Male and female caffeine consumption ups miscarriage risk—study

WASHINGTON—Women have an increased risk of miscarriage if they or their partner consume more than two caffeinated drinks a day in the weeks leading up to conception, a new US study found.

Women who drink more than two caffeinated beverages per day during the first seven weeks of pregnancy were also more likely to have a miscarriage, according to the study published online late Thursday in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

But rates of miscarriage are reduced for women who take a daily multivitamin before and after conception.

The study, carried out by researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Ohio State University, was based on data from the Longitudinal Investigation of Fertility and the Environment (LIFE) Study.

That study followed 501 couples in Michigan and Texas from 2005 to 2009, examining the relationship between fertility, lifestyle and exposure to chemicals in the environment.

The current study compared cigarette use, caffeinated beverage consumption and multivitamin use among 344 couples when the woman was carrying a single offspring. Of these pregnancies, 98 — or 28 percent — ended in miscarriage.

The researchers’ conclusions were based on a statistical concept called hazard ratio, which estimates the chances of a particular outcome occurring during the study period.

A ratio greater than one indicates increased risk for miscarriage each day following conception, while a ratio less than one indicates reduced daily risk.

The risk of miscarriage was 1.74 when the woman consumed more than two caffeinated drinks a day, the study showed.

However, the risk was almost as high — 1.73 — if the male partner drank that much caffeine or more.

“Our findings also indicate that the male partner matters, too,” said lead author Germaine Buck Louis, director of the Division of Intramural Population Health Research at the NIH. “Male preconception consumption of caffeinated beverages was just as strongly associated with pregnancy loss as females’.”

The study also found that taking a daily multivitamin significantly reduced chances of miscarriage.

Taking a vitamin in the weeks leading up to conception had a hazard ratio of 0.45, a 55 percent reduction in risk for pregnancy loss.

Women who continued to take multivitamins through the early stages of pregnancy had a hazard ratio of 0.21, a risk reduction of 79 percent.

source: technology.inquirer.net

The language of God is silence

And in the silence you hear God’s laughter every time you praise and thank Him!

 

Reconciliation conjures many images: two persons making their peace; the sacrament of confession; or, discovering another route to encounter God—the prayer of silence. Centering Prayer brings you to all these and more.

The inability to quiet the mind offers a challenge to one practicing Centering Prayer. Yet, because of this, the prayer bears fruit and opens up the possibility of creating other channels to reach God.

None is more loving and uplifting than the prayer of gratitude. Initiated by the spirit, and in the quiet of the prayer, you find countless ways to say, “Thank you, Lord.”

The annoying tingling sound of the ice cream man all the way down the street makes you cringe and hope it goes away. Then suddenly your heart says, “Thank you!” Why? Because at least you can hear atop, on a 45th floor condo, and with windows sealed. You hear! The sound then becomes friendly.

Lamenting the galloping of years when the heart is left weary and is graying like the rest of you, you start to praise God that you can still walk, climb, dance, paint, travel, and suddenly, everything about you becomes bright.

You whisper, “Thank you, God, I am alive and able, although slightly limited! But alive and loving life!”

Fearing the loss of a beloved can be crippling, and useless, because the person is still around and well, anyway. How liberating it is to enjoy the moment over dinner, a scrumptious ice cream, a stroll in the mall, and a movie. Simply say, “Thank you, we still have each other.”

It is endless because there is just so much to be grateful for. If the only prayer that springs from your heart is “Thank you, Lord,” you will need no more.
Centering Prayer brings you there. The language of God is silence, and in the silence you hear God’s laughter every time you praise and thank Him!

You feel peace, a comforting feeling because you are reconciled with God. Your eyes moisten and vision blurs and you find yourself saying, “Thank you, God, for the gift of tears,” and the silence embraces you.

Visit www.cophil.org

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net