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Benefits of zinc
ZINC MAY be good for teenagers' brains, according to a paper presented at a meeting of the American Society of Nutritional Sciences.
In a study led by Dr. James Penland of the Agricultural Research Service of the Department of Agriculture, 209 seventh graders were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The first group received 4 ounces of fruit juice a day containing 20 milligrams of zinc, the second drank the same juice with 10 milligrams of zinc, and the third drank the juice with no zinc added.
At the beginning and end of the 12-week study, students were examined with a series of tests of attention, memory, problem solving and hand-eye coordination.
Students who had taken 20 milligrams of zinc increased their scores significantly on visual memory, word recognition and attention and vigilance tasks compared with the plain-juice drinkers.
Penland said if further studies confirmed those results, it might follow that the current recommended dietary allowance for zinc of 10 milligrams should be increased for adolescents.
"But for the moment," he said, "the prudent thing to do would not be to run out and buy zinc supplements, but to make sure that teenagers get the recommended 9 to 11 milligrams of zinc per day." He suggests lean red meat, fish and some grains as good sources of zinc.
Baby talk
TALKING TO babies in their own language — baby talk — may help them learn new words faster.
A group of researchers led by Dr. Erik D. Thiessen, an assistant professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, tested forty 8-month-old infants.
The babies were played tapes of two sets of four-word nonsense sentences, one spoken in ordinary adult conversational tones, the other in the pitch and rhythm of baby talk.
For a few minutes, the babies listened to the sentence. Then a single word was repeated while a light flashed on one side of the room.
As long as the infant looked at the light, the word continued to repeat. When the baby looked away, the recording stopped.
Thiessen says earlier studies have shown that infants consistently focus longer on the light when they hear a word they know. By timing the infant's gaze, the researchers showed that they learned words more efficiently when trained with baby talk than with adult speech. Discussing his findings, Thiessen said, "This way of talking is actually beneficial for babies." But he warns against adopting any particular method to help a baby's linguistic development(Courtesy: New York Times)
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