Close X
Saturday, November 23, 2024
ADVT 
Health & Fitness

Mother's alcohol consumption may make kids dull

Darpan News Desk IANS, 05 Aug, 2014 07:41 AM
    Expecting mothers may give their drinking glass a goodbye kiss as researchers have found that parental alcohol exposure weakens brain activation in their children.
     
    Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) showed weaker brain activation during specific cognitive tasks than their unaffected counterparts, the findings showed.
     
    FASD refers to the permanent birth defects caused by the mother's consumption of alcohol during pregnancy.
     
    These results demonstrated that prenatal alcohol exposure can change how brain signalling develops during childhood and adolescence, long after the damaging effects of alcohol exposure in the womb.
     
    "Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to observe brain activity during mental tasks in children with FASD, but we are the first to utilise these techniques to look at brain activation over time," said Prapti Gautam from The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles in the US.
     
    To study how prenatal alcohol exposure may alter this development, researchers observed a group of unaffected children and a group of children with FASD over two years.
     
    "We found that there were significant differences in development brain activation over time between the two groups, even though they did not differ in task performance," noted Elizabeth Sowell from The Saban Research Institute.
     
    "While the healthy control group showed an increase in signal intensity over time, the children with FASD showed a decrease in brain activation during visuo-spatial attention, especially in the frontal, temporal and parietal brain regions," Sowell added.
     
    The study will be published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

    MORE Health & Fitness ARTICLES

    Who’s Fitter in Your Family?

    Who’s Fitter in Your Family?
    A teenager can navigate Twitter without the help of anyone older. But what about on the field or in the gym? Who’s able to lift more, run further or play longer? The younger generations may know more about upgrading their operating systems, but their parents may be the ones who can outperform in the arena and on the field. 

    Who’s Fitter in Your Family?

    Canada's Healthcare Best in the World or Mediocre at Best?

    Canada's Healthcare Best in the World or Mediocre at Best?
    Canada received a ‘B’ letter grade and ranked 10th out of 17 fellow nations. Japan earned  an ‘A’ and ranked 1st while our American neighbours received a ‘D’ letter grade and ranked 17th out of 17

    Canada's Healthcare Best in the World or Mediocre at Best?

    Darpan Fitness – Winter is Around the Corner

    Darpan Fitness – Winter is Around the Corner
    For many the warm time of year means outdoor activities such as swimming, bike riding and running, while for others the winter season means exercise is put on hold due to the cold weather.

    Darpan Fitness – Winter is Around the Corner

    What’s Fun in Fitness

    What’s Fun in Fitness
    Staying trim while staying on trend If the treadmill has become boring and pushups are no longer producing results, it may be time to try some of the much-talked about workouts

    What’s Fun in Fitness

    Fitness: Freshman 15

    Fitness: Freshman 15
    The freshman 15 is the name given to the weight that is put on by individuals during the first year of their college or university studies

    Fitness: Freshman 15

    Battling the Baby Blues

    Battling the Baby Blues
    Postpartum depression affects women, and sometimes men, in many different ways and can begin anytime within the first two months after giving birth

    Battling the Baby Blues