I've signed up for a spring clean!

So school’s in, the workers are back at their desks, so who’s feeling fit and ready to face the year? Not you? Not me either - but I reckon I’ve got the solution. Now the festivities and the holiday excesses are done for the year, it’s time to make amends for the extra food and alcoholic beverage, the sleep-in instead of the gym and those unhealthy snacks while engrossed in the tennis or the cricket! DETOX. Yes, I know, the thought of starvation and privation isn’t high on your agenda when you’re flat out coping with the school run and long days in the office when the beach still beckons, but this detox is going to leave you feeling absolutely awesome. Check out the brand new “Get Clean, Get Lean” from the professional who makes detox a pleasure not a pain. This will leave you jumping out of your skin. I’m doing it too - so let’s have your feedback! You'll be getting mine...

You say ... "a cot!"

The invitation to the baby shower began...

A Gift for Baby...

X and Y have got the lot 

The only thing left to buy is a cot ... 

and continued in rhyming fashion until

A comfortable and cozy bed

For Bubba Z to rest it's head.

I couldn't resist a reply in kind

You say a cot ...

but maybe not?

The family bed

is good instead!

For night time feeds 

and night time needs.

Stay horizontal, warm & snug -

the nursery option is a dud!

Mum least disturbed,

Bub least distressed.

Don’t leave your bed -

just bare the breast. 

A side-car so she will not fall

or mattresses placed wall to wall.

It’s easy, best ... what more to say?

Ignore the doubters who say nay! 

The world has always slept this way ...

and she WILL leave your bed one day! 

AND long before she goes to University - that’s a promise :)

Epigenetics - there's more to the weight story than DNA

Last week I followed the comments (that ran to several hundred) posted by the readers of The Sydney Morning Herald in response to the research that I mentioned January 19. Many of them were finger-pointing, there were accusations of sloth and gluttony, amongst many more balanced and reasonable. Clearly weight management is an extremely emotive issue, but it’s also a very complex one. Hormones, toxicity, and stress are contributing factors along with the more obvious issues of a sedentary lifestyle and over-supply of under-nutrition. But it’s the epigenetic effects that are really emerging as key factors - with new evidence indicating that the current epidemic of childhood obesity, is in part linked to the high fat diet of the father-to-be. 

So I’ll get on my soapbox again - ‘epigenetics’ literally means beyond genetics and it’s exciting research! About 20 years old and exploding, it has turned conventional genetic ‘wisdom’ on its head. It simply means we can no longer hold our DNA entirely responsible for our weight issues or our heart disease or our diabetes or whatever. We might have a genetic tendency to these or other conditions, but there is additional imprinting that can be both negative or positive, and there are triggers that can switch a genetic variation off or on. 

What preconception care endeavours to do is to remove any of those negative triggers and ensure that the positive ones only (and that includes positive mental and emotional effects) are the ones that will ensure the healthiest possible egg and sperm and the healthiest possible environment for the developing embryo and in that, the opportunity for the child (and grandchild and beyond) to enjoy optimal physical and mental health! As some wit said - wait until you've had your children to eat, drink and be merry!

Heart disease, diabetes ... where does it all begin?

Today Paul Zimmet in the Sydney Morning Herald quite rightly asks if we actually have the right strategies to address the obesity epidemic, which is a major driver of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. BUT ‘Preventing heart disease and Type 2 diabetes needs to begin before a baby is even conceived. Research has found low birth-weight babies to be at increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, high blood pressure and osteoporosis.’ David Barker, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Southampton's Developmental Origins of Health and Disease research centre (DOHaD) and Professor in the Department of Medicine at Oregon Health and Science University, leaves us in no doubt about the importance of preconception healthcare. Barker was awarded a CBE in the UK 2006 New Year's Honours list in recognition of his pioneering medical research work on the links between low birth weight and the later development of disease. Optimisation of nutritional status and complete avoidance of any potential toxicity by both partners for at least 4 months prior to conception is the only certain way to reduce the toll of epigenetic/trans-generational effects of poor diet, unhealthy lifestyle and toxic environment. There's always much talk and finger-pointing about the lack of responsibility shown by the obese. There's no doubt that responsibility is the name of the game, however the primary responsibility rests with prospective parents.

Tinkering with Nature...

Tinkering with nature

After years of banding penguins to study their habits (and using them as telltale indicators of climate change) new evidence shows that banding significantly affects penguin swimming and breeding ability. Studies of banded and unbanded birds carried out over a period of 10 years demonstrated that banded birds were 16 per cent likelier to die than non-banded birds, and had 39 per cent fewer chicks. 

Should we be surprised? Not really, but we continue to tinker... and in our arrogance (sorry, our ignorance no longer cuts it as an excuse) assume that no harm will result.

Tinkering with fertility - inability to conceive simply Nature’s fail safe mechanism for ensuring that less than optimally healthy folk don’t reproduce - is a good example of that arrogance. While some infertile couples have physical barriers to conception, many more need to make serious improvements to their physical, mental and emotional health rather than rushing for the ART solution.  

How long will it take before we realise that in many instances ART simply creates more problems than it solves?  Years ago - banding penguins was advised against on ethical grounds, with those concerns glibly brushed aside. Is anybody listening to the ethicists who question the assisted reproductive industry? Maybe they’ll eventually have their day in the sun but what’s the human cost in the interim?

Sperm not up to the job?

We know that sperm are very susceptible to damage! Taking up to four months to form, they're adversely affected by a host of dietary, lifestyle and environmental factors. Alcohol, cigarettes, exposure to chemicals and heavy metals, heat, tight underpants and nutritional deficits are all well documented to compromise sperm health. The good news is - remove all the bad guys during that four month period and add all the factors that are known to improve sperm health and voila - much healthier and more robust little swimmers. But now, a study from the Queen's Medical Research Institute in Edinburgh gives men with poor quality sperm something else to think about. Richard Sharpe, a fertility researcher at the Institute has demonstrated that male sperm production could be more affected by the lifestyle choices that his mother made when he was in the womb than by his own. 

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''There is growing evidence that prenatal exposures of males - which are reflective of maternal lifestyle and exposures - can have a major impact on capacity to produce sperm in adulthood,'' Sharpe said.

I've got this thought to add - women taking the oral contraceptive pill right up to the time of conception expose the developing embryo to a zinc-deficient environment. Because of testicular tissue - baby boys require five times more zinc for their development than baby girls. 

DNA testing - what can you really learn?

So now you can order your DNA test online and if you’re happy with the fact that the different tests vary widely in their assessment of your risk to disease, your response to drugs or whether your kids are likely to inherit something unspeakable, you can compare yourself to other family members - all for $199 but at this bargain basement price, there’s a  limit of 10 tests per person!

Yikes - who orders these things? 

Notwithstanding the recent advances in science and in genetic testing in particular, research in 'foetal origins' and epigenetics confirms that DNA is far from being the holy grail. Sure, your DNA can indicate a tendency towards a particular condition or a particular metabolic attribute, but we also know that the die is far from cast. For example, a recent study, showed that 18 genetic variants that individually increase risk of type 2 diabetes could not be used to identify which people had the condition and which did not.

It’s complicated - but there’s one thing we do know. Attention to all of the health-promoting measures that include fresh whole foods, regular exercise, no smoking, modest alcohol intake, reducing stress and avoiding environmental toxicity give an individual the very best chance that a particular genetic polymorphism or variation won’t rear it’s ugly head! At no time is this more important than before conception. Then, two prospective parents have the chance to ensure that by cleaning up their diets and lifestyles and ensuring their own physical and mental health in that critical 4-month period leading up to conception, their child will have the chance to experience his full genetic potential in the positive rather than the negative sense of the word!

Revise revisit and refresh

Anyone might be forgiven for thinking I'd fallen from the radar, but au contraire ... since last blog I've taken my important preconception message in exciting, new directions. I've got a brand new website www.flurishh.com ready to go live. You'll find a wealth of information (written by yours truly) from preconception to breast feeding & beyond, also practical, well-ordered information across the categories: eat, do, think, habits & surrounds. So it's all the stuff you need to do and all you need to know! 

But even better - the new site includes a casual game. What better way to connect with a new, younger audience? Through clever deployment of game-play mechanics we've created teaching point situations that require you to actively participate in both the virtual and real world! The game will be played online or directly through Facebook - at the moment it's in alpha-testing phase ... so stay tuned and check the site regularly.

Last year I was also invited to participate in a joint initiative with School/Police Liason - Northern Region. Got to spread the word to Senior High School Students. Making the information relevant to late teens and young adults, they got the message - the adverse effects of alcohol, smoking and drugs on fertility, health of eggs and sperm and subsequent foetal, infant and child development. Great response from teachers, school counsellors, but most importantly from the students! There's no doubt that the teenage years present an ideal opportunity to deliver this information through interactive media, social networks and online communities. Finally - three new books in the pipeline for publication mid-2011!