And infant health

Korrish S Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA Associations of in utero environmental exposures with newborn and infant health outcomes National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences... 

Hormone replacement therapy is generally given at a time when pregnancy can be excluded, but in principle some of the risks discussed in connection with oral contraceptives would arise if a women taking hormone replacement therapy were to become pregnant. In 1980, an authoritative Scientific Group of the World Health Organization (WHO) surveyed the entire question of the effects of female sex hormones on fetal development and infant health (200), and after 25 years one can conclude that later reports in the literature have almost entirely supported its conclusions. 

World Health Organization Scientific Group. The effect of female sex hormones on fetal development and infant health. World Health Organ Tech Rep Ser 1981 657 1-76. 

Malarvannan, G., Kunisue, T., Isobe, T., Takahashi, S., Sudaryanto, A., Prudente, M., Tanabe, S., 2007. Specific Accumulation of Organohalogen Compounds in Human Breast Milk from the Philippines Levels, Distribution, Accumulation Kinetics and Infant Health Risk. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Pioneering Studies of Young Scientists on Chemical Pollution and Environmental Changes, November 17-19, 2006, Ehime University, Matsuyama, lapan, pp. 175-178. 

Sudaryanto, A., Kunisue, T., Iwata, H., Adibroto, T.A., Hartono, P., Tanabe, S., 2006b. Specific accumulation of organochlorines in human breast milk from Indonesia Levels, distribution, accumulation kinetics and infant health risk. Environ. Pollut. 139, 107-117. 

Deprivation. In the UK, both stroke incidence and poor outcome after stroke are greater in areas of socioeconomic disadvantage (Kaplan and Keil 1993 Avendano et al. 2004). This is partly because poverty is associated with adverse health behaviors and risk factors such as smoking (Hart et al. 2000a). There is also evidence that poor maternal and infant health is associated with increased mortality from stroke in later life (Barker 1995 Martyn et al. 1996). However, the adverse effect of socioeconomic deprivation also appears to be cumulative throughout life (Davey Smith et al. 1997 Hart et al. 2000b). 

Jeng LL, Moore RM Jr, Kaczmarek RG, Placek PJ, Bright RA. How frequently are home pregnancy tests used Results from the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey Birth 1991 18 11-13. 

Mays CW, Lloyd RD. 1966. 90Sr and 89Sr dose estimates for the fetus and infant. Health Phys 12 1225-1236. 

D. Burns, Near Infrared Spectroscopy for Assessment of Fetal, Maternal and Infant Health, presented at EAS 2013, Somerset, NJ. 

Figure 1 Several consequences of maternal zinc deficiency during pregnancy on maternal health, fetal development, and infant health have been observed in developing and more industrialized countries. These consequences have been confirmed by randomized, placebo-controlled trials of maternal zinc supplementation. Not all of the consequences have been observed in all studies, and the reasons for inconsistent results among studies are not well understood. Determined from studies in industrialized countries only.

In addition, a recent primate study reported that dietary consumption of soy infant formula reduced the neonatal testosterone surge and increased Leydig cell numbers in the testes of male marmosets. However, the longterm effects on the fertility of the animals has not been determined, and the health implications of these findings for humans are unclear (Sharpe et al,... 

Rabinowitz MB, Leviton A, Bellinger D. 1985a. Home refinishing, lead paint and infant blood lead levels. Am J Public Health 75 403-404. 

There have also been reports [36, 37] that racemization of amino acids occurs more rapidly using MW heating than conventional heating at the same temperature. Chen et al. [36] observed that racemization of amino acids in acetic acid the presence of benzaldehyde was accelerated by MW heating. Lubec et al. [37] reported that some D-proline and ris-4-hydroxy-D-proline were found in samples of infant milk formula when they were heated in a MW oven. On the other hand, conventionally heated samples did not contain these unnatural D-amino acids. This report caused concern, and received media attention because D-proline is neurotoxic and suggested that MW heating of some foods could have deleterious effects on their nutritional value and the health of the consumer. 

Galster, W.A. 1976. Mercury in Alaskan Eskimo mothers and infants. Environ. Health Perspec. 15 135-140. 

Much else is known about GI absorption. Individuals vary in the extent to which they can absorb the same chemical, and absorption can be influenced by individual factors such as age, sex, health status, and even dietary habits. People who consume large amounts of fiber may absorb less calcium and iron than those who eat less. The GI tract is not fully developed until about 24 months after birth, and infants absorb metals such as lead and certain organic chemicals more readily than do adults. 

Using data on health care and pharmaceutical expenditures in the United States as well as various state-level sociodemographic measures (income, poverty, and ethnic distribution), Cremieux et al. (2001) found a significant association between pharmaceutical spending and infant mortality. Methodologically, the analysis was similar to that of Freeh and Miller (1999) however, instead of cross-sectional data on a small number of countries, the data used in this paper include 17 years of data from 50 states, resulting in a sample size 20 times larger than that of Freeh and Miller. 

There have been some concerns expressed regarding the possible health consequences in adulthood (endocrinological and reproductive outcomes) of early-life isoflavone exposure from soy-based infant formula. The daily exposure of infants to isoflavones in soy-based infant formulas is 6- to 11-fold higher on a body weight basis than the dose that has hormonal effects in adults consuming soy foods. " However, evidence from adult and infant populations indicates that dietary isoflavones in soy-based infant formulas do not adversely affect human growth, development, or reproduction. 

---