Keishawn Williams is already talking to her baby, although her child isn’t due until November.
“What are you doing?” asks Williams, 22. “Are you awake? Are you asleep? Why are you sitting on my bladder?”

Although Williams may not realize it, her body and baby are also conducting a separate, even more important conversation that may influence her child’s health for the rest of its life. Although neither mother nor child is aware of this crucial dialogue, Williams’ body already is telling her baby about what to expect from the world outside, says Mark Hanson, a professor at the University of Southampton in England.

And thanks to those biological signals, the choices that Williams makes today — by getting good prenatal care, eating nutrient-packed vegetables and avoiding alcohol, tobacco and caffeine — may help her baby long after birth, Hanson says. Research into the “developmental origins of adult disease” suggests that Williams’ healthy living may help her child avoid problems such as cancer, heart disease, depression and diabetes not just in childhood, but 50 years from now.

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Though adults still need to eat right and exercise, a growing number of studies now suggest the best time to fight the diseases of aging may be before babies are even born, says Peter Gluckman of the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Williams’ baby is still too young to kick, let alone ponder its future. But its body is already adapting and preparing for its specific environment, Gluckman says, by reading cues sent through Williams’ blood and amniotic fluid.

“Every baby in fetal life is adjusting its pattern of development according to the world it predicts it will live in,” he says.

Reading cues while in utero

During the crucial “window of opportunity” before birth and during infancy, environmental cues help “program” a person’s DNA, says Alexander Jones of Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and the University College of London Institute for Child Health. This happens through a delicate interplay of genes and the environment called epigenetics, which can determine how a baby reacts for the rest of its life, Jones says.

Through epigenetics, chemical groups attach to DNA. Although they don’t change the order of the genes, the chemical groups can switch those genes on or off, Jones says.

Many things, such as chemical contaminants, can cause epigenetic changes. So babies exposed in the womb to synthetic hormones may begin responding abnormally to the natural hormones later made by their own bodies, says Hugh Taylor of Yale University School of Medicine.

That’s why, doctors believe, many babies exposed before birth to a drug called DES, or diethylstilbestrol, later developed rare cancers or fertility problems, Taylor says.

Doctors stopped prescribing DES, which had been used for decades to prevent miscarriages, in 1971. But Taylor and other scientists are concerned that “hormone-disrupting” chemicals, such as those used in pesticides and even common plastics, could cause similar problems.

Babies and children also can develop abnormal reactions to stress, says Jack Shonkoff of Harvard University, co-author of a June paper on early influences in health in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

In the short term, reacting to typical, everyday difficulties can help people develop a healthy response to stress.

But persistent, “toxic” stress — such as neglect or extreme poverty — may program a child’s nervous system to be on perpetual high alert. Over time, this can damage the immune response and lead to chronic ailments, such as heart disease and depression, the study says.

Diet as a predictor

A pregnant woman’s diet tells a fetus a lot about its future environment, including how much food will be available after birth, Jones says.

A baby conceived during a famine, for example, might learn to be “thrifty,” hoarding every calorie and packing on fat rather than muscle, even at the expense of developing vital organs, such as the kidneys, liver and brain. Because of a lack of calories, the baby also may be born small.

In a famine, those early adjustments and predictions about the future could mean the difference between survival and starvation, Jones says.

But babies may run into trouble if the world doesn’t match their predictions, Jones says.

A baby who has learned to hoard calories, for example, may grow up to be fat or diabetic once he or she finally gets enough to eat, Jones says. Doctors believe this occurs not just with babies whose mothers are starving, but with those who are malnourished because of a mother’s medical problems, poor nutrition or exposure to tobacco smoke, which damages the placenta.

It’s well known, Taylor says, that women who smoke are more likely to have low-birth-weight babies, who are in some ways “starved” for nutrients in the womb. Babies born too small are at risk for many immediate problems, such as underdeveloped lungs and bleeding in the brain.

If they survive, these youngsters also face long-term risks.

Studies show that small babies who gain weight rapidly in infancy or childhood — a sign that bodies are already making the most of every calorie — also have higher rates of adult heart disease and diabetes, Jones says.

Specialized X-rays have shown babies of young mothers with poor diets in India, for example, are born with extra belly fat, even though they seem to be a normal weight. Once these babies start getting an adequate diet, they are likely to put on weight, Gluckman says.

“Even by the time of birth, they’re on a different pattern of development,” Gluckman says.

Teaching future mothers

Adversity in early life can increase a child’s risk of disease, but it doesn’t seal his or her fate, Shonkoff says.

Although emotional abuse in childhood increases the risk of adult depression, for example, supportive relationships with adults can help children cope and recover, Shonkoff says.

Communities also can help, Gluckman says. By helping women such as Williams get good prenatal care and nutrition, for example, communities can reduce the number of fetuses who are malnourished and born small, Gluckman says. Babies who are born at normal weight are more likely to maintain that healthy weight.

Because half of pregnancies are unplanned, women need to learn about nutrition — and maintain healthy diets — long before they conceive, Gluckman says.

“We have got to give far greater focus to mothers, the women who are likely to become mothers and to the care of newborn children than we have in the past,” Gluckman says.

Williams, who also has a 1-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, says she’s trying hard to give her children a bright future. She breast-fed both and now works as a breast-feeding peer counselor at the Family Health and Birth Center in Washington, D.C., where many patients are low-income or minority mothers.

The birth center also aims to help babies by getting their moms good prenatal care.

About 6% of black mothers who delivered at the birth center had low-birth-weight babies, compared with the citywide average of 14.2% for black mothers, says the center’s Ruth Watson Lubic.

“Twentieth-century medicine dealt with child health and adult health separately,” Shonkoff says. “What 21st-century medicine is telling us is that if we want to change adult health, we have to look in babies, even before they’re born.”

A review of 15 studies into the influence of soy proteins or isoflavones on male hormones has found no evidence of an estrogen-like effect. Soy has garnered attention as a healthy source of protein, and has been linked to a multitude of health benefits, including protection from breast cancer, prostate cancer, menopausal symptoms and heart disease. But some studies have suggested that soy isoflavones could affect male testosterone levels, due to their similarity in chemical structure to estrogen, which means they bind to estrogen receptors and can exert estrogen-like effects.

The meta-analysis of data was carried out by researchers at the University of Minnesota who wrote: “Because of the increasing popularity of soy foods and the availability of isoflavone supplements, there is an important public health need to understand the impact of soy isoflavones on reproductive hormone levels in men.”

Low levels of testosterone in men can lead to depressed mood, loss of muscle mass, weight gain, erectile dysfunction and osteoporosis.

‘No significant effects’

Although two of the studies examined did assert that testosterone levels were lowered as a result of soy consumption, the authors wrote: “No significant effects of soy protein or isoflavone intake on T [testosterone] or SHBG [sex hormone-binding globulin] were detected…There was no significant pooled effect of isoflavone consumption on the hormonal profile, T and SHBG.”

Contradictory studies

Furthermore, the authors criticized the studies that reported lowered testosterone levels for their methodology.

Referring to one study that showed such an effect in response to isolated soy protein, the authors wrote: “There were only 12 subjects in this study, it did not include a control group, and it did not describe the method used to assess hormones.”

Another study found a response to 120mg a day of isoflavones from soy flour, in which the researchers reported that serum testosterone decreased by five percent over six weeks.

Reviewing this study, the authors wrote: “Baseline and final T values from the control group fed wheat flour were not presented…Without these data it is not possible to know whether the change in T levels that occurred in the soy flour group was significantly different from the change in the wheat flour group.”

They also noted that for all of the studies, soy protein and isoflavone intake “greatly exceeded” typical Japanese dietary intake.

They concluded: “These results suggest that consumption of soy foods or isoflavone supplements would not result in the adverse effects associated with lower [testosterone] levels.”

UCLA researchers published their results in February issue of the Bentham Open Stem Cell Journal which outlines the long term results of the trial.

“We have documented the first successful adult neural stem cell transplantation to reverse the effects of Parkinson’s disease and demonstrated the long term safety and therapeutic effects of this approach,” says lead author Dr. Michel Levesque.

The paper describes how Levesque’s team was able to isolate patient-derived neural stem cells, multiply them in vitro and ultimately differentiate them to produce mature neurons before they are reintroduced into the brain.

The team was able to inject the adult stem cells without the need for immunosuppressants. Unlike embryonic stem cells, adult stem cell injections don’t cause a patient’s immune system to reject the cells.

The adult stem cells were highly beneficial for the patient involved in the study.

“Of particular note are the striking results this study yielded — for the five years following the procedure the patient’s motor scales improved by over 80% for at least 36 months,” Levesque wrote.

He said he hoped a larger clinical trial would replicate the findings.

Dr. David Prentice, a former biology professor at Indiana State University who is now a fellow with the Family Research Council, tells LifeNews.com that the results of the study are wonderful news for patients.

“This evidence had been presented previously, but we now have the peer-reviewed scientific evidence for the effectiveness of adult stem cells in alleviating Parkinson’s symptoms,” he said. “While the data show that the technique needs refinement, this patient went for several years with little to no symptoms of his disease, even with only half of the brain treated with his own adult stem cells.”

Prentice says the results continue to prove that adult stem cells outpace their embryonic counterparts.

“People need to take notice that it is not embryonic stem cells that provide promise of treatments in the future, but rather it is adult stem cells that are already providing safe and effective therapies for patients now, without the problems of rejection or tumors,” Prentice explains.

“We need to pour our resources, especially taxpayer dollars, into adult stem cell research to foster more and better treatments and put the patients first,” he told LifeNews.com.

Levesque is a principal investigator for NeuroGeneration, a biotechnology company, and is affiliated with the UCLA School of Medicine and the Brain Research Institute.

A small study published in Acupuncture Medicine reports that acupuncture may be beneficial in easing symptoms of indigestion which are very frequent in pregnant women. The hormonal changes in the body during pregnancy cause heartburn, stomach pain and discomfort, reflux, belching and bloating. Between 45 to 80 percent of women are reported to experience those symptoms.

The symptoms are likely to increase with the evolution of the pregnancy. Many mothers-to- be are reluctant to take medicine due to fear of harming the developing fetus. Even though, in most cases the discomfort is not severe, it does affect the quality of life.

In this study, forty two pregnant women with symptoms of indigestion were assigned randomly to either conventional treatment (counseling on nutrition and indigestion cures) or conventional treatment in addition to acupuncture sessions once or twice a week.

All of the women were between fifteen to thirty weeks of pregnancy, and aged fifteen to thirty nine.

At the beginning of the study, the symptoms were evaluated and recorded, and then every two weeks until the conclusion of the research after eight weeks.

In the end, the study assessed twenty women in the acupuncture group and sixteen in the conservative treatment group, since six women dropped out before the research was completed.

Results showed that the women in the acupuncture group had less severe symptoms and required less medication than women in the conventionally treated group.

The average intensity of heartburn which was the most frequent symptom, halved for three out of four of the twenty women receiving acupuncture.

This measures to a proportional drop of forty four percent for those in the traditionally treated group.

Seven of the women in each group took antacids. On average, the ones receiving acupuncture needed 6.3 fewer doses. Those receiving conventional treatment increased their intake by 4.4 doses, on average.

Once their treatment was finished, fifteen of the women receiving acupuncture reported that their diet had improved by fifty percent. In comparison, less than one in three reported that improvement in the other group.

In addition, fourteen of the women receiving acupuncture mentioned their sleep had a fifty percent improvement. There was just one in four in those treated conservatively.

The authors concede that additional research involving larger numbers is required to validate these findings. They suggest that acupuncture could be beneficial. They write: “It is simple to apply and if used in an appropriate manner, can reduce the need for medication.”

New research which suggests a direct link between smoking and brain damage will be published in the July issue of the Journal of Neurochemistry. Researchers, led by Debapriya Ghosh and Dr Anirban Basu from the Indian National Brain Research Center (NBRC), have found that a compound in tobacco provokes white blood cells in the central nervous system to attack healthy cells, leading to severe neurological damage.
The research centers on a compound known as NNK, which is common in tobacco. NNK is a procarinogen, a chemical substance which becomes carcinogenic when it is altered by the metabolic process of the body.

Unlike alcohol or drug abuse NNK does not appear to harm brain cells directly, however, the research team believe it may cause neuroinflamation, a condition which leads to disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis.

“Considering the extreme economical and disease burden of neuroinflammation related disorders, it is extremely important from a medical, social and economic point of view to discover if NNK in tobacco causes neuroinflammation” said Ghosh.

To prove if such a link exists the team conducted two types of tests, one outside of a living host in glass and one in laboratory mice. The team used blot analysis techniques which showed that the introduction of NNK resulted in a clear increase in proinflammatory signaling proteins, proinflammatory effector proteins and other stress related proteins. Increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines, which act as molecular messengers between cells, were also detected.

This shows that NNK provokes an exaggerated response from the brain’s immune cells, known as microglia. Microglia cells act as ‘destroyers’ for the brain by attacking damaged or unhealthy cells. However, when provoked by NNK these cells start to attack healthy brain cells rather than the unhealthy cells they are supposed to attack.

“Our findings prove that tobacco compound NNK can activate microglia significantly which subsequently harms the nerve cells,” said Basu.

While other harmful side effects of smoking, such as lung disease, usually derive from tar or smoke this research suggests damage is not confined only to smoking. NNK is present in all forms of tobacco and therefore it can also enter the body through chewing.

The study also suggests that second hand smoking may lead to the same neuroinflamation conditions. Concentrations of NNK in tobacco can vary from 20-310 nanograms in cigarettes. However, NNK is also present in the smoke itself, meaning that smoke-filled air indoors may contain up to 26 nanograms of NNK. This means that both direct and second-hand smoking can lead to substantial measures of NNK intake.

“This research sheds light on the processes that lead to nerve cell damage in those who smoke cigarettes or consume tobacco products on regular basis,” said Ghosh.