Wednesday, July 31, 2013

What supplements during pregnancy?

Finding that pregnant women's iodine intake from consumption of fortified breads is insufficient during pregnancy, new research recommends the use of iodine supplements. In one stroke they have dealt with iodine deficiency and with it the the single greatest cause of compromised mental function. 

But what about the other trace elements? Are those other trace elements less important? What happens when you supplement with iodine alone? 

Then another study shows that supplementing with iron during pregnancy is directly associated with increased birth weight and reduced risk of maternal anaemia. But what happens if you substitute with iron to the exclusion of other minerals? How does that affect zinc status for example? 

I raise these questions because I’m sick of the endless studies that take one nutrient and show how important it is during pregnancy. The reality is ... all the trace elements, vitamins, essential fatty acids, amino acids and various co-factors are important! AND making sure you and your partner enjoy optimal nutritional status across the board before you conceive and maintaining that status during pregnancy and beyond, will do more for your baby’s intelligence, birthweight and everything else, than supplementing with single nutrients in isolation!

And while we’re on the subject of maternal supplementation and brain power ... the potential brain health benefits of increased intake of DHA at birth may take several years to emerge, according to new data. The researchers used cohorts of children receiving infant formula supplemented with 0.32%, 0.64% and 0.96% of DHA. I wonder what the results would look like if they compared breast-fed children whose mothers were supplementing with DHA along with a comprehensive array of vitamins and trace elements from well before conception?


Saturday, July 27, 2013

Reducing the need for prescription drugs

A recent report from the Mayo Clinic provides a staggering statistic. Seventy percent of Americans are taking one prescription drug, fifty percent are taking two and twenty percent (that’s one person in five) are taking a massively expensive and potentially lethal cocktail of five or more prescribed pharmaceuticals on a regular basis. The most common prescriptions are for antibiotics, antidepressants and painkillers, which would suggest that depression, as was predicted at the end of the 90s, has overtaken heart disease as the most common chronic condition. 

But how many of those costly (and potentially harmful) pharmaceuticals could be replaced if diet and lifestyle measures were the first line of defense? “Plenty” is the very simple answer. More robust immune systems courtesy of improved gut health would reduce the need for antibiotics. Improved mental and emotional health courtesy of regular exercise, which is at least if not more effective than antidepressants! 

But there’s another, more insidious driver at work here. Even were an enlightened government to develop compelling incentives for consumers to bypass their prescriptions in favour of diet or lifestyle solutions, I fear that the massive influence and commercial interests of Big Pharma would hold sway. One way for the pharmaceutical industry to retain its power is by the acquisition of natural product companies and through its ongoing campaign for more stringent regulation of natural medicines. It’s the fox in charge of the hen-house, and this particular fox is exceptionally wily. 

I’m not optimistic about reducing the Western world’s current dependence on prescribed medication,but I am optimistic about reducing the next generation’s likely need for it! All you need to know about creating the healthiest eggs and sperm for the healthiest possible baby ... 

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Vitamin D for improving mobility

Whichever way you cut it, for the vast majority of folk, getting older means becoming less active and less mobile. The question is, does becoming less active mean more time indoors (less exposure to sunlight) leading to vitamin D deficiency, or does vitamin D deficiency precede and actually cause the older population's greater degree of difficulty in climbing stairs, getting out of a chair or into a car and so on?

This new research from The Netherlands wasn’t designed to figure out whether the chicken or the egg came first. However what the study did determine was the presence of vitamin D receptors on muscle cells, with binding to these receptors responsible for activating more than 300 genes! To say that the scare campaigns that have kept us out of the sun or protected by sun-blocks have been misguided would be a gross understatement. 

So no matter what age or life stage, but particularly vital as you get older - get some sun on your body every day! At the risk of repeating myself
  • Ensure it’s a clear day without pollution 
  • 10-15 minutes exposure between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm
  • Expose 40 percent of your skin area
  • If this isn’t possible, use oral supplements of D3 to achieve 40-60ng/ml (100-150nMols/L)

RULE OF THUMB: For every 100IU ingested, there is increase of 1ng/ml

ADULT MAINTENANCE DOSE: 2,000IU/day

And there are multiple benefits from ensuring adequate vitamin D status at the beginning of the life cycle too! See all my blogs during week starting Monday 15th

PREGNANCY DOSE: 4,000IU/day

BREASTFEEDING DOSE: 6,000IU/day

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

British Medical Journal says home births are safer

On the heels of the birth of a new prince, heir to the British throne, it's interesting to reflect that his father William was the first in a long line of royals, to be born in hospital. Even the birth of Will's grandmother (HRH Queen Elizabeth) by C-section occurred in the palace chambers. Also worthy of reflection is the recent study published in the prestigious British Medical Journal (BMJ) announcing the outcomes of 146,752 births. Even for women having their first baby, the home-birth option is still a safer one with 2.3/1000 adverse outcomes for home, compared to 3.1/1000 adverse outcomes for hospital. Admittedly this was a study of births in The Netherlands, which has the highest number of home births in the developed world. 

Would the same findings be translated to other areas? I bet they would, but The Netherlands is blessed with a very large population of midwives who are used to autonomy and the different mindsets of consumers and health professionals where homebirths are not considered an aberration. Even though direct-entry midwifery training has removed the potential for midwives to be trained in a sickness rather than a wellness model of birth, women in countries like Australia and NZ still perceive the hospital as the safe and secure birthing option. While the medical model is not an appropriate one for women whose pregnancy is progressing normally, the vested interests of highly trained obstetricians keep midwives attached firmly to the hospital system and consumers very reluctant to step outside of it. 

BUT all may not be lost ... my elder son, now embarking on his own parenting journey, was recently pleased to confirm to co-attendees at a birthing centre introductory evening, the absolutely normality of birth. He knows what he's talking about, the only one of that large group of prospective parents to have seen a baby (his brother) enter the world, at home, without undue fuss or bother. Let's hope the other parents-to-be were paying attention!

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Vitamin D from the original source

Prof. Edward Gorham from University of California, San Diego Dept. of Family & Preventive Medicine gives us some insights into the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. He says that insufficient vitamin D affects all intercellular communications with myriad health consequences including cancers, MS, seasonal influenza, diabetes I and II, muscle pains and weakness, impaired wound healing and a number of pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia and pre-term birth.

Gorham cites various studies that support the importance of ensuring adequate vitamin D levels at all ages and life stages.
  • Onset type I diabetes peaks annually in winter-spring season
  • Bone loss study also shows flu symptoms are highest in winter
  • Prostate cancer survival is highest in summer
  • In USA, 74 percent of the population are below the clinical insufficiency level for vitamin D 
  • lower physical activity (i.e. sun exposure) associated with lower 25(OH)D
  • lower physical activity associated with higher cancer risk
  • women at x 2.25 elevated risk for vitamin D deficiency
  • constitutive pigmentation is a risk factor for vitamin D deficiency
Prof. Gorham is an advocate for making the most of the original source of vitamin D, but explains how to use it appropriately. While the sun is the source of UVB photons used to make vitamin D, it’s just a tiny sliver of spectrum that initiates its formation. UVB at 280-319nm and is a long way from the visible light spectrum, it doesn’t penetrate atmosphere easily and perpendicular not oblique rays are required (compare the usefulness of the direct rays from a flashlight to the relatively useless diffuse ones). Pollution and cloud cover are UVB enemies, ditto high latitudes, ditto sunscreens! 

Gorham says that we must re-evaluate our use of sunscreens. They have never been shown to prevent melanoma. However, they irrevocably change the relationship between our skin and the sun - a relationship refined over millenia. Gorham’s prescription for a continuing appropriate relationship between your skin and the sun as follows...
  • Minimize UVA while allowing UVB
  • 10-15 minutes exposure/day between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm
  • Expose 40 percent of skin area
  • Ensure it’s a clear day without pollution
  • If this isn’t possible, use oral supplements of vitamin D3 to achieve 40-60ng/ml (100-150nMols/L)
RULE OF THUMB: For every 100IU ingested, there is increase of 1ng/ml
PREGNANCY DOSE: 4,000IU/day
BREASTFEEDING DOSE: 6,000IU/day

Friday, July 19, 2013

Vitamin D during breastfeeding

Dr Bruce Hollis, Professor of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina has been researching vitamin D in pregnancy and breastfeeding since 1978. One of his research partners is Dr. Carol Wagner.

Hollis debunks “the well known fact that human milk is a poor source of vitamin D for the nursing infant.” He says this is an absolutely false and absurd statement. But the belief can be traced back to the Institute of Medicine recommendations. If a woman is only receiving 400IU/day, then her milk is indeed a poor source. 

Once, cutaneous generation of vitamin D was all we needed. In Africa, our black-skinned ancestors ran around with no clothes, enjoying unlimited sunlight, making all the vitamin D we needed. However, when we got to N Europe we all turned into pale-skinned individuals, a genetic adaptation to cope with less sunlight exposure. This pigmentation loss happened about 12,000 years ago. 

A single initial MED dose of UVB radiation to a light-skinned individual will release 20,000 IU vitamin D (total body exposure for 20 minutes). However, dark-skinned individuals need 10-fold exposure, which creates a problem for those individuals at high latitudes. For example, there is a very high incidence of rickets in breastfed babies of dark-skinned mothers.

Vitamin D was once considered a teratogen!?! Hollis responds to the question ... “How toxic is vitamin D?” Upper dose was originally set  at 2,000IU/day. But when you can make 20,000 IU from 20 min in the sun, this is clearly ridiculous. New level is set at 4,000 IU day, which is still arbitrary but just better than 2,000 IU. Hollis also comments on the statement “Breastfed infants are at especially high risk of D deficiency due to poor penetrance of vitamin D metabolites into milk.” He says it’s not the metabolites that go into milk, it’s the active form 25(OH)D. 400IU/daily is an insignificant amount, with nothing going to the infant. Vitamin D deficiency (in the mother) breeds more deficiency (in the breastfed infant). For every 1,000IU intake by the mother, she provides just 80IU to the breastfed infant. Supplement containing 6,400IU for breastfeeding mother is necessary to get any useful amount of vitamin D into the baby. 

In summary:
No adverse events related to supplementation
Must take every day! 
4,000IU/day during pregnancy
Nursing mothers need at least 6,000IU/day. 
Bottle fed infants do not need supplements. 



Thursday, July 18, 2013

Vitamin D and the brain

Dr. Thomas Burne, Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland agrees that skin cancer is certainly a health problem (particularly in Australia), and that has become a major focus, given that there are very few examples of the real issues of a frank vitamin D deficiency (e.g. rickets). However, he says that the long term effects of vitamin D insufficiency e.g. osteoporosis, immune compromise including cancer, schizophrenia (due to pregnancy deficiency), cardiovascular disease and more are all around us. Vitamin D is essential for the optimal development of the foetal brain.

Messages from the medical profession are still mixed, confused and conflicting, but Burne is in no doubt about the pressing need to reverse the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. He cites evidence that sunlight stimulates production of Nitric Oxide (NO), reducing blood pressure, saying that this effect alone would far outweigh the issues of skin cancer (which can be cut out or burnt off). 

Cognitive deficits due to vitamin D deficiency are not confined to the infant, but are also apparent in older animals. These are subtle effects but affected rats definitely exhibit a form of attention deficit. They also have muscle weakness, they can’t swim well, can’t float, have multiple other problems. The active form of vitamin D (D3) or 25(OH)D is a cheap, simple way to reverse some of these deficits. 

Find out about supplement dosage during pregnancy and the need for more when you're breastfeeding.


Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Vitamin D and pregnancy

Dr. Carol L. Wagner, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Medical University of South Carolina says that based on most recent studies, a supplement delivering 4,000IU of vitamin D per day during pregnancy is absolutely safe and much more appropriate than 400IU/daily. 

Higher doses of vitamin D have been linked with lower rates of infection, less gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia, reduced incidence of preterm birth and other benefits. For decades, 400IU/day was considered to be the right dose - in fact it is an inconsequential amount - not enough to make a difference. Wagner says that her research team was surprised. Their main goal was to show safety of vitamin D supplementation and they were blinded to the treatment group. Wagner says their findings are “a small revolution.” 

4,000IU is absolutely safe during pregnancy with a clear trend to fewer complications associated with this higher dose. Women trying to get pregnant can benefit too. Vitamin D is the only nutrient that comes from the sun, not from the diet. Deficiency is at epidemic levels worldwide, but despite what was once thought, it’s an exceptionally safe nutritional supplement with profound benefits for mother and baby. Breastfeeding mum? Find out what dose you should be taking...

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Vitamin D and fertility

Dr. Kelton Tremellan from the University of South Australia has been working with infertile men for years. By-passing their poor sperm quality with IVF techniques such as ICSI was the impetus for Dr. Tremellan to use micronutrients in his infertility practice. He says the same applies to females, they need multiple micronutrients. Recently his work has focused on the importance of vitamin D in improving sperm profiles and fertility in both sexes. 

Dr. Tremellan suggests that only about one quarter to one third of the general population are replete in vitamin D. He says those skin-cancer/melanoma scare-campaigns, urging Australians to “slip, slop, slap” have made their mark!

For optimal male fertility, Tremellan identifies key micronutrients. Antioxidants, which prevent attack by free radicals include vitamins E and C, lycopene and selenium. Vitamin D is another contributing nutrient, with an insufficiency leading to testosterone deficiency and sperm that don’t swim well. These men, with low vitamin D levels may be lethargic and depressed. Sun exposure improves testosterone production. Seems to me that we have a generation of depressed young men, who spend hours in front of a computer screen when they used to be out in the sun riding ride surfboards?

Tremellan asserts that vitamin D therapy can do no harm, it has no side effects and it’s cheap, so why not use it? 

Vitamin D is also important for women. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and insulin resistance (IR) are big contributing factors to female infertility. Both conditions drive testosterone production, which inhibits ovulation. Researchers think the receptor for insulin has a vitamin D response element, making low vitamin D levels linked to low ovulation rates. Poor vitamin D status is also linked to pre-eclampsia and pre-term birth. Maternal vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased rates of asthma, allergies, schizophrenia and other conditions. More to follow on how to improve your vitamin D status and what dose of supplement you need? 



Monday, July 15, 2013

Let the sun shine on ...

Dr. Mercola regularly makes the case for a daily dose of sunshine - and I agree with him wholeheartedly. But now he tells us it’s about more than vitamin D production, vitally important though that function is.

Regular exposure to sunshine (apart from making you feel fantastic) has the following benefits:
  • Pain-killing (analgesic) properties
  • Increased subcutaneous fat metabolism
  • Regulation of human lifespan (solar cycles appear to be able to directly affect the human genome, thereby influencing lifespan)
  • Daytime sun exposure improves evening alertness
  • Conversion to metabolic energy (i.e. we may “ingest” energy directly from the sun, like plants do)
So get out there and expose yourself - and it feels damn good! 20 minutes of full body exposure will produce 20,000IU of vitamin D. Of course not all climates are conducive, not all folk want their bodies exposed, so since vitamin D is not available from food sources, what are your supplement options? Since this is such an important issue, one that is particularly important if you're planning a pregnancy, I've devoted my next several posts to the topic. Don't miss them...


Sunday, July 14, 2013

But they would say that...

New Zealand-based dairy exporter, Fonterra, is “confident” that oil industry and fracking waste spread beneath land used by grazing milk cows poses no threat to the safety of its milk products.

But they don’t know with absolute certainty. In fact, who does? We simply don’t have the long term studies to say whether or not the chemicals used in “fracking” get into the water table and our agricultural or animal produce. But the uncertainty doesn’t seem to be a deterrent to the companies bent on extracting ever more resources from the land. 

Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is a process whereby water, sand and chemicals are injected under very high pressure into the shale so that it fractures and allows the natural gas to be captured. It’s a process that has divided communities - with one camp saying there’s no risk to the environment or to human health, while the other of course maintains the reverse position. Looks to me like another case of big industry (aka big political campaign money, big export earnings etc.) riding rough shod over the concerns of citizens and the green movement who are generally labelled as being anti-progress. Fonterra, based in NZ, has a vested interest in maintaining the clean green image that they trade on. When a safe, secure, non-contaminated source of milk is such a key marketing point for the largest dairy producer in the world, I’m amazed that they would consider securing milk from herds grazed on land that has been fracked. Interesting developments to follow, I’m sure ...

And on June 20 mounting pressure from consumers and the Green party resulted in Fonterra's agreement to stop sourcing milk from land affected by oil and fracking waste. A victory for good health and common sense. 


Saturday, July 13, 2013

Infant formula leads to diabetes, diabetics benefit from healthy gut

Infants that are fed formula rather than breast milk may experience metabolic stress that plays a role in long suggested long-term risks for obesity, diabetes and other diseases, say researchers.

In a nutshell, the researchers showed that the monkey subjects who were fed infant formula were larger and had a very different gut microbiome from their breastfed counterparts. The researchers concluded by saying that the choice of infant feeding had longterm health consequences. Well as I posted a few days back, despite studies like this that keep coming, breastfeeding rates keep declining and the use of infant formula  grows and grows.

And I don’t expect this to change anytime soon. As long as women’s personal, professional and social expectations are mismatched with reality, they will see these studies and look the other way. They will choose to leave their infant with a grandparent or other carer, return to the work that they perceive as their “real” job and enjoy a life that is independent of the needs of a breastfeeding infant. But the blame lies everywhere, life partners, extended family and friends, employers and society all play a big part in this very vexed issue.

Chance of a big shift in attitude? About as likely as the global dairy herds being struck down by a milk-contaminating affliction or scandal? But then again ... 

But while we’re contemplating what such a shift might mean, a corollary study looks at improving the health of the gut microbiome to reduce the inflammation of diabetes. A combination of probiotics and prebiotics may reduce levels of markers of inflammation and oxidative stress, suggest findings of a new study published in the journal Clinical Nutrition.



Friday, July 12, 2013

Scottish gourmands - who would have guessed?

The Scottish government is urging the nation’s food producers to step up efforts to win EU protected food name status.

I just love it...being the granddaughter of robust Scottish women on both sides of my family. Good old Scots apparently have “one of the world’s finest natural larders” and the produce that comes from that larder is now recognised as unique and the associated trade names are to be protected.

Whoever would have thought? I always think of the Scots in the same breath as oatmeal and fish ... But here’s an insight to a whole different world of food and Stornoway Black Pudding, Arbroath Smokies, Scottish Wild Salmon, Scotch Lamb, Ayrshire Dunlop Cheese and Orkney Island Cheddar a few of the delicacies that you might like to look for in your gourmet foodie shop.  


Not sure where that leaves my Scottish heritage and its culinary legacy. My great grandparents came to Australia to escape the damp and smog of Glasgow which was proposed as the cause of their younger daughter’s chronic asthma. But it wasn’t the changed climate or that bracing traditional Scots diet that set my grannie on the path to health and easy-breathing. It was removal of everything white and processed and embrace of whole, fresh and raw. I have that switch from refined and her lifelong interest in whole foods to thank for my own good health and professional passion ... and maybe just a little bit of genetics :) 


Thursday, July 11, 2013

so while on the subject of vitamin D

Well I’ve said it before but there are profound benefits from getting your daily vitamin D exposure and best source is sunlight not supplements.

Just listened to a webinar by Prof. Michael Holick from Boston University Medical Centre who has been researching benefits of vitamin D for forty years! It beats me why in all that time we’ve been diligently avoiding sun exposure, slathering ourselves in toxic sun-protective chemicals. I’ve never fully subscribed to the cover-up scare campaign, so now I’m very happy to simplify and summarise some of the science as put forward by Prof. Holick. 

In essence, middle-of-the day sunlight exposure stimulates the production of vitamin D first in the liver then the activated form is produced in the kidneys. The kidney vitamin D is involved in bone metabolism but in fact there are vitamin D receptors in every cell and tissue of your body. They are needed for the cell to mature and it is this vitamin D in cells that is responsible for gene expression.

At least 200, but maybe 2000 genes are regulated by vitamin D. Holick’s studies have demonstrated that 82 genes which were high-expressed at baseline, were down-regulated with vitamin D supplementation and the converse occurred for 209 genes which were low-expressed at baseline. What are these particular genes that are so strongly influenced by vitamin D? Wel, they're the ones responsible for immune response, cytokine production, how you feel when under stress, the way your body responds to stress and how well it repairs damaged DNA. No surprises then that those individuals with the highest levels of vitamin D have massively reduced rates of diabetes, MS, cardiovascular disease and all types of cancer. They were probably less stressed and less depressed as well although those results were seen in a separate study.

Don’t know about you, but it’s midday, the sun is shining and I’m going out to get my daily dose. If you want to know how much time you need in the sun depending on your geographical location, time of day, season, skin colour and state of dress or undress, simply download the app for your iPad or iPhone. http://dminder.info 

Pretty simple stuff and how good does that sunshine make you feel?

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Improving vitamin D status - starts with the gut

Daily supplements of probiotic strain Lactobacillus reuteri NCIMB 30242 may boost circulating vitamin D levels in the blood by 25%, say results of a post-hoc analysis of a published randomized controlled trial.

Another tick in the long list of health benefits of probiotics. This one from a company at the forefront of research to show how the gut microbiome can be manipulated positively to deliver a host of physical and mental health benefits! It’s been known for ages that a healthy gut is important for ensuring absorption of all nutrients, vitamin D included. But this latest study shows that a particular strain of probiotics can actually increase circulating levels of vitamin D - better absorption may not be the only factor involved - researchers propose that more vitamin D precursor is being produced.

But if you’re thinking vitamin D and bone strength, reflect on another new study. There is a direct and causal relationship between vitamin D status, high blood pressure and the risk of heart attack and stroke, according to new genetic research data. So many benefits of vitamin D and one of the reasons why I advocate regular sun exposure free from the protective effects of sunscreen - important for all ages and life stages, particularly important during infancy and childhood. 


And if you still have doubts about getting out in the sun, check this link to a video explaining how gene expression is linked to Vitamin D.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Eat your broccoli fresh

Commercially available frozen broccoli almost entirely lacks the ability to form the beneficial compound sulforaphane from the phytonutrient glucoraphanin, according to new research.

Golly gosh, whoever would have guessed that frozen broccoli has been denatured to the extent that it lacks the enzyme necessary to product the all-important sulforaphane chemical? Sulforaphane is the ingredient that confers cancer-protective properties on broccoli (and its bedmates that include cabbage, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts), it also has the ability to reduce the inflammation that comes with type-2 diabetes. So, as I said, all-important! But back to the frozen vs fresh story ... brings to mind the issue of frozen peas. To make sure they retain their bright green colour on cooking, all traces of zinc are removed by a chemical chelating agent. 




So there are no short cuts when looking for all the benefits of vegetables and fruit - organically grown, fresh, whole and raw wherever possible, but if you prefer a little cooking, steam or stir-fry, with minimal exposure to heat! Add some steamed or grilled cold-water fish for their omega-3 content to minimise the adverse effects of too much processed or refined food.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Probiotics - new brain food?

Daily consumption of probiotics may improve the mental performance of lab animals with diabetes, says a new study that supports the potential benefits of an optimal microbiome–gut–brain axis.

I know what you might say - "hey this is an animal study and probiotics were only demonstrated to improve the mental function of diabetic animals." However, the first human study linking  probiotic consumption to improved mood and reduced levels of anxiety in humans was actually published in Gastroenterology earlier this year.

But when the incidence of diabetes is at epidemic levels, when there is a clear link to diabetes and reduced mental performance, a simple solution in the form of a probiotic supplement gets my vote. When the establishment of healthy gut microbiota in the general population is linked to a host of benefits across mental, physical and emotional areas, the whole family should be regular consumers. The easiest way for the whole family to benefit is to make the yoghurt from a high potency culture that contains multiple human strains that will populate your gastrointestinal tract from top-end to bottom! 

Or you can do as I do, every week I simply shake the contents of one sachet into water or juice and drink. It's that easy ... Remember too that fresh, organic vegetables and fruit, in particular berries suppport the positive effects of the probiotic in ways that we are only just beginning to understand according to presentations at June 2013 Berry Health Symposium. The Symposium provided a reminder that humans are 10 percent human and 90 percent bacteria, with microbes providing more genes that are responsible for human survival than humans' own genes! Something to think about and attend to.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Avoid plastics (and a few other toxins as well)

Pregnant women should reduce the use of foods and beverages in cans and plastic containers to minimise exposure to chemicals including bisphenol A (BPA) as part of a safety-first approach.  

I wonder why these august bodies take so long to get the message - but here you have the latest recommendation from RCOG - Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in a Scientific Impact paper, launched in June 2013. They’ve actually acknowledged that while an individual chemical may not be a problem, it’s the potential cocktail (a legacy of 21st century living) that can do damage. 

But since 1978 Foresight has been recommending against the consumption of food or drinks stored in plastic. Their recommendations now span 35 years and apply in particular to the preconception period (both prospective parents) but also during pregnancy and breastfeeding. While you’re reducing your exposure to plastics, there are some other chemical toxins that you need to avoid as well. I don’t say this to alarm, just to get you thinking about a cleaner, less-toxic environment for eggs, sperm and your developing baby. Read more...