Saturday, January 24, 2009

This Week in Science

1. Growing Years Cut Short For Toddlers From Poor Families

Continuous poverty during toddler years can curb the height of children by the time they reach kindergarten, even in industrialized countries, according to new research from the Université de Montréal. Regardless of hereditary factors such as maternal height and education level, according to the finding published in the Journal of Epidemiology Community Health, children from poor families are more likely to be shorter than their peers.

N Z Ehounoux, M-V Zunzunegui, L Séguin, B Nikiema, and L Gauvin. Duration of lack of money for basic needs and growth delay in the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development birth cohort. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 2009; 63 (1): 45 DOI: 10.1136/jech.2007.072157


2. Breastfeeding May Prevent Breast Cancer
 Dr. Michael Lisanti and colleagues at Thomas Jefferson University found that extended lactation protects again mammary tumor development.
Sotgia F, Casimiro MC, Bonuccelli G, Liu M, Menezes DW, Er O, Daumer KM, Mercier I, Witkiewicz AK, Minetti C, Capozza F, Gormley M, Quong AA, Rui H, Frank PG, Milliman JN, Knudsen ES, Zhou J, Wang C, Pestell RG, Lisanti MP. Loss of Caveolin-3 Induces a Lactogenic Microenvironment that is Protective Against Mammary Tumor Formation. Am J Pathol, 2009, 174: 613-629


3. School-based Physical Activity Has Benefits Even If It Doesn't Help Lose Weight


School-based health and exercise programs have positive outcomes despite having little effect on children's weight or the amount of exercise they do outside of school, say Cochrane Researchers who carried out a systematic review of studies on physical activity programs in schools.
Dobbins M, De Corby K, Robeson P, Husson H, Tirilis D. School-based physical activity programs for promoting physical activity and fitness in children and adolescents aged 6-18. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2009, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD007651 DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007651





 

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1 comment:

Cathy said...

I've read some of your previous posts on MSPI - I guess quite "previous" for your family! My son is almost 10 months old and I've gotten the feeling that people don't believe me when I say that I can't eat legumes (he gets some solid food each day now, but is mostly still breastfed). He, too, had a reaction to the supposedly soy and milk free rice cereals (he can eat rice, however - I make my own cereal from rice flour). I'm wondering if your child was able to eat peas and at what age. Also, what was your child's age when she had legumes herself? When your wife had them? I am so desperate for "company." I go to many play groups and no one has this experience which leaves me feeling pretty isolated. My husband keeps a blog for our son - would you mind posting a comment answering any of this on our blog? The address is "zacmeister.blogspot.com." Thank you!