Preeclampsia linked to drinking milk.Women who drink less than one glass of whole milk a day or three or more glasses confront a higher risk of developing preeclampsia preeclampsia /pre·eclamp·sia/ (pre?e-klamp´se-ah) a toxemia of late pregnancy, characterized by hypertension, proteinuria, and edema. pre·e·clamp·si·a n. -- pregnancy-related high blood pressure -- than women who drink one or two glasses, researchers report. The findings come from data on the dietary habits and health of 9,291 pregnant women. A team of scientists collected the data between 1959 and 1966; two other researchers recently reanalyzed those findings to determine the relationship between preeclampsia and milk intake. Barbara Ellsworth Richardson of Texas A&M University in College Station and Donna Day Baird of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is one of 27 Institutes and Centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH),which is a component of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The Director of the NIEHS is Dr. David A. Schwartz. in Research Triangle Park Research Triangle Park, research, business, medical, and educational complex situated in central North Carolina. It has an area of 6,900 acres (2,795 hectares) and is 8 × 2 mi (13 × 3 km) in size. Named for the triangle formed by Duke Univ. , N.C., report the results of their reanalysis in the April American Journal of Epidemiology epidemiology, field of medicine concerned with the study of epidemics, outbreaks of disease that affect large numbers of people. Epidemiologists, using sophisticated statistical analyses, field investigations, and complex laboratory techniques, investigate the cause . While it's probably the extra fat that causes preeclampsia in the milk lovers, low calcium may be responsible for the condition in women who drink less than a glass, Richardson and Baird contend. Previous studies had suggested that dietary fat may change the concentration of lipids lipids, a broad class of organic products found in living systems. Most are insoluble in water but soluble in nonpolar solvents. The definition excludes the mineral oils and other petroleum products obtained from fossil material. or other compounds in the blood that help trigger the "cascade of adverse vascular vascular /vas·cu·lar/ (vas´ku-ler) 1. pertaining to vessels, particularly blood vessels. 2. indicative of a copious blood supply. vas·cu·lar adj. changes associated with preeclampsia" (SN: 6/13/92, p.390), Richardson and Baird note. Other researchers have shown that giving women low-fat supplements that contain more calcium than four glasses of milk does not increase their risk of developing preeclampsia, they note. The finding of preeclampsia among women who drink little milk supports studies showing that increasing calcium intake lowers blood pressure, Richardson and Baird add. About 20 to 30 percent of women of reproductive age still drink whole milk, the authors report. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion