Healthy World Watch March 20th, 2009

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Fave Finds

Hooray! Spring has sprung. Do you have plans? Share them or get ideas for what to do with SuperEco’s “How to Celebrate the First Day of Spring.”

Looking for tasty and nutritious recipes for your family? The Mindful Momma has compiled her favorite foodie blogs that tackle Healthy Food that Kids Love Too (I bookmarked every one!)
Who doesn’t love anything that’s cheap AND green? Here are some great ideas for DIY Cheap and Green Kids' Room Decorations and Games from The Daily Green. They’re totally easy, too - like a wool mattress cover made from an old wool blanket. Why didn’t I think of that?!

Recent Research

Flame retardant causes hyperactive mice. A commonly used flame retardant routinely found in people and house dust alters behavior and brain development in mice, causing hyperactivity and adjustment difficulties that worsened with age. The behavioral effects were seen at fairly low doses, were worse at the higher doses tested and grew stronger as the mice aged.
Dioxin alters ability to fight infection. Researchers find for the first time that mice exposed to the contaminant dioxin during development or while nursing have a diminished capacity to fight a flu infection later in life. Mouse pups born to pregnant mice that were exposed to a small amount of the ubiquitous and persistent pollutants had fewer white blood cells that normally kill the flu virus and more of a different kind that increases lung inflammation. The increased inflammation can make the disease more severe and recovery more difficult.
Study links DDT and obesity in women. The daughters of women who eat Lake Michigan fish laced with the toxic remnants of DDT are at greater risk of becoming obese, according to a new study. Researchers at Michigan State University have discovered that prenatal exposure to a derivative of DDT -- an insecticide commonly used until it was banned in the 1970s -- may play a role in the obesity epidemic in women.