National Posture Institute News Story: While in womb, babies begin learning language from their mothers

Babies only hours old are able to differentiate between sounds from their native language and a foreign language, scientists have discovered. The study indicates that babies begin absorbing language while still in the womb, earlier than previously thought.

Sensory and brain mechanisms for hearing are developed at 30 weeks of gestational age, and the new study shows that unborn babies are listening to their mothers talk during the last 10 weeks of pregnancy and at birth can demonstrate what they've heard.

"The mother has first dibs on influencing the child's brain," said Patricia Kuhl, co-author and co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of Washington. "The vowel sounds in her speech are the loudest units and the fetus locks onto them."

Previously, researchers had shown that newborns are born ready to learn and begin to discriminate between language sounds within the first months of life, but there was no evidence that language learning had occurred in utero.

"This is the first study that shows fetuses learn prenatally about the particular speech sounds of a mother's language," said Christine Moon, lead author and a professor of psychology at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. "This study moves the measurable result of experience with speech sounds from six months of age to before birth."

The results will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Acta Paediatrica.

Forty infants, about 30 hours old and an even mix of girls and boys, were studied in Tacoma and Stockholm, Sweden. While still in the nursery, the babies listened to vowel sounds in their native tongue and in foreign languages.

Their interest in the sounds was captured by how long they sucked on a pacifier that was wired into a computer measuring the babies' reaction to the sounds. Longer or shorter sucking for unfamiliar or familiar sounds is evidence for learning, because it indicates that infants can differentiate between the sounds heard in utero.

In both countries, the babies at birth sucked longer for the foreign language than they did for their native tongue.

The researchers say that infants are the best learners, and discovering how they soak up information could give insights on lifelong learning. "We want to know what magic they put to work in early childhood that adults cannot," Kuhl said. "We can't waste that early curiosity."

 

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National Posture Institute News Story: People seek high-calorie foods in tough times says University of Miami study

Tough times could trigger bigger waistlines

Bad news about the economy could cause you to pack on the pounds. This according to a new study from the University of Miami School of Business Administration published in the February edition of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association of Psychological Science. The study shows that when there is a perception of tough times, people tend to seek higher-calorie foods that will keep them satisfied longer. When subconsciously primed with such messages, a "live for today" impulse is triggered causing people to consume nearly 40 percent more food than when compared to a control group primed with neutral words.

"The findings of this study come at a time when our country is slowly recovering from the onslaught of negative presidential campaign ads chalked with topics such as the weak economy, gun violence, war, deep political divides, just to name a few problem areas," said Juliano Laran, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Miami School of Business Administration, who conducted the research with doctoral student Anthony Salerno. "Now that we know this sort of messaging causes people to seek out more calories out of a survival instinct, it would be wise for those looking to kick off a healthier new year to tune out news for a while."

Further, when the same group primed with "tough times" messages was then told the food they were sampling was low-calorie, they consumed roughly 25 percent less of the food. According to the researchers this is because if people perceive that food resources are scarce, they place a higher value on food with more calories.

METHODOLOGY

Several studies were conducted as part of the research. In the first one, the researchers invited study subjects to join in a taste test for a new kind of M&M. Half the participants were given a bowl of the new candy and were told that the secret ingredient was a new, high-calorie chocolate. The other half of the participants also received a bowl of M&Ms but were told the new chocolate was low-calorie. All of the participants were told that they could sample the product in order to complete a taste test evaluation form.

In reality, there was no difference in the M&Ms that the two groups were given to taste. The researchers were actually measuring how much participants consumed after they were exposed to posters containing either neutral sentences or sentences related to struggle and adversity. Those who were subconsciously primed to think about struggle and adversity ate closer to 70 percent more of the "higher-calorie candy" vs. "the lower-calorie" option, while those primed with neutral words did not significantly differ in the amount of M&M's consumed.

"It is clear from the studies that taste was not what caused the reactions, it was a longing for calories," continued Laran. "These findings could have positive implications for individuals in the health care field, government campaigns on nutrition, and companies promoting wellness. And, certainly beware of savvy food marketers bearing bad news."

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The National Posture Institute (NPI)  Wishes Everyone a Happy Valentine's Day !!!

National Posture Institute Temple University Philadelphia, PA 2-Day Posture Correction CEC Workshop

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National Posture Institute News Story: Older bikers 3 times as likely to be seriously injured in crashes as younger peers

Motor bike ownership and crashes increasingly common among older adults

Older bikers are up to three times as likely to be seriously injured in a crash as younger motor bike enthusiasts, indicates US research published online in Injury Prevention.

The findings are a cause for concern, because of the increasing popularity of motor bike ownership among older adults, and their increasing tendency to be involved in a crash, warn the authors.

In the US, the percentage of bikers over the age of 50 has more than doubled from just over 1 in 10 in 1990 to 1 in 4 in 2003, while the average age of those involved in a motorbike crash has been steadily creeping up, with rates of injury among the over 65s soaring 145% between 2000 and 2006.

The authors therefore looked at reports of serious motor cycle collisions requiring a visit to emergency care, entered into the US National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP) between 2001 and 2008.

During this period around 1.5 million motor bike crashes involving adults aged 20 and above required treatment in US emergency care departments. Men made up the majority (85%) of these incidents.

Trends in injury type and frequency were analysed by age band: 20 to 39 (921,229 incidents); 40 to 59 (466, 125); 60+ (65,660), to see if there were any discernible differences.

Injury rates for all three age groups increased between 2001 and 2008, but the greatest rate of increase was among those aged 60+, among whom biking injuries rose 247%.

Bikers in this age band were also three times as likely to be admitted to hospital after a crash as were those in their 20s and 30s.

Middle aged bikers didn't fare too well either. They were almost twice as likely to require admission to hospital.

Both older and middle aged bikers were also significantly more likely to be seriously injured than young bikers, with older bikers 2.5 times as likely to sustain serious injuries and middle aged bikers 66% more likely to do so.

Injury severity was associated with greater rates of hospitalization, with older adults the most likely to be admitted for both serious and less severe injuries.

Fractures and dislocations were the most common type of injury across all age groups. But older and middle aged bikers were significantly more likely to have sustained this type of injury than younger bikers, particularly around the chest and rib cage.

They were also significantly more likely to have sustained internal organ damage, with the brain the most common site. This is worrying, given that head and chest injuries are associated with the lowest rate of survival among bikers, say the authors.

"The greater severity of injuries among older adults may be due to the physiological changes that occur as the body ages," write the authors, pointing to dwindling bone strength, changes in body fat distribution, and decreasing elasticity in the chest wall. Underlying illnesses may also increase the risk of complications, they suggest.

The authors point out that while their data did not indicate the type of bike involved in a crash, other research indicates that older adults are more likely to buy bikes with big engines than younger adults, and the evidence suggests that these engines are linked to crash severity.

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Men's Fitness Magazine's December-2012 interviewed Ken Baldwin, Assistant Professor and the Executive Director of the National Posture Institute. Ken reviews implementing NPI's Four Points of Posture Program™ while walking, standing, and exercising.
 

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National Posture Institute News Story: Strawberries and blueberries may cut heart attack risk in women

Eating three or more servings of blueberries and strawberries per week may help women reduce their risk of a heart attack by one-third – according to research from the University of East Anglia in collaboration with the Harvard School of Public Health.

These berries contain high levels of powerful bioactive compounds called anthocyanins, which are a sub-group of dietary flavonoids.

Research published today in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association shows that these anthocyanins may help dilate arteries, counter the build-up of plaque and provide other cardiovascular benefits.

Scientists from UEA’s Norwich Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health (US) studied 93,600 women aged between 25 and 42 who were registered with the Nurses’ Health Study II. The women completed questionnaires about their diet every four years for 18 years.

During the study, 405 heart attacks occurred. Women who ate the most blueberries and strawberries had a 32 per cent reduction in their risk of having a heart attack compared to women who ate the berries once a month or less – even in women who otherwise ate a diet rich in other fruits and vegetables.

The study was lead by Prof Aedín Cassidy - head of the Department of Nutrition at UEA. She said: “We have shown that even at an early age, eating more of these fruits may reduce risk of a heart attack later in life. This is the first study to look at the impact of diet in younger and middle-aged women.

“Blueberries and strawberries contain high levels of compounds that have cardiovascular benefits, and our study shows that women who ate at least three servings per week had fewer heart attacks.

“The findings were independent of other risk factors, such as age, high blood pressure, family history of heart attack, body mass, exercise, smoking, caffeine or alcohol intake.

“Blueberries and strawberries were part of this analysis because they are the most-eaten berries in the United States. It is possible that other fruit and vegetables could produce the same results.”

Senior author and associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard, Eric Rimm, added: “Blueberries and strawberries can easily be incorporated into what women eat every week. This simple dietary change could have a significant impact on prevention efforts.”

Until more information about specific dietary constituents like flavonoids is available and fully understood, the American Heart Association recommends eating a balanced diet containing a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and whole-grain products. Eating a variety of foods is the best way to get the right amounts of nutrients.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Co-authors are Kenneth J. Mukamal M.D.; Lydia Liu M.Sc.; Mary Franz M.Sc.; A. Heather Eliassen Sc.D.; and Eric B. Rimm Sc.D.

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