INFO, HEALTH TIPS AND NEWS

Consuming about 30 g of chocolate every day during pregnancy may benefit fetal growth and development. This news is from a new study presented recently at the 2016 Pregnancy Meeting of the Society for Maternal - Fetal Medicine in Atlanta, GA. The researchers enrolled 129 expectant mothers who were randomized to consume 30g of either low- or high-flavanol chocolate daily for 12 weeks and were followed up until they gave birth. The study indicated that chocolate could have a positive impact on placenta and fetal growth and development. However, expectant mothers advised against overindulging in the tasty treat due to its fat, sugar and caffeine content.

Consuming about 30 g of chocolate every day during pregnancy may benefit fetal growth and development. This news is from a new study presented recently at the 2016 Pregnancy Meeting of the Society for Maternal - Fetal Medicine in Atlanta, GA. The researchers enrolled 129 expectant mothers who were randomized to consume 30g of either low- or high-flavanol chocolate daily for 12 weeks and were followed up until they gave birth. The study indicated that chocolate could have a positive impact on placenta and fetal growth and development. However, expectant mothers advised against overindulging in the tasty treat due to its fat, sugar and caffeine content.

A new study has confirmed the link between exposure to acetaminophen before birth and in infancy to developing asthma in childhood. This study also found that the link is independent of the reason for medication use. The study which was led by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo - is published in the International Journal of Epidemiology. The authors of the new study however emphasized that their findings do not warrant making changes to recommendations regarding the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy.

For many, the first port of call when urinary tract infection hits is a box of cranberry juice. However, new research published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology suggests that while cranberry capsules can help, cranberry juice may be little more than a panacea. The team studied 160 patients aged 23-88 years who were likely to develop a UTI following a gynecological surgery. Half of the patients received two cranberry juice capsules twice daily - the equivalent in strength to two 8-ounce servings of cranberry juice - for 6 weeks after surgery. The others took a placebo. Cranberry capsules lowered the risk of UTIs by 50%. However, the researchers point out that since a cranberry capsule provides the equivalent of 8 ounces of cranberry juice, a patient would need a lot of pure cranberry to prevent an infection. One of the researchers explained that it takes an extremely large concentration of cranberry to prevent bacterial adhesion and this amount of concentratio...

Organic foods are defined as those that are grown or produced in the most natural way, without the use of chemical fertilizers pesticides, growth hormones etc According to new research, organic products might be the best choice, when it comes to the levels of omega - 3 in milk and meat. Prof. Carlo Leifert, of Newcastle University in the UK and his colleagues conducted two studies reviewed over 260 global papers on the nutritional content of milk and meat, with the aim of identifying differences in the nutritional quality of organic and non-organic products. The results which are published in the British Journal of Nutrition show that organic milk, meat contain 50% more Omega-3. Additionally, the team found that organic meat was lower in two saturated fats that promote poor heart health: myristic and palmiti acid.

A therapy that retrains the body's immune system to fight cancer has provoked excitement after more than 90% of terminally ill patients reportedly went into remission. White blood cells were taken from patients with leukaemia, modified in the lab and then put back. The lead scientist, Prof Stanley Riddell from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, said all other treatments had failed in these patients and they had only two-to-five months to live. Experts said the trial was exciting, but still only "a baby step." Prof Riddell told the BBC: "Essentially what this process does is, it genetically reprograms the T-cell to seek out and recognise and destroy the patient's tumour cells. "[The patients] were really at the end of the line in terms of treatment options and yet a single dose of this therapy put more than ninety percent of these patients in complete remission where we can't detect any of these leukaemia cells." Seven of t...

Mini-stomachs grown in a lab could one day supply insulin to people with diabetes. Loss of insulin-producing beta cells is a hallmark of diabetes. In an attempt to find a cure for the condition, researchers have spent years searching for ways to replace these insulin- producing beta cells. A study - published in the journal Cell Stem Cell - suggests that cells from the lower section of the stomach, known as the pylorus region, show the greatest potential to be reprogrammed to act like beta cells. In the experiment, reprogrammed stomach cells pumped out insulin and glucose at normal levels in the blood. To turn this into something that could one day be a viable therapy for people, the team took stomach stem cells from diabetic mice, engineered them with the same genes and grew mini-organs. Then, they implanted the mini-stomachs back into the mice. Five out of 22 mice maintained normal glucose levels, and, sure enough, their implants contained lots of cells that churn out insulin....