Doctors have given their thumbs up to yoga for expecting mothers, claiming that it is one of the best things women can do to stay healthy during their pregnancy. GP Dr. Julian Spinks told a UK publication that the main advantage is that yoga is very gentle on the body. Spinks said that the problem in pregnancy is that a lot of joints loosen up and with intense physical exercise, there is a danger of suffering things such as back pain. He asserted that yoga encourages gentle stretching which can alleviate this problem. He insisted that it also has very positive effects on the mother’s emotional well-being. Spinks added that pregnancy can be a very tiring and emotional time and it can help keep women relaxed and on an even keel. (ANI)
Summer may be the best time to make a baby
Women getting pregnant between June and August can expect heavier and healthier babies than babies conceived in other less warmer months, a new study has found.
According to Wired, the report by economists Janet Curre and Hannes Schwandt of Princeton University also discovered that May was the most unfavorable time to get pregnant, the New York Post reported.
Children conceived in May were 13 per cent more likely to be born premature that can cause many health problems, including weaker immune systems and slower cognitive development.
Babies conceived from January through May had a gestation period a week shorter than average, but that increased again for June conceptions.
The survey made use of official birth data of all births in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania for the years between 1994 and 2006. (ANI)
Why pot bellied people are at highest health risk
People, who have excessive abdominal fat are more likely to acquire heart disease and cancer than individuals having similar body mass index (BMI) but carrying their fat in other places, a study has revealed.
Death and disease risk associated with excess body weight can vary among individuals with similar BMI. Ectopic fat, or fat located where it is not supposed to be, in this case being visible in the abdominal area, could be the cause of this difference in risk.
Kathryn A. Britton, MD, MPH, lead author of the study and an instructor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said that given the worldwide obesity epidemic, identification of high-risk individuals is important, as it allows targeting of preventive and therapeutic measures.
With this study, researchers sought to find a link between the location of body fat and specific risk factors for heart disease and cancer, which could explain why individuals with different body types and similar BMIs have varied obesity related health conditions.
Researchers assessed ectopic fat in the abdominal area, around the heart tissue and around the aortic artery of 3,086 participants from the Framingham Heart Study and followed the participants for heart disease and cancer for up to seven years. The average age of participants was 50 years and nearly half were women.
Each patient was assessed, using a CT scan to identify areas of fat accumulation. Over the follow-up period, patients were assessed for heart disease, cancer and death risk while adjusting for standard risk factors.
Overall, there were 90 cardiovascular events, 141 cancer cases and 71 deaths. Abdominal fat, which is typically an indicator of fat around internal organs, was associated with incident heart disease and cancer after adjusting for clinical risk factors and general obesity.
The study has been published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. (ANI)
Obese dads pass on metabolic disorders to their kids
If you are planning to be a father, it’s about time you start losing weight, as a new study suggests that your children and grandchildren may inherit your waistline or metabolic disorders.
Scientists have discovered in mice that obese fathers, even those who did not show any signs of diabetes, passed this negative trait on most frequently to their daughters.
Sons don’t entirely dodge this genetic bullet either—both sons and daughters of obese fathers have increased risks of developing metabolic diseases, such as diabetes.
“If these findings hold true in humans, then a father’s diet and body composition at the time of conception is likely to affect his future child’s health and risk of lifelong disease,” Tod Fullston, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Robinson Institute, Research Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, said.
“Fathers should aim to be as healthy as possible at the time of conception to give future generations the best possible chance of good health,” he said. The findings are published in The FASEB Journal. (ANI)