News You Can Use
What does the latest research say about sugar consumption during pregnancy, good neighbors and parental controls? Here’s what we found:
Sugar, Pregnancy and Childhood Learning
The bad press for sugar continues. A new study published in the American Journal for Preventative Medicine found that when pregnant women consume greater quantities of sugar, the cognitive abilities of their children are diminished. Specifically, memory and learning were negatively impacted, as well as the nonverbal ability to solve problems, verbal memory, fine motor skills and several other cognitive functions.
Anyone who has attempted to limit her sugar intake knows that it is found in almost everything, and yet more and more evidence is pointing to its adverse effects on our health. The biggest contributor of sugar in the American diet is sugar-sweetened beverages, known as SSBs. These include diets sodas and fruit juices, and researchers examined the associations between consumption of SSBs during pregnancy and childhood cognition. The results showed a meaningful impact when pregnant women consumed more fruit and avoided diet soda.
"This study provides evidence that there should be no further delays in implementing the new Nutrition Facts label. The new label will provide information on added sugars so that pregnant women and parents can make informed choices regarding added sugars and more easily limit their intake," comments lead investigator Juliana F.W. Cohen, ScD, School of Health Sciences, Merrimack College.
Are parental controls really helping?
Most parents use some type of parental controls on their children’s technology. Providers and manufacturers often build in tools to help parents manage devices used by children. There are a wide variety of apps available which offer parents power over what content can be seen, how much time is spent online, and even what time of day a device can be used. But how helpful are those controls really? Two recent studies conducted by the University of Central Florida found that apps designed to protect children from internet dangers may actually be counterproductive. Researchers concluded that such apps harm the trust between a parent and child and reduce the child’s ability to appropriately respond to online threats. For their studies, researchers looked at three main points: 1) types of parents who use parental control apps, 2) how effective the apps were in keeping kids safe and 3) what children think about their parents’ using these controls.
“Parental involvement and direct supervision were both associated with fewer peer problems and less online victimization for teens, but neither of these factors correlated with the use of parental control apps,” says Arup Kumar Ghosh, a doctoral student in UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science.
To find out how kids feel about parental control apps, the researchers reviewed 736 publicly posted reviews written by teens and younger children. They found that 79 percent of reviews rated the apps at two stars or less (out of five)—citing reasons such as overly restrictive, invasion of privacy, supportive of lazy parenting and felt that it turned their parents into “stalkers.”
“Teens, and even younger children, told us loudly and clearly that they would rather their parents talk to them than use parental control apps,” Ghosh says. “Not because they wanted to get away with something bad, but because they wanted their parents’ trust and respect.”
The studies concluded that rather than tightening the reins on their children, parents may want to consider other strategies for keeping kids safe online. By staying involved, empowering and equipping kids to make wise decisions about their online activity, parents may better protect their kids than by using an app.
Erin McIntosh is a mom of four children, 15, 12, 10, and 6. She works at the Kansas City Art Institute and is also a freelance writer and photographer. She is currently working on her first book, a memoir about single parenting.
As always, please consult your health care provider with any questions or concerns.