Low Serotonin Possibly Linked to SIDS
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, known as SIDS, claims the lives of nearly 3,000 babies in the United States each year. Now, doctors at the Children’s Hospital in Boston believe that low serotonin levels may be part of the cause.
Dr. Hannah Kinney and her colleagues found that compared to babies who had died from other medical conditions, babies who died from SIDS had much lower serotonin levels and even fewer serotonin receptors. When tests were performed, babies who had died of SIDS had 26 percent less serotonin than the control group, and 50 percent less serotonin receptors.
Serotonin is known to help regulate our circulatory and respiratory systems as we sleep. When serotonin levels are low, especially in babies, it’s possible that these systems would not function correctly. If an infant is lying on their stomach with their face down, they might be re-breathing the carbon dioxide that they exhale. Without appropriate amounts of serotonin to regulate the breathing process, the baby’s body might not ever realize anything is wrong, which can create a fatal situation.
Dr. Kinney says that to reduce to risk of SIDS, babies should sleep on their backs on a firm mattress until they are at least 12 months old. She also reiterates that common risk factors like smoking and drinking during pregnancy should be avoided.
To read the original article, please go to http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Disease/low_serotonin_linked_to_sids_0302100746.html
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