Title : Pregnancy inside Stone Age - Can We Learn Something?
The woman who became pregnant during the Stone Age faced huge risks compared with today's mother-to-be. There was no way to control bleeding or infection; Caesarean section was not an option. of which we survived as a species seems remarkable - until you dig a little deeper.
The outcome of pregnancy depends on the underlying health of the mother, nutrition before along with also during pregnancy along with also the threat of infection. In all those areas the woman of 50,000 years ago was better off than her counterpart today. How can be of which possible in an age when there was no plumbing, no medical care along with also no protection via infectious diseases?
Better diet, better pregnancy
The primitive woman's diet was less likely to be deficient in important nutrients than of which of today's young girls. (Ref 1) A study via the University of Cincinnati Medical Center has confirmed earlier reports of which adolescent along with also adult pregnant women take in too little iron, zinc, folate along with also vitamin E.
A woman who begins pregnancy without sufficient calcium, vitamin D along with also some other bone-building nutrients increases her risk of developing osteoporosis in middle age. although of which's not the end of the story. Her infant may also be at greater risk of fracture inside future. Osteoporosis of middle age can be at least partly programmed before birth, especially if the mother smokes along with also has little physical activity. (Ref 2, 3, 4)
Most laypersons believe of which Stone Agers were hearty meat-eaters. Anthropologists know of which can be not so. They lived on a predominantly meat diet for only about 100,000 years, via the time of which Homo sapiens developed keen hunting skills until the advent of farming. Before of which time meat came via carrion along with also smaller game. The bulk of their calories came via vegetables, fruit, roots along with also nuts.
Plant foods contain everything of which a pregnant woman needs, including vitamins, antioxidants, protein along with also minerals. Modern vegetarians often become deficient in vitamin B12 although smaller game, birds' eggs along with also the deliberate or accidental inclusion of insects inside Stone Age diet provided more than enough of of which critical nutrient.
Folic acid deficiency in early pregnancy leads to defective formation of the infant's brain along with also spinal cord. Those abnormalities are much less likely among the babies of mothers who receive an adequate amount of folate, at least 400 micrograms per day. So few women eat enough green leafy vegetables to boost their folate levels, the US government requires of which manufacturers of baked goods add the idea to their products.
Obstetricians have been prescribing multivitamins for their pregnant patients for decades although the idea can be only in recent years of which studies confirmed the wisdom of of which practice. In 2002 the American Medical Association reversed a position of long standing along with also recommended of which everyone, with no exceptions, needs a multivitamin / multimineral preparation every day in order to avoid subtle although health-damaging inadequacies of these nutrients. Taking a multivitamin reduces the risk of congenital defects of the newborn, especially those of which involve the heart. Preeclampsia can be a serious, sometimes fatal complication of pregnancy. Women whose intake of vitamins C along with also E can be low have a threefold greater risk of of which condition. (Ref. 5, 6)
might these mostly vegetarian early Stone Agers have become iron-deficient? Not likely. Their diet was rich in iron as well as in Vitamin C of which facilitates iron absorption. Under those conditions iron deficiency might have been rare. Cereal grains interfere with iron absorption, which explains why iron-deficiency can be common in societies of which subsist primarily on grains. However, one of the main reasons why Stone Age women were unlikely to be iron deficient can be of which they did not have nearly as many menstrual cycles as modern women do.
In a primitive society the onset of menses can be about 5 years later than of which of American young women. Modern hunter-gatherers, like the oldest Stone Agers, are either pregnant or nursing during most of their childbearing years along with also they only menstruate a few times between weaning one child along with also conceiving another. In those groups breastfeeding does suppress ovulation because the idea can be literally on demand, ie, every few minutes, even throughout the night. For a modern breastfeeding mother, on demand often means no more frequently than every couple of hours along with also perhaps once or twice a night after the third or fourth month. Thus menses return in spite of nursing along with also monthly blood loss continues.
The fish-brain connection
Beginning about 150,000 years ago our ancestors discovered seafood. The increased intake of fatty acids in fish along with also shellfish initiated the great advance in brain size along with also complexity of which allowed humans to progress more quickly inside next 100,000 years than they had inside preceding million. Enormous gains in toolmaking along with also the development of language along with also group communication followed.
The human brain can be composed mostly of water although the solid portion can be mostly fat. The Centeng can not manufacture the omega-3 along with also omega-6 fats of which make up so much of the structure of the brain along with also eye so we need them in our diet. Maternal deficiency of these nutrients, especially omega-3s, prevents the newborn brain along with also eyes via reaching their full potential. The best source of omega-3 fats can be fish; nuts along with also leafy green vegetables are also Great sources.
Omega-3 along with also omega-6 fatty acids are found in every cell of the Centeng. They allow efficient flow of nutrients, regulate nerve impulses along with also keep inflammation inside right balance. In a proper diet there can be an equal amount of omega-3 along with also omega-6 fats. of which allows the immune system to fight infection, a real threat of which humans faced via the Stone Age until the age of antibiotics, a mere 70 years ago.
The advantage to the baby of a diet of which can be rich in omega-3 fats can be obvious although mothers need the idea, too. Nature protects the unborn infant by tapping into the mother's stores of omega-3 fats. A woman whose intake of omega-3 fatty acids can be low during the months along with also years preceding pregnancy will develop a deficiency of her own. This kind of becomes worse with succeeding pregnancies if her intake of omega-3s remains low. Postpartum depression affects about 10 percent of women following delivery along with also the idea can be associated that has a deficiency of omega-3 fats. (Ref 7, 8)
The newest epidemic
There can be one complication of pregnancy of which never occurred inside Stone Age: type 2 diabetes. No disease in modern times has risen so fast. the idea has increased several-fold since the 1950s; between 1990 along with also 2001 the idea rose by 61 percent. Gestational diabetics (Ref. 9) are those who do not yet develop the full-blown disease although they can not process blood sugar (glucose) properly during pregnancy. About half of them will develop frank diabetes inside years following delivery of their infant.
Most of us know type 2 diabetes, which was once referred to as adult-onset diabetes, as the disease of which our grandparents developed in their later years. the idea's no longer uncommon to find the idea in adolescents, even in grade-schoolers. As the idea has dipped into the younger generation the idea has alarmed - although not surprised - physicians to find of which the idea can be no longer a rarity in obstetric practice.
How can we be so certain of which the pregnant Stone Ager did not have diabetes? This kind of can be a lifestyle disease of which has three major associations: a low level of physical activity, a diet of which can be high in refined grains along with also sugars, along with also obesity. Those conditions simply did not occur during the Stone Age. Their lifestyle demanded strenuous effort. Grains of any sort were not part of their diet because they require tools along with also controlled heat. Sugar as we know the idea simply did not exist along with also honey was an occasional lucky find. Obesity might have been non-existent, as the idea can be today among the planet's dwindling populations of hunter-gatherers.
Diabetic mothers have more complications of pregnancy than normal women do. Their babies are 5 times as likely to die along with also are 3 times as likely to be born with abnormalities of various organs.
They kept germs at bay
Common wisdom states of which Stone Age people were an infection-ridden lot although of which simply can be not true. They had powerful immune systems because of high levels of physical activity along with also a remarkably varied diet. Between the protective antibodies of which a mother passed across the placenta along with also those of which she conferred on her newborn via breastmilk, Stone Age babies had more protection against the germs of the day than modern infants do.
Sexually transmitted diseases do not spread very far or very fast when people live in smaller isolated bands as they did during the Stone Age. The likelihood of which today's pregnant female will have at least one of these infections can be more than 50 percent (Ref. 10). The impact on babies can be severe; some die, some will be brain-damaged.
Choice along with also consequences
Tobacco, alcohol along with also illicit drugs have produced a generation of infants with problems of which Stone Age babies never faced. Mothers who smoke have infants of which are smaller than the norm along with also whose brain development may be compromised. Alcohol or cocaine use by the mother during pregnancy results in stunted growth, congenital defects along with also some other severe problems.
Given a choice, none of us might want to live in a Stone Age world although we have neutralized the almost miraculous medical advances of the last century. We have allowed our daughters to be less physically active along with also to subsist on a marginal diet. If we could reverse those two factors alone there might be a dramatic decline in prematurity along with also some other complications of pregnancy.
The lessons of which we can learn via the Stone Age are not subtle, obscure or beyond our capacity to imitate them. We can produce the healthiest generation ever by doing better choices for our children along with also for ourselves.
J. Goscienski philip, MD can be the author of Health Secrets Secrets of the Stone the Age, Better Life Publishers 2005. Contact Send an him away via his web site at Http://www.stoneagedoc.com .
References
1. Giddens JB et al., Pregnant adolescent along with also adult women have similarly low intakes of selected nutrients, J Am Diet Assoc 2000; 100: 1334-1340
2 Cooper C et al., Review: developmental origins of osteoporotic fracture, Osteoporosis Int 2006; 17 (3): 337-47
3 Prentice A et al., Nutrition along with also bone growth along with also development, Proc Nutr Soc 2006 Nov; 65 (4): 348-60
4 Lanham SA et al., Intrauterine programming of bone. Part I: alteration of the osteogenic environment, Osteoporos Int 2008 Feb; 19 (2): 147-56
5 Keen CL et al., The Plausibility of Micronutrient Deficiencies Being a Significant Contributing Factor to the Occurrence of Pregnancy Complications, Am Soc Nutr Sciences J Nutr 2003 May; 133: 1597S-1605S
6 Bodnar LM et al., Periconceptional multivitamin use reduces the risk of preeclampsia, Am J Epidemiol 2006 Sep 1; 164 (5): 470-7
7 Freeman MP, Omega-3 fatty acids along with also perinatal depression: a review of the literature along with also recommendations for future research, Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids 2006 Oct-Nov; 75 (4-5): 291-7
8 Kendall-Tackett K, A completely new paradigm for depression in completely new mothers: the central role of inflammation along with also how breastfeeding along with also anti-inflammatory treatments protect maternal mental health, Int Breastfeed J 2007; 2: 6
9 Greene MF along with also Solomon CG, Gestational Diabetes Mellitus - Time to Treat, N Engl J Med 2005 June 16; 352 (24): 2544-46
10 Baseman JG along with also Koutsky LA, The epidemiology of human papillomavirus infections, J Clin Virol 2005 Mar; 32 Supple 1: S16-24
Pregnancy inside Stone Age - Can We Learn Something?
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