Betsy's Article Library
Please note that these are excerpts from newsletter articles and that the information contained on these documents is not intended as medical advice, but is solely for education purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, prescribe, and does not replace the services of a trained physician. It is assumed that the reader will consult a medical or health professional if you know or suspect that you have a serious health problem.
Happier moms New mothers who breastfeed, and pregnant women who have adequate blood levels of zinc, have less depression, inflammation, and stress, according to two new studies. In the zinc study, published in the journal Pharmacological Reports, researchers followed about 60 pregnant women, each of whom took a daily standard-dose multivitamin, plus magnesium and zinc, through childbirth. One month prior to giving birth, doctors measured blood-fluid (serum) levels of nutrients and administered a depression questionnaire and found that women with mild symptoms of depression also had low serum levels of zinc. Scientists repeated the nutrition and depression tests at three days and 30 days after birth, and found that depression symptoms decreased 31% and serum zinc levels increased 19% between the third and 30th days. Doctors noted that zinc levels were equally low one month before birth and three days after birth, while magnesium levels did not change significantly at any time during the study. Scientists are developing a new field of study—psychoneuroimmunology, or PNI—which examines how the brain interacts with the hormone, immune, and nervous systems to maintain health. In a new review of PNI research, doctors found a connection between depression and inflammation. "The old paradigm described inflammation as simply one of many risk factors for depression," stated lead researcher Kathleen A. Kendall-Tackett. "These recent studies… [indicate] inflammation is not simply a risk factor; it is the risk factor that underlies all the others," the doctor said. Women in the last three months (trimester) of pregnancy are particularly vulnerable to inflammation, when white blood cells—part of the immune system—produce greater amounts of an inflammatory protein called a cytokine. This is also a high-risk time for depression, according to Dr. Kendall-Tackett, who advises new mothers to exercise, which lowers stress; to breastfeed, which reduces cytokines; and to take omega-3 fatty acids, which reduce inflammation. Reference: International Breastfeeding Journal; 2007, Vol. 2, No.1, 6. 
Protecting new moms and babies Undernourished pregnant women who took a multivitamin-mineral supplement (MVM) gave birth to healthier babies compared to women who did not take a MVM, in a new study. Researchers from Delhi, India, recruited 200 pregnant, undernourished women with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18.5 and/or a blood-iron (hemoglobin) level of 7 to 9 grams per deciliter of blood. BMI measures weight adjusted for height, with the healthy range being 18.5 to 24.9. Women normally have hemoglobin levels of 12 to 16 grams per deciliter. The women were 24 to 32 weeks pregnant at the start of the study, and all 200 began taking a basic regimen of 60 mg of iron (ferrous sulfate) and 500 mcg of folic acid per day. Doctors divided the women into two groups, with 99 women taking a MVM and 101 taking a calcium placebo. The MVM contained 29 micronutrients, including the 15 recommended by the World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund. Doctors followed 170 newborns for one week after birth and found that, compared to placebo, infants born to mothers in the MVM group weighed an average of 3.5 ounces more, were nearly one-third inch longer, and measured nearly one-tenth of an inch larger around the mid-arm. Researchers recorded low birth weight (LBW) in 16.2% of the MVM group versus 43.1% for placebo, and recorded disease in 14.8% of MVM babies versus 28% for placebo. The benefits of MVMs may be understated in the study because all women—including those in the placebo group—took iron and folic acid. Doctors concluded that MVMs may reduce the number of LBW babies, and significantly reduced illness in the first week of life. Reference: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine; 2007, Vol. 161, 58-64.
Healthier pregnancy Women who took multivitamins before and during early pregnancy were less likely to have high blood pressure, swelling from excess lymph fluids, and kidney damage, together a set of pregnancy symptoms known as preeclampsia. Over the course of 15 years, researchers from the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, enrolled 1,835 women—all of whom were less than 16 weeks pregnant at the time—in the Pregnancy Exposures and Preeclampsia Prevention Study. Researchers determined whether the women had used multivitamins or prenatal vitamins within the six months prior to enrolling in the study, and found that those who had taken vitamins were 45% less likely to have preeclampsia compared to those who had not taken vitamins. The scientists adjusted for factors including race, ethnicity, income, marital status, the number of times a woman had given birth (parity), physical activity before pregnancy, and weight, and found that women who were overweight before pregnancy did not benefit from taking multivitamins. Researchers removed the overweight women from the statistics and found that non-overweight (lean) women who took vitamins were 71% less likely to develop preeclampsia than lean women who did not. The doctors reviewed the diets of the women, and found that those who ate fewer fruits and vegetables tended to be overweight, a finding that supported the conclusions of the study. Preeclampsia occurs only in pregnancy and symptoms include blood pressure of at least 140/90, protein in the urine—which indicates kidney damage—and swelling in the feet, hands, and face, as excess lymph fluid builds up in the body. The doctors concluded that taking multivitamins before and at the time of conception (periconception) may help prevent preeclampsia, particularly in lean women. Reference: American Journal of Epidemiology; 2006, Vol. 164, No. 5, 470-7. The articles on Betsy's website are reprinted courtesy of Retail Insights, Inc. Copyright 2007. |
