The study involved nearly 1500 child-parent pairs and followed maternal weight gain during the pregnancy and childhood weight up to age 3. The mothers weight gain was assessed as low, adequate, or excessive according to the Institute of Medicine's guidelines set in 1990.

The IOM's guidelines list safe weight gains for pregnant women based on their pre-pregnancy BMI. Most women should gain between 25 and 40 pounds. More if they started out underweight and less of they started out overweight.

After careful analysis of maternal weight gain and the incidence of overweight three year olds the authors concluded that perhaps women are allowed to gain too much weight. Of all the mother-child pairs only 14 percent had inadequate weight gain, while 51 percent had excessive weight gain.

Children were four times more likely to be overweight at three years of age if their mothers had excessive weight gain, but also if the weight gain fell in the adequate, accepted values for pregnancy as established by the IOM.

So are women really gaining too much weight? And is this a true cause of childhood obesity?

What the study failed to asses was diet. It could be said that women who gain more during pregnancy have poor diets and their children go on to eat that harmful diet, which leads to excessive weight gain.

The study population was also relatively small for such a broad reaching conclusion and larger studies may be necessary to prove or disprove this link.

Pregnant women in developing countries often do not have access to high nutrient foods or prenatal vitamins. The incidence of pregnancy loss, premature births, and small for gestational age babies is quite high compared to the US. One of the primary reasons is believed to be malnutrition, in both the mother and the baby.

In many developing countries there are programs in place that provide iron and folic acid to pregnant women. Both iron deficiency anemia and neural tube defects are the most common conditions that can result due to poor nutrient intake. After initiation of these programs a quick decline in iron deficeincy and neural tube defects was observed.

In the last few years additional research on improving the health of HIV positive pregnant women found that babies were more healthy and pregnancies were more successful if additional vitamin supplements were given on top of the folic acid and iron. The primary additions were antioxidant vitamins C, E and A as well as B vitamins that are integral for cell replication including DNA production.

To test the addition of supplements in non-HIV positive women researchers from Harvard University School of Public Health enrolled more than 8,000 pregnant women from Tanzania in a study. All the women received folic acid and iron, while only half received additional Vitamin C, E and Bs. Pregnancy outcome was recorded for each women.

The results, published in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, were positive.

Women who took the additional supplements had a lower rate of small for gestational age babies, or babies weighing less than 5.5 pounds.

However, there was no effect on premature deliveries or fetal death. The death rate was around 5 percent regardless of treatment and the rate of premature delivery was 17 percent.

The study showed that the simple addition of vitamins can have a significant impact on the health of babies born in developing countries. Low birth weight babies can have long term struggles, especially if a nutrient deficiency is to blame.

The authors suggest that the addition of Vitamin C, E and B vitamins to the folic acid and iron programs would be relatively inexpensive.

Women who enrolled in the study were both cancer and cardiovascular disease free at onset. They each answered questions about aspirin use as well as cardiovascular and cancer risk factors. After the follow-up period nearly 10,000 women had died.

All cause mortality, as well as cardiovascular and oncological mortalities were compared to aspirin use.

Women who used aspirin on a regular basis had an overall 25 percent decrease in all cause mortality. Meaning their risk of death in those 20+ years of followup was 25 percent lower for using aspirin. When looking at just deaths due to cardiovascular disease, the benefit was as much as 38 percent.

And when looking at deaths related to cancer, the reduction was only 12 percent. A smaller decrease, but statistically significant at any rate.

Most of the women needed to be taking the aspirin for 1-5 years consistently for the effect to be evident. In order to have a substantial benefit against cancer, most women had to be taking the aspirin for at least 10 years.

The effects of aspirin were most evident in older women (maybe because they had more years to be taking aspirin regularly) and in women with cardiovascular disease risk factors ( one primary reason to take aspirin).

Aspirin works via several mechanisms in the body. It is anti-inflammatory and also thins the blood, or lowers clotting risk. Both of these mechanisms are consistent with the benefit observed in the study.

The authors do not endorse women, especially older women, to go out and start taking one aspirin a day, but for those with risk factors for heart disease, it may be a suggestion of the future.

Uterine fibroids are also one of the major causes of hysterectomy in perimenopausal women. They can grow as large as 10-12 cm in size and be quite debilitating.

Researchers in North Carolina at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences were interested in the effect exercise has on fibroid development and growth after studies found exercise lowered the risk for endometrial and breast cancer, both of which are responsive to hormones.

Nearly 1200 women were enrolled in the study. Each woman was given a questionaire that addressed exercise habits. Medical records for the women were reviewed and ultrasound screening was performed to diagnose the presence or absence of fibroids.

The results of the study were published in the January issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The researchers found that women who exercised for 7 hours or more per week had a 40 percent reduction in the risk for fibroid reduction compared to those who exercised just 2 hours or less a week. Exercise had less of an impact on the growth of already established fibroids, but did slow growth slightly.

The authors were pleased with the results because of the lack of preventative measures known to be associated with fibroids and fibroid growth.

Daily exercise should be encouraged in women. It offers a multitude of health benefits, including decreased risk for fibroid development and possibly subsquent hysterectomy.

The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, investigated whether dietary intake of plant lignans is associated with the risk of breast cancer. Researchers at the Institut National de le Sante et de la Recherche (INSERM) in France, analyzed the data of 58,049 postmenopausal French women not taking soy isoflavone supplements. The participants were followed from 1993 to 1997. Food frequency questionnaires obtained from the participants were analyzed to determine nutrient intake.

The researchers found that 1,469 participants developed breast cancer during the follow-up period. Findings revealed that participants with the highest lignan intake had a 17 percent decreased risk of breast cancer, compared to those with the lowest intake. However, high lignan intake was only associated with a lowered risk of estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) linked breast cancers.

"High dietary intakes of plant lignans and high exposure to enterolignans were associated with reduced risks of ER- and PR-positive postmenopausal breast cancer in a Western population that does not consume a diet rich in soy," the study authors conclude.

REFERENCES:
1. Touillaud MS et al. Dietary lignan intake and postmenopausal breast cancer risk by estrogen and progesterone receptor status. JNatl Cancer Inst 2007 Mar 21;99(6):475-86.

This rise in cesearean deliveries is the result of several factors which include elective cesareans. Many women are now choosing an elective c-section either because of advanced maternal age, desire to keep the birth canal intact, or fear of complications of a vaginal delivery. Some doctors are even counseling women that this is an acceptable choice for birthing.

At any rate, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not either support nor condemn elective cesarean deliveries. However, their policy may change based on results of a new study.

Researchers at the Boston University of Public Health studied data on hospital re-admission in women who choose a cesarean versus women who choose a vaginal delivery. A total of 3,334 women who choose an elective cesarean were included in the study and compared to a total of 244,088 women who choose a vaginal delivery. In the control group a total of 20,916 women ended up with a cesarean delivery after choosing a vaginal and were still including in the analysis.

The results of this study were published in the March issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The rate of hospital re-admission was more than 2.3 times greater in women who choose a cesarean compared to women who choose a vaginal delivery (regardless of whether they delivered vaginally or not). The most noted reasons for re-admission included wound complications and infections.

The study also looked at cost of delivery and found that planned cesareans were more costly than planned vaginal births and stays were significanlty longer.

Women should be made aware of the benefits and drawbacks to elective cesarean delivery before they make a decision about how they would like to birth.

An early miscarriage is defined by a loss of pregnancy before 13 weeks gestation. Thousands of women across the globe will suffer from one or more 1st trimester miscarriages, some without knowing. There is a great amount of speculation why women may experience an early pregnancy loss, with some reasons based more in scientific, factual basis, while other reasons may be purely anecdotal or superstitious.

In order to establish a better understanding of maternal factors that may or may not affect the incidence of early miscarriages, researchers in London gathered data on 603 women who had recently suffered a first trimester miscarriage. Then data was compared to a control group of 6116 women who carried pregnancies beyond the first trimester.

Several previously known risk factors were supported by the evidence. These include advanced maternal age, previous infertility, and a history of early miscarriage.

But even more interesting was the group of new risk factors indentifed by the study. Standing out was the perception of stress or being stressed out by life circumstances, low body weight, and moderate daily alcohol consumption. Other less notable new risk factors identified included new partner, older male partner, and history of fertility treatment.

The study also refuted several factors that had previously been thought to increase risk. Among this list are caffeine consumption, smoking, and occasional alcohol consumption. There was also no association between work schedules, educational level, or socioeconomic background.

Factors that lower a woman's risk based on this study included a previously successful pregnancy (delivery of healthy, live infant), nausea and vomiting during first trimester, diet high in fruits and vegetables , and the use of a vitamin supplement.

The take home message from this study is that stress, yes, stress can increase a woman's risk for an early miscarriage. When healthcare providers are counseling women in the begining of pregnancy or during the preconception period stress reduction as well as lifestyle modification and diet need to be addressed to help reduce the risk of early miscarriage.

The authors reviewed data from nearly 40,000 women enrolled in the Women's Health Study. During the 10 year follow up nearly 1500 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed, with more than 80% of cancers being invasive breast cancer which has a lower survival rate.

The studies findings, published in the March issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, supported previous research that found a positive coorelation between alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk.

Interestingly in this study , only beer, liquor, and white wine showed a positive relationship with breast cancer risk. Red wine was not associated with increased risk, possibly due to its high content of polyphenols, potent antioxidants.

In the study women who had one alcoholic beverage per day had a 9 percent increase risk of invasive breast cancer. Women who had 2 or more had a 43 percent increase for invasive breast cancer compared to women who did not have alcohol every day.

The researchers also investigated the effect alcohol consumption has on the different variants of breast cancer. Cancers that were both estrogen and progesterone receptor positive had the most substantial risk increases.

Women who regularly drank alcohol and were taking hormone replacement therapy had an enormous increase in breast cancer risk, a 84 percent increase compared to other postmenopausal women who were not taking HRT and who did not drink alcohol.

The study highlighted past evidence that pinpoints a strong relationship between breast cancer risk and alcohol consumption. With the high increases in invasive breast cancer risk women should exercise caution about alcohol consumption, especially if they have other risk factors such as family history, nulliparity, or carry the gene.

The study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, investigated the prevalence of HPV among women in the U.S. Researchers at the CDC analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), including women aged 14 to 59, between 2003 and 2004. Vaginal swabs were collected from the participants and analyzed for HPV DNA.

The researchers found that nearly 27 percent of women (about 25 million women) had HPV infection. HPV infection increased in prevalence each year among women aged 14 to 24 years. About 25 percent of women aged 14 to 19 years had HPV, increasing to 45 percent of women aged 20 to 24. HPV infection then declined in prevalence with increasing age, with 20 percent of women aged 50 to 59 years infected. Findings also revealed that less than 3 million women had any of the four HPV vaccine strains.

"HPV is common among females in the United States," the study authors write. "Our data indicate that the burden of prevalent HPV infection among females was greater than previous estimates and was highest among those aged 20 to 24 years. However, the prevalence of HPV vaccine types was relatively low."

REFERENCES:
1. Dunne EF et al. Prevalence of HPV infection among females in the United States. JAMA 2007 Feb 28;297(8):813-9.

The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition this month and used information from more than 19,000 women to come to the conclusion that whole milk dairy products limit weight gain over a long period of time in women who have a normal body mass index.

One key difference between this study and previous others is the absence of dieting. Other studies that found a benefit in low fat or non-fat dairy products were often looking at weight gain and loss in women who were overweight or obese and who were dieting or trying to lose weight.

The women in this study were not dieting. They were followed for an average of 9 years. Over that time period weight, body mass index, and dietary habits were measured.

For women who consumed at least one serving of whole milk dairy products each day, weight gain over a long period of time was significantly lower than women who ate low fat or non-fat dairy.

The researchers believe that calcium or conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) could play a role, although levels of calcium do not differ between whole milk and non-fat. The level of CLA is much higher in whole milk, which is also rich in saturated fats.

Saturated fats can be dangerous for one's health, they are associated with an increased risk for heart disease. But one serving a day of whole milk dairy products does not represent a significant risk increase if the remainder of the diet is low in saturated fats.

So the jury may still be out on which dairy products are best for helping maintain a healthy weight. While women who are dieting, are overweight, or those with significant risk factors may be better served by low fat dairy at this time.

The study, published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, examined the prevalence of and risk factors for stress and urge incontinence in older women. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, analyzed the data of 1,588 white and black women aged 70-79 years. The women were Pittsburgh and Memphis, Tennessee residents and participants in the The Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study. The participants answered questionnaires about incontinence, medical problems, and demographic and reproductive characteristics. Medical evaluation revealed that 64% of the participants had arthritis, 55% had high blood pressure, and 20% had diabetes.

The researchers found that 21 percent of participants reported incontinence at least weekly, with 42 percent reporting urge incontinence and 40 percent reporting stress incontinence. About twice as many white women as black women reported incontinence. Findings also revealed that prevalent risk factors for both types of incontinence included white race, oral estrogen use, and arthritis. Urge incontinence was also linked with diabetes, depression and poor motor control. Stress incontinence was associated with obstructive pulmonary disease and obesity.

"Urinary incontinence is highly prevalent, even in well-functioning older women, whites in particular," the study authors conclude. "Many risk factors differ for stress and urge incontinence, suggesting differing etiologies and prevention strategies."

REFERENCES:
1. Jackson RA et al. Urinary incontinence in elderly women: findings from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study. Obstet Gynecol. 2004 Aug;104(2):301-7.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and conducted at Group Health in conjuction with the University of Washington. It was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers compared five different therapies in 351 women with menopausal complaints including at least two daily episodes of hot flashes for one month or greater.

Black cohosh alone and combined with other herbal therapies was compared to hormone replacement therapy.

They did not find any difference between black cohosh, either alone or combined, and placebo in terms of net effect on hot flash episodes. Hormone replacement therapy did cause a significant decline in episodes of hot flashes.

However, hormone replacement therapy has been under scrutiny since a study in 2003 found that it increase the risk of certain cancers and heart disease in post menopausal women. Since that study was released many women have been turning to alternative treatments.

The most popular has been black cohosh, which is widely used in Europe. Several studies have found benefit, but most recently the evidence has been mixed.

The release of these findings has already signalled backlash from supporters for black cohosh. They state the study has serious flaws, and do not believe it is valid.

However, many doctors and researchers know of several preventative lifestyle factors that can help reduced one's risk for developing the condition.

A new report in the American Journal of Epidemiology discusses a new finding relating cholesterol levels to reduced risk in women.

The study utulized data from a large study in the Netherlands with more than 6400 participants. Each of the men and women were greater than 55 years in age and were followed for an average of 9-10 years.

The risk for developing Parkinson's disease decreased dramatically as cholesterol went up, but only in women. This trend was not observed for men.

The effect was lasting even after accounting for other variables. To be exact each single increment increase in cholesterol caused a 23 percent drop in Parkinson's risk. The study did not comment on other conditions, such as heart disease, that may develop due to high cholesterol.

The authors state a possible explanation for this relationship may be CoEnzyme Q10, which is often found in higher levels when cholesterol is higher. CoQ10 is a potent antioxidant that has shown success in preventing some changes associated with Parkinson's disease.

This is just an early study that found some relationship, now researchers have to design studies to examine the relationship for a better understanding and to see if the evidence can provide any information about the cause and/or treatment of Parkinson's.

The findings were concluded after looking at information from more than 90,000 women enrolled in a nurses study. The women included in this study were followed for an average of 12 years and were cancer free and premenopausal at time of enrollment.

Dietary habits were assessed at multiple time periods during the follow up and at the initial enrollment period.

Women who ate one and a half servings of red meat per day were at an increased risk for developing hormone receptive breast cancer compared to women who ate red meat three or less servings a week. The risk was nearly double.

Hormone specific breast cancers are responsive to progesterone and estrogen and can be particularly deadly. These specific types of breast cancer are beginning to show up in women of youger ages, many years before menopause.

Some believe, and the authors speculate, that the increase in these types of cancer as well as the increased risk may be due to hormones and other treatments that are given to beef before they become food.

But one thing is known for sure, diets high in sugar and simple carbohydrates are not well suited for pregnant women. But what about the baby?

It is true that the only source of fuel for a growing baby is glucose. It is the energy component that passes across the placenta and drives the development of the unborn child. In some pregnancies this child may cause a condition in the mother because of its need and want of glucose.

Gestational diabetes is a condition caused solely by pregnancy. A hormone produced by the developing baby causes changes to the mother's normal glucose metabolism. This change can overwhelm to mother's system and the result is hyperglycemia and glucose intolerance in the mother and a big, happy baby in the womb.

Babies born to mother's with gestational diabetes are often large for gestational age (LGA), or over 9 pounds. They may also have an increased risk for shoulder dystocia, birth injury, and cesarean delivery. The condition can also haunt them into adulthood with increased risk of obesity and adult onset diabetes.

Based on this, one would find it reasonable to believe that glycemic index could be important during pregnancy. Diabetics are counseled to consume a diet with a low glycemic index to prevent high and difficult to manage blood sugars, so why not pregnant women?

To measure if a diets glycemic index value had any effect on pregnancy outcome researchers in Australia enrolled pregnant women and randomized them to either a low glycemic index diet or a moderate to high glycemic index diet.

Each woman was assessed five times during the pregnancy from about the beginning of the second trimester thru delivery. The primary outcomes included newborns weight at delivery, birth percentile, ponderal index, and incidence of LGA babies.

A total of 32 women completed the low glycemic index diet and 30 women the moderate to high glycemic index diet.

Women who consumed a low glyemic index diet had smaller babies on average, with the mean weight difference being 236 grams. Babies born to mothers in the low glycemic group were about 48th percentile compared to 69th percentile for weight. Only 3.3 percent of babies born to mothers in the low glycemic index group were LGA, whereas 33.3 percent in the moderate to high glycemic index group were large for gestational age.

The authors concluded that dietary glycemic index does have a significant effect on pregnancy outcome when assessing newborn weight variables. How this affects the long term health of the newborn is only speculative, but based on other studies babies born in higher percentiles are at increased risk for chronic disease including diabetes and heart disease.