A new study has revealed that mothers who take folic acid, iron during pregnancy have smarter kids.

In developing countries where iron deficiency is prevalent, prenatal iron-folic acid supplementation could increase intellectual and motor functioning in offspring, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

They examined the intellectual and motor functioning of children in rural Nepal and found such micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy positively impacted working memory, inhibitory control and fine motor functioning in the school-aged children.

"Iron is essential for the development of the central nervous system," said Parul Christian, lead author of the study and an associate professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of International Health.

"Early iron deficiency can alter neuroanatomy, biochemistry, and metabolism, leading to changes in neurophysiologic processes that support cognitive and sensorimotor development," she added.

Christian's team studied 676 children, aged 7 to 9 from June 2007 to April 2009 who were born to women in a community-based, double-blind, randomized controlled trial of prenatal micronutrient supplementation between 1999 and 2001.

Study children were randomly assigned to receive daily iron, folic acid and zinc, or multiple micronutrients containing these plus 11 other micronutrients.

All received vitamin A, as did a control group of vitamin A alone from early pregnancy through 3 months postpartum.

The researchers assessed intellectual functioning using the universal nonverbal intelligence test (UNIT) and motor function was assessed using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC).

They found that maternal prenatal supplementation with iron and folic acid was positively associated with general intellectual ability, some aspects of executive function, and fine motor control compared to offspring of mothers in the control group.

"This innovative study shows that in very low-income settings, children's cognitive performance is influenced by their mother's iron + folic acid status during pregnancy, along with school attendance, illustrating the importance of both nutritional and environmental interventions," said Maureen Black, professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and an adjunct professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of International Health.

"Few studies have examined whether micronutrient supplementation during gestation, a critical period of central nervous system development, affects children's later functioning," said Christian.

"Considering the significant role of iron and folic acid in the development of both intellectual and motor skills, antenatal use per international guidelines should be expanded in many low and middle-income settings where program coverage continues to be poor," she added.

The results are published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Obese teenagers opting for replacement diet as a quick-fix solution in their battle of the bulge may shed weight quickly in the initial stages of dieting. Unfortunately in the long run these replacement meals are no better than regular standard low calorie diets.

Meal replacement products comprising bars, shakes and other types of pre-prepared food rations offer a way to help control calorie intake without people having to worry about counting them because they contain determined amounts of calories and nutrition. However, unlike adults, teenagers may have trouble estimating portion sizes or adhering to the regimen and find themselves eating too often or choosing foods high in fat and calories. In such a scenario, meal replacements may not work for them.

In order to determine whether meal replacements help teenager shift weight, the researchers recruited a group of 113 obese teenagers of America and split them into three groups. The participants of each group were assigned to a different diet regime. One group was asked to follow a standard 1,300 to 1,500 calorie diet daily for a period of a year. The second group was put on a meal replacement diet for four months, which was later swapped with a low-calorie diet for eight months. The third group was assigned to meal replacements (three SlimFast shakes, one prepackaged entree, and five servings of fruits and vegetables) for an entire year.

It was noted that one-third of the participants dropped out of the study. Among those who continued, strict adherence to the allotted regimens declined. At the close of the study, teenagers on the meal-replacement diet were using SlimFast for only 1.6 days in a week compared with 5.6 days in the second month.

During the first phase of the study at four months, teenagers on the meal replacement diet exhibited 6.3 percent loss in their body mass index - a number, derived by using height and weight measurements, that gives a general indication of whether or not weight falls within a healthy range - (BMI) as opposed to 3.8 percent for those assigned to a low-calorie diet. In the second phase, the participants in all the three groups gained weight. In the last phase at one year, the study subjects assigned to low-calorie diet group lost 2.8 percent of their BMI.

Those put on meal replacement plus low-calorie diet group lost 3.9 percent while teenagers in the straight meal replacement group lost 3.4 percent of their BMI. In statistical terms there was not much variation in weight loss among the three groups.

The researchers concluded that the potential benefit of meal replacement in maintaining weight loss was not supported and suggested further study to find ways of getting obese teens to start diets and stay on them.

A new vaccine against meningitis B is likely to be unveiled sometime next year with Novartis revealing that the jab has been successfully tested among humans.

Novartis' drug, Bexsero has been lauded by health experts who say that the vaccine will help see a sharp drop in the number of children dying due to the disease to which no protection is currently available.

According to Novartis, the vaccine has been successful in trials in which more than 7,500 children, adolescents and adults took part with the vaccine producing antibodies against more than 77 percent of more than 800 meningitis B strains.

Says Andrin Oswald, Head of Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Division, "The Bexsero submission in the EU is an important milestone toward achieving the world's first broad-coverage MenB vaccine through our unique multi-component approach."

Is the protective effect of vitamin C pills the same as that of the whole orange fruit? According to experts if an antioxidant is what you think to want to keep you healthy, you should rather consider eating oranges than popping vitamin C pills.

Oranges, they say, not only taste better they also contain a unique mix of antioxidants besides being rich in vitamin C. Anti-oxidants are compounds that protect cells against damaging molecules called oxygen-free radicals, that cause disease and aging.

The ample amounts vitamin C in the fruit and multiple antioxidants make it perfect to help fight cancer (abnormal cells that multiply without control, and that can invade nearby tissues or spread through the bloodstream and lymphatic system to other parts of the body) , premature aging, increase immunity, prevent bone related problems, and possibly also heart diseases.

According to lead author of the study, Tory Parker, assistant professor of nutrition, dietetics and food science at Brigham Young University in Utah, there was something about an orange that made it better than taking a vitamin C capsule, which is what the researchers were trying to figure out.

He added it was the particular mixture of antioxidants in the fruit that made it so good for health and wellness.

According to Parker, high intake of carbohydrates and fat in daily diet elevates the level of free radicals in the blood stream, which in turn raises the risk of hardened arteries and heart disease. However consumption of fruits a few hours following meals helped counteract the adverse effect.

Dr Ashok Rajgopal says he has performed knee replacement surgery on a number of leading yoga gurus.

His warnings are a serious challenge to those who say yoga, which is now a multi-billion pound global industry, can ward off the effects of ageing and leave devotees feeling fitter, stronger and at peace with the world.

Some of its most charismatic teachers, like India's Baba Ramdev, who has built a worldwide empire through television appearances, believe its breathing exercises can even cure diseases like HIV Aids and cancer. In the United States alone, more than 4 billion pounds a year is spent on yoga equipment and 15 million people are regular practitioners.

But according to Dr Rajgopal, the extreme stretching exercises at the heart of the discipline cause severe stress on joints, leading to arthritis.

He has seen a higher incidence of joint and bone ailments among yoga followers.

"Yoga is wonderful provided it is done in a controlled environment, and people are trained and built up to doing such postures but putting the public at large through these extreme yoga postures can create problems for them," he said.

"Many yoga gurus had to undergo knee surgeries, they had been affected by yoga postures," he told The Daily Telegraph.

"Extreme postures like acute deep knee bends, particularly for people who are not used to doing these postures, it is definitely harmful to them in terms of the abnormal stresses, and damage to cartilages. In that respect it is harmful."

He said he had seen particular problems among people who had practised yoga in classes of more than 100 people.

"We see a significant number of people who have been not trained adequately to get into yoga and harmed themselves.

"The vast majority of people have to build up to the level where they can actually take to such postures without harming their joints."

Many yoga gurus had suffered knee and joint problems from performing the 'vajrasana' posture, also known as the 'thunderbolt,' where the practitioner kneels with heels tucked under buttocks, while he or she performs a 'pranayama' fast breathing routine.

Savira Gupta, an instructor at India's Yogalife centre said while it was possible to suffer injuries in yoga, they could be avoided by slowly building up to more strenuous exercises.

"Anatomy is key when you are teaching yoga because everybody has a different body and build. We have to be very careful how we could keep up from one posture to another without injuring them. Everything has to be done according to what your body can handle. With proper alignments and training one can avoid these injuries," he said.

A yoga society was formed in Britain in 1910 but its popularity began to take off in the late 1950s when pioneer BKS Iyengar taught Sir Yehudi Menuhin and later in 1968 after the Beatles joined a yoga retreat in India with their guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

In the 1970s its popularity spread through school halls and community centres as 'keep fit classes.' Today there are an estimated 30 million people around the world practicing yoga every week with around 500,000 in Britain where there are more than 30,000 yoga classes.