Sadness lasts longer than happiness, and other recent news

Today I want to share random bits of recent news that I find interesting in one way or another:

• Amniotic fluid is flavored within as little as a half hour of eating, drinking or smoking something. Breast milk is also flavored by what we ingest. Science is finding that we can influence our children’s preferences for foods by what they taste and smell in utero and through breast milk. If we want our children to prefer fast food, then that is what to eat during pregnancy and nursing. Veggies? Then that is what we need to be eating. Early exposure to flavors increases the likelihood (it is not a guarantee) that a child will accept a wider variety of flavors later in life. It generally takes 8 tries before little children like a new food.
• The Journal of Medical Microbiology recently published a study: researchers from the University of Beira Interior in Portugal report that oil extracted from coriander seeds can kill bacteria related to food-borne diseases, like E. coli, salmonella and MRSA, and may one day be used as a food preservative to prevent bacterial contamination. Coriander is widely used in India…hip hip hooray ☺
• Gordon Edlin, author of “Health and Wellness,” writes that, when Israel banned the chlorinated pesticides—which are xenoestrogens (see pp 224-234 in my book, Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life) in the 1970s, rates of breast cancer dropped considerably after being one of the highest in the world.
• Extracts from the British Autumn crocus–already used to treat gout—is exhibiting promising anti-tumor effects. The treatment is derived from the flower. ☺ The active chemical colchicine starves the tumor by destroying the blood vessels that supply it. That’s a picture of a flower I might want to have on my wall.
• In August The March of Dimes began a new campaign to curb the large and increasing number of otherwise healthy pregnancies of single babies that are deliberately ended early by induced labor or Caesarean delivery. This is in response to an alarming American trend in elective early deliveries before 39 weeks of gestation, when fetal development is complete. It is ideal for the baby to be born only at week 40 but, as many as 36 percent of elective deliveries now occur before 39 weeks, contributing to a significant number of premature births and expensive complications. (This is not targeting the need for premature delivery of twins or babies in need of this intervention to save their lives).
• Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found an association between high cortisol levels in mothers during late pregnancy and lower IQs in their children when they reached age 7.
• A new study suggests that sad emotions last longer than happy ones and a pleasant visit or telephone call with patients of Alzheimer’s can have profoundly positive effects, even if the interaction is forgotten very soon.

There. That cleans off my desktop (most of it) for the moment. Hope you all are well.
Love, cw

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