Category Archives: Pregnancy
Study Finds No Acupuncture Benefit to Women in Labor
According to MSNBC, a study published in the obstetrics journal BJOG found evidence that acupuncture may not ease the pain of childbirth. The findings found that among 105 first-time moms having labor induction showed no benefit from acupuncture given to them before contractions started. The study warns new moms-to-be that acupuncture may not be the answer for a drug-free labor. Out of 105 first-time moms, two-thirds ended up requesting epidural pain medication during labor compared to 56 percent of women who received a placebo version of the procedure and 77 percent of those given no acupuncture treatment at all. This study followed two research studies in South Korea and the UK, which analyzed 10 previous clinical trials of acupuncture for labor pain and found no evidence that the procedure eases pain during birthing. The lead researcher on the current study said that he believed overwhelming research done by different groups…
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Study Finds Iron Benefits Not Significant for Some Pregnant Women
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,…
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Researchers Link Down Syndrome Through More Accurate Blood Tests
According 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…
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Posted in Pregnancy Tagged blood test, chromosome, down syndrome, Pregnancy, research, study 1 Comment
