Health aNd Fitness Guide » Children’s Health

Breast-Fed Babies Branier

Aziz — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:31:01 +0000

Children who were exclusively breast-fed become smarter than those who were fed supplements also. Researchers from Belarus and Canada studied nearly 14,000 children, half of whom were exclusively breast fed, and the rest given breast milk with other supplements. A standardized IQ test taken when the kids were six years old showed that exclusively breast-fed kids scored an average of 7.5 points higher on verbal intelligence, 2.9 points higher on non-verbal intelligence, and 5.9 points higher on overall intelligence.

Keeping Teens Lean

Aziz — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:31:24 +0000

Teens who skip breakfast regularly to keep themselves trim have a greater tendency to gain weight. Children who have breakfast regularly are more physically active, said a study published in the journal Pediatrics. The study found that children who skipped breakfast regularly weighed about 2.3 kg more than children who had breakfast daily. Another study, in the journal Hypertension, found that cutting down on salt and salty snacks made children have fewer soft drinks and thereby helped them keep their weight down. Also, restricting the time children spend in front of computer and TV by half would decrease the amount of food they eat, reported the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Smoke, Moms And Kids

Aziz — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:31:20 +0000

Pregnant women’s tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke could impede or reverse efforts to improve maternal and child health in developing nations. Researchers, after interviewing 7,961 pregnant women in nine countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, including two places in India and one in Pakistan, found that 18 per cent of expectant mothers smoked cigarettes. One-third of them used smokeless tobacco and nearly half were exposed to second-hand smoking. (more…)

No DVDs For Babies

Aziz — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:33:15 +0000

A DVD or a video game may not be the best method to keep your child amused. A study published in the Journal of Paediatrics shows that, for every hour a day infants between eight and 16 months spent watching baby DVDs and videos that claim to enhance linguistic abilities, they understood an average of six to eight fewer words compared to infants who did not watch them. “There are a fixed number of hours that babies are awake and alert. If the ‘alert time’ is spent watching DVDs and TV instead of with people speaking in ‘parantese’, they are not getting the same linguistic experience,” said Andrew Meltzoff, co-author, and co-director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences.

Obesity Hurts Little Hearts

Aziz — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:31:35 +0000

Obese children are like obese adults, when it comes to heart diseases. Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine say, as a child’s body mass index for age increases, both the relaxation and contraction phases of the heartbeat alter. A new tissue Doppler-imaging technique, ‘vector velocity imaging’, helped the researchers to trace the subtle variations. Alarmingly, these changes are similar to those seen in obese adults who are prone to heart diseases.

Don’t Let TV Eat Into Kids

Aziz — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:31:07 +0000

Children who watch television during their meals may suffer from eating disorders, a study by American researchers has found. They may also have a lower quality of diet compared to children of families that ate together and turned the television off. Children who watch television while eating meals are also likely to consume fewer vegetables. Earlier studies had shown that children who watch television more often could face problems like loss of sleep, poor academic performance and symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.