Re: Poor diet in early pregnancy damages the brain of babies

[Guest guest]

Do they even think about us and know how much we worry anyway even without

studies like this? Kate

>

> Poor diet in early pregnancy damages the brain of babies

> Poor eating habits or dieting during early pregnancy could damage the

intelligence of your baby, new research suggests.

>

>

> Researchers found that a low calorie diet affected brain development which

could lower IQ and also lead to behavioural problems later in life.

>

> The team at the University of Texas found decreased formation of cell-to-cell

connections, cell division and amounts of growth factors in the foetuses of

mothers fed a reduced diet during the first half of pregnancy.

>

> " This is a critical time window when many of the neurons as well as the

supporting cells in the brain are born, " said Dr ielsz.

>

> The team compared two groups of baboon mothers, but believe the findings are

relevant for humans.

>

> One group ate as much as they wanted during the first half of pregnancy while

the other group was fed 30 per cent less, a level of nutrition similar to what

many prospective mothers experience, especially if they have morning sickness.

>

>

> They found the low calorie diet caused restrictions in the growth of hundreds

of neurons and affected hundreds of genes.

>

> It is known that marked nutrient restriction, such as in famine conditions,

adversely affects development of the fetal brain.

>

> Its effect is worse in teenage mothers †" who are still growing †" and older

mothers who are less efficient at supplying nutrients to their babies.

>

> Dr Mc, the co-author, said: " This study is a further

demonstration of the importance of good maternal health and diet.

>

> " It supports the view that poor diets in pregnancy can alter development of

fetal organs, in this case the brain, in ways that will have lifetime effects on

offspring, potentially lowering IQ and predisposing to behavioural problems. "

>

> The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences.

>

[Guest guest]

The way I look at it is if we find out after we have our babies and nobody knew

before you can't feel guilty about it -how would we ever have known? Other than

it's logical you shouldn't diet while pregnant. I believe this study mainly

focused on low fat diets or pregnant women who tried to watch what they ate too

much while pregnant and not getting enough essential nutrients to the baby.

What they did leave out however is that that type of activity isn't only going

to hurt the baby, but the mom as well because the human body when pregnant will

pull what it can from the mother's stores if she doesn't consume enough for the

growing baby inside her. So I'd say part two of this is how poor dieting or

dieting in general when pregnant can also damage the pregnant mother's health as

well. It's already researched by Dr. Joe Hibblen that lacking essential fatty

acids will be pulled from the mother's stores and that is one of the beliefs of

reasons for postpartum depression and even just forgetfulness after having a

baby. The brain is mainly comprised of the essential fats and when growing a

human brain inside of you if you don't consume enough of this essential nutrient

(essential again means you can't produce it and need to consume it) that baby's

body will pull it from Mom. So the saying " I'm losing my mind " may not be far

from the truth if you don't eat well!

Seafood consumption, the DHA content of mothers' milk and prevalence rates of

postpartum depression: a cross-national, ecological analysis.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12103448

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