Sunday 14 April 2013

Study: Mothers Taking Folic Acid 40% Less Likely to Have Child with Autism

While there is debate as to what causes autism, scientists have found that pregnant women who supplement with folic acid early in their pregnancy are less likely to have a child diagnosed with autism.

This latest study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers used data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and the Autism Birth Cohort Study (ABC). These two studies together comprised “the largest prospective birth cohort devoted to the investigation of gene-environment interactions and biomarker discovery for neuropsychiatric disorders,” according to Columbia University.

With a total of 270 cases of autism arising in the sample, 114 had the most serious on the autism spectrum, autistic disorder.

In the study, scientists looked at a total of more than 85,000 babies born between 2002 and 2008. They monitored prenatal dietary habits and lifestyle choices for about 3 to 10 years. What they found, among other things, is that a mother who supplemented with folic acid early on in her pregnancy could significantly reduce her child’s risk of autism. The likelihood of a mother giving birth to a child with autistic disorder was slashed by 40% with folic acid supplementation. But, when she took the folic acid was nearly more important than if she took it.

The researchers found the magic autism-prevention period to be between 4 and 8 weeks of gestation.

The work suggests that women who take folic acid supplements in this early stage of pregnancy can help reduce their child’s risk of autism.

Another important vitamin during pregnancy? Vitamin D!

Read the full article here:
Study: Mothers Taking Folic Acid 40% Less Likely to Have Child with Autism

The Hidden Truth about Aspirin

Why Aspirin is so Damn Risky

Like deflating a tire, aspirin depletes the body of life-saving nutrients. These include folic acid, iron, potassium, sodium and vitamin C. Symptoms associated with such depletion include: anemia, birth defects, heart disease, elevated homocysteine (a risk factor for heart disease), headache, depression, fatigue, hair loss, insomnia, diarrhea, shortness of breath, pale skin and suppression of the immune system.

Internal bleeding is one of the biggest risks. Studies show that aspirin users die sooner compared to those not taking it.

Body Count Increasing Among Aspirin Users

Each year, a grossly underestimated 7600 deaths and 76,000 hospitalizations occur in the United States from use of aspirin and other NSAIDS like Motrin, Aleve, and Celebrex. But, the FDA states that only about 10% of deaths caused by NSAIDS are reported.

Supermarkets in meat scandal named

Woolworths, Pick n Pay, Shoprite, Fruit n Veg City and Spar

Johannesburg - Popular supermarkets including Pick n Pay, Shoprite, Fruit and Veg City, Woolworths and Spar have been identified as stocking incorrectly labelled meat products, City Press reported on Sunday.

The newspaper reported that the retailers had largely suggested that the findings could be blamed on cross-contamination, where one type of meat was transferred to another on chopping boards, saws, hands and utensils.

Shoprite CEO Whitey Basson told the newspaper there was not "intentional adulteration to mislead consumers".

A University of Stellenbosch study found that nearly 60% of 139 products tested contained ingredients which were not listed on their labels, including donkey, water buffalo, goat and pork.

South Africa's mysterious 2.8 billion year-old Klerksdorp Spheres

2.8 Billion Year Old Metallic Spheres Found in Transvaal, South Africa

Klerksdorp spheres are small, rounded, disc-shaped rocks found in a single mine in South Africa. They’re described as being perfectly concentric, hard as steel and balanced to a degree that not even NASA can calculate. In fact, NASA has allegedly said that they could only have been constructed in a zero-gravity environment. Also, they’ve been carbon-dated as being nearly 3 billion years old. Speculation about their creators ranges from an ancient but unspeakably advanced ancestor of humanity to aliens to the followers of the Mighty Klerksdorp, He Who Devours.


For more than three decades, miners at the Wonderstone Silver Mine near Ottosdal in the Western Transvaal, South Africa, have been extracting out of deep rock several strange metallic spheroids. So far at least 200 have been found.