Reprinted from a Juice Plus Newsletter Spring/Summer 2006
Summary: Women who are trying to conceive or currently pregnant appear to have pregnancies with fewer complications when on Juice Plus. Of particular interest is the part about preeclampsia, which is a common complication in women with PCOS.
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….There’s such a rapid acceleration of tissue growth and, as a result, a rapid acceleration of free radical damage [oxidative stress]. I’ve always recommended ‘standard issue’ prenatal vitamins. But we started to see healthier pregnancies more often when I started to add Juice Plus+® to the regimen.”
Over time, Dr. Odom and his nursing staff noticed that with the Juice Plus+® moms, they were seeing fewer Caesarean deliveries (“C-sections”), fewer premature deliveries, and a lower incidence of preeclampsia – a condition of late pregnancy that is characterized by high blood pressure and that can be potentially life-threatening to both mother and baby. They also noticed that the newborns of these moms tended to have higher birth weights, fewer admissions to neonatal intensive care units, and
a lower incidence of respiratory distress syndrome.
“It made sense to me that better nutrition would lead to healthier moms,” Dr. Odom recalls. “So, I decided to get a little more formal about my Juice Plus+® observations.
“Looking back to January 2000, I categorized expectant mothers into two groups: one composed of women who took Juice Plus+® (two Orchard Blend and two Garden Blend capsules) every day in addition to prenatal vitamins, the other comprised of women who took prenatals only.” Dr. Odom “matched” subjects for age, ethnicity, prior pregnancies, and insurance status – “everything I could think of to make sure that the two groups were as close to identical as possible” – and ended up with 178 mothers in his Juice Plus+® group and 178 in his non-Juice Plus+® comparison group.
Dr. Odom compared pregnancy outcomes by reviewing the medical records of all 356 patients after delivery. “The results even surprised me,” he confides. He found that women who had added Juice Plus+® to their regimen had significantly fewer
Caesarean deliveries (47% versus 66%), no premature deliveries before 37 weeks (compared to 35 women or 20% of the comparison group), and no diagnosed incidents of preeclampsia (versus 38 cases or 21% of the comparison group).
The Juice Plus+® babies fared better as well. They weighed about a half-pound more at birth on average (7 pounds, 11 ounces versus 7 pounds, 3 ounces). None of the Juice Plus+® babies had to be admitted to neonatal intensive care (compared to 17 or almost 10% of the comparison group babies).
Similarly, none of the Juice Plus+® babies studied were diagnosed with respiratory distress syndrome (versus 13 or 8% of the non-Juice Plus+® babies).
Dr. Odom offers a simple explanation: “Healthier moms have healthier babies.”
Dr. Odom presented these findings to his medical colleagues at the annual meeting of the Central Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in October 2003. The findings are also being published as a “retrospective descriptive analytic comparison” in the March 2006 issue of JANA, the Journal of the American Nutraceutical Association.
More importantly, Dr. Odom’s findings have led to the initiation of a methodologically rigorous (prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, and randomized) clinical trial of the impact of Juice Plus+® on pregnancy health currently underway at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. “I am pleased to see that what I observed in our practice is now being taken to the next level of scientific investigation by my academic colleagues. I know that better nutrition leads to better outcomes.”
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Remember, Golden Shoes is not a doctor, or a medical professional of any kind. We post this information as is and make no guarantees. All information is for use at your own risk. Always be sure to talk with your doctor and remember, it’s your body, and your choice.
