Pregnancy pounds predict kids' weight as teens

Women who gain too much weight during pregnancy may not only have bigger babies, but bigger teenagers as well, a study suggests.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School found that among nearly 12,000 children and teenagers they studied, those whose mothers gained more than the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy were 42 percent more likely to be obese.

The risk was independent of other factors the researchers examined, including mothers' pre-pregnancy weight, family income and parents' education.

Some past studies have linked excessive weight gain during pregnancy to a higher risk of obesity in childhood. These latest findings add to evidence that the fetal environment may have a "sustained effect" on children's weight regulation, Dr. Emily Oken and colleagues report in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

For women, they say, the study underscores the importance of going into pregnancy at a healthy weight, and then gaining only the recommended amount.

In the U.S., the Institute of Medicine (IOM) suggests that normal-weight women gain 25 to 35 pounds during pregnancy. Women who were overweight before becoming pregnant are encouraged to gain a little less -- 15 to 25 pounds -- while underweight women should put on 28 to 40 pounds.

The current study included 11,994 children between 9 and 14-years olds whose mothers were part of the Nurses Health Study II, a long-range health study of female nurses from across the U.S. The researchers found that 6.5 percent of the children were obese.

Oken's team found that when mothers exceeded the IOM guidelines for pregnancy weight gain, their children's weight also tended to climb.

Compared with their peers whose mothers followed the IOM guidelines, those whose mothers gained too much weight were 42 percent more likely to be obese by the time they were 9-to-14 years old.

Researchers suspect that excess pregnancy pounds may affect fetal development in a way that makes children more susceptible to excessive weight gain.

Animal research has found that overeating during pregnancy alters the expression of genes involved in fat regulation in offspring, and seems to affect the appetite-control centers of their brains as well.

SOURCE: Obstetrics & Gynecology, November 2008.

Gaga for Organic

Demand for organic commercial baby food is on the rise—and for good reason. Many experts believe that choosing organic foods is especially important for infants because they are much smaller than adults and often eat more food per pound.

As a result, any pesticide residue remaining on conventional foods may have a more significant effect on an infant or child than on an adult. And because they are experiencing rapid growth and development, everything you put in your infant’s body has the potential to affect them more significantly than at later stages in life.

Infants also lack the same defenses as adults and even older children, such as established blood-brain barriers, immune systems or liver detoxification enzymes. This makes them more vulnerable when it comes to potentially toxic compounds.

These concerns have led many parents to favor organic foods whenever possible. Our shelves offer many organic choices for baby. Options include: fresh frozen purées, baby food in jars, cereals, crackers, teething biscuits and other snacks for infants and toddlers. Whole Foods Market is also the ideal place to shop for ingredients to make your own baby food because we offer more fresh, organic produce than any other store.


Ref: Whole foods

How High Cholesterol Leads to Atherosclerosis

For decades, news stories and TV ads have hammered it into our heads: Cholesterol is bad for you. (Got the message yet?)

High cholesterol levels lead to clogged arteries in a process called atherosclerosis. Lowering cholesterol lowers the risk of diseases caused by atherosclerosis, like heart attacks and strokes.

What makes cholesterol so bad for your arteries? And isn't there a "good" cholesterol? How does treating high cholesterol help?

Cholesterol and Atherosclerosis: The Bad, the Good, and the Ugly
In cholesterol and atherosclerosis, there are good guys and bad guys:

"Bad" cholesterol, also called low-density lipoprotein (LDL), has chemical properties that can damage arteries. Damaged areas allow more LDL to penetrate artery walls. The LDL gets stuck and accumulates in the artery's wall.

(Warning: chemistry lesson ahead!) Inside the artery wall, free radicals transform LDL from something bad to something worse: oxidized LDL. The cholesterol chemical spill attracts white blood cells and other cells to try to clean up the mess. The cells chew up and digest oxidized LDL.

Once begun, this whole process tends to continue. Over years, the deposit of "bad" cholesterol, cells, and debris grows larger, and it's called a plaque.

"Good" cholesterol, known as high-density lipoprotein (HDL), is the yin to LDL's yang. HDL is on your side: it circulates through your body, acting like a cholesterol magnet. HDL diverts and delivers cholesterol away from your arteries. Much of the cholesterol is either eliminated from the body, delivered to tissues such as the liver, or used to make hormones.

As cholesterol plaques form and grow inside arteries, they eventually can begin to block off blood flow. Here's where atherosclerosis gets ugly.

The LDL-rich center of the plaque can be stable, meaning it grows in a slow, controlled way. The plaque may eventually cause symptoms, but generally speaking, the body adapts. These blockages seldom cause heart attacks.

Plaques can instead be unstable. Remember the cells inside the plaque, digesting all the LDL? As they work, these cells release enzymes that dissolve some of the biological "duct tape" (collagen) holding the plaque together.

Unstable plaques are prone to tearing. If they rupture, they release material that causes a blood clot to form inside the artery. Within minutes, blood flow is cut off. The result: a heart attack or stroke.

Cholesterol Treatment: Down With the Bad, Up With the Good
The link between cholesterol and atherosclerosis led to treatments to improve cholesterol levels. Numerous medications, and changes in lifestyle, can improve cholesterol and reduce atherosclerosis.

Exercise with or without weight loss increases "good" HDL cholesterol and reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

A diet high in fiber and reduced fats can lower "bad" LDL cholesterol. Plant-derived stanols used as fat substitutes also help lower cholesterol.

Statins are the most-often prescribed medicines for high cholesterol. Statins can dramatically lower "bad" LDL cholesterol, by up to 60% or more. They can also increase HDL modestly. In studies, statins reduce the rates of heart attacks, strokes, and death from atherosclerosis.