Public Health

Where a mother lives and the temperature outside while she is pregnant, among other environmental factors, can impact whether her child is prehypertensive or hypertensive during childhood, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Major improvements are needed to teach parents about the importance of vitamin D and their children's requirements as too many do not know the facts, according to researchers at Leeds Beckett University.

The FDA has revised its 2017 advice on fish and shellfish consumption for pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children to help ensure they consume the recommended amount of seafood, according to a press release.

Vitamin D deficiency from birth to early childhood was associated with an increased risk of elevated blood pressure in later childhood and adolescence, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension.

Obesity is a growing problem among toddlers, children and adolescents in the United States. Gaining weight and fat mass rapidly during the first six months of life is one risk factor that can lead to obesity in children.

A new, prospective study provides evidence that "early term" infants (those born at 37-38 weeks) are less likely than full-term infants to be breastfeed within the first hour and at one month after birth.

A child's risk of obesity as they grow up can be influenced by modifications to their DNA prior to birth, a new University of Southampton study has shown. These changes, known as epigenetic modifications, control the activity of our genes without changing the actual DNA sequence.

Pregnant women who incorporate more vitamin C into their diets are at lower risk for developing gestational diabetes than those with insufficient or even adequate dietary vitamin C intake, according to findings published in Clinical Nutrition.

Consumption of fish oil omega-3s during the third trimester of pregnancy may prolong gestation and increase birth weights of the newborns, according to a new double-blind randomized controlled trial.