(From HealthDay News) — Pregnant women with low levels of vitamin D may be putting their children at risk for language difficulties, Australian researchers report.

Taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy may relieve the problem, they suggest.

“Adequate vitamin D levels among pregnant women may be important for the optimal development of their baby,” said lead researcher Andrew Whitehouse, an associate professor and reader in developmental psychopathology at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research at the University of Western Australia. “However, it is important for the findings of this study to be replicated before any strong conclusions are made.” Read the rest of this entry

Interesting how chocolate is often associated with ‘love’ and ‘heart’ given its known benefit on the cardiovascular system . A review study just presented in Paris – a city that is renowned for its love of food and chocolate – showed that individuals who ate the most chocolate had a 37% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 29% lower risk of stroke compared with individuals who ate the least amount of chocolate.

Read the rest of this entry

It is known that diseases of mental health are related to free radical damage (oxidation) of fatty acids in the brain.  For example in Alzheimer’s amyloid plaques in the brain are known to be a result of oxidative damage.    A recent randomized double blind placebo controlled study was just released demonstrating that antioxidants can help improve memory scores and in some cases verbal scores.   Read the rest of this entry

Although almost every woman I’ve helped with fertility was using some sort of Prenatal vitamin/mineral there are two recent studies below that show their benefit.   When undergoing IVF there are large non-physiological quantities of hormones that need to be metabolized and certain minerals such as copper and zinc are used as co-enzymes in their metabolism.   Therefore it is possible that deficiencies can develop.

For any kind of fertility issues I strongly feel that Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture are superior than modern assisted reproductive technologies (ART) for a majority of cases.   With acupuncture and herbs you not only help the woman conceive, but also to create healthier offspring, as well as support the health of the mother.   However I also prefer to use some sort of whole food multi vitamin and mineral to support general health.  If there have been miscarriages I also use potent antioxidants (not ones found in a multivitamin/mineral) to help reduce oxidative stress.  As shown by one of the studies below oxidative stress can be high in some IVF cases.
Read the rest of this entry

Here is a research study just released that shows eating trans fats can lead to depression.   There is little doubt that lousy foods or foods that we  may have a sensitivity to can cause emotional issues.  It is sad to think about the number of kids on medication yet there is no attention paid to what the eat.    Our over medicated poor diet children becoming over medicated poor diet adults.   I have had countless people tell me how much better they feel emotionally once they started to eat better.   Some were just eating a lot of sugar, others had immune reactions to foods such as with a histamine reaction causing anxiety.

Read the rest of this entry

There is a study making headlines today that we do not need more than 600IU of vitamin D per day. You probably have seen the headlines. What is ridiculous is that this study only looked at bone health as a marker and ignored the thousands of other metabolic functions that vitamin D plays. Ignore the headlines – take your vitamin D and get it measured properly!

I’ll let the experts reply to this article, but I cut and pasted below a response to this study from the Vitamin D Council.

(Do get your vitamin D levels checked, but when you do make sure you do not take any in supplementation form for at least 2-3 days prior to the blood draw.  Also it is the 25(OH)D level that is important although in some people the ratio of D2:D3 may be important such as some autoimmune diseases)

========

After 13 year of silence, the quasi governmental agency, the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Food and Nutrition Board (FNB), today recommended that a three-pound premature infant take virtually the same amount of vitamin D as a 300 pound pregnant woman. While that 400 IU/day dose is close to adequate for infants, 600 IU/day in pregnant women will do nothing to help the three childhood epidemics most closely associated with gestational and early childhood vitamin D deficiencies: asthma, auto-immune disorders, and, as recently reported in the largest pediatric journal in the world, autism. Professor Bruce Hollis of the Medical University of South Carolina has shown pregnant and lactating women need at least 5,000 IU/day, not 600.

Read the rest of this entry

I get frustrated and sad when I hear a friends kid is on antibiotics, especially if they are under 2 years of age.   There is little doubt that antibiotics cause stress to the gut mucosa lining.   There is also clear indication that antibiotics may not be useful for the common infant/toddler ear and sinus infections.   The good news is that many pediatricians are cautious to only use antibiotics as a last resort.  There are other options such as dietary changes (often sugar or cow’s dairy can be a culprit), increasing vitamin D levels and using essential oils.   Chinese Medicine has a 2000+ year history of treating common infant/toddler issues that existed a millennium ago as they exist today.   There are many alternatives before one subjects their child to antibiotics. Read the rest of this entry

For many years I’ve strongly recommended to my perinatal patients that they take a high dose DHA fish oil supplement. DHA is docosahexaenoic acid found in fatty fish which is one of the beneficial longer chain fatty acids we get from fish – the other being EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid). I’m not sure where I first learned of the benefits of DHA for the brain and using it during pregnancy, but it makes sense given the plethora of research on its neurological benefits.

I had my wife take a high DHA fish oil throughout pregnancy and 2 years of breast feeding. The proof is in the pudding as our child will be attending Harvard next fall. He is only 2 years old.
Read the rest of this entry

It is widely knows that the phytonutrient known as isothiocyanates have powerful anti-cancer effects.   Isothiocyanate are found in mustard, horseradish, and onions to name a few.  It is what gives the herb its powerful biting taste.    However another anti-cancer phytonutrient that doesn’t get as much attention is phenethyl ITC (PEITC).  Watercress contains high amounts of PEITC.  A recent study looked at what happens in women’s blood after ingesting watercress.  In particular they looked at a specific blood marker that shows a  reduction in cancer cells.   What they found is marked inhibition in cancer cell activity, even stronger inhibition than what is found with isothiocyanates.

So next time you have the opportunity to buy fresh watercress please do so.   Add some to your salad to give it some bite and reduce your cancer risk as well.    Besides watercress is delicious! Read the rest of this entry

From British Journal of Dermatology
Background: Previous reports have suggested that certain probiotics given to mothers and children at risk of atopy halves the incidence of atopic dermatitis (AD) at two years of age.

Objectives: The purpose of this trial was to examine if probiotics given to pregnant women in a non-selected population could prevent atopic sensitization or allergic diseases during the child’s first two years.

Methods: In a randomised, double-blind trial of children from a non-selected maternal population (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00159523), women received probiotic milk or placebo from 36 weeks of gestation to three months postnatally during breastfeeding. The probiotic milk contained Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, Lactobacillus acidophilus La-5 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis Bb-12. Children with an itchy rash for more than four weeks were consecutively assessed for AD. At two years of age, all children were assessed for atopic sensitisation, AD, asthma and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (ARC). The intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis was enabled by multiple imputations. Read the rest of this entry