Don't Believe Everything You Read

• No negative link to ultrasounds or artificial sweeteners in pregnancy.     • Hot tubs and whirlpool baths are okay for less than 30 minutes.     • No saunas.     • Avoid retinol (found in acne medications).     • Avoid non-stick pots or pans with chips or scratches.

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es, there can be too much information!

In our digital age, it is easy to find an abundant amount of information for every stage of your pregnancy. While most of the content you find can be informative and reassuring, there are bound to be articles that can make you nervous or cause you to worry needlessly. So which information should you trust… and which can you toss?

Los Angeles obstetrician Anthony Chin, MD, went through a list of potential concerns and dissected each one.

ULTRASOUNDS
ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS
HOT TUBS
VITAMIN A
NON-STICK PANS
(Specifically Teflon)
PBDE's & PFCs
(Found in popcorn bags, mattresses, etc.)

ULTRASOUNDS
Internet Findings: An August 7, 2006, Reuters article states that, “Ultrasound disrupts the brain development of unborn mice, U.S. researchers said in a study published on Monday that adds to growing evidence that too many ultrasound scans could also affect human fetuses.”

Dr. Chin: This study has been making the rounds, and although its effects should not be ignored, there are several reasons why the authors stress that this data should not be translated to human fetuses. First, prolonged ultrasounds of this sort are not done on human fetal brains. Second, human brain tissue is much denser and larger. Third, migration of cerebral cortex cells stop migrating in the first half of the pregnancy, and finally, there is an unknown effect of what neuronal migration actually does to mice.

The bottom line is that research that pertains to animals does not necessarily pertain to humans. Actually there has been no study definitely linking ultrasound in pregnancy to any negative outcome. If there were any, we would cease to do ultrasounds in pregnancy. There have been studies that actually show a benefit to ultrasound such as increasing language testing ability, but also the study is not definitive.

Given the unknown element, frivolous or social ultrasounds especially by non-medical personnel should be avoided, but as the authors of this study note, “I want to emphasize that our study in mice does not mean that use of ultrasound on human fetuses for appropriate diagnostic and medical purposes should be abandoned. On the contrary; ultrasound has been shown to be very beneficial in the medical context.”