June is Nutrition Awareness Month and this week is National Men's Health Week.
With Father's Day here, it's important to remember that dad's health habits are also very important when trying to conceive. Bad lifestyle habits and choices can make a big difference on a potential dad's sperm quantity and quality. Everything from nutrition, exercise (or lack of it) or type of exercise (excessive bicycling reduces sperm count), cell phone use, and past or present drug use or abuse, and chemical exposures can all have an impact on fertility and the future health of a baby. Go to www.menshealthweek.org for more info.
Vitamin D supplementation needed during nursing.
Further studies published by the AMA are implicating that 40% of 8-24 month old
infants do not have adequate Vitamin D levels, which can cause rickets. Nursing
moms needs to supplement with extra vitamin D and make sure that both mom
and baby gets their minimum of 15 minutes of sunshine every day (without
sunscreen lotions) to improve vitamin D levels.
Trans fats consumption during nursing harms baby as well as mom.
The Journal of Nutrition published a study showing that lactating rats fed a trans fats had off spring with decreased heart function for glucose transportation and insulin sensitivities. Trans fats are used mostly in processed foods by the food industry for extended shelf life and flavor stability. But Trans fats do tremendous harm in raising LDL cholesterol (bad guys) and reducing the HDL cholesterol (good guys), which can lead to cardiovascular disease. it can also lead to metabolic syndrome and type-2 diabetes. Avoid processed foods, margarines, nut butters without oil on top etc..
Artificial colors linked to ADHD.
Just as in Europe, the FDA here in the states is finally being urged to ban
artificial
food colors that are linked to hyperactivity. A UK study published in the Lancet
concluded that different artificial colors, and the preservative sodium benzoate
bring on ADHD in children. The colors implicated are: Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1,
green 3, orange B, red 3, and yellow 6.
