Another reason for mothers to take their supplements before and during pregnancy has been noted in a recent study on autism.

45,300 children born between 2003 and 2007 were followed up from birth to 2015, for the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Researchers compared rates of ASD in children  from mothers who took folic acid (vitamin B9) and multivitamins before and during pregnancy.

The researchers concluded, "Maternal exposure to folic acid and multivitamin supplements before and during pregnancy is associated with a reduced risk of ASD in the offspring compared with the offspring of mothers without such exposure."

While this study doesn't prove these supplements reduce ASD, it's a strong link that should motivate mothers to take supplements, which are quite safe. The health of a mother is an important determinant of the health of a developing baby. Eating well and taking supplements can help both mother and child during and after pregnancy. Mothers should also try to eat whole foods and avoid sweeteners, processed foods, and additives as much as possible. Physical problems during pregnancy can be addressed with safe and effective drug-free treatment like chiropractic care. A health pregnancy, helps create a healthy baby.

As of the start of this year, Ohio's injured workers have to try chiropractic manipulation or other non-drug treatment for back pain before they can consider spinal fusion surgery. This is a good change in policy (more on that later), but are all non-drug treatments for back pain equally effective for injured workers with back pain? A recent study confirms that answer is NO.

Past studies comparing providers treating back pain have found an advantage to starting with a doctor of chiropractic, and the latest study came to the same conclusion. Researchers analyzed data for 5511 injured workers with back pain and compared the results of those starting with a chiropractic physician, medical physician, or physical therapist. Injured workers were likely to experience a shorter duration of care if they saw a chiropractor first. Those who saw a physical therapist first required longer treatments and were also more likely to have a relapse of back pain requiring additional treatment.

Unfortunately, it has been increasingly common for Ohio's injured workers to start with medical treatment like opioid painkillers first for back pain, contributing to Ohio's opioid epidemic. Considering the cost-effectiveness of chiropractic treatment, it's not surprising Ohio's cost for treating injured workers has been rising during the same period that the utilization of chiropractic has been reduced. The Bureau of Workers' Compensation's (BWC) new policy on surgical spinal fusions is the first step to correcting this problem that hurts injured workers and costs Ohio employers.

Why is Ohio Asking Injured Workers to Try Chiropractic Treatment Before Surgery?

Ohioans should have the right to choose the best treatment for their back pain. However, Ohio's work injury data shows that too often workers are convinced the best treatment for back pain is spinal fusion and the results are bad. Not only do a majority of these injured workers respond poorly to spine surgery, nearly half require more opioid painkillers after surgery than they did prior. And statistics show injured workers are less likely to be able to return to work after back surgery, rather than helping them be able to return to work.

Ohio's BWC cites these stats on surgical fusion from multiple studies:

• More than 50% of workers who received lumbar fusion felt that both pain and function were no better or were WORSE after surgery
  
• Use of spinal stabilization hardware doubled the chances of repeat surgery
• Lumbar fusion for disc injury is associated with increased disability, increased opiate use, prolonged work loss, and poor return to work status
• Fusion patients were 1/3 as likely as workers treated non-surgically to return to work
  
• 27% of fused patients were re-operated on
• 36% of fused patients experienced complications
  
• Narcotic/opioid use increased 41% in fused patients
  
• Fused patients died at about 150% as often as comparable non-surgical patients
  
• Surgical fusion for previous herniated disk is not better than non-operative treatment
• Some patients describe improvement of 1 or 2 points on a 10 point scale, but no functional improvement

Again, patients should generally have the right to choose their treatment for back pain, but surgical fusions have been overused with very poor results that are not communicated to patients. Spinal fusions are representative of what is driving up medical costs for everyone, with expensive procedures that cause frequent complications and death, often fail to significantly improve pain and function, increase use of addictive opioid medications, and prevent injured workers from returning to work.

Medical treatment guidelines for back pain recommend safer and more effective non-drug treatment like chiropractic be tried first, but due to systemic bias many injured workers were never provided this treatment option prior to consideration for surgery. If this spinal fusion policy is properly implemented, injured workers are likely to experience better results and employers will see lower costs as back pain is treated more appropriately with chiropractic treatment in most cases.

A study on maternal consumption of probiotics found there could be significant health benefits by reducing rates of preeclampsia and preterm birth.

Researchers studied over 70,000 pregnancies between 1999 and 2008, comparing those mothers consuming probiotics (as a probiotic milk) to determine whether there was a significant association with preeclampsia and preterm birth. They concluded, "Intake of probiotic milk during late pregnancy was associated with decreased risk of preeclampsia, and intake during early pregnancy was associated with decreased risk of preterm delivery."

How Can Probiotics Contribute to a Healthier Pregnancy?

The researchers theorized that the positive results may be due to an anti-inflammatory benefit from the consumption of probiotics. An exaggerated inflammatory response is suspected to play a role in both preeclampsia and preterm birth, so it is possible that probiotics could reduce a mother's inflammatory response to a healthier level.

We generally recommend including fermented foods or probiotic supplements as part of a healthy diet. Fermented foods include things like sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, kefir, vinegar, yogurt, and cheeses. However, if the food has been pasteurized (which kills all microbes), probiotics would have to be added back in to get a similar benefit. Click here for more information on fermented foods and probiotics. There is low risk of any issues with probiotic consumption, so including these in the diet during pregnancy is certainly worth trying.