >> certainly that is widespread. irritable bowel syndrome, one out of six people in the united states are affected. to answer the viewer e-mail, the colonoscopy will be fine if you have irritable bowel. if you have inflammatory bowel, you'll see inflammation in the colon. irritable bowel we like to say it's part of the nervous system. people that are stressed, the nerves in the bowel get very nervous and you get spastic colon. the colon is basically in spasm. you get the symptoms david was talking about. you get di diarrhea, gas, abdoml cramping. with inflammatory bowel disease which is much different, you can get bloody diarrhea, you can get fever, you can get anemia. so i want to answer the viewer e-mail by saying not everyone needs a colonoscopy at that age, and actually, inflammatory bowel disease is common in young people, so if the doctor she was seeing said hey, wait a minute, where is this bloody diarrhea coming from, i better investigate, you can make this diagnosis clinically. then you investigate if you

think it could be inflammatory bowel. >> eric: it affects a lot of people. i'm glad you both analyzed it and explained it. >> jamie: great viewer question. we really appreciate when you send those and the doctors enjoy being on the chat and answering them, too. this topic next. over the last ten years, young children have begun ingesting more and more caffeine. how that spike in consumption could affect them in the long run. we're going to talk about that, plus the players taking to the field for the super bowl. they're not the only ones putting their bodies at risk. the effects the big game could have on your health. really, doctors? okay. stick around. that's straight ahead. sometimes what we suffer from

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>> jamie: sunday housecall is back. over the last decade, caffeine intake among kids and ad lessen adolescents has spiked. two-thirds of children are consuming caffeine on a daily basis and it's not so good morning 2k3w50d for them. people are saying i won't give my child diet soda, but chocolate has ca 15. a lot of foods have caffeine. >> sun flower seeds have caffeine. it's in gum, it's in these monster drinks, these energy drinks that are the biggest

offenders. the sports drinks have a lot off caffeine. it blocks the brain from knowing if you're fatigued. if you're a kid, you stay up, you don't sleep, you get irritable. if you don't sleep, all the diseases i worry about march down the road, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, everything we're concerned about. depression. so the problem with caffeine is it causes you not to sleep and it raising raises your heart rad bloop. >> jamie: we're going to get on this. it sounds serious for our kids, doc. >> i've been a huge advocate of caffeine for adults. i've studied many times. > >> jamie: cups and cups. >> it increases antioxidants. there are studies about anti-cancer. for kids there's no safe level. it's off limits. a lot of this has to do with the media. in oin the '70s and '80s, like with smoking, it was cool to smoke. same thing with caffeine. the fda is not on top of it. you don't know how much caffeine

you're getting. around the level to 100 to 150 milligrams you may be okay. once you hit 500 plus, you're going to get a lot of nervous system problems, tremors, and it's addictive. watch your kids. >> jamie: that's health news we can definitely use. >> eric: good advice. right now, later this afternoon millions of us gearing up for super bowl parties. the buffalo wings, the pizza, the beer, and the fans. sounds like a great time, but what effect could all this partying have on our health? the doctors will tell us in just a second. [ coughs ] [ angry gibberish ] i took something for my sinus, but i still have this cough. [ male announcer ] a lot of sinus products don't treat cough. they don't? [ male announcer ] nope, but alka seltzer plus severe sinus does it treats your worst sinus symptoms, plus that annoying cough. [ breathes deeply ] ♪ oh, what a relief it is! [ angry gibberish ]

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>> eric: well, it's super bowl suspected. that means rowdy fans and lots of parties for tonight. but experts are warning about what can happen if you get fatty foods and stress. i read in jamma, there is an enzyme in buffalo wing sauce, that if you combine it enough beer, it kills every germ known to man. >> i wish that was true. >> that was funny. you tried that? >> the super bowl is about the commercials and the snacks. so if i say you have to stay completely healthy, we can have fun a little bit today. but, look, 11 million pounds of