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A diet rich in fruits and vegetables may prevent certain birth defects.
A new study finds that a diet rich in nutrients may be a key in reducing the number of birth defects.
According to MedPage Today, Stanford University researchers found that the quality of a mother’s diet in the year prior to her pregnancy ”significantly predicted” risk of defects such as spina bifida or cleft lip:
“The highest quality diets were associated with up to 51% lower risk of anencephaly, 34% reduced risk of cleft lip, and 26% lower odds of cleft palate compared with the poorest diets. These links were stronger than seen with folic acid or other nutrients individually …”
In other words, it was the overall diet that mattered, not just specific supplementation of certain nutrients like folic acid, though the researchers still recommend such supplementation. Past studies have focused on individual nutrients and whether they impact the incidence of neural tube and orofacial birth defects. This one, however, took a look at the complete diets of more than 3,400 women whose children were born with a birth defect and compared them to the food choices of more than 6,000 women whose children do not have a birth defect.
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Smoking while pregnant isn't all bad. Just mostly bad.
Yes, yes, we all know smoking while pregnant can be harmful to the fetus, not to mention the pregnant and smoking mom. A massive new study of a bunch of previous studies even found the specific birth defects smoking can cause, which we’ll get to in a minute.
But there’s something pretty interesting that the meta-study also uncovered: smoking while pregnant may have a couple of benefits.
Anyone got a light? Continue reading »
Roundup found to cause birth defects.
The Huffington Post reports that “glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and other herbicides used around the globe, poses a serious threat to public health. Industry regulators…. in Europe have known for years that glyphosate, originally introduced by American agricultural biotechnology giant Monsanto in 1976, causes birth defects in the embryos of laboratory animals.”
Non-profit organization Earth Open Source came to this conclusion based on “studies conducted in a number of locations, including Argentina, Brazil, France and the United States.” Earth Open Source reports that as far back as 1993 “the herbicide industry, including Monsanto, knew that visceral anomalies such as dilation of the heart could occur in rabbits at low and medium-sized doses.” The EPA estimates that 180 to 185 million pounds of glyphosate were used between 2006 and 2007 alone. (Emphasis is mine in both sentences.) Continue reading »
Dear Dr. Robert Dunham,
I enjoyed reading your recent opinion column in the Los Angeles Times about the Navy’s recently reversed a ban on women serving aboard submarines. You ask some important questions: does exposure to a submarine’s nuclear core pose a risk to a pregnant sailor’s unborn child? Or even to a submariner’s as-yet-unfertilized egg?
Before my husband and I decided to start trying to have a baby, I figured I should try to wean myself off of Prozac. I had been taking the anti-depressant for several years after a couple of bouts of debilitating depression.
After getting the okay from my doctor, I slowly stopped taking my medication. At first, I felt great. But after a few weeks, I was so anxious and depressed that my husband was growing concerned. He gently suggested that I re-think my decision. I saw my doctor and we decided that Prozac was a good choice for me during pregnancy. Luckily, my doctor was supportive of my decision.
Parent Dish interviewed several pregnant women who decided to continue taking anti-depressants despite doctors’ concerns. Continue reading »
Some birth defects go unnoticed a person’s whole life. Baby Don’s wasn’t like that. Some birth defects are fatal. Thankfully, Baby Don’s wasn’t like that either. Unfortunately, the infant’s birth defect was one of those that not only was extremely noticeable but would have made the poor child’s life unpleasant at best. Baby Don was born without a chin. That meant he faced a life where even just breathing would be a painful challenge.
In my neck of the woods, they call these “Irish twins” or “Vatican twins” — siblings born so close together that they’re practically the same age. But new research is showing that spacing pregnancies less than six months apart puts the baby at higher risk for serious complications and even death.
An Israeli study reviewed data from 440,838 live births that occurred in Israel between 2000 and 2005 to women who had previously given birth Continue reading »
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