Promoting healthy behaviour in expectant mums / Current news / The University of Newcastle, Australia

Tuesday 16 February 2010
From the University of Newcastle website:

"Researchers at the University of Newcastle say many pregnant Australian women have difficulty exercising enough and consuming the recommended levels of nutrients.
A report on women's reproductive health — released by the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Nicola Roxon MP — is the latest from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). Now in its 16th year, the ALSWH has surveyed more than 40,000 women across three age groups.
"While women generally improve their diets when pregnant, many consume less than the recommended levels of folate and iron," report contributor, Jennifer Powers, said. “Many women quit smoking and stop drinking alcohol during pregnancy, but a small percentage of women continue to smoke and drink alcohol at levels considered unwise for pregnant women.
"Our research suggests there is an ongoing need for targeted public health messages that promote healthy behaviours during and after pregnancy."
The survey also showed that around 10 per cent of women who had given birth within a three-year period reported a diagnosis of post-natal depression.
"This diagnosis was less likely in mothers who had good social support networks," report contributor, Catherine Chojenta, said.
Ms Powers said the health and wellbeing of mothers could also be influenced by their attachment to the paid workforce.
"Women who took 12 or more weeks maternity leave reported higher energy levels than women who took less time off work.
"These findings support the Australian Government's initiative for a minimum amount of maternity leave for all women."
The ALSWH is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Health and Ageing.
The report Reproductive Health: Findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health is available at the Women's Health Australia website and the Department of Health and Ageing website.
Jennifer Powers and Catherine Chojenta are members of the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) Public Health Research Program".
HMRI is a partnership between the University of Newcastle, Hunter New England Health and the community.



Promoting healthy behaviour in expectant mums / Current news / The University of Newcastle, Australia"

Medical News: Depression During Pregnancy Linked to Kids' Behavior Problems - in Psychiatry, Depression from MedPage Today

A study of the children of 120 disadvantaged mothers from South London, reported in the January/February issues of Child Development, provided more evidence of the compelling need to take care of childbearing women and in particular, to provide support for disadvantaged and marginalised women, who were more likely to be depressed and have experienced conduct problems themselves as children. Researchers found that children whose mothers were depressed were twice as likely to display antisocial behaviour than those whose mothers weren't depressed.

Medical News: Depression During Pregnancy Linked to Kids' Behavior Problems - in Psychiatry, Depression from MedPage Today

The researchers "explored several potential mechanisms for the link between maternal depression and a child's behavior problems:

• Direct effects on the fetus from biological correlates of the mothers' depressive symptoms
• Depression in pregnancy as a sign of environmental adversity
• Re-exposure to maternal depression after birth
• Indirect effects of depression on the developing fetus driven by mothers' smoking, drinking, and drug taking during pregnancy
• A genetic explanation whereby women who experience depression in pregnancy may also have a greater genetic risk for antisocial behavior, which they pass on to their offspring

Hay and her colleagues noted that these explanations are not necessarily mutually exclusive".

As the effect of the social environment upon the individual becomes more widely recognised and the way the building of a healthy sense of self in a baby/child is inextricably linked to the presence of a moment by moment, congruent, consistent, warm, responsive interactive relationship with the mother, it is no longer possible to ignore the responsibility of society to help childbearing women in every way possible. Apart from addressing basic economic necessities, a fundamental and important capacity building initiative is to provide one to one midwifery care. The provision of a trusting relationship with a known midwife in a continuity of care model, supports pregnant women's growth and development, providing the opportunity for early identification of potential problems and instituting remedial action and targetted solutions before the problems begin.  Authentic midwifery care, education, good nutrition, exercise and as already  noted, acupuncture all work together to alleviate and minimise depression and the associated problems with depression for childbearing women and their children.  Providing adequate resources for intervention in the beginning of life is an excellent public health strategy as it avoids the huge financial and societal cost of antisocial behaviour later on.

Want to live well? Harvard experts offer pragmatic pointers on getting healthy and staying there

"The long-running Nurses’ Health Study shows that as much as 80 percent of heart disease, 70 percent of strokes, and 90 percent of diabetes — three of the nation’s top 10 killers — are related to just four lifestyle factors: avoiding smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, and embracing a heart-healthy diet.

“They are absolutely astonishing numbers,” said Manson, who is beginning a large trial of vitamin D’s role in preventing illness. “Studies demonstrate the powerful role of lifestyle factors in preventing chronic disease. One of the most important prescriptions doctors can write is to prescribe regular physical activity.”
One area where knowledge has advanced rapidly in recent years involves the importance of maintaining a healthy body weight, which Willett said is understood much better today than even a decade ago and is linked to heart disease, diabetes, and many cancers".

Other aspects to what constitutes a healthy and rewarding life are explored in this article.
Getting enough quality sleep, saving money, being kind, taking time to reflect and be still to name a few.

The article continues:

"Though people make individual decisions that affect their well-being every day, people are at their core social animals. Recent research has detected those social underpinnings in their personal behavior.
Nicholas Christakis, professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, explores the effects of social networks on health. His research indicates that everything from obesity to smoking to happiness to loneliness can spread through social networks.
Still, Christakis cautioned that someone looking to live healthier should not just avoid friends who have unhealthy habits. Social networks are important, providing companionship and support even from those who smoke or eat junk food. There’s far more to gain, he said, in lending a hand to struggling friends than there is from cutting them off."
Want to live well? Harvard experts offer pragmatic pointers on getting healthy and staying there

How Diet Affects Fertility | Newsweek Health for Life | Newsweek.com

This is a great article. A must read for anyone who wants to get pregnant and anyone else who wants to stay healthy and live well.

Health, wellness and fertility all comes down to 'what you eat today, walks and talks tomorrow'. The overall message is
1. Eat whole foods
2. Avoid processed and modified products (which masquerade as food)
3. Eat quality protein
4. Include natural fats
5. Eat fresh foods

and of course, drink lots of fresh, filtered water, stop smoking, limit alcohol, move and enjoy your life!

The authors wrote:

"In a nutshell, results from the Nurses' Health Study indicate that the amount of carbohydrates in the diet doesn't affect fertility, but the quality of those carbohydrates does. Eating a lot of rapidly digested carbohydrates that continually boost your blood-sugar and insulin levels higher can lower your chances of getting pregnant. This is especially true if you are eating carbohydrates in place of healthful unsaturated fats. On the other hand, eating whole grains, beans, vegetables and whole fruits" all of which are good sources of slowly digested carbohydrates”can improve ovulation and your chances of getting pregnant."

The authors also talk about transfats. This article is excellent.

How Diet Affects Fertility | Newsweek Health for Life | Newsweek.com

Shared via AddThis

Health related behaviours found to be lacking in pregnant women

A study of the health related behaviours of 262 pregnant women for factors such as fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity and smoking levels was recently undertaken by the University of Queensland researchers.

The researchers found that:

"Few women met the guidelines for sufficient fruit (9.2%) or sufficient vegetable (2.7%) intake. On average, women consumed half the recommended serves of fruit (mean 2.2, SD 1.1; median 2.0, IQR1.0-2.0) and little more than one third of the recommended serves of vegetables (mean 2.0, SD 0.6; median 2.0, IQR 1.0-3.0) per day. Approximately one third (32.8%) of the population was undertaking sufficient physical activity (see Figure 1). Women undertook a median of 112.5 minutes of physical activity per week (IQR 43.8-240.0). A large proportion of women smoked prior to pregnancy (37.8%) and more than one quarter continued to smoke during pregnancy. Approximately 10% of women quit smoking when they became pregnant. On average, women smoked 15.9 cigarettes a day (SD 1.2, n=103) before becoming pregnant and smoked 13.4 cigarettes a day (SD 2.6, n=26) once becoming pregnant. Twenty-one per cent of women were overweight and 20.0% were obese before becoming pregnant"

This is where one to one midwifery care is so beneficial. When women and midwives work together in a primary health care way, issues such as the health related behaviours noted above can be explored and discussed in a safe and effective way. My guess is that the busy antenatal clinics where women wait for hours and see whoever is free, isn't the place where sensitive subjects such as eating habits, exercise activities and smoking are explored in effective ways, if at all.

The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health (2009) 33(3): 228-33
The full text of the study can be read online at: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/122423650/HTMLSTART