How Toxic Air May Lower Your Child's Intelligence

(NaturalNews) Planning on starting a family? Determined to provide the healthiest environment possible for your kids? If you live in an urban environment, you might want to look for a new place to live with cleaner air. City pollution has long been known to contribute to high blood pressure (http://www.naturalnews.com/024110_p...), eye irritation, heart problems (http://www.naturalnews.com/024691_h...) and asthma. But now scientists have found that a mother's exposure to chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) widely found in urban air can adversely affect a child's intelligence level. Bottom line: bad air is bad for kids' developing brains and could also be contributing to the dumbing down of Americans.

PAHs are released into the air from the burning of coal and tobacco. In cities, the main source of PAHs is motor vehicles that run on diesel, oil and gas. The new study, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several private foundations, found that youngsters exposed to high levels of PAHs in New York City had full scale and verbal IQ scores that were 4.31 and 4.67 points lower than children with less exposure to these chemicals.

A difference in four or more points on these intelligence tests is believed to make a significant difference on how well kids perform in school and how high they score on standardized tests, the researchers noted in a statement to the media. "The decrease in full-scale IQ score among the more exposed children is similar to that seen with low-level lead exposure," lead author Dr. Frederica P. Perera, professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, stated.

The study, conducted by Dr. Perera and other scientists from the Columbia University Center for Children's Environmental Health, included children whose moms were non-smoking black and Dominican-American women between the ages of 18 and 35 living in Washington Heights, Harlem or the South Bronx in New York. The children were followed from the time they were in the womb to age five. In order for the researchers to measure pre-natal exposure to PAHs, the mothers wore personal air monitors during pregnancy and they also filled out questionnaires about their environment.

Study participants who were exposed to air pollution levels below average were designated as having low exposure, while those exposed to pollution levels higher than the median were identified as high exposure. Specifically, high PAH levels were defined as above the median of 2.26 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3). The researchers took into consideration other factors that could impair intelligence such as second-hand smoke exposure, lead in the environment, the mother's education and the quality of the home caretaking environment.

Then, when they were five years old, 249 of the children in the study were given the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of the Intelligence test, which provides verbal, performance and full-scale IQ scores. "This research clearly shows that environmental PAHs at levels encountered in an urban setting can adversely affect a child's IQ," said Dr. Linda Birnbaum, director of NIEHS. "This is the first study to report an association between PAH exposure and IQ, and it should serve as a warning bell to us all. We need to do more to prevent environmental exposures from harming our children."

In addition to avoiding living in polluted cities if at all possible, there are other strategies parents can turn to in order to protect and even boost the brain power of their children. For example, as reported in NaturalNews, breastfeeding babies (http://www.naturalnews.com/024474_b...) raises IQ levels and fish oil (http://www.naturalnews.com/026167_i...) has been shown to improve intelligence levels of teens. Another smart idea: avoid exposing your offspring to neurotoxic chemicals such as fluoride (fluoride http://www.naturalnews.com/023896_f...).

Posted via email from naturalwellness's posterous

Food, Inc.

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

Watch the Trailer HERE

Posted via email from naturalwellness's posterous

The Benefits of Omega 3 fatty acids.

Your Health: Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Help Prevent Vision Loss With Age

Eating a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids from fish and nuts is a great way to improve your overall health. New research suggests that it might also help protect your eyesight as you grow older.

The results of a study published in the August 2009 issue of the American Journal of Pathology showed that boosting omega-3 intake can slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of severe vision loss among older Americans.

The results of this research are supported by earlier findings. An analysis of nine separate studies involving a total of nearly 90,000 subjects showed that high dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids was associated with a 38 percent reduction in the risk of developing advanced AMD.

AMD is a devastating disease in which affected individuals slowly lose their central vision, making reading, driving, and recognizing faces virtually impossible. It occurs when the macula, a structure in the retina of the eye, deteriorates over time.

Omega-3 fatty acids are important structural components of the retina. Because the outer layers of the retina continually shed and rebuild, a steady supply of omega-3 from the diet is necessary to ensure the integrity and proper function of the eye.

In addition to providing the necessary building blocks to make repairs to aging eyes, diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids may slow the deterioration of the macula by reducing tissue damage caused by oxidation and inflammation, and by enhancing blood flow to the eye.

Omega-3 fatty acids aren't manufactured by the human body, so they must be obtained from foods in the diet. Good sources include olive oil and fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel.

Almonds, pecans, and other tree nuts are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Following a study of nearly 2,500 adults, researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia reported that men and women who ate one to two servings of nuts each week enjoyed a 35 percent lower risk of AMD compared to those who ate nuts less often.

While you're adding good fats to your diet, it's important to steer clear of the bad ones. Diets rich in trans fats, found in many baked goods and processed foods, have been linked to an increased risk of AMD.

An adequate intake of vitamins and minerals is critical for maintaining healthy eyes. Regular consumption of two antioxidant plant compounds, known as lutein and zeaxanthin, has been shown to have protective effects against AMD.

Lutein and zeaxanthin are found together in a number of fruits and vegetables, including broccoli, peas, corn, and tangerines. Green, leafy vegetables, such as spinach and kale, are believed to be the best dietary sources of the antioxidant compounds.

If your diet isn't what it should be, a nutritional supplement might be beneficial. The Age-Related Eye Disease Study, sponsored by the National Eye Institute demonstrated that daily supplementation with vitamins C and E, beta carotene, and the minerals zinc and copper dramatically reduced the risk of vision loss associated with AMD.

When it comes to protecting your vision, abstaining from smoking cigarettes is especially important. According to the results of a study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, regularly smoking a pack or more daily for 40 years nearly triples the risk of AMD.

Even if you don't smoke, your risk of developing AMD is likely to be doubled if you live with someone who does. Fortunately, it's never too late to quit -- the risks related to active and passive smoking tend to diminish with time.

Getting plenty of exercise is another important strategy for maintaining the health of your eyes and the quality of your vision. In a recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers found that vigorous exercise reduced the likelihood of developing AMD by up to 70 percent.

Because there are very few treatment options for people suffering from advanced AMD, early diagnosis of the disease is especially important. If you're older than 40, you should have an eye exam every two to four years.

For folks over the age of 65, it's a good idea to have an eye exam annually or at least every other year. Individuals with a family history of AMD should have their eyes checked more frequently.

Eating a wholesome, nutritious diet and getting plenty of exercise will go a long way toward preserving your vision as you age. As a bonus, these same actions can help improve your overall health, and they might even extend your life.

========

Rallie McAllister is a board-certified family physician, speaker, and the author of several books, including "Fitness and Healthy Lunchbox: The Working Mom's Guide to Keeping You and Your Kids Trim." Her website is www.rallieonhealth.com. To find out more about Rallie McAllister, M.D., and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

Posted via email from naturalwellness's posterous