Drink milk to increase child’s IQ
A study of more than 1,000 pregnant women found those who consumed lower amounts of iodine, which is absorbed from food and found in milk, dairy products and fish, were more likely to have children with lower IQs and reading abilities. Iodine is essential for producing hormones made by the thyroid gland, which has a direct effect on the development of the foetal brain. Previous research has shown that conventional milk is better for pregnant women than organic milk. The study by researchers at Bristol and Surrey universities found two thirds of the 1,040 pregnant women they tested were iodine deficient. These women were more likely to have children with lower IQs.
Sharing Bed with babies has its risk
More than half of cot deaths happen when babies are sleeping in the same bed as their parents and up to 120 child deaths could be avoided each year if they slept in cots instead, researchers said.
Official guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) in the UK warns parents against sleeping alongside their baby only if they smoke, or if they have recently consumed alcohol or drugs. A new study has found that babies who share their parents’ bed before the age of three months are five times more likely to die during the night, even if their mother and father do not meet any of these criteria.
The Department of Health told Nice to immediately reassess its recommendations in light of the study, which was conducted by experts from the london School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Vitamin B can stave off Alzheimer’s
Consuming vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid can lower levels of homocysteine, an amino acid linked to shrinkage of the brain in conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. Previous studies had shown that patients with mild cognitive impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer’s, suffered 50 per cent less brain shrinkage overall if they took vitamin B supplements. But the new study of 156 patients, by researchers from Oxford University, found that the shrinkage was in fact reduced by 90 per cent in particular areas of the brain which are most vulnerable in Alzheimer’s patients.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, suggest that the vitamins could be even more protective than previously realised.