Proving that she can look incredible doing just about anything, the pregnant Duchess was seen dancing the night away with hubby Prince William at a friend’s wedding. I’m beginning to feel that Kate Middleton may be to life what Meryl Streep is to acting. This woman is unstoppable, at 7 months pregnant she managed to impress everyone with her trademark style and poise while dancing in a $60 dress. 

What makes this even cooler is that this isn’t even the first time she has been photographed wearing the black and white polka-dot dress from TopShop. She was seen wearing it with more dressed down accessories in April when she visited a movie set. While Kate isn’t the only public figure to wear clothes the rest of can afford (Michelle Obama is famous for doing the same thing), but she has an undeniable influence when it comes down to moving merchandise off the sales wracks. 

The adorable (yet understated) white dress with black polka-dots was part of TopShop’s spring collection, and sold for around $58. TopShop’s website sold out of the dress within an hour of her wearing it out in public last April. 

While it must be flattering to have an Oprah level of influence over what people buy, its probably safe to say that she has other things going on in her life worth dancing over. In addition to their baby being due in July, the Royal couple was just given a very generous gift from the Queen. 

Reports came out that the Queen gave them a “cottage” worth $10 million as a present. The rumor mills are a buzz with the idea that this maybe a bit of a peace offering from the Queen to the young couple because of the reported friction that has been growing between the three of them over Will and Kate’s insistence on creating a life for themselves that is not totally in keeping with royal tradition. 

The couple hasn’t formally accepted the gift, and the rumors about the Queen being a bit of a control freak for the moment are just rumors. After all the Queen has been leading a country since she was a teenager, it would be weird if she didn’t have control issues. 

Photo Credit: Tom Soper Photography

So there’s been a lot in the news lately on what kind of affect older siblings have on their younger brothers and sisters. Anecdotally there is a lot of evidence that both supports and contradicts the idea that the choices your older sibling makes has a direct impact on the way you view the world and the choices you, yourself make. Researchers like Dr. Patricia East and reporters at NPR have recently started to think more critically about this idea.

Most of us think of parents and peer groups as being the strongest influences on our life choices, especially for those of us who feel very different from our siblings, but some social scientists are finding some pretty compelling data that shows the decisions of our older siblings make can have lasting effects on our lives. 

Take Patricia East’s research, which showed that girls were much more likely to get pregnant while still a teenager if their older sisters did. This is not to say that parents have nothing to do with this process, in fact the study found that increased involvement from the sisters’ mother and in-depth conversations about the ramifications of teen pregnancy offset (to some degree) the risk of the younger daughter becoming pregnant while a teenager. Still, the study found that teenage women were 5 times more likely to get pregnant as teenagers if their older sister had a baby at a similar age. What makes this study interesting is that it controlled for socioeconomic and lifestyle conditions, which most research overlooks. 

Teen pregnancy is seen as an issue that hits people with lower socioeconomic backgrounds more than other folks, but data like this is showing us that teen pregnancy is a much more nuanced problem, with factors that need to be looked at without prejudice or preconceived notions.  

Other studies have shown strong links between things like smoking and drug use to the actions of older siblings. So next time you go to post a cute picture of you and one of your siblings for throwback Thursdays on Instagram, think about the bigger connection and influence you have on each other - because chances are if negative behavior in older siblings has a negative impact on the life choices of the younger one, then the opposite is probably true. Maybe if we start taking our roles as brothers and sisters more seriously we might all find ourselves in a better world. 

Photo Credit: imagerymajestic | freedigitalphotos.net

Gwyneth Paltrow opened up in a huge way to You magazine. In an interview printed over the weekend, she revealed the fact that while pregnant with her third child she suffered a miscarriage that might have been life threatening.

The Avengers star said she “nearly died” after the miscarriage of her third child. Whether the near death was emotional of physical our hearts go out to her. I can’t imagine how the loss of a child would alter a woman. Paltrow is the mother of two: her daughter Apple, who is 8-years-old, and son Moses, who is 6-years-old. 

Paltrow also spoke of how her children are always asking for another sibling. She says she is thinking about having a third but is hesitant after having such a horrible experience.

Close friends and new parents Jay-Z and Beyonce want Paltrow to truly reconsider taking on the stress that another pregnancy could cause. Paltrow is now 40-years-old and, at that age, complications in pregnancies can be much higher. 

Regardless of whether or not she does choose to get pregnant again, Paltrow is sure of one thing. She chose the right man to father her children. Paltrow shared that Chris Martin is a wonderful father and the two make a great team when it comes to parenting.

I think it’s incredibly brave that Gwyneth opened up to the public about such a private and sensitive subject. I truly hope she finds peace and solace in whatever choice she makes next for herself and her future. 

Photo Credit: MingleMediaTVNetwork

 

 

by Adam Corl

A study came out recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association which seems to support the idea that taking-in folic acid before and during pregnancy could help reduce the risk of having a baby that develops autism. Folic acid is the synthetic form of folate, a B vitamin.  

The study took place in Norway, and looked at over 85,000 babies born between 2002- 2008. The researchers found that mothers who took folic acid (manmade folate) were less likely to give birth to a baby that would later develop autistic disorder. 

This is really exciting news, but needs to be taken with a grain of salt. This is study appears to be well done and studied a large enough number of mothers and babies to give relevant information, but the study needs to be done again in other places and under other conditions to see if the trends they noticed occur in every population. The other limitation the study has is that it does not give us insight into why folate or folic acid might help to prevent autism, it simply let’s us know that there is probably a connection.

The other important thing to note is that the mothers in the study took a folic acid supplement 4 weeks before pregnancy as well as during the beginning stages of it. Taking a folic acid supplement before getting pregnant seems to be beneficial for a whole range of health issues for both the mother and baby. 

If you ever read the ingredients in bread or flour (in the U.S) you’ll notice that it is fortified with folic acid. The U.S government (and many others around the world) responded to studies that showed folic acid as being key in the fetus’ brain and spinal cord development (and actively prevents diseases like spina bifida) so they pulled a bit of a “1984” move put it in our everyday foods. It looks like this helped, but not enough, so most doctors recommend taking a folic acid supplement before and during the early stages of a pregnancy. 

You can also get folate naturally from leafy green vegetables like spinach, and also with dark green ones like broccoli and green beans. Even with eating well though, the recommendation of most doctors is still to take a multivitamin with 400 micrograms of folic acid. Folate (in all its forms) is water-soluble so if you take-in too much you just pee it out – so there’s not a big risk of over dosing. 

 

Photo Credit: David Castillo Dominici | freedigitalphotos.net