Month: January 2021

University of Helsinki researchers report a comprehensive pilot study on the metabolic effects of full vegan diet on young children. The study found vegan children to have remarkably altered metabolism and lower vitamin A and D status compared to children with no special diet. The study concludes that vegan diet has a broad effect on

A recent study published in the journal The Lancet has revealed that self-reported use of face masks together with social distancing has a considerable impact on controlling the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the United States. Moreover, the urge to wear a face mask has been found to increase independently

Pregnancy and childbirth are especially high-risk periods for mental ill-health. The mobile health program called Essential Coaching for Every Mother (ECEM) was designed to meet the needs of mothers during this critical time, but its introduction was delayed because of the onset of the pandemic. A recent preprint posted to the medRxiv* server describes the

Jan 20 2021 A 15-year research and advocacy effort to make microwave ovens safer has led to a change in national manufacturing standards that will make microwaves more difficult for young children to open, protecting them from the severe microwave-related burns that scar hundreds of kids under 5 years old in the United States each

Half of all young people treated for severe obesity have neuropsychiatric problems, according to a new study by researchers from Lund University and Gothenburg, Sweden, among others. Two thirds of the teens suffered from some type of mental health problem, as reported by themselves or their parents. Both obesity and mental illness have increased among

Early life experiences can have an outsized effect on brain development and neurobiological health. New research is showing that those effects can be passed down to subsequent generations, reporting that the infant children of mothers who had experienced childhood emotional neglect displayed altered brain circuitry involved in fear responses and anxiety. The study appears in

When he was in middle school, teachers would give Sam Curran a list of words to type in a computer to practice his vocabulary. But Sam, who has autism, was unable to stay focused on the task and required a significant amount of one-to-one direction from a teacher to complete his work. After his mother,

Variation in consumption of market-acquired foods outside of the traditional diet — but not in total calories burned daily — is reliably related to indigenous Amazonian children’s body fat, according to a Baylor University study that offers insight into the global obesity epidemic. The importance of a poor diet versus low energy expenditure on the

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological and developmental disorder that starts early in childhood and lasts throughout a person’s life. Most commonly, it affects how a person interacts with others, acts, communicates, and learns. Now, a study by researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Arizona State University, and the Mayo Clinic found that mothers

American dairy consumers are often influenced by a variety of factors that can affect their buying habits. These factors include taste, preference, government information, cultural background, social media, and the news. In an article appearing in JDS Communications, researchers found that households that frequently bought food for children are interested in dairy as part of