The Checkup: January 9, 2011 - January 15, 2011

Nearly all pregnant women harbor potentially harmful chemicals

The first study to measure the number of potentially toxic chemicals in the bodies of pregnant women finds that virtually all harbor multiple contaminants -- many at levels already shown to be harmful to humans.

By Jennifer LaRue Huget  | January 14, 2011; 12:00 AM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (11)
Categories:  Environmental Toxins, Infant health, Motherhood, Parenting, Reproductive Health, Women's Health  
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Is eye opening really significant?

How significant is it that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords opened her left eye? According to at least one expert, it's very significant.

By Rob Stein  | January 13, 2011; 1:04 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (5)
 
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FDA limits painkillers

Federal health officials Thursday announced they were restricting the strength of some of the most popular prescription painkillers to prevent people from suffering severe liver damage from one of the main ingredients. The Food and Drug Administration is asking drug companies to limit the amount of acetaminophen in all prescription...

By Rob Stein  | January 13, 2011; 10:23 AM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (7)
Categories:  FDA, drug safety  
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Studies show that for kids' ear infections, antibiotics work better than waiting

Being a parent these days sometimes entails this hypocrisy: Yes, I know overuse of antibiotics is creating superbugs that may soon conquer the universe. But please give some to my kid anyway. Now two new studies (bolstered by an accompanying editorial) in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrate what we parents have suspected for years: When it comes to ear infections, antibiotics are in order.

By Jennifer LaRue Huget  | January 12, 2011; 5:00 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (7)
Categories:  Antibiotics, Family Health, General Health, Infant health, Kids' health, Motherhood  
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Wakefield tried to capitalize on autism-vaccine link, report says

Andrew Wakefield, the British doctor who made now widely discredited claims about a link between autism and childhood vaccines, explored business arrangements to capitalize on the supposed association, according to a new report. In a follow-up to another report published last week in the British medical journal BMJ, investigative reporter...

By Rob Stein  | January 11, 2011; 6:30 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (8)
Categories:  Autism, Vaccines  
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Federal Food Pyramid prompts a lawsuit by PCRM

I wonder what you all will think of PCRM's decision last week to sue the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services for allegedly overlooking science, and for shunning PCRM's alternative healthful-eating graphic, when devising the Food Pyramid.

By Jennifer LaRue Huget  | January 11, 2011; 7:00 AM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (13)
Categories:  Dietary Guidelines, Family Health, Kids' health, Nutrition and Fitness, Obesity  
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Pregnancies spaced closely together result in higher autism risk

A paper in the new issue of Pediatrics finds that when siblings are born 12 or fewer months apart, the second child's risk of autism is tripled compared to that of children born a year or more after their older sibling.

By Jennifer LaRue Huget  | January 10, 2011; 12:00 AM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (1)
Categories:  Autism, Family Health, Infant health, Infectious Disease, Kids' health, Neurological disorders, Parenting, Pregnancy, Reproductive Health, Vaccinations, Vaccines, Women's Health  
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