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HEALTHSCAN
GOOD FOR THE HEART Extra virgin olive oil
Watch your child's mouth
Babies born by Caesarean section appear to be more prone to infection by cavity-causing bacteria than those who pass through the mother's birth canal, new research suggests. Babies' mouths are sterile when they are born, but they soon become colonised with bacteria, most of them beneficial in developing immunities and excluding harmful germs. But researchers have found that one species of bacterium responsible for tooth decay, Streptococcus mutans, appears a year earlier, on average, in the mouths of babies born by Caesarean.
The findings were published in The Journal of Dental Research.
The researchers followed 156 mothers and their babies for four years. Babies delivered vaginally were almost 29 months old, on average, before the harmful bacterium appeared in their saliva. Among babies born by Caesarean, the bacterium appeared after about 17 months on average.
Prolonged gestation and levels of S. mutans higher than normal in the mother also correlated with earlier appearance of the bacterium in babies.
Dr. Yihong Li, the lead author on the study and an associate professor of dentistry at New York University, advised that women who undergo Caesarean sections, particularly those who themselves have had problems with cavities, should have their babies' teeth checked as early as possible.
Further, Li said, the mothers should pay close attention to their own oral health.
Secret of the olive tree
Researchers may have pinned down one important reason for the positive effect olive oil appears to have on cardiovascular health: It contains a naturally occurring anti-inflammatory chemical. The substance, which the researchers call oleocanthal, has the same anti-inflammatory effect as drugs like ibuprofen and aspirin, which can inhibit the sometimes harmful effects of enzymes called cox-1 and cox-2. Now, the researchers are speculating that the health benefits that are widely linked to the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in olive oil, may stem at least in part from the same mechanism.
"There is ample evidence that chronic low-dose anti-inflammatories have multiple health benefits that may range from reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke and certain cancers — breast, lung, colon — to reducing the risk of terminal dementias such as Alzheimer's," said Paul A. S. Breslin, who is a co-author of the report and a researcher at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. "Olive oil contains an ibuprofen-like anti-inflammatory that may turn out to convey similar benefits," he continued. The extra-virgin olive oil, according to Breslin, has the most benefit when, but consumers do not necessarily need to buy the most expensive brands. "What matters is that it is an extra-virgin olive oil that has a good throat sting indicating it has high levels of oleocanthal," he said.
Courtesy: The New York Times
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