Robert Kennedy Jnr Dicussion Vaccines Effects on Children
This is a hard hitting look at vaccines and their effect on your children’s health. Are we getting the full in formation from the companies and authorities that provide the drugs and the information.
Artificial Sweeteners Linked to Pre-term Delivery
Of all the foodstuffs that have limited nutritional value and the potential to cause harm, I put soft drinks near the top of the list. The sugar contained in regular beverages has been linked with a range of adverse effects on health including weight gain, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. And artificial sweeteners such as aspartame also appear to have considerable potential to harm human health.
One time when the hazardous effects of foodstuffs has particular relevance is during pregnancy. Foods and drink provides the basic building blocks of the growing foetus, and at the same time can exert toxic affects that can affect the pregnancy and future health of the child. I was interested to read a study published this week which looked at the relationship between soft drink consumption and pregnancy outcome in almost 60,000 Danish women [1]. The pregnancy outcome assessed in this study was ‘pre-term delivery’ – defined as delivery before 37 weeks of gestation (normal gestation is 40 weeks).
For sugar-sweetened beverages, there was no relationship between level of consumption and risk of pre-term delivery (in other words, higher levels of sugary soft drink consumption were not associated with an increased risk of pre-term delivery).
It was a different story for artificially sweetened drinks though:
Compared to those drinking no artificially sweetened drinks, those having 1 or more servings of artificially sweetened drinks a day were found to be at a 38 per cent increased risk of pre-term delivery. Consumption of 4 or more servings a day was associated with an increased risk of 78 per cent.
So-called ‘epidemiological’ studies of this nature cannot be used to conclude that artificially sweetened drinks cause pre-term delivery. However, as the authors of the study point out, length of gestation may be affected by exposure to methanol [2,3]. Methanol is a known nerve toxin, which can be metabolised in the body to form formic acid (another never toxin), as well as formaldehyde (which is what is used to preserve dead bodies). It’s also a constituent of aspartame (the most ubiquitous artificial sweetener).
It’s unlikely that we’ll ever know if artificial sweeteners worsen pregnancy outcomes. However, given their ability for a myriad of toxic effects within the body, my advice would be to avoid them like the plague (pregnant or not).
References:
1. Halldorsson TI, et al. Intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks and risk of preterm delivery: a prospective cohort study of 59,334 Danish pregnant women. Am J Clin Nutr 30 June 2010 [epub ahead of print]
2. Burbacher TM, et al. Chronic maternal methanol inhalation in nonhuman primates (Macaca fascicularis): reproductive performance and birth outcome. Neurotoxicol Teratol 2004;26:639-50
3. Trocho C, et al. Formaldehyde derived from dietary aspartame binds to tissue components in vivo. Life Sci 1998;63:337-49
Pesticides In Kids Linked To ADHD
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Researches Advice – Buy Organic And Wash Produce
Exposure to pesticides used on common kid-friendly foods — including frozen blueberries, fresh strawberries and celery — appears to boost the chances that children will be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, new research shows.
Youngsters with high levels of pesticide residue in their urine, particularly from widely used types of insecticide such as malathion, were more likely to have ADHD, the behavior disorder that often disrupts school and social life, scientists in the United States and Canada found.
Kids with higher-than-average levels of one pesticide marker were nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD as children who showed no traces of the poison.
“I think it’s fairly significant. A doubling is a strong effect,” said Maryse F. Bouchard, a researcher at the University of Montreal in Quebec and lead author of the study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
The take-home message for parents, according to Bouchard: “I would say buy organic as much as possible,” she said. “I would also recommend washing fruits and vegetables as much as possible.”
Diet is a major source of pesticide exposure in children, according to the National Academy of Sciences, and much of that exposure comes from favorite fruits and vegetables. In 2008, detectable concentrations of malathion were found in 28 percent of frozen blueberry samples, 25 percent of fresh strawberry samples and 19 percent of celery samples, a government report found.
ADHD affects 4.5 million U.S. kids
Bouchard’s study is the largest to date to look at the effect of pesticides on child development and behavior, including ADHD, which affects an estimated 4.5 million U.S. children. About 2.5 million kids take medication for the condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Bouchard and her colleagues measured levels of six pesticide metabolites in the urine of 1,139 children ages 8 to 15 selected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2000 and 2004. The study included 119 children who were diagnosed with ADHD.
Unlike other studies of pesticides’ impact, Bouchard’s sample provided a glimpse into average insecticide exposure in the general population of children, not a specialized group, such as children of farmworkers. Because certain pesticides leave the body after three to six days, the presence of residue shows that exposure is likely constant, Bouchard said.
She found that kids with a 10-fold increase in the kind of metabolites left in the body after malathion exposure were 55 percent more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD. Because the researchers didn’t review the kids’ diets, they couldn’t say why some children had such high levels of pesticide residue. Children are at greater risk from pesticides because their young bodies are still developing and may not metabolize chemicals as well as adults’.
The most alarming finding was a near-doubling in odds of ADHD diagnoses among kids with higher-than-average levels of the most common of the six metabolites detected. Kids with high levels of dimethyl thiophosphate were 93 percent more likely to have the disorder than children with with undetectable levels of the marker.
The research may add to anxiety about ADHD, which has no known cause, said Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York.
“It does seem to suggest that at non-extreme or more typical levels, there does seem to be some increased risk,” said Adesman, who is on the professional advisory board for Children and Adults with ADHD, an advocacy group.
Pesticides prey on nervous system
Boucher studied organophosphate pesticides, which account for as much as 70 percent of the pesticide use in the U.S. They work by interfering with the nervous systems of insects, but have a similar effect in mammals, including humans. Most people in the U.S. have residues of the products in their urine.
Cheminova, the Danish firm that is the leading manufacturer of malathion in the world, declined to comment on the conclusions of the new research. Diane Allemang, vice president for global regulatory affairs, said she hadn’t seen the study.
Parents of children with ADHD, however, said Bouchard’s work will give them one more thing to worry about.
“We’re all completely obsessed with food,” said Jamie Norman, 32, of Freeburg, Ill., whose 6-year-old son, Aidan, was diagnosed with ADHD six months ago.
The stimulant medication Aidan takes, Adderall XR, depresses his appetite, so Norman said she’s always trying to find good foods that he’ll want to eat. Other parents of kids with ADHD choose to use diet, not medication, to control the disorder and they’re constantly monitoring food, too.
News that some of the best foods for kids might be tainted with something linked to ADHD is worrisome, Norman said.
“I’ve known for some time that strawberries, in particular, contain high levels of pesticide, but as far as frozen fruit, I don’t give that a second thought,” she said.
Buy organic, make sure to wash
The best advice for parents — and anyone who wants to avoid pesticides — is to choose foods least likely to contain them. The Environmental Working Group, a consumer advocacy organization, advises shoppers to buy organic versions of a dozen fruits and vegetables that grow in the ground or are commonly eaten with the skin, because they’re most likely to be contaminated.
Make sure to wash all fruits and vegetables under cold running tap water and scrub firm-skinned produce with a brush. Be sure to rinse frozen fruits and vegetables, too.
But don’t wash produce with soap. The Food and Drug Administration says that could leave behind residues of detergent, yet more chemicals that everyone would do best to avoid.
Stats Just In – Mums How Old Are We?
STATS JUST IN Mums how old are we?
According to the office of National Statistics 690,000 babies were born in the UK in 2007. Here is the age-group breakdown
Under 20 = 7%
20 – 24 = 18%
25-29 = 26%
30-34 = 27%
35-39 = 16%
40-44 = 4%
45+ = 2%
5 Things You Should Know About Sterilising
5 things you should know about sterilising!
- It’s important to keep sterilising all your baby’s bottles, soothers and feeding equipment until at least 12 months of age. Stale milk is a particularly ripe breeding ground for bacteria and your baby will only just have started producing antibodies so is therefore still very vulnerable to infection.
- Always refer to the manufacturers guidelines to ensure the product is safe for sterilising otherwise it could be damaged when exposed to high temperatures involved in sterilising (soft soothers be warned!)
- Before you start to sterilise each time, be careful to wash all your baby’s bottles, teats, utensils etc in hot soapy water and then rinse well with hot water
- There are several ways of sterilising your baby’s equipment. Electronic steamers, microwave sterilisers, cold water sterilisation using special tablets and of course the good old fashioned boiling in a pan for 10 minutes (for just in case your on holiday and have forgotten the electric lead to the base of the steriliser).
- After your baby is 12 months, your safe to put her bowls and bottles in a hot cycle in the dishwasher instead of sterilising. The cycle should be above 80*c to ensure the products come out clean enough for your baby’s developing immune system (don’t forget to keep your dishwasher clean as per recommended by the manufacturer).
I’m worried about developing pre-eclampsia. What symptoms should I look out for?
Q I’m worried about developing pre-eclampsia. What symptoms should I look out for?
A Pre-eclampsia is a kind of hypertensive (high blood pressure) disorder found only in pregnancy. The causes are unknown, but there are several warning signs – high blood pressure reading (which is why your midwife or doctor takes your blood pressure regularly during pregnancy), presence of protein in your urine (known as proteinuria and tested each time hence you giving a sample upon each visit), in severe cases women can experienced visual disturbances (seeing flashes). Sensitivity to light, headaches, pain across the top of the uterus and occasional vomiting and the “not feeling well.”
If untreated it can lead to eclampsia, which is a serious and potentially fatal condition.
Be assured that as long as you attend all your antenatal checks you should be fine as you are continually monitored for this.
In mild cases of pre-eclampsia you will attend the hospital for monitoring by the antenatal day unit and you will have your blood pressure, urine and blood taken to asses the severity. Most women don’t go onto have the serious complications; all that is required is close monitoring. Symptoms usually improve enough to allow the pregnancy to continue naturally but in very severe cases your labour may be induced or the baby delivered by caesarean section. Once the baby is born the pre-eclampsia disappears.