Want to raise healthy and smart children? Then don't allow them to be couch potatoes. Exercise, it turns out, does more than benefit the body and overall health -- physical fitness builds smarter brains in youngsters, too.
That's the news from a study just published in the journal Brain Research. Scientists used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the relative size of specific structures in the brains of 49 children, all of whom were 9 or 10 years old. The research team discovered that the hippocampus (part of the brain inside the temporal lobe that plays an important part in memory and learning) tended to be significantly larger in the kids who were physically fit. What's more, the fit children performed better on a memory test than youngsters the same age who were out of shape.
Read the article on NaturalNews.com
“Swapping genes between organisms can produce unknown toxic effects and allergies that are most likely to affect children.” --Vyvyan Howard, expert in infant toxico-pathology at Liverpool University Hospital, United Kingdom.
The UK Royal Society said that genetic modification “could lead to unpredicted harmful changes in the nutritional state of foods” and recommended that potential health effects of GM foods be rigorously researched before being fed to pregnant or breast-feeding women and babies.”
Epidemiologist Eric Brunner said that “small changes to the nutritional content might have effects on infant bowel function.”
Read article on Mercola.com
"Our study suggests that food allergies may be an important factor, and even an under-recognized trigger for severe asthma exacerbations," said Dr. Liu. "People with a food allergy and asthma should closely monitor both conditions and be aware that they might be related." Read the article on Elements4Health.com
Daily supplements of a probiotic may reduce the incidence of respiratory illness for infants during their first eight months of life, says a new study. Read article on Nutraingredients.com
Exclusively breastfed babies have fewer and less severe infections as infants regardless of the standard of health care or vaccinations they receive, according to a new study. But partially breastfed babies may not enjoy these protective effects.
"Exclusive breastfeeding helps protect infants against common infections and lessens the frequency and severity of infectious episodes not only in developing countries but also in communities with adequate vaccination coverage and healthcare standards," writes researcher Fani Ladomenou, of the University of Crete in Heraklion, Greece, in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Although several studies have shown breastfeeding reduces the risk of a number of common childhood infections, researchers say it has not been clear whether other factors, such as standard of health care or immunization, play a role.
Read the article on WebMD
