Blog Post #6: Mother's Diet Linked to Birth Defects

Researchers
have found a link between the diet of mothers' and birth defeats.
Women who eat a healthy diet are less likely to have children with
birth defects. Researchers say that a varied diet, full of fruits,
vegetables, and grains, along with vitamin supplements containing
folic acid should greatly decrease the risk of birth defects. Diets
lacking in folic acid and folate have been linked to brain and spine
defects. The study used data to compare 3.400 women who had a child
with a neural tube defect or a cleft lip or palate and 6,100 women
whose child had no defects. The women were asked how frequently they
had eaten a range of foods before they became pregnant and while
pregnant. Weight, vitamin consumption, smoking and drinking habits
were also checked. Women whose diet closely followed that of the
food guide pyramid were 34 percent less likely to have a child with a
cleft lip and 26 percent less likely to have one with a cleft
palate compared to women whose diet did not follow the FGP.
Researchers and health professionals urge women who are pregnant or
are about to become pregnant to closely watch their diet and seek out
better foods.

Diet,
not only for pregnant women had become an ever increasing social
problem in today's world. More and more people are overweight or just
unhealthy in general. What should hopefully scare women into more
closely monitoring their diet is this study, where what they eat not
only affects them, but the livelihood of their unborn child. We in
the United States have access to safe, healthy foods, a large number
of vitamins and supplements, and excellent healthcare so there is no
excuse. Government programs are also available for women who cannot
afford to buy the necessary food needed for them and their children.
So we Americans have no excuse to blame diet on causing birth defects
when women in Africa, India, China, and other rural
countries/continents don't have easy access to what is essential.

http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/nm/us_healthy_diet_tied_fewer_birth_defects