Did You Know That Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Affects Child Birth?

fetal development

Executive Summary By Mike Selvon

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome affects approximately 1-2 out of every 1,000 births. Prenatal exposure to alcohol can have many subtle side effects such as: trouble learning, impaired development, mental retardation, facial deformities and an inherited propensity to drink.

Since babies metabolize alcohol content much slower than adults, the baby’s blood alcohol content will naturally be much higher than his or her parent’s. The presence of alcohol can deprive the baby of nutrients and impair regular development.

It’s likely that prenatal exposure to alcohol will have side effects, like slow physical growth/development before and after birth, vision or hearing difficulties, hyperactivity, poor impulse control, extreme nervousness, learning disabilities and a short attention span.

Drinking during the first trimester, when the most basic developments are taking place, is what causes the facial distortions of babies with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. To diagnose Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, doctors look at a few basic characteristics, such as unusually low birth weight and size, evidence of physical retardation, such as a small head, small eyes, short eye opening, underdevelopment of the upper lip, a groove between the lip and nose, an upturned nose and flattened cheekbones, as well as intellectual impairment.

Vitamins and Minerals for a Healthy Reproductive System

Executive Summary By Charlene Nuble

Vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are essential to the development and proper performance of the reproductive system. Nutrition plays a vital role in the development and maturity of the reproductive system through childhood and adolescence and can even affect the endocrine system which regulates the hormones that rule the functions of the reproductive system. Nutrition can affect fertility and fetal development as well. Striving each day to consume the standard recommended daily intake levels of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that the body needs is an important part of the good health and proper functioning of the reproductive system.

The nutrients that a child consumes while growing up can greatly affect the developing reproductive system. Zinc for example is essential to the development of the reproductive organs themselves. Zinc also serves in the regulation of male hormones and has a role in prostate functions and sperm production. Iodine helps to regulate thyroid function which in turn helps to regulate growth and body weight. The endocrine glands secrete hormones and hormones are essential to the ptoper functioning of the reproductive system. While several nutrients are directly associated with the production of hormones like manganese which serves to maintain the production of sex hormones many other vitamins and nutrients act as cofactors to a variety of complicated chemical reactions that carry out the tasks for the benefit of the reproductive system.

Proper nutrition is essential in fetal development as well. The vitamins that make up the Vitamin B complex have a primary role in red blood cell production.

You may want to read another article about get pregnant.