Study Finds Connection Between Prenatal Exposure To BPA And Aggression During Toddler Years

(NaturalNews by Jonathan Benson, staff writer) Researchers from the Harvard University School of Public Health have made a disturbing new discovery about the plastics chemical bisphenol-A (BPA). It turns out that prenatal BPA exposure can spur aggressive and undesirable behaviors in girls after they are born and reach their toddler years.

Published in the journalPediatrics, the study analyzed a group of 244 mothers and their three-year-old daughters living in the Cincinnati, Oh., area. The study team gathered and studied gestational and childhood BPA exposures using urine samples from the mothers, and compared various exposure levels among the children to their respective behavioral profiles.

The team discovered that for each ten-fold increase in gestational BPA exposure levels, young girls exhibited significantly more indicators of anxiety and depression than their less- or non-exposed counterparts. Young girls exposed to high BPA levels were also more emotionally disturbed than the others and had a more difficult time controlling their inhibitions.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) jointly funded the study as part of an investigation into the safety of BPA.

"Parents should be concerned about these findings," says study author Joe Braun. "As the mothers concentration of BPA rose, the girls born to those mothers had higher scores on these behavior problem indices. If pregnant women or parents are concerned about exposure to BPA, they can try to reduce it by limiting their exposure to canned foods and packaged foods."

Although these particular findings were limited strictly to females, previous studies have found a similar connection between prenatal BPA exposure and poor behavior in both sexes. Back in 2009, a study published in the journalEnvironmental Health Perspectivesfound that BPA's endocrine-disrupting effects can harm both girls and boys.

Besides impairing proper neurological development, which is likely the reason for behavior problems later in life, prenatal BPA exposure was found to "masculinize" unborn females, and "feminize" unborn males. It appears, based on that study, that BPA actually blocks the proper growth and development of human sex hormones (http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gen...).

Both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the American Chemistry Council (ACC), however, continue to insist that BPA is safe, despite the plethora of scientific data showing that the chemical is harmful.

www.naturalnews.com

New Research – IVF Fertility Success with Electro-Acupuncture

(September 28, 2011)

A randomized placebo-controlled study of 309 women concludes that electro-acupuncture “significantly improved the clinical outcome of ET (embryo transfer).”¹ IVF (in vitro fertilization) live birth rates jumped from 21.2 percent for women who did not use acupuncture to a 42 percent success rate for women who received acupuncture twice. The women received acupuncture 24 hours before the IVF procedure and 30 minutes after IVF. In another control group, women who only received acupuncture once, 30 minutes after IVF, had an increased success rate of 37.3 percent.

IVF is a treatment for infertility. This involves controlling a woman’s ovulatory process with medications, removing the ova (eggs) from the body, fertilizing the ova with sperm outside of the human body and then implanting the fertilized ova (zygote) into the uterus. Acupuncture for the treatment of infertility has received a great deal of press because singers Mariah Carey and Celine Dion used acupuncture with success. Mariah Carey used acupuncture to balance her body after a miscarriage in 2008. Carey said she did not use IVF but used acupuncture for stress relief and hormone therapy to boost her fertility. Celine Dion used acupuncture to achieve success with her 6th attempt at IVF. Both singers gave birth to healthy twins.

References:
Fertility and Sterility. Volume 96, Issue 4, October 2011, Pages 912-916. Increase of success rate for women undergoing embryo transfer by transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation: a prospective randomized placebo-controlled study. Rong Zhang Ph.D., Xiao-Jun Feng B.S., Qun Guan B.S., Wei Cui M.S., Ying Zheng M.S., Wei Sun B.S., Ji-Sheng Han M.D.
Research Centers:
Neuroscience Research Institute and Department of Neurobiology, Peking University Health Science Center, Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Health, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Reproductive medical center, The second hospital affiliated to Shandong University of traditional Chinese medicine, Jinan, People's Republic of China.

www.healthcmi.com/index.php/acupuncturist-news-online

Why MSG Is Unhealthy

(NaturalNews by: Shona Botes) Monosodium Glutamate, or MSG as it is most commonly known as, is found in almost all convenience foods, fast foods and processed foods. It is used as a flavour enhancer in cheap, processed foods to make their taste more appealing. While making bland foods taste more appealing, this chemically structured ingredient is shown to cause neurotransmitter damage and is also linked to the skyrocketing cases of obesity we see today.

MSG was discovered in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda, a Japanese scientist at the Tokyo Imperial University. He managed to isolate the flavour from a seaweed broth, and with the help of Ajinomoto Corporation of Japan, he patented it in 1909. It was then that it became available commercially for the first time. It is used in most restaurant cooking, especially in vegetarian dishes and low-protein foods.

MSG masquerades on food ingredient labels under many names: including glutamic acid, glutamate, autolyzed yeast, autolyzed yeast protein, yeast extract, textured protein, monopotassium glutamate, sodium caseinate, natrium glutamate, flavours, so-called `natural` flavours, hydrolyzed corn, yeast food and ultra-pasteurized and any enzyme-modified ingredients. Many manufacturers of medications use MSG as a filler ingredient in tablets and other medications.

Even personal care products like shampoos, soaps and cosmetics are not exempt from containing MSG. Look for ingredients that include the words `hydrolyzed,` `protein` and `amino acids.`

MSG has been known to cause an extreme rise or drop in blood pressure, arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat), depression, dizziness, anxiety or panic attacks, migraines, mental confusion, stiffness, muscular swelling, lethargy, seizures, joint pain, flu-like body aches, chest pains, loss of balance, slurred speech, diarrhoea, stomach cramps, sneezing, nausea, vomiting, skin rashes, hives, blurred vision and difficulty in concentrating.

MSG is a glutamic acid which stimulates brain cell activity. This is why it is also known as an excitotoxin. Glutamates are responsible for the signaling of nerve impulses in certain neurons. Tests done in the 1950s showed that when rats were given a single dose of MSG, it destroyed the neurons in the inner layer of their retinas. The hypothalamus of the brain was also severely damaged in the process. It has been shown that humans are up to six times more sensitive to the effects of MSG than rats.

Evidence has shown that MSG disrupts the endocrine system and reduces the thermogenicity of brown fat while also suppressing the intake of food. In other words, even if you were to significantly reduce your caloric intake in order to lose weight, consuming any food which contains MSG or any of its derivatives would actually cause you to gain weight instead.

MSG is definitely a food additive which should be avoided as much as possible, especially where children are concerned.

For further reading:

www.advancedhealthplan.com/msgstudy.html

http://nikas-culinaria.com...

www.resourcesforlife.com/docs/item1225

www.ourlittleplace.com/article13.html

www.ehow.com/about_5432119_health-risks-monosodium-glutamate.html

www.msgtruth.org/avoid.htm

www.naturalmedicine.com/news/hot-topic/what-food-products-have-msg/

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034031_MSG_health_effects.html#ixzz1d06CWbw9

Folic Acid Supplements During Pregnancy Help Prevent Language Delay In Children

Taking folic acid during pregnancy results in decreased risk of giving birth to a child with a serious language delay, a Norwegian study found.

"Maternal use of supplements containing folic acid within the period from four weeks before, to eight weeks after conception was associated with a substantially reduced risk of severe language delay in children at age 3 years," said researcher Christine Roth, a Ph.D. student in mental health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo.

The data came from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort study of nearly 39,000 children, conducted from 1999 through 2008, in which mothers assessed their child's language skills using a scale. Of the children, 204 had a severe language delay, and 0.9 percent of those whose mothers took no supplements had severe language delays. But just 0.4 percent of children whose mothers took folic acid supplements alone or in combination with other supplements had severe language delays.

Folic acid is already recommended during pregnancy due to its proven ability to prevent neural tube defects by helping nerve cells restore themselves. Roch said she suspects the nutrient acts in a similar way to prevent language delays, but that more research is needed.

"This is an interesting study showing an association with severe language delays, but I don't know that there's enough here to show causality," Dr. Deborah Campbell, the director of the division of neonatology at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, told HealthDay.

The study appeared in the Oct. 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

BPA Alters Development Of In Vitro Ova And Could Increase Risk Of Down Syndrome

Bisphenol A is omnipresent in the plastic of common products such as beverage bottles, cans or baby bottles

By Montserrat Garcia Caldes
Montserrat.garcia.caldes@uab.cat

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in collaboration with the Vall d'Hebron Hospital Fetal Tissue Bank, the Department of Gynaecology and the Research Unit of Paediatric Endocrinology, analysed the effects of Bisphenol A (BPA), a polymer widely used to manufacture plastics, in an in vitro culture of ovaries. The research demonstrated that exposure to this substance gravely altered the development of oocytes and future ova, possibly diminishing the fertility of a woman's offspring and at the same time increasing the risk of Down Syndrome in following generations.

The research, published in Human Reproduction, was carried out with a culture of 21,570 in vitro oocytes. Results demonstrated that exposure to Bisphenol A in concentration levels permitted by health authorities is harmful to the fetus. BPA reduces the number of oocytes (cells which develop into ova) and therefore can affect negatively a woman's fertility and double the risk of chromosome exchange during the cell division process. Specific observations of chromosome 21 in the development of 90 oocytes revealed that exposure to BPA could increase the risk of Down Syndrome in the future offspring of the fetus.

The research provides conclusive data for the debate on how BPA affects the health of individuals. Previous studies on mice and worms demonstrated that reproduction is affected and that exposure to BPA during gestation affects the viability and quality of the cells which later become ova developing in the fetus.

For the first time, human cells were used in a research to analyse the process of cell division of the oocytes - meiosis - in which chromosomes join and exchange material, i.e. meiotic recombination. Oocytes were cultured for 7, 14 or 21 days in different environments, with the presence of BPA and in control cultures without the substance. Data obtained in vitro with human cells was practically identical to that obtained with in vivo animal models, while the effects on meiotic recombination, which could lead to the appearance of Down Syndrome, in humans are even greater than those observed in mice.

"According to our results, BPA does not directly affect the fertility of pregnant women, but that of their daughters and granddaughters. It is a multigenerational effect", explains UAB professor Montserrat Garcia Caldés, director of the research. She goes on to say that "the increase in oocyte mortality in the fetus could diminish ovarian reserve numbers and the quality of the future mother's ova. At the same time, alterations in the recombination of chromosomes in the process of cell division increase the possibility of numerical alterations, such as monosomy (only copy of a chromosome in embryo cells) or trisomy (three copies)."

Concentration levels applied in the experiments were within the safety limits marked by European (EFSA) and US (EPA) authorities. The research therefore suggests that staying within legal limits does not imply that exposure to the substance is innocuous.

"We are exposed to BPA on a daily basis, mainly through oral exposure, since we can find it in lunch boxes,beverage bottles and food storage containers", Miguel Àngel Brieño-Enríquez reminds us. First author of the article, Brieño-Enríquez, from the University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, is now researcher at the UAB Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology. According to him, "although we generally metabolise the substance, pregnant women retain more fluids and the fetus could be affected by high concentration levels."

http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Environment/bpa_alters_development_of_in_vitro_ova_0922110715.html

Bad For Baby - Hazardous Hidden Chemicals Lurk In The Personal Care Products of Children

(NaturalNews by: Melissa Melton) Many parents these days are aware that spotlighting nutrition early in a baby's life can set the stage for lifelong health. A wide array of jarred baby foods at stores now come in organic options, and the word "natural" has been added to the packaging on many child products to stifle parental suspicions that what we buy for our little ones could be unhealthy for them. While nutrition becomes a prime focus for many parents, we rarely hear about what is lurking in the products used daily on their skin. Human skin is our largest organ and entrance to our bodies. Walk down the store aisle of any baby needs section, and there are tons of skin-related products -- baby bath, baby shampoo, baby wipes, baby lotion, diaper rash ointment, infant sunscreen -- and that is just for starters. These products are applied to our baby's skin multiple times every single day. So what is in them?

Mystery ingredient one:fragrance. Sounds harmless enough or even pleasant, right? Unfortunately, personal care companies use the word "fragrance" to describe a chemical cocktail of undisclosed dispersants such as diethyl phthalate (DEP). In high-dose exposures, DEP has presented as a mucous membrane irritant that can depress the immune system. In one study, liver tumors appeared in mice that had direct DEP skin contact daily for two years. Earlier this month, the Australian Department of Health and Ageing called for a consultation process regarding the health risks of DEP.

Mystery ingredient two:DMDM hydantoin. This chemical is known by at least 15 other label synonyms such as dimethylol and hydroxymethyl. According to the Environmental Working Group, DMDM hydantoin is an antimicrobial formaldehyde releaser and immune system intoxicant. Formaldehyde, a widely used gas most often recognized as an embalming agent, is a known carcinogen.

Mystery ingredient three: retinyl palmitate, otherwise known as vitamin A retinol and palmitic acid. Anything with "vitamin" in the name must be healthy by default, right? Wrong. When this concoction is exposed to UV rays, it breaks down, causing a toxic release of free radicals in the body which can damage DNA and lead to cancer. The Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances has published over 25 studies confirming retinyl palmitate's hazardous effects. A recent 2010 study by the National Toxicology Program found an increase in the development of skin tumors and lesions when retinyl palmitate is applied in the presence of sunlight. Ironically, this ingredient is commonly found in most commercially available sunscreens.

Mystery ingredient four: methylparaben. Studies have shown this low-cost preservative and commonly used food additive mimics estrogen in the body, negatively impacting reproductive glands.Reproductive Toxicologyreported a link between methylparaben and decreased sperm production in January 2009. In addition, a 2006 study showed that when methylparaben was applied to skin cells that were later exposed to sunlight, these cells died.

This short list shows just four of the ingredients commonly found in baby skin care products including wipes, soaps, diaper rash ointments, and sunscreens. The prevalence of known harmful ingredients in products used on the tiniest members of our race is mind-blowing. The human skin is an organ that allows easy access to the body just like the mouth, nose, and eyes. While parents are more aware of digestible nutrition via food, we also need to be aware of chemicals ingested through skin care products and their scientifically proven impact on the growing body.

[Editor`s Note: NaturalNews is strongly against the use of all forms of animal testing. We fully support implementation of humane medical experimentation that promotes the health and wellbeing of all living creatures.]

Sources

www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tf.asp?id=602&tid=112

www.environmentwriter.org/resources/backissues/chemicals/diethyl_phthalate.htm

www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/702196/DMDM_HYDANTOIN/#

www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/705545/RETINYL_PALMITATE_%28VITAMIN_A_PALMITATE%29/#

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890623808002682

http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/about_ntp/trpanel/2011/january/drafttr568.pdf

www.naturalnews.com/032996_sunscreen_cancer_risk.html

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/.......

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/033775_toxic_chemicals_children.html#ixzz1aUSQlHSf

Typical North American Diet Is Deficient In Omega-3 Fatty Acids

ScienceDaily (Mar. 11, 2008) — New research from the Child & Family Research Institute shows the typical North American diet of eating lots of meat and not much fish is deficient in omega-3 fatty acids and this may pose a risk to infant neurological development. Omega-3 fatty acids are unsaturated fats found in some fish such as salmon and herring and in smaller amounts in eggs and chicken. This discovery is an important step towards developing dietary fat guidelines for pregnant and breastfeeding women. Current dietary recommendations evolved from the 1950's emphasis on reducing saturated fat intake to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.

"Omega 3 fatty acids are important for the baby's developing eyes and brain," says Dr. Sheila Innis, the study's principal investigator, head of the nutrition and metabolism program at the Child & Family Research Institute at BC Children's Hospital, and professor, department of pediatrics, University of British Columbia.

"During pregnancy and breastfeeding, fat consumed by the mum is transferred to the developing baby and breastfed infant, and this fat is important for the baby's developing organs. Our next task is to find out why the typical North American diet puts mothers at risk. Then we can develop dietary recommendations to help women consume a nutritious diet that promotes optimal health for mums and babies."

The researchers found that the women who ate lots of meat and little fish were deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, and their babies didn't do as well on eye tests as babies from mothers who weren't deficient. The results were noticeable as early as two months of age. The study is ongoing as the researchers intend to follow the children's development until four years of age.

For the study, the researchers recruited 135 pregnant women and randomly assigned them to either a group that took an omega-3 fatty acid supplement or one that took a placebo. All the women continued eating their regular diets. The supplement added the equivalent of two fatty fish meals per week, an amount that the researchers estimated would prevent deficiency. The researchers tested the women's blood samples at 16 and 36 weeks of pregnancy and measured the amount of DHA (docasohexaenoic acid), a type of omega-3 fatty acids that's known to be important for brain and eye function.

After the babies were born, the researchers did vision tests to evaluate the infants' ability to distinguish lines of different widths. It's an innovative way of evaluating neurological maturity in babies who are unable to talk. Since the eyes are connected to the brain, they reflect the brains development.

The aim of this study was to contribute to a growing body of knowledge that focuses on the dietary needs of pregnant and breastfeeding women. More research is needed to identify recommended daily amounts of omega-3 fatty acids.

"For better health, it's important for pregnant and nursing mums -- and all of us -- to eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, eggs, and fish while minimizing consumption of processed and prepared foods." says Dr. Innis.

The study is published March 7th, 2008 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Martek Biosciences Corp. provided the supplements.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Child & Family Research Institute, Via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS