Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional disorder in the world. The World Health Organization estimates that it affects nearly two billion people. Matthew Abendroth, a second-year DMU osteopathic student, suggests one solution might be entomophagy, the human consumption of insects.

Matthew was among the winners in a student poster competition at the Heartland Global Health Consortiumconference held at DMU on Oct. 12. His poster stated that many edible insects are very high in protein, fats and many vitamins and minerals, including iron, so adding them to one’s diet makes sense.

Hello...lunch?

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has designed September as National Yoga Month, a “national observance and grass roots awareness campaign to inspire a healthy lifestyle.” I’ve enjoyed yoga classes in DMU’s great wellness center and, let me assure you, yoga will make you very “aware” of your physicality. In a good way!

As the National Yoga Month website details, anyone at any age can practice yoga to gain numerous health benefits, from lower blood pressure and decreased stress to greater flexibility, enhanced brain function, strengthened bones and joints, enhanced circulation and mental focus.

Posted in DMU Wellness, Health News, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

In a course on end-of-life issues here at DMU, Assistant Professor Denise Hill, J.D., M.P.A., instructs students to close their eyes. She then asks some riveting questions: What do you know about how a loved one would want to die? Would they want life-sustaining procedures? Who will speak for them, if they can’t, about medical care and finances? What do they want to happen to their children and possessions? Do they want their organs donated? Cremation or burial?

Professor Hill then asks students to close their eyes again and consider: Do your loved ones know how you would want to die?

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You might consider Charlie Wittmack’s undertaking and rightfully ask, “Is this guy crazy?”

A Des Moines attorney and the only Iowan to have reached the summit of Mount Everest, last year Wittmack sold his house, gave up his job and embarked on his World Triathlon, an 8,000+-mile effort to swim the English Channel, bike the mountains and deserts in Europe, Asia and Nepal, and then again reach the top of the world’s tallest peak. He worked with Save the Children and Des Moines University to use the trip to raise awareness of ways to reduce the infant mortality rate in Nepal. The route – across 11 countries from the town of Cricklade in England to the summit of Everest – was fraught with risk and real danger, including his collision with a car while on his bike in Kazakhstan to cerebral and pulmonary edema to wild dogs at his door on the Tibetan Plateau. Onward he slogged, thinking of his wife, Cate, and young son James at home.

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As we come down to the last med-school-free week of our summer, my fellow DO’14s and I will soon resume our busy lives as second-year medical students. With boards awaiting us at the end of this coming year, it’s a distinct possibility that this will have been our last truly free summer before starting our busy careers. That being said, any major life goals or dream vacations that had been put on hold until this point were quickly brought into reality as our window of opportunity slid to a close. Some of my classmates took trips overseas, toured across the U.S. or pursued medical mission trips. Even I was able to enjoy an eventful summer, which included a visit with the family and a brief trip to an island resort. It also featured a chain of events that culminated in a freak moped accident that left a second-degree abrasion wound on the palm of my right hand. Part of this chain of events involved a senior citizen’s bachelorette party that passed by at the most inopportune moment (I’m not kidding; it’s a long and bizarre story). As far as I’m aware, no alcohol was involved in the accident – just very bad moped drivers. Fortunately, I’ve enjoyed a swift recovery, though it’s been a little hard to do OMM with a bandaged hand.

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You read in the blog about this weekend’s Des Moines Arts Festival, a veritable visual feast not to be missed. Making the festival even better is “the other art show,” the ArtFest Midwest, also this weekend in the air-conditioned Varied Industries Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

Professor Gary Hoff paints still-lifes and much more.

ArtFest Midwest is especially special to DMU, because the more than 200 Iowa and regional artists featured at this ninth annual juried fine arts event will include Gary Hoff, D.O., FACOI, FACC, chair of DMU’s medical humanities and bioethics department. This cardiologist is loaded with talent: His works include paintings, portraits, pencil drawings and more; he’ll display oil paintings, his preferred medium, at this year’s ArtFest.

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