All Videos for Pregnancy

Flame-Retardant Pollutants and Child Development

PBDE fire-retardant chemicals in the food supply may contribute to attention and cognitive deficits in children.



Dietary Pollutants May Affect Testosterone Levels

Endocrine-disrupting industrial toxins in the aquatic food chain may affect genital development of boys and sexual function in men.



Are Organic Foods Safer?

Organic food consumption appears to reduce exposure to pesticide residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.



Why Do Vegan Women Have 5x Fewer Twins?

The hormones naturally found in foods of animal origin may help explain why women who eat conventional diets are five times more likely to give birth to twins than those eating plant-based diets.



Is the Pesticide Glyphosate in Monsanto’s Roundup Safe?

Higher levels of pesticides on GMO soy is a concern since Monsanto’s Roundup has been shown to have adverse effects on human placental tissue.



Are GMOs Safe? The Case of Bt Corn

So much of the information about genetically modified crops is wrong—on both sides of the debate. What does the best available evidence have to say about the human health implications of Bt corn?



How Much Hibiscus Tea Is Too Much?

The impressive manganese content of hibiscus tea may be the limiting factor for safe daily levels of consumption.



Garlic & Raisins to Prevent Premature Birth

Consumption of even small amounts of garlic or raisins are associated with significantly lower risk of pregnant women going into premature labor or having their water break too soon.



Illegal Drugs in Chicken Feathers

By testing chicken feathers for chemical residues, researchers aim to find out what the poultry industry is feeding their birds. The presence of banned drugs and a broad range of pharmaceuticals raises concern, recalling the time in which DES was fed to chickens for years after it was shown to cause human vagina cancer.



Pollutants in Salmon and Our Own Fat

Farmed Atlantic salmon, the kind of salmon most commonly found in restaurants and supermarkets, may be the single largest source of toxic dietary pollutants.



Turmeric Curcumin Reprogramming Cancer Cell Death

The spice turmeric appears to be able to switch back on the self-destruct mechanism within cancer cells.



Dietary Sources of Alkylphenol Endocrine Disruptors

Foods of animal origin (especially fish) appear to be the most important source of human exposure to industrial pollutants such as alkylphenol xenoestrogens.



Alkylphenol Endocrine Disruptors and Allergies

The dramatic rise of allergic diseases such as eczema and seasonal allergies may be related to dietary exposure to endocrine-disruptor xenoestrogens, such as alkylphenol industrial pollutants.



Who Says Eggs Aren’t Healthy or Safe?

Freedom of Information Act documents reveal that the U.S. Department of Agriculture warned the egg industry that saying eggs are nutritious or safe may violate rules against false and misleading advertising.



Who Shouldn’t Consume Curcumin or Turmeric?

Just because something is natural and plant-based doesn’t mean it’s necessarily safe. Those who are pregnant, have gallstones, or are susceptible to kidney stones may want to moderate their turmeric consumption.



Bacon, Eggs, and Gestational Diabetes During Pregnancy

Eating meat or eggs before pregnancy may increase the risk of gestational diabetes.



How Long to Detox from Fish Before Pregnancy?

How many months does it take to clear 99% of the mercury and other industrial toxins from one’s body, and what role might our fat stores play in holding on to fat-soluble pollutants?



Mercury vs. Omega-3s for Brain Development

Risk/benefit analysis of 33 fish species contrasts the brain-boosting effects of DHA with the brain-damaging effects of mercury, to determine the net effect on intelligence (IQ).



Fish Intake Associated with Brain Shrinkage

Exposure to mercury during pregnancy appears to influence fetal brain development, as detected by decreased size of a newborn’s brain.



Infant Seizures Linked to Mother’s Spirulina Use

Contamination of spirulina supplements with toxins from blue-green algae raises safety concerns.



Male Fertility & Diet

Dioxins, endocrine disrupting pollutants, heavy metals, saturated fat, and steroids in the meat supply may be affecting sperm counts, semen quality, and the ability of men to conceive.



Can Cranberry Juice Treat Bladder Infections?

Cranberries may reduce the recurrence of urinary tract infections, but their role in treating infections is limited.



Meat Fumes: Dietary Secondhand Smoke

The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the vapors released from cooking meat may be hazardous for fetal development, and increase the risk of cancer.



Diet Soda and Preterm Birth

Aspartame may be the reason that diet soda consumption during pregnancy has been linked to premature birth.



Side Effect of Fenugreek Consumption

Fenugreek seeds may protect against cancer and improve muscle mass, but they can make your armpits smell like maple syrup.



The Wrong Way to Detox

The reason birth order is a predictor of pollutant levels in the bodies of children is that women can pass along as much as half of their PCB burden to their fetus during pregnancy.



How Fast Can Children Detoxify from PCBs?

Based on the half-life of industrial pollutants children may be exposed to in the womb or at the breast, how many years does it take for them to detoxify their bodies (assuming they’re brought up on a healthy diet)?



DDT in Umbilical Cord Blood

Are pregnant women who eat fish, other meat, and dairy still passing along the pesticide DDT—even decades after it was banned?



CDC Report on Environmental Chemical Exposure

The latest national survey on the levels of chemical pollutants (such as heavy metals, toxic solvents, endocrine-disrupters, flame-retardant chemicals, PCBs), and pesticides (such as DDT) in the bodies of pregnant and non-pregnant Americans.



Chamomile Tea May Not Be Safe During Pregnancy

For the same reason aspirin should be avoided in pregnancy, chamomile has such powerful anti-inflammatory properties that regular consumption may result in a serious fetal heart problem—premature constriction of the fetal ductus arteriosus, which allows the fetus to “breathe” in the womb.



Dangerous Advice from Health Food Store Employees

Employees in natural food stores have been caught giving advice that is not only scientifically baseless, but also risky and downright dangerous.



Which Brand of Tuna Has the Most Mercury?

In a survey of three national brands of tuna in the United States, most cans exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s safety level for human consumption.



Hair Testing for Mercury before Considering Pregnancy

The EPA safety limit on mercury in fish may not sufficiently protect pregnant women in the United States. This has led to a recommendation that fish-eating women get tested for mercury before considering getting pregnant.



Amnesic Seafood Poisoning

There’s a rare toxin, called domoic acid, that can turn up in tuna and other seafood and cause anterograde amnesia, the loss of short-term memory popularized in the movie Memento.



What About the Caffeine?

Caffeine has positive cognitive and physiological effects at moderate doses.



Breast Cancer Survival & Lignan Intake

One teaspoon of flax seeds may double one’s daily production of lignans—phytonutrients that appear to play a role in both breast cancer prevention and survival.



When Nitrites Go Bad

Nitrites in processed meat form nitrosamines, a class of potent carcinogens found in cigarette smoke, which may explain why hot dog consumption has been associated with the two leading pediatric cancers, brain tumors and childhood leukemia.



New Vitamin B12 Test

Who should get tested for vitamin B12 (cobalamin) deficiency, and which is the best test to use: serum B12, methylmalonic acid (MMA), or holotranscobalamin levels?



Preventing Childhood Allergies

What is responsible for the rising prevalence of atopic diseases, such as food allergies, asthma, hay fever, and eczema?



Are Avocados Bad for You?

The insecticide and fungicide compound found naturally in avocados (persin) may damage the DNA of normal cells, as well as cancer cells.