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Want The Best For Your Newborn?

31 Dec

Research Shows Breastfeeding Creates Bigger Brains – Why What Your Baby Eats For The First 1,000 Days Is So Important!

 

Doctors, researchers, and parents have always wanted to know how much nutrition in early life affects adults later in life.  Can adults overcome poor nutrition in the first few months or years of life or are there consequences to starting off life eating sub-optimal food? Both epidemiological and animal studies have shown the risk of metabolic syndrome is significantly increased after exposure to suboptimum nutrition during crucial periods of development.  Metabolic syndrome is the name for a group of risk factors that raises your risk for heart disease and other health problems, such as diabetes and stroke.

What about IQ?  According to an article published in Neuroimage (May 28, 2013), “The prevailing consensus from large epidemiological studies posits that early exclusive breastfeeding is associated with improved measures of IQ and cognitive functioning in later childhood and adolescence. Prior morphometric brain imaging studies support these findings, revealing increased white matter and sub-cortical gray matter volume, and parietal lobe cortical thickness, associated with IQ in adolescents who were breastfed as infants compared to those who were exclusively formula-fed.”  

In other words, a majority of researchers believe (based on studies) that breastfed babies have higher IQs than babies who were given formula.  A new study from Brown University has found more evidence to the superiority of breastfeeding over formula. The study used MRIs to look at the brain growth in a sample of children under the age of four. The research found that by age two, babies who had been breastfed exclusively for at least three months had enhanced development in key parts of the brain compared to children who were fed formula exclusively or who were fed a combination of formula and breast milk. The research showed the extra growth was most pronounced in parts of the brain associated with language, emotional function, and cognition.

“We’re finding the difference [in white matter growth] is on the order of 20 to 30 percent, comparing the breastfed and the non-breastfed kids,” said the study’s lead researcher, Sean Dioni. PhD. “I think it’s astounding that you could have that much difference so early.”  

With everything researchers and doctors now know, breastfeeding is the clear choice if you want the best for your child both now and as an adult.

 

Reduce Obesity with the 5 Meal Pattern.

17 Dec

New research from Finland has added even more evidence to what a lot of doctors, nutritionists, and fitness experts have known for a long time.  According to a population-based study of more than 4,000 people, eating five meals a day helps fight obesity, even in those with a genetic predisposition for obesity.  The meals were  breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks.  The information use in the study was collected starting in utero and continued until the age of 16.

According to Science Daily: “A regular five-meal pattern was associated with a reduced risk of being overweight and obese in both sexes and with a reduced risk of abdominal obesity in boys.  Moreover, the regular five-meal pattern attenuated the BMI-increasing effect of the common genetic variants.  Conversely, skipping breakfast was associated with greater BMI and waist circumference.”

Also, the weight and health of a child’s parents matters a lot.  If either the mother or father is obese before pregnancy, it was a clear risk factor for the child to be obese during adolescence. If both parents had a BMI of 25 or more throughout the 16 years of the study, the risk of obesity of the child was much greater.

BMI is Body Mass Index and is a measure of body fat based on height and weight.  “Normal” BMI is 18.5 to 24.9, underweight is <18.5, overweight is 25 to 29.9, and obese is >30.  There has been quite a bit of controversy over the use of BMI because it may overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have muscular builds and it may underestimate body fat in older persons and others who have lost muscle mass.

What Mothers do that Increases the Rate of Bipolar Disorder in Their Children…

Smoking during pregnancy is known to contribute to significant problems in utero and following birth, including low birth weight and attention difficulties.  Now, a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry finds, “After adjusting for potential confounders, offspring exposed to in utero maternal smoking exhibited a twofold greater risk for bipolar disorder… Prenatal tobacco exposure may be one suspected cause of bipolar disorder.”  Like almost all studies, the researchers report that more research needs to be done to rule out other factors.  But, no one needs more research to know that smoking is bad for you and your children both before and after they are born.

Remember, we’re always here to help your body heal and maintain the pain free body you deserve.

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