Today, I will relay to you Dr. Catherine Shanahan’s views, backed by scientific evidence, on how certain nutrient deficiencies impact the facial features and bone structure and their symmetry in the fetus as well as its body structure and health.

I discussed in earlier parts how sufficient nutrients could affect “the set of molecules that attach themselves to DNA and other nuclear materials,” which control gene expression, and how deficiency could increase risk of disease and birth defects and lower intelligence quotient (IQ) in the fetus. These misgivings are consequences of untimely expression of genes. Switching them on and off controls most physiological functions and the manifestation of disease or healthy conditions.

The DNA, (deoxyribonucleic acid), is a very long macromolecule that carries our chromosomes and genetic characteristics and information. Deficiency in nutrients and exposure to toxic chemicals alter the molecules that bind to the DNA and other nuclear materials, which control gene expression (when to switch on or off), making it flawed. This results in disorders, which range from allergies and asthma to obesity, diabetes, and even cancer.

To control gene expression, the body needs nutrients in the right balance. When mother is nutrient deficient or under the influence of harmful substances and toxic additives and foods after the first baby, then the second one’s gene expression will be less favorable, reflecting on its health, structure, and development, increasing the risk of the above disorders. Its IQ could be affected and moreover, it may be born with permanent birth defects.

According to Shanahan, there are other factors that interfere with the outcome of the health, bone structure, and even looks of newborns. The overconsumption of simple sugars and vegetable cooking oils (trans fats) overwhelms the body and brain cells and sort of freeze them, causing the obstruction of cell signals. Cells fail to communicate instructions or facilitate physiological functions, resulting in the suppression of the normal activity of the metabolism.

A disrupted metabolism results in gestational diabetes, hypertension (preeclampsia), and other undesirable pregnancy disorders. By consuming sugar and vegetable oils in cooking and frying, mother impedes her intracellular transmission, which impacts the growth of the fetus in utero as well. Two spoons of sugar lower the immunity. Can you imagine what a can of soda drink (ten spoons) does to mother and fetus?

By the way, sugar, hydrogenated oils, and vegetable oils (corn, sunflower…) do the same to anyone, who consumes them. They are found in processed, fast, or fried foods including milkshakes, ice creams, snack bars, doughnuts, sweets, and pastries. The major damage of these harmful substances is that they block cell signal transmission from and to the blood of the rapidly growing fetus, “disrupting the sequence of highly sensitive, interdependent events that contribute to the miracle of a healthy birth,” as Shanahan explains.

Even though medical drugs (antibiotics, painkillers, antihistamines, anaesthesia…) can save lives in emergency cases, they can also inflict damage on the mental and physical developments of the rapidly growing fetus. While recreational drugs damage the brain of the fetus, cigarette smoking and secondhand smoke deprive the fetus of precious oxygen, resulting in low birth weight. Drugs should never be taken during pregnancy and breastfeeding without consulting the treating obstetrician and it should be taken for a good reason.

Shanahan is of the strong belief that the first born often has the good fortune of being the most charismatic and attractive one of the lot, having symmetrical facial features and good bone structure, known as “dynamic symmetry,” which is naturally recognized by the human brain to be appealing. People are drawn to well-built persons with symmetrical facial features, strong jaws, and high cheekbones and find them attractive. They are also more pleasing to the opposite sex. They are offered the best jobs and they are popular and the most admired.

The slightest asymmetry such as a deviation by a millimeter or a misalignment in facial features, jaw setting, or bone structure, could cause distraction in the observer’s brain, making such individuals less pleasing to the eye. Shanahan believes that, too, is due to mother’s nutrient deficiencies and unhealthy nutrition.

What are the symmetrical and attractive traits that draw one’s attention to the other person? As Shanahan puts it, the brain prefers to look at “faces with broad foreheads balanced by strong jaws, prominent brows above deep-set eyes framed with nice, high cheekbones,” a perfect proportionality, which is seen more in super models and movie stars. Many happen to be firstborns.

When compared to their older siblings, the younger ones seem to have features, which are less symmetrical, less impressive, or less eye-catching. The face is usually somewhat narrower, with less pronounced jaws and cheekbones; less arched eyebrows; thinner lips; narrower forehead; weaker chin and jaws; and rounder features. Of course, there are exceptions to the firstborn rule or perfection. Shanahan says, “Sometimes the uterus doesn’t work quite perfectly the first time round,” resulting in less than perfect firstborns.

The important point here is spacing out between pregnancies to allow mother’s body to reload on essential nutrients in order to prevent weaker jawbones, narrower midfaces and foreheads, and disproportionate features (eyes, nose, lips). You have to take into account that we see facial and physical imperfections, but what we do not see is what has happened internally in the child. It is not all about looks, but about health as well.

How to achieve good health and attractive looks? It is through mother’s good wholesome nutrition and avoiding noxious foods (sugar, vegetable oils, transfats, toxins…) that interfere with the transmission of cell signals between mother’s body and her fetus, which are influential factors to its normal growth and adequate development physiologically and mentally.

Our modern diet (fast, fried, processed foods), empty of healthy nutrients and essential fatty acids, disrupts the hormonal signaling in her body, suppressing the functions of mother’s body and signals to the fetus in the uterus. Weakened uterine, placental, and estrogen signals may result in more masculine facial traits in females, a protruding forehead and chin, prominent eyebrows, and finer lips.

So the real cause of suboptimal features and structures in babies is not about the first or second child syndrome, but more about malnutrition and deficiencies in the carrying mother, who is unable to give her fetus what it requires of essential nutrients and hormones. With maternal deficiencies, important chemicals are not available to build fetal bones, brain, and nerves.

Due to impaired hormonal signaling, features become blunted and flatter, ears twisted, “ear canals are abnormally curved”(causing recurrent infections), and eyes too close to each other. Sugar and vegetable oil consumption also disrupts placental hormone production, which interferes with the development of the distinctive features of males and females. It becomes difficult to distinguish the differences in the features of the two sexes, when they grow older.

According to Shanahan, the spacing between pregnancies that was once an “important feature of control of excellence of child life” is not respected any longer. Mother’s body and health require three to four years to recover, replenish her supply of nutrients, and repair her tissues. According to a landmark 2003 CDC report, children born after 2000 carry the risk of becoming diabetic, reducing “life expectancy by between ten and twenty years” due to mothers’ deficiencies. She also believes that “these children will age faster, suffer emotional problems, and develop never-before-seen diseases.”

Next week, I shall continue on this topic with more details, inshallah, as it requires emphasis.

References:

• Dr. Catherine Shanahan and Luke Shanahan, MD, Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food

• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002937803004952, Probiotics and preterm babies

• http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/8337048/Fight-to-prevent-allergie... Fight to prevent allergies in the womb

• http://www.news-medical.net/news/2008/03/21/36528.aspx Folic acid improves a man’s chance of becoming a father

N.B.:

Individuals with medical conditions or on medication should consult their physicians when they decide to introduce anything new in their diet even if it is natural.

The previous Health Solutions articles are located at www. arabnews.com

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