According to a new study, adults and children can reduce their exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals, including bisphenol-A (BPA), by eating more fruits and vegetables and less food from plastic containers and metal cans, USA Today reported.

Twenty study participants showed a 66 percent reduction of BPA in their urine after three days on a diet of fresh, organic and unpackaged food, scientists said.

Levels of another chemical, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate or DEHP, fell 3 percent.

“This is the first study to provide clear evidence that food packaging is a major source of BPA and DEHP exposure in children and adults,” said study co-author Julia Brody,. executive director of the Silent Spring Institute, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that studies environmental factors in women’s health.

Prior research has found that BPA is present in at least 90 percent of Americans due to how prevalent it is in food packaging and other consumer items.  BPA is used to harden plastics in bottles and cups and is also in the linings of metal cans and cash register receipts.  DEHP is used to soften PVC and other plastics.

Researchers remain uncertain as to what are safe levels of these chemicals, which have been linked to breast cancer, heart disease, diabetes, male infertility and other health problems.  The Food and Drug Administration has also expressed “some concerns” in the past about potential effects on the brain development of fetuses, infants and children.

Meanwhile, the American Chemistry Council, which represents plastic manufacturers, insisted that BPA levels remain safe.

Currently, the U.S. government is spending $30 million for the National Institutes of Health to research the safety of BPA, and the FDA is supporting the efforts of food packaging companies to find alternatives. Some states are banning BPA use in food and drink containers intended for children aged 3 and younger.

The study authors recommended these tips to help consumers reduce their BPA levels, as quoted from USA Today:

1. The Fresh is best. BPA and phthalates can migrate from the linings of cans and plastic packaging into food and drinks. While it’s not practical to avoid food packaging altogether, opt for fresh or frozen instead of canned food asmuch as possible.

2. Eat in. Studies have shown that people who eat more meals prepared outside the home have higher levels of BPA. To reduce your exposure, consider cooking more meals at home with fresh ingredients. When you do eat out, choose restaurants that use fresh ingredients.

3. Store it safe. Food and drinks stored in plastic can collect chemicals from the containers, especially if the foods are fatty or acidic. Next time, try storing your leftovers in glass or stainless steel instead of plastic.

4. Don’t microwave in plastic. Warmer temperatures increase the rate of chemicals leaching into food and drinks. So use heatresistant glass or ceramic containers when you microwave, or heat your food on the stove. The label “microwave safe” means safety for the container, not your health.

5. Brew the old-fashioned way. Automatic coffee makers may have BPA and phthalates in their plastic containers and tubing. When you brew your coffee, consider using a French press to get your buzz without the BPA.

The study was published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Click here to read more from USA Today.

Extreme morning sickness could lead to lifelong behavioral and emotional problems in children, according to a new study.

The condition, known as hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), is characterized by excessive nausea and vomiting persisting beyond the first trimester of pregnancy. It affects hundreds of thousands of women each year and can lead to hospitalization and pregnancy termination.

California researchers have found that children whose mothers suffered from HG while carrying them were more than 3 times as likely to suffer from anxiety, bipolar disorder and depression in adulthood than children born to mothers who did not have the condition.

“HG is an understudied and undertreated condition of pregnancy that can result in not only short-term maternal physical and mental health problems but also potentially lifelong consequences to the exposed fetus,” the researchers said.

Prior studies have found that children whose mothers suffered from nausea past the first trimester have more attention and learning studies by age 12.

The researchers blame poor fetal nutrition, a frequent result of HG, as a cause for adverse outcomes and poor health in adulthood. HG can essentially starve the developing fetus of essential nutrients, and cause dehydration, which can impact brain development.

Also, HG often causes stress and anxiety in the mother, which can also negatively affect the fetus.
The condition often runs in families. According to the researchers, women with a family history of the condition were up to 17 times more likely to suffer from it themselves.

The study was published in the Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease and funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Whether it’s Hershey’s, Skittles or Reese’s, candy is often the bane of health-conscious parents who want to instill healthy eating habits in their children.  However, new study suggests that kids who eat candy actually weigh less and are less likely to be overweight than those who don’t.

Louisiana State researchers tracked the eating habits of more than 11,000 children aged two to 17 between the years of 1999 and 2004.  They found that children and teens who ate candy were 22 percent less likely to be overweight and 28 percent less likely to be obese.

Despite the findings, lead researcher Carol O’Neil warned that parents and children should still follow proper food guidelines and eat candy sparingly.

“The results of this study should not be construed as a hall-pass to overindulge,” O’Neil said. “Candy should not replace nutrient-dense foods in the diet; it is a special treat and should be enjoyed in moderation.”

O’Neil speculated that the children who ate candy were able to balance “calories in, calories out” over time, meaning they ate other foods that were lower in calories.

Another potential explanation was that the children who ate more candy and weighed less were more active than the children who did not eat candy and weighed more.

Overall, however, she said the whole group had very poor eating habits – a likely contributor to the U.S. obesity epidemic.  O’Neil recommended that parents not only keep tabs on their children’s candy consumption, but also on their consumption of other high fat foods, such as potato chips, and on the amount of time per day they spent being sedentary.

The study was published in the Food & Nutrition Research journal.

Between 2009 and 2010, one million more children in America fell below the poverty line, bringing the total to an estimated 15.7 million poor children living in the country.

This is an increase of 2.6 million since the recession began in 2007, according to researchers from the University of New Hampshire.

The researchers estimated that nearly one in four children now live in poverty. Poverty has been associated with a number of negative effects in children, including less education and more health problems.

Since 2007, 38 states have witnessed a significant increase in child poverty. Mississippi has the highest rates of children living in poverty at 32.5 percent, followed by D.C. (30.4 percent) and New Mexico (30 percent).

At the opposite end of the spectrum, New Hampshire has the lowest rates of child poverty (10 percent) followed by Connecticut (12.8 percent) and Alaska (12.9 percent).

By region, the South has the most child poverty at an estimated 24.2 percent and the Northeast has the least at 17.8 percent.

Young children living in the rural South have been the hardest hit, with more than one in three young children living in poverty.

“Rural poverty is particularly striking in this region, where nearly 36 percent of children under age 6 were poor,” the researchers said.

The study was based upon U.S. Census Bureau estimates from the 2007, 2009, and 2010 American Community Survey.

New research from the University of California Davis has identified two biologically different subtypes of autism.

The findings another important step forward in understanding the causes of autism and developing effective treatments – and maybe even a cure.

The Autism Phenome Project at UC Davis’s MIND Institute has been ongoing since 2006, studying the brain growth, environmental exposure and genetic make-up of 350 children.

The two autism strains identified by the project target different systems of the body. One group of children, all boys, had enlarged brains, and most regressed into autism within 18 months, while another group all appeared to have improperly functioning immune systems that contributed to their autism.

The research complements earlier findings that have linked some cases of autism with genetic alterations that affect brain development in children.

Again, the significance of this study is that it could help specifically tailor treatments for different children and therefore improve the ability of early intervention in changing some of the behavioral and social patterns affected by autism.

For example, if a child has the autism strain associated with a dysfunctional immune system, it would likely do little good to prescribe a treatment that targets the synaptic functioning in the brain.

Lead researcher David Amaral, a UC Davis psychiatry professor, made a comparison between treating autism and treating cancer when he said, “If we were trying to cure all cancer at the same time, it would be hopeless. Well, the same is true for autism. My guess is that there just isn’t going to be a single diagnostic marker for autism – there’s going to be a whole panel.”

I hope these scientists will continue with their groundbreaking work in identifying the different strains of autism, so we can move forward in treating the condition and finding a cure.

With many young adults moving back in with their parents in the wake of the economic recession, many parents and their children are attempting to navigate a unique family landscape.

In a new study, researchers studying this phenomenon have found somewhat discouraging results regarding the levels of family conflict between these young adults and their parents.

“We have worked with young people, in this case, in the family environment, to see what happens during the ‘full nest syndrome’, when children reach 18 years of age and they continue living at home,” said Beatriz Rodríguez, study researcher.

The study results indicate that there are more domestic disputes among young adults who continue to live at home with their parents compared to those who do not. Furthermore, the conflicts are more complicated than conflicts during teenage years.

School-related conflicts typical of teenage years are replaced by conflicts related to more personal or moral values concerning prospects for the future.

“There is dissociation between what mothers and fathers expect of their children in this evolutionary stage and what the emerging adults expect of themselves,” the researchers said. “In addition, there is a divide between social values and their personal expectations.”

One encouraging aspect of the study was that as the conflicts evolved, so did the resolution strategies. The young adults were able to develop more constructive strategies to resolve fights and were more willing to negotiate with their parents.

“From our perspective, we believe that a social policy is needed to help young adults leave their family homes,” Rodriguez said. “However, while the situation is what it is, parents should also recognise that their children are going through the transition to adulthood and understand that their social and cultural situation is different from the one that they lived.”