If you are pregnant or hoping to become pregnant, do be aware that taking anti-depressants may harm the unborn baby.

If you are pregnant or hoping to become pregnant, do be aware that taking anti-depressants may harm the unborn baby. Read this BBC News report. You may like to read further about anti-depressants on my webpage here, and some further advice for pregnant mothers here.

The Queen: her feet look swollen

In this article in the Telegraph today, the photograph of the Queen's feet in patent leather shoes gives the impression that either the Queen is wearing shoes that are too small for her (unlikely) or that her feet must have swollen while she has been wearing them. It seems to me that she is experiencing that common problem of having feet that swell as the day goes on because of excess fluid gravitating downward.

The Queen was not overweight when she was younger, but her four pregnancies were probably a big factor in her developing excess fluid retention. I'll bet she's glad to get out of her court shoes at the end of her busy day and put her feet up!

The Queen's problem of fluid retention and swelling feet would be reduced if she were to cut down on salt/sodium and salty food. - If you too, dear Reader, suffer from swollen feet, I make the same suggestion to you. - You will feel sooo much better!

Pregnant? The Horizon programme on BBC2 tonight could be of special interest to you

BBC2's Horizon programme tonight at 9pm is about the crucial importance of those nine months in the womb. Those months may well be the most important time of life, may critically determine the destiny, especially the health, of the unborn baby.

"Horizon explores the secrets of what makes a long, healthy and happy life. It turns out that a time you can't remember - the nine months you spend in the womb - could have more lasting effects on you today than your lifestyle or genes. It is one of the most powerful and provocative new ideas in human science, and it was pioneered by a British scientist, Professor David Barker. His theory has inspired a field of study that is revealing how our time in the womb could affect your health, personality, and even the lives of your children."

What if it's not too much fat that you are carrying around? What if it's excess water weight?

What is it's not too much fat that you are carrying around? What if it's excess water weight? - That's right. - Have you considered that it could be fluid retention that is your problem? If it's fluid retention it is a simple matter to reduce it. You need to eat less salt and salty food.

Your excess weight is likely to be water weight/fluid retention if you are one of the people who are vulnerable to salt, also known as sensitive to salt. The vulnerable groups include people who take or have taken certain prescribed steroids, including prednisone and prednisolone, or certain other prescribed drugs, women who take or have taken HRT or other oestrogen-containing drugs such as some contraceptive medications, people who take or have taken amitriptyline or other tricyclic antidepressants, or SSRIs like Prozac, people who take or have taken some other psychotropic/psychoactive drugs, pregnant mothers, PMT sufferers and people who ate salt as children.

If you fall into one of the vulnerable groups I have listed or if you ate a high salt diet as a child you will be sensitive to salt. People without this problem can eat salty foods without doing a lot of harm to themselves, because their kidneys will excrete the sodium which is excess to their requirements. But for people sensitive to salt, some of the excess sodium, along with the water it attracts, will enter their blood stream and not be excreted. So they carry extra weight - as water - around with them all the time. They also lose more heat from their bodies because the surface area of their body has increased with the added water, and the rate at which a body loses heat is proportional to its surface area. - They therefore need extra calories to do the extra work and to provide the extra heat. - So their appetite increases in order to obtain these extra calories. - So they may very well eat more to satisfy their genuine need for calories. - If what they eat is salty, then the cycle will repeat itself and they are likely to become obese.

To break the cycle and put the process into reverse, all that is necessary for them to do is to eat less salt. And eating extra potassium by way of fresh fruit and vegetables will accelerate the excretion of the sodium and water and speed up the weight loss. If you want to lose weight, eat less salt!

Study finds gestational diabetes linked to vitamin D deficiency

Experts say all pregnant women should be tested for vitamin D deficiency after a new study found low levels are strongly linked to gestational diabetes. The study of 147 pregnant woman at Sydney's Westmead Hospital gestational diabetes clinic found 41 per cent were vitamin D deficient.
Read article in the Canberra Times (Australia)

Taking prescription drugs during pregnancy can do terrible harm to the baby growing inside you

Dr. Mary Newport sees the symptoms more and more in the babies she treats: oddly stiff limbs, severe tremors, vomiting, diarrhea, insomnia, crying that never stops. The common denominator: Their mothers were taking prescription drugs, mostly painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin, and anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax during pregnancy.

Avoid drugs and alcohol during pregnancy. Protect your baby from needless suffering.
Read article in the St. Petersburg Times (Florida/USA)

Antidepressants taken during pregnancy could harm the unborn baby

The Daily Mail reports that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is warning pregnant mothers that antidepressants taken during pregnancy could harm the unborn baby. In particular they warn that there is an increased risk that babies will be born with a rare lung condition if the mother is taking SSRI antidepressant drugs like Prozac and Seroxat.

Doctors are supposed as far as possible to avoid prescribing drugs to pregnant mothers because pharmaceutical drugs are far, far more harmful/dangerous to unborn babies than they are to the mother herself. It is shameful that medics give so little heed to this precaution. In fact, prescription drugs are also more risky to pregnant women than to women who are not pregnant. - So it's a no no all round...

Coupled with all that, antidepressants don't work anyway! See Anti-depressants are no better than dummy pills

See also amitriptyline

advice for pregnant mothers

And see Sodium in foods.

Non-drug therapies for depression include:

a walk in the country (recommended by MIND, the mental health charity) and

improving nutrition by avoiding dieting (a well-known cause of depression) and avoiding eating salt and salty food.

Sodium Valproate (Epilim) Poses Risk of Major Birth Defects if Taken During Pregnancy

WARNING!
The FDA is updating the warning for the antimigraine and antiepileptic drug valproate sodium and related drugs, which include Depacon, Depakote, Depakene and Stavzor. Use during pregnancy can cause neural tube defects and other major birth defects. The agency released information for healthcare professionals on December 3, alerting them that women of childbearing age should be informed that the use of these drugs could cause a wide variety of birth defects.
Read article at aboutlawsuits.com (USA)

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems associated with low folate levels in expectant mothers

It has long been suggested that healthy folate (the natural form of folic acid) levels in expectant mothers goes hand in hand with healthy nervous system development in their children. A study published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry finds that low maternal folate levels is linked to the development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems in children at age seven to nine years.
Read article at physorg.com

Current vitamin D doses insufficient for pregnant mothers

Many mothers-to-be are not getting enough vitamin D, even those taking supplements at the recommended doses, says a new study from Northern Ireland. Almost all of the women in the study had blood levels of the vitamin below 80 nmol/l, a level which is widely considered to be the cut-off for vitamin D sufficiency, showing that current recommendations may be insufficient.
Read article at nutraingredients.com

Pregnant mothers may need to avoid certain products to protect their unborn babies from health problems

The Telegraph reports that pregnant mothers' exposure to certain chemicals in shampoos, hairspray, cosmetics, perfumes and other products is linked to low birth weight and other health problems in their babies.

The chemicals are called Phthalates. "In Europe, certain phthalates have been banned from hairsprays and other products since early 2005.

But they are still found in many cosmetics, including deodorants, perfumes, and nail varnish, as well as hairspray."

It appears that pregnant mothers should avoid using such products as far as possible during their pregnancy.

Giving all pregnant women vitamin D supplements could cut the number of Multiple Sclerosis sufferers by up to 80 per cent, new research suggests.

Vitamin D for pregnant women could cut MS rates
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Scientists have proved a long suspected link between the "sunshine vitamin" and the debilitating disease, a finding that could prevent tens of thousands of people developing the condition in future generations.

The findings are so compelling that the Multiple Sclerosis Society is to urge the government to produce guidelines encouraging pregnant women and young children to take the supplements.

More than 85,000 people in the UK and 2.5 million worldwide are thought to suffer from the condition, which results in damage to the nervous system preventing messages being passed from the brain to the body.

It can eventually lead to symptoms such as loss of sight and mobility, muscle spasms, slurred speech, fatigue and depression. There is no cure.

The team at Oxford University made the breakthrough after investigating why the condition is much more prevalent in cold climates than it in is in warmer countries with high levels of sunshine.

They suspected that vitamin D, which is produced by the body when it comes into contact with sunlight, could play a key role.

In laboratory experiments they discovered that vitamin D has a direct impact on a sequence of DNA known to be key to the disease.

In particular it played a vital role in making the genes develop and perform properly.

"If too little of the vitamin is available, the genes may not function properly," claimed Dr Julian Knight, the senior researcher at the Wellcome Trust and co-author of the study.

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Public Library of Science Genetics, believe that a lack of vitamin D in the womb produces a rogue gene which in turn may cause the immune system to turn against the body, resulting in damage to nerve endings."

Click on the Vitamin D tag for this blogpost and see further information about the benefits of getting enough of this sunshine vitamin!

Pregnant women who find it difficult to stop smoking will be targeted in a new government campaign.

Campaign to help pregnant women stop smoking
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The advertising campaign, from NHS Smokefree, will highlight how every smoked cigarette restricts essential oxygen to the baby.

A baby's heart has to beat harder every time a pregnant woman smokes, it will show.

Around one in five pregnant women in England smoke during their pregnancy – equal to about 100,000 women at any one time.

A poll of 224 pregnant women for the campaign revealed 28 per cent would seek help to stop smoking but were worried about being judged."

The NHS Pregnancy Smoking Helpline number is 0800 1699 169.

Vitamin D Deficiency in Pregnancy Linked to Caesarean Risk

Vitamin D deficiency greatly increases a pregnant woman's likelihood of having a Caesarean delivery, U.S. researchers report.
Read article in the Washington Post (USA)

Antidepressants in pregnancy 'increase risk of babies suffering heart problems'

Women who take common antidepressants - such as Prozac - early in their pregnancy can significantly increase their chances of having children with heart problems, according to a new study. Expectant mothers who took Prozac were four times as likely as other women to have a baby with a heart abnormality and those who took Seroxat were three times as likely.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

Women who eat too little during pregnancy increase the risk of their children becoming obese in later life, experts have warned.

Women who eat too little during pregnancy increase risk of obesity in children
Article in the Telegraph: - further evidence that dieting is harmful.

I suppose that women who eat too little during pregnancy do it because they hope that this will prevent them from gaining too much weight during pregnance. - Actually, the way to prevent excessive weight gain during pregnancy is to avoid eating salt or salty food. This also reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes. It is also good for the baby-to-be that the pregnant mother avoids salt and salty food.

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/pregnant_mothers.html - some advice for pregnant mothers

And see Sodium in foods

Calcium during pregnancy reduces harmful blood lead levels

Pregnant women who take high levels of daily calcium supplements show a marked reduction in lead levels in their blood, suggesting calcium could play a critical role in reducing fetal and infant exposure. A new study at the University of Michigan shows that women who take 1,200 milligrams of calcium daily have up to a 31 percent reduction in lead levels.
Read article at physorg.com

Children exposed to pesticide in womb twice as likely to be overweight, refuting idea of sole personal responsibility. (Geoffrey Lean, IoS)

Pollution can make you fat, study claims
Report by Geoffrey Lean in the Independent on Sunday

Extracts:

"Pollution can make children fat, startling new research shows. A groundbreaking Spanish study indicates that exposure to a range of common chemicals before birth sets up a baby to grow up stout, thus helping to drive the worldwide obesity epidemic.

The results of the study, just published – the first to link chemical contamination in the womb with one of the developing world's greatest and fastest-growing health crises – carry huge potential implications for public policy around the globe. They undermine recent strictures from the Conservative leader, David Cameron, that blame solely the obese for their own condition.

A quarter of all British adults and a fifth of children are obese – four times as many as 30 years ago. And so are at least 300 million people worldwide. The main explanation is that they are consuming more calories than they burn. But there is growing evidence that diet and lack of exercise, though critical, cannot alone explain the rapid growth of the epidemic."

"Experiments have shown that many chemicals fed to pregnant animals cause their offspring to grow up obese. These include organotins, long employed in antifouling paints on ships and now widely found in fish; bisphenol A (BPA), used in baby bottles and to line cans of food, among countless other applications; and phthalates, found in cosmetics, shampoos, plastics to wrap food, and in a host of other everyday products.

These pollutants – dubbed "obesogens" as a result of these findings – are so ubiquitous that almost everyone now has them in their bodies. Ninety-five per cent of Americans excrete BPA in their urine; 90 per cent of babies have been found to be exposed to phthalates in the womb; and every umbilical cord analysed in the new Spanish study was found to contain organchlorine pesticides such as HCB."

"Dr Pete Myers, one of the world's leading experts on obesogens, told The Independent on Sunday last night: "This is very important. It is the first good study of the effects on the foetus. Its conclusions are not surprising, given what we know from the animal experiments, but it firmly links such chemicals to the biggest challenge facing public health today.""

I think we can probably trust the actual findings of the study because it is unlikely that it was funded by the pharmaceutical industry. (It is wise never to trust research funded by Big Pharma.) - What we need always to be sceptical about are the conclusions drawn from research, because these conclusions are often based on false premises/assumptions/beliefs/prejudices/self-interest.

There are a number of false assumptions in this report, the main one being contained in this statement: "Everyone agrees that people gain weight by taking in more calories in their food than they burn off through everyday activities and exercise." - The truth is that the calorie explanation of weight gain is untrue. -

OBESITY IS CAUSED BY FLUID RETENTION/SODIUM RETENTION/SALT SENSITIVITY, NOT BY EXCESS CALORIES OR BY INSUFFICIENT EXERCISE. And fluid retention frequently leads to FAT RETENTION.

Fluid retention has a number of contributory causes, to which we should perhaps now add foetal exposure to pollutants. - The good news is that whatever the contributory causes of any individual's obesity, there is a fast, safe, sure way to reduce/prevent it, namely AVOID SALT AND SALTY FOOD AND AVOID PRESCRIPTION DRUGS UNLESS THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY AND TAKE THEM IN THE LOWEST EFFECTIVE DOSE AND FOR THE SHORTEST PERIOD OF TIME NECESSARY.

The main causes of salt sensitivity are

1) prescription drugs, mainly steroids, HRT or other oestrogen-containing drugs such as some contraceptive medications,

anti-psychotics and antidepressants,

but also including many painkillers

2) eating salt and salty food in childhood

3) dieting, i.e. eating insufficient food

4) high levels of oestrogen and eating salty food during pregnancy

5) high levels of oestrogen and other drug residues in our drinking water supply

6) depletion of the body's calcium, magnesium and potassium levels, and vitamin D deficiency

7) eating insufficent fruit and vegetables

The first three are the most important in terms of the numbers of people harmed and the severity of the harm.

Obesity is on the increase mainly because doctors are recklessly prescribing more and more drugs, often in recklessly high doses and constantly give obese people the catastrophically harmful advice to "just eat less and exercise more". - This advice does not reduce obesity; it usually increases obesity because it further weakens the walls of the blood vessels, thus leading to greater fluid retention and malnutrition.

There is further and fuller information on my website. If you need more explanation I can be contacted from my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions

See advice for pregnant mothers

Mum's vitamin D during pregnancy strengthens her children's teeth

Higher intakes of vitamin D during pregnancy may lead to stronger teeth in children, according to researchers from University of Manitoba, Canada.
Read article at nutraingredients.com

The babies of women who take topiramate, an epilepsy drug, while pregnant are at increased risk of birth defects, scientists warn.

Warning over epilepsy drug topiramate linked to birth defects
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The drug topiramate, which is also used to treat migraines in some people, was linked to a significantly higher risk of cleft palate or lip and genital deformities.

Experts say that epilepsy drugs should be used with caution in pregnant women due to the risks.

However, epileptic seizures can also harm the unborn child and lead to miscarriages so women with epilepsy are advised to consult their doctor when trying to become pregnant.

A new study published in the journal Neurology, examined 178 babies born to women who fell pregnant while taking topiramate alone or in combination with other drugs.

Sixteen babies had major birth defects, three of them were born to women only taking topiramate and the others were born to women taking it in combination with other drugs."