Folic acid may help regulate immune response to allergens, and may reduce allergy and asthma symptoms. – Folic acid, or vitamin B9, essential for red blood cell health and long known to reduce the risk of spinal birth defects, may also suppress allergic reactions and lessen the severity of allergy and asthma symptoms, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
On World Malaria Day, UNICEF highlights successes but calls for greater effort. – Progress has been made in combating malaria, particularly in Africa where the disease is most prevalent, but more must be done to address the global scourge, UNICEF said, as it released a new joint report on the eve of World Malaria Day.
Prenatal meth exposure linked to abnormal brain development. – A first of its kind study examining the effects of methamphetamine use during pregnancy has found the drug appears to cause abnormal brain development in children.
Exposure to epilepsy medicine valproate during pregnancy can impair a child’s cognitive development and IQ. – Three-year-olds whose mothers took the antiepileptic drug valproate during pregnancy had average IQs six to nine points lower than children exposed to three other antiepileptic drugs, a landmark multi-center study has found.
Amalgamated Produce, Inc. Recalls Sprouts in the North Eastern United States Because of Possible Health Risk – Amalgamated Produce, Inc. (API), Bridgeport, CT, announced a voluntary recall of its Specialty Farms, Vermont Sprout House, Nature’s Promise and BroccoSprouts (noted as distributed by API, Bridgeport, CT) sprout items with sell by date codes of March_31 through April_27, 2009.
Babies born to women with anxiety or depression are more likely to sleep poorly – Babies are more likely to have night wakings at both 6 months and 12 months of age if they are born to women who suffered from anxiety or depression prior to the pregnancy.
Pregnant women who smoke, urged to give up before 15-week ‘deadline’. Spontaneous preterm birth and small for gestational age infants in women who cease smoking in early pregnancy: A prospective cohort study. – Women who stop smoking before week 15 of pregnancy cut their risk of spontaneous premature birth and having small babies to the same as non-smokers, according to research published on bmj.com today.
Low levels of vitamin B12 may increase risk for neural tube defects; Vegans, vegetarians may be at risk. – Children born to women who have low blood levels of vitamin B12 shortly before and after conception may have an increased risk of a neural tube defect, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, Trinity College Dublin, and the Health Research Board of Ireland.
Adverse perinatal pregnancy outcomes is higher in public hospitals than in private hospitals, revealed by Australian researchers. – For women delivering a single baby at term in Australia, the prevalence of adverse perinatal outcomes is higher in public hospitals than in private hospitals.
Naomi Campbell opens Breakthrough Breast Cancer research unit which aims to find treatments for aggressive type of breast cancer – Supermodel Naomi Campbell opened Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s new London research unit dedicated to finding treatments for an aggressive type of breast cancer.
Home pregnancy tests can lead to better prenatal care, revealed by researchers. – The simple intervention of providing women who are having unprotected sex with a home pregnancy test could have a substantial impact on the health of potential newborns, according to a Michigan State University study.
Study finds pregnancy has no impact on breast cancer survival, delays treatment, diagnosis. Researchers encourage close evaluation of breast changes during pregnancy without delay. – Young women who develop breast cancer during their pregnancy, or who are diagnosed within one year of their pregnancy, have no difference in rates of local recurrence, distant metastases and overall survival compared to other young women with the disease, according to researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
