Smiles for Kids Blog
Sunday, July 27, 2008
More Teens Getting Breast Reduction Surgery
Part of the reason breast reduction surgery has become more popular among teens Gordon says that children have higher body weights than in previous years and girls are hitting puberty earlier than ever before
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Friday, July 11, 2008
Mom's smoking tied to oral birth defect
Via Reuters UK
Pregnant women who smoke or regularly breathe second-hand smoke may be raising the odds that their baby will be born with a cleft lip, a new study shows.
Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the most common types of birth defect. They arise when the tissues that form the roof of the mouth and the upper lip do not fuse properly, sometime between the fifth and ninth week of pregnancy.
Read the story here.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Link between maternal folate intake and incidence of cleft palate unlikely
Link between maternal folate intake and incidence of cleft palate unlikely
Previous studies have indicated a link between maternal intake of multivitamin supplements containing folate and decreased occurrence of cleft lip and/or cleft palate, and studies in animals have shown positive direct results. However, most studies in humans are more ambiguous. It is difficult to distinguish the effects of a specific nutrient, which are generally entwined with the effects of other nutrients, and many previous studies display design flaws (lack of randomized sampling, insufficient sample size to have statistical significance, inconsistent results*).A new study in The Cleft Palate–Cranofacial Journal reports that the link between periconceptional folate intake and cleft palate or cleft lip may be weaker than previously thought. In a population-based, statistically comprehensive study of almost 500 infants in the U.K., Little et al. used multiple measures of folate status and detailed assessments of confounding factors and found no correlation between prevalence of orofacial cleft and dietary or supplemental folic acid. A slight correlation was found between the presence of folic acid antagonists and increased orofacial cleft incidence. Smoking and alcohol intake, use of medications, maternal age, medical history, reproductive history, and family history of clefts did not show any confounding effects.It is possible that other factors correlating to dietary folic acid may play a role in orofacial cleft incidence, but this study found that higher folate intake did not prevent or reduce the occurrence of cleft palate or cleft lip.
Cleft lip and palate (CLP) are the most frequently occurring birth defects in the United States, affecting nearly 7,000 children yearly, or 1 in every 600 newborns.
To read the entire study, visit: http://www.allenpress.com/pdf/cpcj-45-04-420-427.pdf
The Cleft Palate–Craniofacial Journal is an international, interdisciplinary journal reporting on clinical and research activities in cleft lip/palate and other craniofacial anomalies, together with research in related laboratory sciences. It is the official publication of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA). For more information, visit http://www.acpa-cpf.org/.
*Studies in Norway and California have reported a weak correlation in mothers who reported taking no supplements before becoming pregnant and then started taking supplements (Norway) or who ate fortified cereal (California) during the first three months of pregnancy. However, other studies show no change in orofacial cleft prevalence before and after the introduction of cereal fortification (Canada, Texas) or with/without use of supplements (2 large multistate US studies).
[Folate and Clefts of the Lip and Palate—U.K.-Based Case–Control Study: Part I: Dietary and Supplemental Folate; The Cleft Palate–Cranofacial Journal], 2008, Vol. 45(4):1–8.