Women who are obese before they become pregnant are at higher risk of having children with lower cognitive function — as measured by math and reading tests taken between ages 5 to 7 years — than are mothers with a healthy prepregnancy weight, new research suggests.
In this large observational study, prepregnancy obesity was associated, on average, with a three-point drop in reading scores and a two-point reduction in math scores on a commonly used test of children’s cognitive function.
Previous research has suggested that a woman’s prepregnancy obesity can have a negative effect on fetal organs, such as the heart, liver and pancreas. Because fetal development is rapid and sensitive to a mother’s physiological characteristics, Ohio State University researchers sought to find out whether a mother’s obesity also could affect the fetal brain.
Full story of prepregnancy obesity at Science Daily
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People who have symptoms of depression in middle age may be at increased risk of dementia decades later, a new study suggests.
Using medical records, researchers tracked more than 13,000 people in a large northern California health plan from roughly their 40s and 50s into their 80s. Compared to people who had never been depressed, those who experienced symptoms of depression in middle age — but not later in life — were about 20% more likely to go on to develop dementia.
Those who received a depression diagnosis later in life only were at even greater risk. That group had about a 70% increased risk of dementia compared to their depression-free peers, according to the study, which was published this week in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Full story of depression and dementia at CNN
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Parents can have a significant impact in steering young children away from too much time spent in sedentary pursuits. This new study, in the American Journal of Health Promotion, found this effect in Hispanic families, whose children are more likely to be sedentary than non-Hispanic white children and who are also especially vulnerable to becoming overweight or obese.
"We found that family support is very important for reducing children’s sedentary behaviors," said author Zhen Cong, Ph.D., an assistant professor of human development and family studies at Texas Tech University. The sedentary behaviors were mainly TV-watching, computer use and video-game playing, referred to as "screen time."
The researchers followed 418 parent-child pairings for two years. The parents and children, who were from 5 to 9 years old, participated in a program called Transformacion Para Salud (Change for Health), which involved nutrition education, encouragement of exercise and family participation.
Full story of kids in sedentary activities at Science Daily
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is requiring 14 major alcoholic beverage producers to provide information about their online marketing. The FTC will use the information for a study that will guide recommendations on how the alcohol industry should regulate itself, both online and offline.
The last time the FTC completed an alcohol marketing study was in 2008, using data from 2005, according to The Kansas City Star. That study found only 1.9 percent of alcohol marketing expenditures went toward Internet efforts.
The marketing landscape has changed dramatically since then, with a much greater emphasis on social media. For example, Bacardi has at least seven Facebook pages, with a total of 1.7 million fans, according to David Jernigan, Director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. He notes that Captain Morgan Rum has a video game app for iPhones. Many companies connect with consumers through Twitter.
Full story of alcohol producers releasing marketing information at DrugFree.org
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Slacker or go-getter? Everyone knows that people vary substantially in how hard they are willing to work, but the origin of these individual differences in the brain remains a mystery.
Now the veil has been pushed back by a new brain imaging study that has found an individual’s willingness to work hard to earn money is strongly influenced by the chemistry in three specific areas of the brain. In addition to shedding new light on how the brain works, the research could have important implications for the treatment of attention-deficit disorder, depression, schizophrenia and other forms of mental illness characterized by decreased motivation.
The study was published May 2 in the Journal of Neuroscience and was performed by a team of Vanderbilt scientists including post-doctoral student Michael Treadway and Professor of Psychology David Zald.
Full story of dopamine impacting work at Science Daily
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Women who are obese before they become pregnant are at higher risk of having children with lower cognitive function — as measured by math and reading tests taken between ages 5 to 7 years — than are mothers with a healthy prepregnancy weight, new research suggests.
