Vitamin D is a super nutrient that serves a remarkably broad range of biological functions. The diversity of its benefits make it an important part of a woman’s health, during pregnancy and otherwise. I have dedicated many blog posts to Vitamin D’s role in...

Working in fertility means working with male and female partners to identify potential causes of infertility, and finding opportunities to optimize fertility in all partners. Cannabis use by male partners is something I have been asked a lot about since it was legalized in...

Managing stress in pregnancy is a priority for a number of different reasons – from future behavioural issues to risk of developing diabetes – as I discuss further in this post, and in my online program where I devote an entire module to managing stress...

Exercising in the pool has long been a favourite of pregnant women, as the buoyancy of the water takes the weight of tired hips and knees, resulting in a rare and relieving feeling of weightlessness. In addition to the cardiovascular benefits of swimming and...

Living in the Yukon, where the seasonal variations in light are drastic, my patients and I are very aware of the extent to which light exposure affects melatonin concentrations and sleep quality. Melatonin is the biological response to darkness – levels increase at night,...

In my last post I flagged promising new research linking decreased fatty liver in adult males to their mothers’ consumption of fish oil during pregnancy. Now a second study focuses on supporting mom’s long-term liver health – through her breastfeeding. Based on their work with...

Supplementing a pregnant mother’s diet with essential fatty acids – particularly DHA – holds a host of benefits for the developing fetus, such as brain and eye development, and even reducing neural tube defects, as I’ve mentioned before in this post. New research from Spain’s Universidad...

Any vaginal infection in pregnancy is concerning, and bacterial vaginosis (BV) in pregnancy puts women at particularly increased risk for premature rupture of membranes (when the bag of waters breaks earlier than is optimal), chorioamnionitis (intra-amniotic infection), spontaneous preterm birth (baby being delivered before 37...

To the cheers of many health practitioners, Canada’s new and much improved Food Guide boldly recommends that Canadians of all ages and stages “replace sugary drinks with water” as their “drink of choice.” Of course, the health benefits of such a shift are clear...

A few weeks ago I wrote this post on the importance of supplementing smoking-exposed pregnant women with methylated folate (B9) and B12 to reduce the risk of recurrent miscarriage, pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes. Now, research from the Oregon Health and Science University has highlighted another important...