Watch That Wind

Summer is hurricane season, which seems far away right now. But it never hurts to be prepared, because hurricanes do more than devastate the landscape–they’re bad for pregnant women and their unborn children as well. Exposure to hurricanes can cause significant adverse fetal distress risks and can lead to longer-term health care problems for affected children. These risks contribute previously hidden human and economic costs to the impacts of severe hurricanes.

According to a recent analysis, a mother’s exposure to the hurricane during her second trimester increased the odds of fetal distress at birth by 20%. Fetal distress risk increased 26% for third trimester exposed mothers. African-American mothers experienced even higher fetal distress rates with those exposed during their third trimester 45% more likely to give birth to a distressed infant than white unexposed mothers. The researchers suggest that "prenatal exposure to natural disasters may negatively impact general intellectual and language development among toddlers and could result in increased risk of schizophrenia, among other deleterious outcomes." Thanks goodness hands on healing really works (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show).

If you want to BECOME pregnant, avoid antioxidants! Antioxidants are sold over the counter everywhere. They’re added to food, drink, and face cream. They’re in brightly colored fruits and vegetables (and in CHOCOLATE!), but we still don’t have a complete understanding of how they act in our bodies, but scientists now think that, while they protect us from cancer, they may have the unexpected side effect of causing fertility problems in females. So if you want to conceive, should you eat only WHITE foods? (At least there is white chocolate!)