Fresh Science

Sydney researchers have shown how smoking while pregnant causes lung diseases in your children, and impacts their health well into adulthood. In Australia, 15 to 25 per cent of women still smoke when they are pregnant. “We know that maternal smoking is bad for children, and is associated with the development of respiratory diseases such…

A safer treatment for pregnant heroin-dependent women has been investigated by researchers from the University of Western Australia. The medication naltrexone was found to reduce the risks associated with heroin use during pregnancy. Naltrexone fights the effects of opioid drugs such as heroin, preventing the ‘high’ or euphoria they bring on. “Methadone is currently the…

Kids born to mums who’d taken high doses of fish oil in pregnancy were less likely to have some types of allergies, Adelaide researchers have found. The trial, run by the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), was the largest in the world to look at the effects of Omega-3 – commonly found…

A Perth researcher’s discovery of links between preeclampsia in pregnancy with lack of coordination for teenagers many years later could lead to better results for those kids. Tegan Grace at the University of Notre Dame Australia correlated the motor skills of children at the ages of 10, 14, and 17, against their mothers’ health during…