LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Birth Defects

Do Migraines Harm Your Developing Baby?

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If you have read any of my articles that relates to migraines, then the answer that springs to mind is a strong YES.

I really don’t need to belabor the prior bit of information.  Bottom line is, if you suffer from migraines, do not be led into a false sense of security if the migraine medication you are on is controlling your headaches.  Fix the problem instead.

This particular article looks at the relationship between migraines sufferers and the risk of of adverse pregnancy outcomes (low birthweight, preterm birth, infants born small for gestational age, Caesarean section (CS) and pre-eclampsia).  Here’s what the researchers found when they looked at the pregnancy outcomes from 4911 women with migraines:

  • Low birth weight – 16% increased risk
  • Preterm birth – 24% higher risk
  • C-section – 16% higher risk
  • Pre-eclampsia – 34% higher risk

What does this tell us?  That the problem with migraines are NOT limited to the head.  If they were and medications did anything to fix the problem, than these higher pregnancy risks wouldn’t be present.

Decline in Prevalence of Neural Tube Defects in a High-Risk US area – (10-30-00)

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Decline in Prevalence of Neural Tube Defects in a High-Risk US area

The use of folic acid in periconceptional women is lowering the risk of birth defects. A few notes here on this good news. First, most women get most of their folic acid from supplements, but a much better source is from whole grains. Next, the truly sad part about this news is that research suggesting a benefit for folic acid on neural tube defects began to surface in the late FIFTIES. If only we had begun to recommend something as safe as folic acid before we were entirely sure it would work, we would’ve saved literally hundreds of thousands of defects. Incidentaly, we are at that same stage with vitamin B6, B12 and folic acid for lowering homecysteine and possibly heart attacks. Do you want to wait another 50 years before someone finally says conclusively that these nutrients lower risk of cardiovascular disease??

Pediatrics — Abstracts: Stevenson et al. 106 (4): 677

Read entire article here

Risk of birth defects and miscarriage in pregnant users of NSAIDs – (02-05-01)

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Risk of birth defects and miscarriage in pregnant users of NSAIDs

This study did not show an increase risk of birth defects w/ NSAID use, but did show an increase in the likelihood of a miscarriage. In many women unable to maintain a pregnancy, factors such as this, as well as homocysteine levels should be checked to increase the chance of a full term delivery.

bmj.com Abstracts: Nielsen et al. 322 (7281): 266

Read entire article here

Nutrition and lifestyle changes are the most powerful approach – (03-14-02)

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Student Pharmacists’ Knowledge of Folic Acid & Birth Defects Demonstrates a Need for Further Education

Articles like this both scare me and drive me to more and more community health presentations to get the word out. I strongly feel that nutrition and lifestyle changes are the most powerful approach we have to our health, especially in relation to chronic disease treatment and prevention. And yet few practitioners truly understand nutrition and its impact on biochemistry and physiology. This makes is incredibly, incredibly important to fight any regulation of the nutriceutical industry that would most likely take the ability to recommend nutritional interventions away from the few qualified to give it. Not that this would be inconsistent with government…

Nutrition.org — Abstracts: Lynch 132 (3): 439

Read entire article here

11 THINGS TO LOWER THE RISK OF BIRTH DEFECTS

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We live in a society that is bombarded with toxins and bad dietary decisions. The choices we make have an impact not just on our health, but even the health of our yet-unborn children. There are clearly ways to lower the risk of birth defects, have a healthy pregnancy and start your child out as healthy as possible.

There are basically three avenues to approach a healthy pregnancy. First is the environmental / toxic side. Environmental Working Group (ewg.org) conducted the 10 Americans study and found that the average developing baby was exposed to at least 200+ chemicals in the womb. And this was from checking only a mere percentage of the chemicals the EPA allows; checking more likely would’ve resulted in finding higher numbers of chemical exposures.

This means that, even before getting pregnant, a couple needs to be very aware of the chemicals they are exposed to and do their best to eliminate or reduce exposure. Every OB warns the pregnant woman to avoid cleaning the litter box, but how many mention to avoid hair dyes, pest sprayings, plastic water bottles, anything with the “new shower curtain smell,” old cushions, etc…?

The second approach is to increase the quality of the diet. That means no foods that have ingredients a biochemist can’t pronounce. Even better–eat foods that don’t have labels. It means more fruits and veggies. It means NO refined carbs. It means an increased intake of omega 3 fatty acids along with a decrease of omega-6 fatty acids.  It means keeping your caloric intake reasonable and not use the “eating for two” excuse.

Third, a good quality mutlivitamin is essential. I have yet to see a prescription prenatal vitamin that isn’t anything short of horrendous. Then, if you throw in the fact that many cost $30-40 / month, you should begin to get a little nauseous. A good quality prenatal will contain more than just folic acid (1 mg of folic acid makes it a prescription…999 mcg would not be–go figure), but should read more like a multivitamin along with biotin, magnesium, calcium and iron. NO artificial colors, flavors or titanium dioxide.

So, in summary, follow these recommendations to lower the risk of birth defects:

Finally, in this particular study, researchers found that a dietary pattern that resembles the Mediterranean diet will lower the risk of the birth defects of cleft palates and neural tube defects. So, overall, it is very clear that lifestyle choices can lower the risk of birth defects and greatly contribute to a healthy pregnancy.