Mother's emotional stress can damage unborn baby’s brain

[Naveed Yaseen]

STRESS levels affect the heart beats of an unborn baby and why it is essential for pregnant women to reduce anxiety.

The researchers from Imperial College London hope that the information will raise awareness among families of the importance of reducing levels of stress and anxiety in expectant mothers.

Reducing stress during pregnancy can help prevent thousands of children from developing emotional and behavioural problems, they said.

A mother’s stress can increase the heart rate of her unborn baby. The placenta is crucial for foetal development as it usually protects the unborn baby from the stress hormone cortisol. However, when the mother is stressed, the placenta becomes less protective and the mother’s cortisol may have an effect on the foetus, said an Imperial release.

Imperial researchers’ work has shown that maternal stress and anxiety can alter the development of the baby’s brain.

This in turn can result in a greater risk of emotional problems such as anxiety or depression, behavioural problems such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and being considerably slower at learning.

Some studies have even suggested that it may increase the likelihood of later violent or criminal behaviour. Their findings have suggested that the effects of stress during pregnancy can last many years, including into adolescence.

Vivette Glover, the lead researcher from the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Imperial College London, said: “We all know that if a mother smokes or drinks a lot of alcohol while pregnant, it can affect her foetus”.

“Our work has shown that other more subtle factors, such as her emotional state, can also have long-term effects on her child. We hope our exhibit will demonstrate in a fun way why we all need to look after expectant mothers’ emotional well-being,” Glover said.

For teeth, orange juice worse than whitening agents: When it comes to dental health, an acidic fruit juice like orange is even worse than teeth whitening agents, warns a recent study.

University of Rochester Medical Centre’s YanFang Ren and his team determined that the effects of six percent hydrogen peroxide, the common ingredient in over-the-counter whitening products, are insignificant compared to acidic fruit juices.

For the first time, researchers were able to see extensive surface detail thanks to a new focus-variation vertical scanning microscope.

“The acid is so strong that the tooth is literally washed away,” said Ren. “The orange juice decreased enamel hardness by 84 percent.”

In contrast, no significant change in hardness or surface enamel was found from whitening.

Weakened and eroded enamel may speed up the wear of the tooth and increase the risk of tooth decay.

“Most soft drinks, including sodas and fruit juices, are acidic in nature,” Ren said. “Our studies demonstrated that orange juice, as an example, can potentially cause significant erosion of teeth.”

It’s long been known that juice and sodas have a high acidic content, and can negatively affect dental enamel hardness, said a Rochester release.

“This study allowed us to understand the effect of whitening on enamel relative to the effect of a daily dietary activity, such as drinking juices,” he added.

The longer teeth are in contact with the acidic drinks, the more severe the erosion will be. People who sip their drinks slowly over 20 minutes are more likely to have tooth erosion than those who finish a drink quickly.

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