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Teenage pregnancy statistics and statistics on teen abortion along with links to state by state data on teen pregnancies and year by year statistics on teen pregnancies. Links to websites containing data from pre-1990 to preliminary research from 2007, 2008 and 2009. Includes links to government and non-profit reputable sources for pregnancy and abortion statistics tools to search for statistics based on specific behavioral, demographic, or other data. Includes teen pregnancy links to charts, graphs and tables with teen pregnancy data

Egg consumption, serum cholesterol, and cause-specific and all-cause mortality: the National Integrated Project for Prospective Observation of Non-communicable Disease and Its Trends in the Aged, 1980 (NIPPON DATA80). Nakamura Y, Okamura T, Tamaki S, Kadowaki T, Hayakawa T, Kita Y, Okayama A, Ueshima H; NIPPON DATA80 Research Group. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Jul;80(1):58-63. PMID: 15213028 In men, egg consumption was not related to age-adjusted total cholesterol. Cox analysis found that, in women, all-cause mortality in the 1-2-eggs/wk group was significantly lower than that in the 1-egg/d group, whereas no such relations were noted in men. CONCLUSION: Limiting egg consumption may have some health benefits, at least in women in geographic areas where egg consumption makes a relatively large contribution to total dietary cholesterol intake.

ScienceDaily (May 12, 2009) - Taking folic acid supplements for at least a year before conception is associated with reduction in the risk of premature birth, according to a study by Radek Bukowski (from the University of Texas Medical Branch, United States of America) and colleagues. Although most pregnancies last about 40 weeks, many babies (for example around 12% in the United States) are born before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. Babies born prematurely are less likely to survive than full-term babies and are more likely to have breathing difficulties and learning or developmental disabilities. Currently, there are no effective methods of prevention or treatment of premature (preterm) birth, but previous studies have suggested that lower concentrations of folate (folic acid) are associated with shorter duration of pregnancy. Bukowski and colleagues therefore tested this idea, by analyzing data collected from a cohort of nearly 35,000 pregnant women. The results of this study showed that taking folate supplements for at least one year before conception was associated with a 70% reduction in spontaneous premature birth between 20 and 28 weeks (a reduction from 0.27% to 0.04%), and a 50% reduction between 28 and 32 weeks (reduction from 0.38% to 0.18%), as compared to the rate of preterm birth when mothers did not take additional folate supplementation. Folate supplementation for less than a year before conception was not linked to a reduction in the risk of premature birth in this study, and folate supplementation was not associated with any other complications of pregnancy. In a related commentary also published in this week's PLoS Medicine, Nicholas Fisk from the University of Brisbane, Australia, and colleagues (who were not involved in the original study) say "Methodologically, the study has several strengths... It is based on a huge dataset, with prospective recording of dietary supplements and potential confounders, and gestational age determined accu

European experts in cancer and nutrition are meeting in Zurich, Switzerland late this month to discuss cutting-edge research in one of the most important and fiercely debated topics in cancer prevention: the link between diet and cancer. There is growing evidence that many cancers may be prevented through healthy lifestyle, including a nutritionally balanced diet. In addition, nutritional problems can also have a negative impact on cancer management and the lives of patients. Other presentations will include new data on topics such as: Childhood nutrition and later breast cancer risk The anti-tumour effects of green tea Malnutrition and patient distress in cancer Possible anti-tumour effects of soy extracts in mice Estrogens in beef and cancer risk

March 13, 2009 -- Whether you drive, take the bus, or bicycle, being in heavy traffic triples your risk of heart attack within one hour. Air pollution from car fumes is the likely culprit, suggest Annette Peters, PhD, and colleagues at the Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Center, Munich, Germany. In a previous study, Peters and colleagues found that a sizeable proportion of heart attacks -- about 8% -- could be attributed to being in traffic. To follow up, the researchers interviewed 1,454 people who survived heart attacks. In the hour before their heart attack, many of the survivors had been in heavy traffic. Analysis of the data showed that these heart-attack-vulnerable people were 3.2 times more likely to suffer a heart attack if they'd been in heavy traffic in the previous hour.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The "sunshine vitamin," vitamin D, is increasingly seen as vital to health, yet more Americans are not getting enough, U.S. researchers said on Monday. Analyzing data from government health surveys, researchers from the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine found three out of four Americans had "insufficient" levels of vitamin D, up from about one out two 20 years ago-

A Track Your Plaque member brough the following webcast to our attention: Prospects for Vitamin D Nutrition\nwhich can be found at http://tinyurl.com/f93vl (The above link no longer seems to work, use http://wildhorse.insinc.com/directms13oct2005/ instead) Despite the painfully dull title, the webcast is the best summary of data on the health benefits on vitamin D that I've seen. The presenter is Dr. Reinhold Vieth, who is among the handful of worldwide authorities on vitamin D. In 1999, Dr. Vieth authored the first review to concisely and persuasively argue that vitamin D nutrition was woefully neglected and that its potential for health was enormous.

It turns out that statins inhibit not only the liver from making cholesterol but may also block the brain from making cholesterol. That's a serious consequence, according to Yeon-Kyun Shin, a biophysics professor in the department of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology at Iowa State, because cholesterol is vital for healthy and optimum brain function. "If you deprive cholesterol from the brain, then you directly affect the machinery that triggers the release of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters affect the data-processing and memory functions. In other words, how smart you are and how well you remember things," said Dr. Shin in a statement to the media.

ScienceDaily (Mar. 24, 2009) - Individuals who took a dietary supplement called "factor D", which included selenium, vitamin E, and beta-carotene, continued to have lower gastric cancer and overall mortality 10 years after supplementation ceased compared with individuals who did not take the supplements, according to long-term follow-up data from the randomized, double-blind General Population Nutrition Intervention Trial in Linxian, China.

The European Food Safety Authority's Panel on contaminants in the food chain has set a reduced tolerable weekly intake (TWI)[1] for cadmium of 2.5 micrograms per kilogram of body weight (µg/kg bw), based on an analysis of new data. The TWI is the level at which adverse effects are not expected. Average dietary exposure to cadmium for adults across Europe is around this level. Some population groups - vegetarians, children, smokers and people living in highly contaminated areas - can have a higher level of exposure up to twice the TWI. However, the Panel concluded that even for these groups the risk of adverse effects would be very low. The Panel concluded that current exposure to cadmium at the level of the population should be reduced.

These data indicate that fish oil feeding downregulated the endogenous PPAR-activation system and increased antioxidant gene expressions to protect against ROS excess Fish oil feeding alters liver gene expressions to defend against PPARalpha activation and ROS production. Takahashi M, Tsuboyama-Kasaoka N, Nakatani T, Ishii M, Tsutsumi S, Aburatani H, Ezaki O. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2002 Feb;282(2):G338-48. PMID: 11804856

Using a new, more sensitive-testing approach they developed for fungi, Penn State food scientists have found that mushrooms are a better natural source of the antioxidant ergothioneine than either of the two dietary sources previously believed to be best. The researchers found that white button mushrooms, the most commonly consumed kind in the U.S., have about 12 times more of the antioxidant than wheat germ and 4 times more than chicken liver, the previous top-rated ergothioneine sources based on available data. Until the Penn State researchers developed their testing approach, known as an assay, there was no method employing the most sensitive modern instrumentation and analytical techniques to quantify the amount of ergothioneine in fungi. The researchers say that their assay can be used for other plants, too, not just mushrooms.

Egg consumption and risk of heart failure in the Physicians' Health Study. Djoussé L, Gaziano JM. Circulation. 2008 Jan 29;117(4):512-6. Epub 2008 Jan 14. PMID: 18195171 doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.734210 CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that infrequent egg consumption is not associated with the risk of HF. However, egg consumption of > or = 1 per day is related to an increased risk of HF among US male physicians.

Nut consumption and risk of hypertension in US male physicians. Djoussé L, Rudich T, Gaziano JM. Clin Nutr. 2009 Feb;28(1):10-4. Epub 2008 Oct 2. PMID: 18834651 doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2008.08.005 CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that nut consumption is associated with a lower risk of hypertension in US male physicians and that such relation may be influenced by adiposity.

Egg consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes in men and women. Djoussé L, Gaziano JM, Buring JE, Lee IM. Diabetes Care. 2009 Feb;32(2):295-300. Epub 2008 Nov 18. PMID: 19017774 DOI: 10.2337/dc08-1271 CONCLUSIONS-These data suggest that high levels of egg consumption (daily) are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in men and women. Confirmation of these findings in other populations is warranted.

March 27, 2009 - A significant decrease in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels has led to an increase in vitamin D insufficiency in the US population, especially in racial and ethnic groups, according to results of a population-based study reported in the March 23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. "Vitamin D insufficiency has been associated with increases in cardiovascular disease, cancer, and infection," write Adit A. Ginde, MD, from the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, and colleagues. "Vitamin D supplementation appears to mitigate the incidence and adverse outcomes of these diseases and may reduce all-cause mortality." [...] "These findings have important implications for health disparities and public health," the study authors conclude. "Our data provide additional evidence that current recommendations for vitamin D supplementation (200-600 IU/d) are inadequate to achieve optimal serum 25(OH)D levels in most of the US population." They add that large, randomized controlled trials of higher doses of vitamin D supplementation are needed to evaluate their effect on general health and mortality.

SEATTLE, April 30 -- The epilepsy drug levetiracetam (Keppra) does not appear to be effective for prevention of chronic daily headache, researchers said here. Levetiracetam drug achieved a 3.9% increase in headache-free performance over placebo, but the trend did not reach statistical significance, Roy Beran, M.D., of the University of New South Wales, and colleagues reported at the American Academy of Neurology meeting.