(January 25, 2010 - Insidermedicine)

From Sweden - According to a report published in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association, mothers who smoke while pregnant increase their newborn's odds of having abnormal blood pressure. Researchers studied 19 children of non-smoking parents and 17 children of women who smoked during pregnancy, measuring blood pressure by having the infant tilted upright during sleep. At one week, results showed that newborns of mothers who smoked had a 10% increase in blood pressure when tilted, compared with only 2% increase in the non-smoking group.

From North Carolina - A low-carbohydrate diet may help lower blood pressure, according to a report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers studied nearly 150 overweight people, administering either a low fat diet plus the weight-loss drug orlistat or a low carb diet. Results showed that 47% of patients in the low-carb group had their blood pressure medication either lowered or stopped altogether, compared with only 21% in the orlistat group.

And finally, from London - Children who are ambidextrous are more likely to suffer ADHD later in life, according to a report published online in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers followed nearly 8,000 children for 10 years, finding that children who were mixed handed by age 5 were 2x more likely to have ADHD symptoms in adolescence.