- The ARC - California Edition -

Food for Preventive Thought

Hearing Loss In Infants – Researchers have recently reported a study of 368 deaf or hard-of-hearing infants where the outcome confirmed that when a hearing loss is detected early in an infant’s life, early intervention results in a very significant improvement in the child’s later language abilities. A critical point for obtaining this enhancement in language acquisition appears to be about 6 months of age, according to a team from the University of Colorado at Boulder. 

Group B Streptococcus – Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a type of bacterium that causes illness in newborn babies, pregnant women, the elderly, and adults with other diseases. GBS is the most common cause of life-threatening infections in newborns and is a leading cause of their mortality or morbidity. The disease in infants usually occurs as bacteremia, pneumonia, or meningitis. GBS can be prevented by the administration of the antibiotic prophylaxis during childbirth to women at risk of transmitting the bacteria to their infants. (MMWR)

Vitamins and Behavior – Some children who are suffering from nutritional deficiencies may find that vitamins are a helpful deterrent to their violent or anti-social behaviors, according to a study published in the February issue of The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. The researchers provided a group of school-age children with known behavior problems with regular vitamin and mineral supplementation and compared them to a control group which were given a placebo. Their findings: the group receiving the active supplementation were disciplined 47% less than the control group during the intervention process. 

Brain Injury Vaccine – A new oral vaccine under development has recently passed a major milestone on its road to eventually being used to protect brain neurons from injury caused by epilepsy seizure or by stroke. Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia reported on a successful demonstration study with vaccinated rats. The vaccine is designed to develop antibodies that prevent the action of a brain protein, called the NMDA receptor. This protein is known to aggravate brain damage after a stroke, and also plays a role in epileptic seizures. 

The study involved vaccinating a group of rats with the anti-NMDA antibody. A control group was not vaccinated. Later, the rats were each injected with a neurotoxin that causes seizures similar to those in epilepsy. The control group of rats exhibited a seizure rate of 70%. The vaccinated group had a seizure rate of 20%. (Science, February 25, 2000)

Iron Deficiency in Infancy – When children experience severe iron deficiency during infancy, they often become teenagers that have learning and behavioral problems, according to a team of researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. This conclusion is based on a detailed study of 48 children who had had severe iron deficiency as an infant. They were compared to a group of 114 children who had a good iron status during their infancy. 

Almost one-fourth of children around the world have lower than optimum levels of oxygen-carrying hemoglobin in the blood due to severe iron deficiency. In the U.S, about 5% of black and about 18% of Mexican-American infants and toddlers are iron deficient. (Pediatrics, April 2000 electronic version).

PURSUE PREVENTION!
WHAT YOU PERSONALLY DO, CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!