Little girls from troubled homes are more likely to be obese at age 5 than girls from happier ones, new research shows.

However, researchers did not find that same association between boys’ weight and difficult family situations.

In the study, researchers looked at data on more than 1,600 preschoolers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, which tracks the health and well-being of children born to mostly low-income, single-mother families. About half were black, 27 percent were Hispanic and 22 percent were white. [Read more...]

A recent study, which found evidence that mobile phones could harm unborn babies and make them prone to behavioural problems, may have been over-hyped.

The study, published in Scientific Reports, exposed 33 pregnant mice to cell phone radiation, from a mobile phone set to permanent call, for 17 days – almost the full gestation period of mice.

Scientists compared behaviour and brain activity of mice babies born under radiation exposure to those who weren’t and found that the former showed evidence of hyperactivity, anxiety and poor memory. [Read more...]