Word: womb
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...idea that environmental conditions in the womb may have lifelong effects on the fetus is certainly not new. British epidemiologist D.J. Barker first proposed his theory of fetal origins in 1992, arguing that when the fetus doesn't get enough nutrition in utero, for example, an increased risk of future heart disease and diabetes somehow gets "programmed" into his or her development. There wasn't very much data to back Barker's theory at the time, but over the decades, a wealth of animal and human data has suggested it's true. Maternal conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes...
Researchers suggest that such distant health problems may be linked to early exposure to the flu - as early as in the womb - according to a new study that analyzed federal survey data collected from 1982 to 1996. Researchers found, for instance, that people who were born in the U.S. just after the 1918 flu pandemic (that is, people who were still in utero when the disease was at its peak) had a higher risk of a heart attack in their adulthood than those born before or long after the pandemic. (See pictures of thermal scanners hunting for swine...
Ever wonder why some youngsters approach food as an adventure and others insist on mono-meals of mac 'n' cheese? Turns out kiddie palates don't happen by accident. Studies show that children prefer the flavors they experience early on, including while they're in the womb. A pediatrician is drawing on that research to help get more pregnant and nursing women to eat healthy, varied diets - because doing so will make their babies predisposed to eat what's good for them...
...stores Oct. 5, Greene paints a vivid picture of the budding foodie in utero. A fetus in the second and third trimester has highly sensitive taste buds that, through "practice meals" of amniotic fluid, get to experience whatever Mom is eating. Fetuses remember flavors from this time in the womb and seek them out after birth. This process explains why adopted infants, when swept off to a new culture, years later innately prefer their native cuisine - even though they may never have actually eaten it in the conventional sense, he says...
...obstetrics and gynecology department at Baltimore's Mercy Hospital, says he has never encountered a case of superfetation during practice. He says such pregnancies occur when a woman continues ovulating after becoming pregnant and when that second, fertilized egg is able to implant itself in the lining of the womb - two things that wouldn't happen in a normal pregnancy. Typically, hormonal changes prevent further ovulation and thicken the lining of the uterus to preclude a second embryo from attaching. Why didn't that happen with Grovenburg? No one's really sure. (See how to prevent illness...