Archive for the ‘ Pregnancy & Child Development ’ Category
Dr. Stephen Barrett has for years operated a web site called Quackwatch which he advertises as “Your Guide to Quackery, Health Fraud, and Intelligent Decisions”. One of his earliest targets was Benjamin Feingold, M.D., who way back in 1973 popularized a specific diet, free of food additives, that he claimed would be beneficial for behavioral [ READ MORE ]
Several years ago, parents of a lovely nine-year-old girl brought her to see me because she had “poor memory”. They indicated that she had difficulty “thinking and focusing” and because of these issues she was falling further and further behind in her school work. Interestingly, they stated that at times she was “fine”, while clearly [ READ MORE ]
The link between gluten sensitivity and problems with brain function, including learning disabilities, difficulty staying on task, and even memory dysfunction, is actually not that difficult to understand. Gluten sensitivity is caused by elevated levels of antibodies against a component of gluten called gliadin. This antibody (antigliadin antibody) combines with gliadin when a person is exposed [ READ MORE ]
Asthma is one of the most common diseases of childhood, affecting more than 1 in 10 children. And it’s on the rise… The incidence of asthma has doubled since 1980. Asthma disproportionately affects young children. Half of all children who get asthma develop symptoms before the age of five. Among older children, asthma is the [ READ MORE ]
It’s another warning signal about the health of American children: prescription drug use for obese kids with serious cases of diabetes has doubled in just a four-year period from 2002 to 2005. The findings in a national study by Express Scripts, one of the largest pharmacy benefit management companies in North America, examined prescription claims for [ READ MORE ]
“Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education.” – Plato For thousands of years, music has been an integral part of the human experience. In fact, anthropological evidence reveals visible signs of musical activities visible in cave paintings dating back some 70,000 years. Flutes were in widespread use as long ago as 30,000 [ READ MORE ]
Could children who snore face the same level of academic difficulty as those suffering from lead exposure? Some University of Virginia researchers think so. The researchers have been studying sleep disorders in children with enlarged tonsils and adenoids for the last seven years. In their recent look at the issue, they found children who snore every night [ READ MORE ]
Video games are usually played on video game consoles (such as XBox, Playstation, or Nintendo) and require a gamepad (formerly called a joystick) to maneuver through the game, but they can also be played on computers with the appropriate hardware or with hand held devices. Video games have been around for more than three decades, [ READ MORE ]
So you want your baby to become a genius, a “Baby Einstein” or perhaps a “Brainy Baby.” You take a cue from the marketing claims of the learning language DVDs bearing those names and you wonder why baby isn’t as smart as you had hoped. In fact, little Johnny and Suzy next door seem to have larger [ READ MORE ]
They’re among the fears of many expecting parents: miscarriages, children born with Down’s syndrome or trouble with language and learning development. It may not be a chance happening that caused the problem. The cause might come from the father’s unhealthy sperm. Proper diet, it seems, is not only the prevue of the mother. Fathers also need to [ READ MORE ]