According to MSNBC, a recent study found that taking iron supplements does not have as significant benefit for pregnant women who don’t already have iron-poor blood. The study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that anemic pregnant women boosted their iron levels by taking supplements but the women who had higher levels to begin with did not see any extra boost. Iron is essential to making hemoglobin, the component of red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. A pregnant woman’s iron needs rise as her body produces greater volumes of blood for her and the fetus. A professor of human nutrition at Cornell University said that the gut senses when the body needs iron, and through gut responses the body absorbs iron better. According to the World Health Organization, fewer than one in five pregnant women in the U.S. were anemic in 2005. In other countries,…
Read More »
Birth Injury and Cerebral Palsy Attorneys Home
Study Finds Iron Benefits Not Significant for Some Pregnant Women
March 22, 2011Researchers Link Down Syndrome Through More Accurate Blood Tests
March 21, 2011According to MSNBC, researchers in Europe have been able to find Down syndrome prenatally through a blood test to pregnant women, perhaps lessening the need for more extensive procedures used to detect the condition. A report published in the Journal Nature Medicine is the latest of studies that suggests Down syndrome diagnosis through fetal DNA that has been shed in the mother’s bloodstream. Other research groups in Cyprus, Greece and England conducted blind tests in which they were able to correctly identify 14 cases of Down syndrome through a blood test and 26 normal fetuses. Down syndrome results in cognitive delays and is a chromosomal condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome . Currently, a pregnant woman must go through blood tests and ultrasound to find out if the fetus is at risk for Down syndrome. The condition is estimated at 1 in…
Read More »
FDA Warns Johnson and Johnson of Topamax Side Effects
March 18, 2011According to the Food and Drug Administration, Topamax should be closely monitored for increases in depression and potential mood changes that may result in an increase of suicidal thoughts. Topamax is a migraine and anticonvulsant medication linked to an increased risk of birth defects, specifically oral. Oral birth defects include cleft lip and cleft palate and occur in the first trimester of pregnancy when the lip or palate fails to fuse properly during development. A pregnant woman taking Topamax during the first trimester is 20 times likely to risk their child developing an oral birth defect than a woman not taking the medication, says Reuters. The FDA warns pregnant women that they are at risk of having a baby develop the facial anomalies when exposed to dangerous drugs such as Topamax. While Topamax has an FDA-approved seal to treat seizures and migraine headaches, it is being used off-label by doctors…
Read More »
