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Any decent pediatrician can tell you how important it is for expectant mothers to keep up with their prenatal vitamins during pregnancy. During this time, it’s essential that both mothers and their developing babies have access to all the vitamins, minerals and essential nutrients their bodies require.

Among the most important of these essential nutrients is folic acid, sometimes also referred to as folate, or vitamin B9—a standard component of nearly all high-quality prenatal multivitamins. It has long been generally associated with proper neurological development during gestation and early infancy, as well as possibly helping to mitigate a number of other potential health risks, such as stroke and prostate cancer, later on in life.

Continue reading: “Study: Folic Acid in Early Pregnancy Associated With Reduced Risk of Severe Language Delay in Children”

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Kefir, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is a healthy and delicious cultured milk drink, similar to yogurt, that has been enjoyed throughout Russia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and even certain parts of Asia for centuries. Much of the Western world, however, is just now beginning to discover the many benefits of this amazing drink.

Depending on their area of origin, most traditional recipes call for either cow or goat’s milk to be used as a base, for the kefir cultures to ferment. Fortunately though for vegans and people who are sensitive to dairy, they also work quite well with coconut milk.

Like yogurt and other probiotic foods, kefir that generally requires a starter culture of some kind. Because each culture is a unique living ecosystem, and reacts differently to different environmental factors, the subtle differences between one batch and the next can be quite considerable.

Continue reading: “How to Make Organic Coconut Milk Kefir”

New findings presented by Finnish researchers at the University of Turku further supports the potential benefits of probiotics during the first months of life, particularly with regards to respiratory health.

The scientists claim a near 30 percent reduction in respiratory illness among infants whose diets were supplemented daily with the probiotic Bifidobacterium animalis, subspecies BB-12, as compared to those in their control group.

They also used the study as an opportunity to further test a new form of slow-delivery medical pacifier designed to administer more accurate dosages of medicine to very young children. The pacifiers have a small opening in their backplate for the storage of drugs. In the case of this study, tablets of the BB-12 probiotic.

Continue reading: “Study: Probiotics May Help Protect Infants From Respiratory Illness”

It’s important to get adequate amounts of folic acid in the diet for a variety of health reasons, both physical and mental, but mostly for cellular growth and regeneration. In fact, a recent article from the New York Times named folic acid one of the most “luscious micronutrients” found in foods, and multiple studies suggest that a lack of folic acid may lead to mental conditions such as depression.

Physiologically, consuming enough folic acid allows the body to perform many of its essential functions, including nucleotide biosynthesis in cells, DNA synthesis and repair, red blood cell creation, and also helps to prevent anemia. Folic acid, also known as vitamin B9, is perhaps most well known for its applications in the prevention of fetal deformities, Alzheimer’s disease, as well as several types of cancer. The good news is that there are many rich sources of folic acid that are easy to incorporate into your daily diet.

List of Foods with Folic Acid

The following list will discuss the top ten foods with folic acid. Of course, organic is best (especially if you are pregnant!).

1. Dark Leafy Greens

It should come as no surprise that one of the planet’s healthiest foods is also one of the highest in folate. For an immediate boost in folic acid, consider adding more spinach, collard greens, kale, turnip greens and romaine lettuce into your daily diet. Just one large plate of these delicious leafy greens can provide you with almost all of your daily needs for folic acid.

Below is a short list of leafy greens that are high in folic acid.

Continue reading: “15 Foods High in Folic Acid”

Few experts question the influence a mother’s diet can have on her children’s long term physical health. Yet many believe that this effect is mostly sociological, and limited to positive or negative role-modeling, and the development of general dietary habits later in life. New research suggests, however, that the foods moms eat could impact the health of their children much more directly.

Scientists at Tufts University’s USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA), near Boston, have recently published the findings of a new study which shows a strong connection between the quantity of B vitamins pregnant mice consume and the likelihood of their offspring developing colorectal cancer as adults.

Continue reading: “Study: More Vitamin B in Mother’s Diet Reduces Risk of Colon Cancer in Offspring”