Preventing eclampsia : an interview with Tom Brewer, MD

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Nov, 2004 by CJ Puotinen

32. Drillien, C. M. "School disposal and performance for children of different birth weight born 1953-1960." Arch. Dis. Child. 44:562, 1969. Low birth weight is associated with an increased proneness to handicap and a lowered IQ. Birth weight was found to influence child development more than socioeconomic background.

33. Brewer, T. H. "A case of recurrent abruption placentae." Del. Med. J. 41:325, 1969. Dietary history recorded of a woman who had two abruptions and two neonatal deaths of low-birth-weight babies in one year. After her malnutrition was corrected, she had a normal baby with no complications.

34. Winick, M., and Rosso, P. "The effect of severe early malnutrition on cellular growth of human brain." Pediatric Res. 3:181, 1969. Malnutrition during pregnancy is shown to lead to a significant reduction of brain cells in the newborn. Impaired hyperplasia of brain cells was reflected in their finding that brain weight, protein, RNA and DNA were substantially reduced in newborns of malnourished women.

35. Bletka, M., et al. "Volume of whole blood and absolute amount of serum proteins in the early stage of late toxemia of pregnancy." Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 106:10, 1970. Valuable observation documenting that hypovolemia and hypoalbuminemia precede hypertension and other signs of metabolic toxemia of late pregnancy.

36. Pike, R. L., and Gurskey, D. S. "Further evidence of deleterious effects produced by sodium restriction during pregnancy." Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 23:883, 1970. The consequences of sodium deficiency, such as hypovolemia and stress on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone homeostasis, are well documented.

37. Brewer, T. H. "Human pregnancy nutrition: An examination of traditional assumptions." Aus. N.Z. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. 10:87, 1970. Exposes the incorrect ideology and dangers of the routine obstetrical practices of weight control, salt restriction and the use of sodium diuretics.

38. Duffus, G. M., et al. "The relationship between baby weight and changes in maternal weight, total body water, plasma volumes, electrolyte and proteins and urinary oestriol excretion." J. Obstet. Gynaecol. Br. Cwlth. 78:97, 1971. Total circulating protein mass correlated most significantly with infant birth weight.

39. Brewer, T. H., "Disease and Social Class," in The Social Responsibility of the Scientist. Martin Brown, ed. New York: Free Pres, 1971. Examines mechanisms by which poverty and malnutrition cause human diseases including maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Stresses the need for primary prevention.

40. Platt, B. S. and Stewart, R. J. C. "Reversible and irreversible effects of protein-calorie deficiency on the central nervous system of animals and man." World Rev. Nutr. Diet. 13:43, 1971. Neurological dysfunction is extensively linked to malnutrition in both animal and human studies in this review of 177 works.

41. Fort, A. T. "Adequate prenatal nutrition." Obstet. Gynecol. 37:286, 1971. Proper fetal development and birth weight, the author states, are directly dependent upon the pregnant woman's nutritional intake.