<<< Back to Cures Naturally Articles
<<< Back to Cures Naturally Pregnancy
Updated with Dr. Mercola's comments... CG
Incredibly, this knowledge was intuitive to traditional societies and our ancestors. While, this study is interesting and comforting, it is sad that we need such studies to counter the food and medical industry flabbergaf against wholesome foods. Instead of promoting good healthy foods - commercial interests have duped us with cheap synthetics like egg substitutes, margarine and the like that are foreign to our body. These substitutes only cost pennies to produce but are sold at nearly the cost of the real thing. All this with 'smoke and mirrors' promotion, even by our health associations and government bodies, as more healthy foods.
Surely, if the
building blocks (nutrients) are not there then no amount of medicine,
whether alternative or mainstream can cure the disease! This is the prime
reason why the pharma cartel is so worried. Hence,
the
suppression/regulation/censorship of information of natural food
based products and associated vitamins!
Chris Gupta
13:05 12 March 04
NewScientist.com news service
Taking a nutrient called choline during pregnancy could "super-charge"
children's brains for life, suggests a study in rats.
Offspring born to pregnant rats given the supplement were known to be faster
learners with better memories. But the new work, by Scott Swartzwelder and
colleagues at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, US, shows
this is due to having bigger brain cells in vital areas.
Choline, a member of the vitamin B family, is found in egg yolks, liver and
other meats - "exactly the kind of things people were told not to eat" due
to their high cholesterol content, says Swartzwelder.
He believes their results in the rats could translate to humans, and indeed
the US Institute of Medicine added choline to the list of essential
nutrients, particularly for pregnant women, in its 2003 recommendations.
The implications of the study's findings are "potentially huge" Swartzwelder
believes: "If it turns out that it's true in humans and can make people
smarter their whole lives and forestall age-related memory decline - that's
potentially a very exciting prospect."
Hannah Theobald, a nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation,
calls the study "really interesting" but cautions that more research needs
to be done before any recommendations can be made in humans.
Anatomy and physiology
Behavioural studies have shown giving choline to pregnant rats improves
learning and memory in their offspring. The pups also suffer significantly
less from failing memories as they get old.
However, it was not known whether choline's effects were on the general
brain environment or whether it fundamentally changed the brain's cells.
"Our study is the first time anyone has shown that prenatal choline
supplementation actually changes the anatomy and physiology of single brain
cells," Swartzwelder told New Scientist. No adverse effects could be seen in
the rats, he adds.
The team gave pregnant rats three to four times their normal intake of
choline for six days. Gestation lasts about 21 days in rats, and the period
during which the rats were fed extra choline roughly corresponds to the
start of the third trimester in women.
Electrical signals
The pups born were raised to adulthood and then their brains were examined,
in particular the hippocampus - the area of the brain critical for learning.
This part of the brain was sliced in a way that preserved its internal
circuitry and kept it alive. A tiny electrode was then used to recording the
behaviour of each cell.
The neurons of rats born to mothers given extra choline fired electrical
signals more rapidly and for longer periods, indicating a capacity to
communicate more easily.
The team then injected a biological dye into the neurons to look at their
shape and structure. The cells from rats receiving prenatal choline
supplements were substantially bigger than those from rats that did not.
"We are looking at consistent changes in the range of 20 to 25 per cent,"
says Swartzwelder. "These are bigger cells with more dendrites, the areas of
the cell specific to receiving incoming signals." He says the combined
changes induced by choline in the physiology and anatomy of the brain cells
would "hotwire" the system.
Better membranes
The team does not know exactly how choline boosts brains, but it is known to
contribute to the building of cell membranes during the embryo stage of
development. "My bet is it has something to do this," Swartzwelder says.
Back to top of document