Caffeine risk in pregnancy

Caffeine is a stimulant and too much of it can jangle your nerves and keep you awake, however for pregnant women it can have a far more serious impact. Caffeine, whether from coffee, chocolate or sot drinks like colas, has been linked to a higher risk of miscarriage reported this week by the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

Even a small amount of caffeine can increase the risk, but if the daily intake is the equivalent of at least two cups of coffee or five cans of a soft drink with caffeine, then women in the study were twice as likely to miscarry as women who never, or rarely, had any caffeine in their diet. Women who suffer a lot of nausea in pregnancy, and had a high caffeine intake, had an even higher risk of miscarriage.

The study was based on 1,063 pregnant women living in the San Francisco area and confirmed previous studies about the increased risk of caffeine intake and miscarriage. These studies found that caffeine crosses the placenta but is poorly metabolised by the foetus and may influence cell development and decrease placental blood flow.

To put it into perspective, the risk factor is substantially elevated if you have over 200mg a day from all sources and a large mug of 150 mill of coffee contains 100 mg of caffeine.

However, as I have previously mentioned in this article about caffeine, caffeine-free doesn’t quite mean what it says. It depends on a number of factors such as what process of decaffeinating is used and what different manufacturers product requirements and standards are.

Remember that there is approximately 2mg caffeine in decaf coffee and hot chocolate and if tea drinkers are not immune either as there is approximately 39 mg of caffeine in the average mug of tea.

Heart attack risk linked to bodys fat distribution

The link between heart attack risk and being overweight is well-established, but now it seems that it is not so much how much extra weight you are carrying, but where it is on the body that increases the risk factor. Two studies, one in the US at the Medical College of Wisconsin and another at Tel-Aviv University in Israel indicate if extra weight is all carried on the stomach and abdomen then you need to take action. In the two separate studies 20,000 subjects had their body mass index (BMI) compared to their waist measurement in relation to cardiovascular disease risk factors. The bigger the waist, the risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high glucose levels were found to be significantly stronger than the link between those same factors and BMI.

The leader of the Israeli study, Dr David Tanne, pointed out that excessive abdominal fat also raises the risk of other factors associated with metabolic syndrome, such as type 2 diabetes. Their research also found that during a 23-year follow up period that those subjects with excessive abdominal fat were one and a half times more likely to suffer a stroke compared to subjects with the lowest abdominal fat.

What can you do?
Whether you can’t see your feet when looking down, or are just a little soft around the waist, it pays to take preventive action. Heart disease and stroke risk are not to be taken lightly and although regular exercise is certainly essential there is another factor that might help.

Canadian researchers reported in a study published last year in the Journal of Nutrition that having a higher intake of protein might help. Like the other researchers they were also measuring their subjects to assess waist-hip ratio (WHR). The result was that those with the highest waist-hip ratio, indicating excessive abdominal fat, were found to have the lowest intake of protein.

Why would protein have this effect?
A fatty acid called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) might provide the answer. CLA is most abundant in protein-rich dietary sources such as meat and dairy products. It’s also available in supplement form, and studies have shown that CLA supplements may help reduce body fat mass, but as always take the simplest route first and look at your diet before taking supplements, and then only on the advice of your doctor.

Vitamin D reduces fall risk in older women

Australia is a country with no shortage of sunshine, but even there in the winter months there may not be enough to keep the body adequately supplied so you can imagine that the situation is even more pronounced in more northern climes. Sunshine is the main source of vitamin D, and one very specific element of that – Vitamin D2 – appeared to reduce the risk of falls, especially during the winter months. This is important news for women at high-risk, such as those with osteoporosis, and the simplest advice is to get as much natural sunlight as you possibly can, and make sure you have adequate amounts of calcium in your diet as that helps vitamin D to be best utilized by the body.

Approximately one-third of women over 65 fall each year, and if a woman has a vitamin D deficiency then she is at greater risk of fracture. Those women given a vitamin D2 and calcium supplement in a trial at the University of Western Australia had a 19% lower risk of falls compared with patients given calcium alone. The trial studied 300 women over the age of 70 living in Perth, Australia who had a history of falling in the previous year. Older people who fall frequently do tend to have more risk factors for falling, including greater degrees of disability and poorer levels of physical function, so supplementing with D2 is only one factor to be considered. Taking any one vitamin in isolation can cause problems so before you decide to supplement please talk first to a qualified nutritionist, or treat yourself to a couple of weeks in the sun during the darkest days of winter. If you can’t get away, then take advantage if every ray of sunshine you can find and get outdoors as often as possible.

Beating the Winter blues

If the dark days of winter make you feel gloomy, then take heart because there are some very simple things you can do to make yourself feel better. One that certainly attracted me came from a new study that reveals fresh flowers can be a natural remedy to winter affective disorder. The behavioural research study, conducted by Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, found that people feel more compassionate toward others, have less worry and anxiety and feel less depressed when fresh-cut flowers are present in the home. Say it with flowers in this case is something I would heartily endorse! Here are some other tips that can help:

*** Start your day with a high-protein breakfast and end it with a whole grain-rich dinner. This combination will help balance mood-regulating hormones.

*** Increase your intake of omega-3 fatty acids by adding some cold water fish like salmon, or flaxseeds to your diet.

*** Try light therapy. Research has shown that exposure to light is an effective treatment for winter depression. Light therapy is administered by a 10,000-lux light box which mimics outdoor light and causes a biochemical change in the brain to lift your mood.

*** Regular use of relaxation techniques such as meditation, breathing exercises, and yoga can help promote emotional balance. There are many available, and my own meditation CD ‘Relax, Renew and Revitalise’ might help you. For more information on it visit the website at www.catalystonline.co.uk/health.htm

Finally, one of the simplest, and cheapest, things you can do is to be outdoors in the fresh air and daylight as much as possible. Have a thirty-minute walk and you will improve your health and boost your serotonin levels, which in turn will help improve your mood.

Mobile phones and Autism Link

Do you know a child who doesn’t have, or want, their own mobile phone? There are good practical reasons for giving children a way of being in touch when away from home, but there is now new research that links mobile phone use and autism. Rates of autism, a disabling neurodevelopmental disorder, have increased nearly 60-fold since the late 1970s, with the most significant increases occurring in the past decade. The cause of autism is unknown, although theories include such potential causes as:

* Genetic predisposition

* Inability to clear heavy metals

* Increased vulnerability to oxidative stress

* Environmental exposures including mercury preservatives in vaccines

* Trans-generational accumulation of toxic heavy metals

Now a groundbreaking new theory has been suggested by a study published in the Journal of the Australasian College of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine. They believe that it is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from cell phones, cell towers, Wi-Fi devices and other similar wireless technologies that are an accelerating factor in autism.

The study involved over five years of research on children with autism and it found that EMR negatively affects cell membranes, and allows heavy metal toxins, which are associated with autism, to build up in the body. The researchers pointed out that autism rates have increased concurrently along with the proliferation of cell phones and wireless use. EMR from wireless devices (such as laptops, bluetooth etc) works in conjunction with environmental and genetic factors to cause autism.

EMR, the researchers say, could impact autism by facilitating early onset of symptoms or by trapping heavy metals inside of nerve cells, which could accelerate the onset of symptoms of heavy metal toxicity and hinder therapeutic clearance of the toxins.

What’s the solution? At present there doesn’t seem to be one. Research on the potential health effects from mobile phone technology is evaluated periodically by the Government’s Health Protection Agency s Radiation Protection Division after the Stewart Report in 2000 recommended further research as part of an overall precautionary approach to the use of mobile phone technology. The independently managed Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) programme, jointly funded by Government and industry, was set up in 2001 in response to the Stewart Report recommendations. It is currently supporting a number of studies into the possible health effects but there is no definitive answer as yet. My suggestion? Seriously limit mobile phone use – especially for children – and my feeling is that being available 24/7 by phone is hugely stressful and is a health hazard in itself so switch it off unless it is an essential call! My mobile is off until I need to check my messages or call ahead about a delayed appointment.

In fact my mobile message is very specific it says ‘I do not leave this mobile switched on so do not leave a message unless you are prepared for it not to be picked for several days. Leave a message on my home phone instead’. Worth a try?

Decaffeinated doesn’t always mean caffeine-free

Did you know you can get withdrawal symptoms like headache and sluggishness from just 100mg of

caffeine? That’s why many people choose to reduce their caffeine intake for their health’s sake and switch to decaffeinated coffee for at least part of their daily consumption. They do this on the confident belief that when they see the words ‘caffeine-free’ that meant that the product contained no caffeine or at least only very tiny amounts. However, that is not the case as the people from the Consumer Reports organisation recently found out.

They sent out a team of ‘secret shoppers’ with the arduous task of buying cups of decaffeinated and ‘normal’ coffee from six major US concerns: Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Seattle’s Best, 7-11, McDonald’s and Burger King. At least four of those brands are available in the UK and Europe and the results were not impressive when the different coffees were analysed for their caffeine content.

If you drink a can of coca cola or pepsi – the regular kind – you are getting around 30mgs of caffeine, but you get over that (32mg) if you got a decaf from Dunkin’ Donuts. Containing a third less caffeine, but still weighing in at a whopping 20mg was Starbucks. If you want to get coffee with the lowest caffeine levels (in a decaffeinated blend) then McDonalds came out best with less than 5 mgs.

If you like your caffeine content to be high, then again the amount varies wildly. In a 120z cup the levels ranged from 58-281 mgs – and at that highest level it’s practically giving your nervous system the equivalent of an electric shock.

What’s the answer? Don’t worry so much about the levels, but monitor the effect on your nervous system – if the coffee revs you up and boosts your adrenalin levels so you feel an increased heart rate, or perhaps jumpy and nervous, then you know you are getting a caffeine hit – whatever the label says. Herb tea anyone?

Women smokers at greater risk for heart attacks

Traditionally women have enjoyed a natural shield against a major cardiac event such as a heart attack. Being a woman has ensured a huge nine year barrier before women become more prone to heart disease, but now a new finding has been reported by the American Heart Association. A study of more than 7,000 men and women undertaken at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has found that women who smoke eliminate that beneficial barrier and their risk of a heart attack is exactly the same as a man’s.

In real terms, this means that up to now, women who do not smoke would not normally present with heart problems until on average around the age of 71 but women smokers are being seen with heart problems at around the age of 62. That is a loss of nine years, but if you need an even greater incentive to give up – or persuade the woman in your life to do so = then the researchers also found that if a woman quits smoking for at least six months, her risk factors for heart attacks reverts to average.

Interestingly, the analysis of men showed virtually the same, although men only lost 3.8 years because of smoking. Men who didn’t smoke tended to show up with a heart attack at age 61; men who smoked showed up at the emergency room when they were 57.

A final cheery note from the director of the New York University Women’s Health Program. “Smoking among women causes heart attacks, lung disease, and wrinkles so this study is just another reason for women to quit or never start. It takes nine years off your life.”

Three minutes a day for a better back

Suffering from back pain and poor posture is sadly all too frequent these days. We spend a lot of time sitting for long periods, whether at a computer or in front of a television and what our back needs is gentle and regular stretching and exercise.

Visiting a chiropracter is essential for serious or chronic back problems, but if you want a simple, preventive routine then the British Chiropractic Association have devised a three minute daily stretching routine that will improve your posture and strengthen your spine. The exercises have delightful names like Twirling Star, Humming Bird and Butterfly – or if you are feeling a little more warrior-like there is also Extending the Sword and Tightrope.

They also offer you some good advice, like checking the weight of your bag or briefcase and dumping any unnecessary items out and implementing the ten minute rule – if it takes less than that to walk, then do so and leave the car at home.

To get your copy call the British Chiropractic Association on 0118 950 5950 or download a copy straight from the web, it’s only a couple of A4 pages at www.straightenupuk.org and click on the downloads link. There are two leaflets, one for adults and one for children, just click on the one you want, print it out and off you go on your way to a healthier back.

High blood pressure in pregnancy may pose long-term risk

High blood pressure is closely monitored during pregnancy but there is new evidence from a study at the Mayo Clinic in the USA that it is an under-recognized risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Compared with women who have had normal blood pressure throughout their pregnancies, those who had high blood pressure are at greater risk of heart disease later in life. One reason could be that having high blood pressure in pregnancy has some of the same risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as diabetes or obesity. Another theory is that hypertension in pregnancy could induce long-term metabolic and vascular abnormalities that might increase the overall risk of heart disease later in life. Anyone with a family history of heart disease is well advised to have their blood pressure very closely monitored during pregnancy.

Chlamydia and male fertility

Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium chlamydia trachomatis. In the UK, the number of new diagnoses has been steadily increasing each year since the mid-1990s, and it has now become the most commonly diagnosed STI.

There has been much publicity about the devastating effects of chlamydia on fertility in women, where, if left untreated, it can affect the uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes. It is estimated that sexually active women aged under-25, have a 1 in 10 chance of getting chlamydia but scientists from Spain and Mexico have now established that it presents similar risks for men.

They have estimated that men who are aged between 20 and 30 are most at risk of becoming infected and that it can make men infertile by damaging the quality of their sperm. As chlamydia often has no symptoms, in both men and women, it can often go undiagnosed, but is easily treatable in the early stages. It is when it is well established that damage can occur so prevention is the best plan by always using condoms and having regular checkups. STI clinics can perform a simple urine test, or there are also home testing kits available.

*** Editors Note ***
Always use a condom, if you’re not sure how to put on a condom, check out this how to put on a condom video.
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