C-section kids not more likely to be overweight

Children born by Cesarean section are no more likely to become obese than those who are born vaginally, according to a Brazilian study.

Past research from Brazil had found a link between excessive weight and C-sections, leading some scientists to suggest that not being exposed to bacteria from the birth canal could make children fatter. But the latest findings - published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition - suggest this doesn't appear to be the case.

"We thought from the beginning that probably what happened with the previous study is that they didn't adjust for all of the confounders," says Fernando Barros of the Catholic University of Pelotas, who worked on the study, referring to such factors as the mother's height and weight.

"The really simple explanation would be that more obese women require more Cesarean sections than lean women ... and it's really not the C-section itself," says David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life Clinic at Children's Hospital, Boston, who was not involved in the study.

He says that things, such as a pregnant woman's diet and smoking habits, and whether or not she has diabetes, might influence a developing fetus.

Heart scan dye may damage the thyroid

The iodide dye used in heart scans and other medical imaging, such as CT scans, may in some cases damage patients' thyroid glands, possibly leading to such health problems as thyroid disease, according to a US study. But the diseases occur rarely, are eminently treatable and should not lead patients to put off having scans, experts say.

Patients who had signs of thyroid disease were between two and three times as likely to have had a scan using iodide as a comparison group of people without thyroid problems, researchers write in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Some 80 million doses of the dye are administered worldwide every year, and while the chemical is known to take a toll on the kidneys, there has up to now only been anecdotal evidence that it could also hurt the thyroid, says Steven Brunelli of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who worked on the study.

While the findings aren't ironclad proof that the dye itself is responsible, experts agree that the dye was a likely explanation, since high doses of iodide are known to throw the thyroid off balance - and the amounts given during a scan may be several hundred times greater than recommended daily intakes.

Antidepressants do help mildly depressed

People with mild depression may benefit from taking antidepressants, suggests a new analysis of past studies that compared symptoms in people on the drugs to those given drug-free placebo pills.

Some earlier reports had suggested that antidepressants generally only improve mood in people with severe depression.

But that might be because those studies weren't precise enough to pick up on smaller changes in symptoms that can still make a difference for people with milder forms of the disease, researchers say.

"I think there's a valid concern ... that if someone has not-that-severe depression that hasn't lasted that long, maybe it will get better itself or with therapy," says Dr David Hellerstein, from the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, who worked on the study.

Still, he says the question of whether or not to prescribe medication shouldn't necessarily come down to how severe the depression is but rather how long symptoms have lasted.

People with "transient depression" that will improve with diet or exercise or after a few weeks of therapy "shouldn't be taking the risk of being on meds," he says.

Reuters