FDA Calling for Consumer Comments on “Gluten-Free Safety Zone”

The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is moving closer to creating a gluten-free safety zone for consumers of gluten-free products. Until October 2, 2011, the FDA is soliciting comments from consumers about its proposed safety level of not more than 20 parts per million (ppm) or more gluten in foods labeled as “gluten-free.” Read the rest of this entry

During pregnancy there are several supplements that show clear benefit in addition to a healthy non-junk food diet:  Vitamin D, Fish Oils (prefer high DHA) and probiotics.

Here are a few articles posted in the past about the benefits of probiotics during pregnancy:

• Reduce infant dermatitis
• Reduce atopic dermatitis
• Reduces incidences of eczema
• Given to infants it can reduce colic

A recent literature review of probiotics during pregnancy evaluated all the gold standard studies which means they are double-blind, placebo controlled.    What they found was that probiotics given during pregnancy reduced the incidence of eczema in their children from ages 2-7 years old.   What is interested is that it was only for the lactobacillus genus and not other strains such as bifidobacteria or products that contained a mixture of strains. Read the rest of this entry