Study Suggests Autism Less Likely in Poor Families

To reduce risk of autism, it may be important for mothers to give their children enough nutrients like vitamin D, thiamine and riboflavin if they excursively breastfeed their children, according to a new study in Journal of American College of Nutrition.

R.J. Shamberger at King James Medical Laboratory Cleveland, Ohio conducted the study and found mothers who participated in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program were less likely to have children with autism.

Nurse's Creativity Helps Child Battle Obesity

The nurse practitioner at the health department handed me a new referral. "Evan’s a healthy 6-year-old with Down Syndrome," she said. "No cardiac problems. He’s short with a body mass index at the 90th percentile. Can you make a home visit?"
Two days later I was sitting in the family’s apartment talking with Leslie, Evan’s mother, a stocky middle-aged woman wearing khaki slacks and a white T-shirt.
Dressed in a navy sweatsuit, Evan sat in the corner of the room in an oversized children’s rocking chair watching Sesame Street on television. A box of Cheez-Its sat on the table beside him.
Piles of men and women’s clothes were stacked on top of a sewing machine by the back wall. "I alter people’s clothes," Leslie said. "I have to work. We need the extra money."
I smiled at her. "Let’s talk a bit."
"There’s nothing a nurse can help with," she said. "Evan’s doing OK. So what if he has a little baby fat?"
"He’s really not a baby anymore," I said.
Leslie swallowed hard. "You don’t know what it’s like. I’m here every afternoon with him. Mornings, too, when he doesn’t go to school." She sighed. "Evan sits watching television while I sew. He loves to rock and eat. I know it’s bad for him but … ." Tears filled her eyes.