HEALTH BRIEFING:NEARLY SIX in 10 Irish people say they eat fish at least once a week or more, compared with 48 per cent in 2005, according to a review of research by safefood. However, the review also found that consumption by children and young adults remains "particularly low".
The study also found that many perceived barriers to purchasing and eating fish still remain. Dr Aileen McGloin, scientific support manager with safefood, said, “The main concern for consumers about fish is to do with freshness and water quality.”
‘Time’ mother defends extended breastfeeding
AN AMERICAN mother shown breastfeeding her three-year-old son on a controversial cover of Time magazine that has sparked a national debate about attachment parenting has defended the practice.
Jamie Lynne Grumet, a 26-year-old mother from Los Angeles who herself was breastfed until she was six, said extended breastfeeding and attachment parenting had benefited her family.
“I don’t feel like it takes away from my personal life. My relationship with my husband is very, very important to me. It gives my children a strong bond too,” she told the Today morning programme.
The provocative photo of Grumet feeding her toddler son Aram who is standing on a baby chair to reach her exposed breast has caused a media uproar. In a Today poll of 122,000 people who were asked what they thought of the cover, 27 per cent said it was great but 73 per cent they really did not want to see it.
Attachment parenting involves prolonged physical bonding with a child through extended breastfeeding, carrying and sleeping with the baby as well as responding to the infant’s cries.
The phrase was coined by Dr Bill Sears, a 72-year-old pediatrician who wrote The Baby Book. Critics of attachment parenting say it takes motherhood to the extreme and is not good for the child.
Grumet, who also has a five-year-old child, said she knew the breastfeeding Time cover would create a media craze. “It is a big commitment and it is not right for everyone. You need to do what is best for your baby and for your own family,” she said. Grumet added that she hoped her son’s fourth year would be his last breastfeeding. – (Reuters)
US panel approves drug to prevent HIV infection
A US Food and Drug Administration panel of outside experts have recommended Gilead Sciences Truvada as a treatment for preventing HIV infection among people at risk of contracting Aids, including homosexual and bisexual men.
In a move that could lead to a new milestone for treatment in the evolution of the worldwide Aids epidemic, the FDA advisory committee voted 19-3 to endorse the drug’s use for controlling HIV infection among the highest risk group – homosexual men.
The panel also approved Truvada’s use for the domestic partners of HIV-infected people and others at risk of sexual transmission, but several members said there should be more data on the drug’s efficacy to justify its use in the wider population.
Dr Lauren Wood of the National Cancer Institute said she voted against all preventive applications because clinical studies did not measure the dangers of drug-related renal problems among black people, who are among the hardest impacted by HIV infection and the most susceptible to kidney problems linked to Aids drugs. “I don’t think that is adequate when you’re talking about the population that is most at risk,” she said.
The recommendation will be forwarded to FDA regulators, who must decide whether to give Truvada final approval as the first drug for use as a preventive treatment for HIV in the United States. Shares in Gilead Sciences closed 1.2 per cent higher at $51.25 (€38.89) before the panel voted. The drug combines Gilead’s HIV drugs Emtriva, also known as emtricitabine, with Viread, or tenofovir. It already has FDA approval to treat people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes Aids.