Pregnancy care needs updating. The US has the highest infant mortality rate of any developed nation in the world. The US has the highest C-section rate. The US has the highest rates of children with chronic illness. We use ultrasound more than any other nation. The answers to these poor outcomes is to throw more interventions on top of ones that already exist instead of questioning the current ones and asking different questions.
This is not an easy or fast task but there are some practices that you can specifically impact.
Practice #1 that needs to change: Glucose Tolerance Test.
Why do I think this is stupid? Diabetes is a process, not an event. Under stress, your body moves into an insulin resistant state. You don’t want to store sugar for later if you need energy right now to escape a lion. Chugging 50g of a toxic tang corn syrup is like facing a lion. Your body will air on the side of caution and keep free to use for immediate energy. Many will fail or have questionable results with this test.
Instead ask to for a Hemoglobin A1C test (HA1C). This is a 3 month average of your blood sugars. This will give a WAY better indicator to the level of insulin resistance and therefore your risk of gestational diabetes than an hour spot test. Insulin resistance is not just about the role in blood sugar metabolism. Insulin plays a role in hormone regulation, nutrient absorption, and cell division. The better insulin is controlled, the better the health outcomes. The only viable and sustainable way to do this is through lifestyle.
If they still insist on the glucose tolerance test, bring in your own juice. With our first pregnancy, which was a hospital birth for us, we brought in some organic grape juice and measured it to the recommended 50 grams of sugar. My wife didn’t want to chug the toxic tang they provide.
Practice #2 that needs to change: Making Folic Acid the Hero.
If you’re pregnant, you will get bombarded with messages about your folic acid intake. Are you eating enough? Does your pre-natal contain it? Trust me you get enough. I would argue you are getting too much. Folic acid is the synthetic form of folate. Folate has to go through a series of chemical reactions in the body form methyl-tetrahydrofolate (the active form of folate).
Too much folic acid can mask a B12 deficiency. Synthetic folic acid can take up the binding sites of the active forms of folate and B12. The solution is to take more B12, right? Not exactly. Folate and Cobalamin (B12) have to be activated to be used by the body. This process is called methylation and more and more women are developing a methylation defect due to chronic inflammation (another brain killer).
Folate and B12 have more to do than just making sure you’re not anemic. They play a huge role into brain and spinal cord development of the baby. We have a massive neuro-developmental problem in our youth today.
Instead, when you’re asked about folate, ask your provider to order a serum B12 test, urinary Methylmalonic Acid test, homocysteine, C-reactive protein, and an MTHFR test. If you’re taking a pre-natal that boasts folic acid, you might want to ditch it for one that contains methyl-tetrahydrofolate and methyl-cobalamin (the active forms of folate and B12).
Practice #3 that needs to change: Ultrasounds
Pregnancy has turned from a natural process into a disease where anything and everything raises alarm, worry, and fear that the baby is in danger. One of those tools used is ultrasound. One of the main reasons to detect intrauterine growth restrictions, basically making sure that the baby has enough room to grow and develop.
One study out of The New England Journal of Medicine, which included over 15,000 pregnant women showed there is no difference in fetal outcomes between those that had routine ultrasounds and those that had them only for ‘medical indications.’
Another study out of The Lancet compared 2800 women that had 1 ultrasounds at 18 weeks and women that had ultrasounds at 18, 24, 28, 34, and 38 weeks. There was no difference in fetal outcomes between the groups. Interestingly there was an increase in intrauterine growth restrictions in the group that had the most ultrasounds…the very condition they are trying to prevent.
Ultrasounds are comforting to new parents to determine the sex but in our need to know everything, we have turned pregnancy from a life experience into a medical condition that needs to be managed. The outcomes? A host of worry, fear, and stress that creates a perfect storm of more interventions during and after pregnancy.
To change these practices, it’s going to have to occur on the consumer’s side. Do your homework, ask LOTS of questions, and build a team of professionals around you that share your values for your birth experience.
| Dr. Kurt writes from either his home or office in Colorado Springs where he enjoys life with his wife Lindsay, and sons Kalin and Lukas. They have 2 dogs, Boots and Jersey, that are Boston Terrier/English Bulldog mixes. He’s known to play a little guitar, play a little basketball, and when time allows it, soak in the 300 days of sunshine that Colorado Springs boasts. He hopes his blogs will fire you up and get you focused on asking the kind of questions that will produce real health for you and your family.
<em><strong>To read more of Dr. Kurt’s articles visit his My719Daddy Blogger page!</strong></em> |
