Pulling your hair out in frustration with your finicky youngster? Don’t blame your parenting style — genetics likely played a huge role in their eating habits, a new twins study FINDs. Fussy eating is mainly influenced by genes, according to findings published Sept. 19 in the Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry. Further, finicky eating…  read on >  read on >

Would-be dads don’t have to worry that taking the epilepsy drug valproate will result in children with birth defects, a new review concludes. Valproate, an anti-seizure drug, is known to cause birth defects and developmental disorders when taken by pregnant women. But the drug does not appear to have the same impact on the fetus…  read on >  read on >

Deprivation, neglect and abuse during childhood can increase a person’s long-term risk of health problems, a new study warns. “Stress is implicated in nine of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States today,” said senior researcher Dr. George Slavich, director of the UCLA Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research. “It’s about time…  read on >  read on >

A few cups of coffee each morning can help protect a person against heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, a new study says. Drinking three cups of coffee a day — or about 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine — lowered the risk of health problems linked to the heart or metabolism, researchers found.…  read on >  read on >

For the second time this year, the Senate plans to vote Tuesday on a law that would create a nationwide right to IVF. The bill was already blocked by Republicans earlier this year, but Democrats are hoping to use this second vote to pressure Republican congressional candidates on the hot button issue, the Associated Press…  read on >  read on >

With implications for research around postpartum depression and other health issues, scientists have tracked the changes pregnancy brings to the female brain. These changes weren’t subtle: Big shifts in what’s known as the brain’s “white matter” versus “gray matter” were observed, according to a team from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). “The maternal…  read on >  read on >