healthbriefs
Another Plus for Natural Birth A
team of researchers at the Yale School of Medicine, in New Haven, Connecticut, has found that vaginal birth triggers the expression of a protein, UCP2 (mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2), in the brains of newborns that improves brain development and function in adult- hood. It influences neurons and circuits in the hippocampus, the area responsible for memory. The protein is also involved in the cellular metabolism of fat, a key component of breast milk, sug-
gesting that induction of UCP2 by natural birth may aid the transition to breast- feeding. The researchers also found that this protein expression is impaired in the brains of babies delivered by Caesarean section.
These results suggest, “The increasing prevalence of C-sections, driven by convenience rather than medical necessity, may have a previously unsuspected lasting effect on brain development and function in humans,” observes Tamas Horvath, chair of Yale’s Department of Comparative Medicine.
T
UMBILICAL CORD BINGO
Toddlers Want to Help Out A
new study conducted by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany, suggests that young children are intrinsically motivated to see others helped. The researchers ob- served three groups of 2-year-olds that all saw an adult dropping a small item and struggling to pick it up. One group was allowed to inter- vene and help the adult. Another group was held back from helping by their parents. The third group watched the adult receive help from another adult. The researchers found that children’s feelings of sympathy (measured by dilated pupil size, which corresponds to increased feelings of concern) were twice as high when they were unable to help the adult and no
help was provided, compared to the same indicator when they were able to provide assistance. Ten of the 12 children that were allowed to help did so. The toddlers’ concerns likewise decreased when they watched someone else help the adult. The study’s authors concluded that young children’s helping behavior does not require that they perform the behavior themselves and receive “credit” for it, but requires only that the other person is helped. Thus, from an early age, humans seem to have genuine concern for the welfare of others.
natural awakenings August 2013 7
he Manchester Guardian reports that childbirth experts in the United Kingdom are urging the National Health Service (NHS) to reverse its policy on early clamping and cutting of a newborn’s umbili- cal cord. A recent Swedish study of 400 full-term infants from low-risk pregnancies published in the British Medical Journal found that delayed cord-clamping at birth resulted in infants being 5 percent less likely of being anemic two days later or iron deficient four months later. The latter problem has been associated with impaired brain development. The practice of separating infants from the placenta within 10 seconds of delivery has been commonplace since the 1960s, as supported by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which advises the NHS. However, several doctors, medical organizations and the non- profit National Childbirth Trust (NCT), plus the World Health Organization, disagree; they advocate leaving the placenta untouched for at least 30 seconds up to whenever it stops pul- sating naturally (usually between two to five minutes). Exceptions would be if the baby’s or mother’s health necessitates medical intervention. “At birth, about a third of the baby’s blood is still in his or her cord and placenta,” explains Belinda Phipps, NCT chief executive. Unfor- tunately, “It is still accepted practice to deprive the baby of this blood.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48