«Children can ‘grow out of’ autism, psychologists say, challenging the established view that autism is a permanent, incurable condition,» The Independent has reported.

The story is based on a study that documented a group of individuals with an early history of diagnosed autism. These individuals no longer met the criteria for this diagnosis in later life and seemed to function normally.

The study compared the functioning of this group with a group consisting of people with high functioning autism (often referred to as Asperger syndrome) and a second group of people who were developing or ha...

Children are growing up in a sea of radiofrequency radiation that has never existed in human history. In America today, about twenty million children under the age of fourteen have cellphones. Increasingly, scientists and policy makers in tech-savvy nations like Israel and Finland are concerned that the ways these devices are used imperil the brain. The iPhone plastic baby rattle case protects the phone’s glass screen from cracking when chomped on by teething babies, but does not protect the infant’s young brain from the phone’s pulsed digital microwave radiation.

This proliferation of ...

«A new study has found that women who undergo IVF have a higher risk of experiencing blood clots and pulmonary embolism while they are pregnant,» ITV News has reported.

These findings come from a Swedish study that looked at over 20,000 women who gave birth after conceiving through IVF, and compared them to over 100,000 similarly aged women who gave birth at around the same time having conceived naturally. It found that blood clots in the veins and in the lungs were more common during pregnancy in women who had conceived through IVF, particularly in the first trimester.

The chances of getting ...

Obese children — already known to be at higher risk for heart disease and other ills in adulthood — may also experience more immediate problems, including asthma, learning disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to a new study.

«Childhood obesity not only has long-term impact in terms of future heart disease, diabetes and other problems that we have been hearing so many things about,» said study author Dr. Neal Halfon, director of the Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities at the University of California, Los Angeles.

«It also has an immediate impa...

Doctors need to ask — and parents need to tell. That’s the upshot of a new study showing a distressing number of Canadians aren’t telling their physician, or pharmacist, when treating their kids with both alternative and conventional medicines. That’s a combination that carries potential risk to patients, especially the very young.

A variety of possible interactions can result when blending standard prescription drugs with alternative medicine, especially herbal remedies...

I have often wondered how many people make New Year’s resolutions about eating more healthfully. It has to be a huge number, right?

And how many of those people fall short of their ambitious goals? They start off robust, but after a few weeks, life gets in the way, old habits stake their place and the resolution to keep a resolution fades.

We all know that any significant, lasting change takes time. I believe it takes at least a year, if not two, to transform the way a person or a family eats...

Denise Adams, Ph.D., from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and colleagues surveyed parents to examine the prevalence and patterns of CAM use in subspecialty clinics at one children’s hospital in western Canada (Edmonton) and one in central Canada (Ottawa).

The researchers found that CAM use was significantly higher at the western hospital (71 percent) than the central hospital (42 percent), despite similar demographic characteristics of the two populations. The majority of parents agreed or strongly agreed that they felt comfortable discussing use of CAM in their clinic...

After New York City made the streets near some of its schools safer, the number of children struck by cars each year dropped substantially, a new study shows.

Researchers found that the rate of child pedestrian injuries during «school travel» hours fell by 44 percent around schools where the city made traffic changes. The changes included installing more traffic lights and speed bumps, putting islands in the center of wide streets, and setting up digital signs that tell drivers how fast they are going.

Experts say the findings point to the success of the National Safe Routes to School program,...

Children with chronic health conditions are regularly treated with alternative therapies, according to a new Canadian study that suggests the use of so-called «complementary and alternative medicine» in pediatrics is on the rise. Many children in the study took multivitamins or minerals, while others tried treatments like massage, aromatherapy and chiropractic manipulation.

«The use of [alternative medicine] is always going to be much higher in those kids who have a specific condition, particularly one not well-treated with conventional medicine, because parents are always asking, ‘What can I ...

Parents of teen girls got alarming news from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week in a new report that showed that 1 in 3 high school girls reports drinking alcohol, 1 in 5 reports binge drinking, and 27 percent of high school senior girls say they’ve indulged in bingeing behavior.

However, amid all the somber statistics there’s some good news, especially for parents who want to protect their teens from the hazards of excessive alcohol consumption...