Inaccurate labels and confusing packaging lead people with serious medical conditions to get ‘glutened,’ says public health scholar Emily Abel
 

American women living in states with less restrictive reproductive rights policies are less likely to give birth to low-birth weight babies, according to a team led by UCLA Fielding School of Public Health researchers.

Compared to infants of normal weight, low birth weight newborns may be more at risk for numerous health problems. Some infants may become sick in the first six days of life or develop infections. Other children may suffer from long-term problems, including delayed motor and social development or learning disabilities.

Researchers from the UCLA Fielding School  of Public Health and the University of Southern California have found that a high level of exposure to oil and gas “flaring” events — the burning off of excess natural gas at production sites — is associated with a 50% higher risk for preterm birth, compared with women who are not exposed to flaring.

The researchers defined a high level of exposure as 10 or more nightly flare events within a distance of 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) of the woman’s home.

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that daily discipline rates in middle schools change throughout the school year and escalate more rapidly for Black students than for White students. Discipline rates are typically collected and evaluated with end-of-year metrics that offer a static view.

"More than a million California students could get access to condoms at school — no questions asked. Under a bill introduced this year, young people in California won't need to ask permission to grab a condom out of a dispenser at school.

Pregnant women whose household tap water had higher levels of lithium had a moderately higher risk of their offspring being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, according to a new study led by a UCLA Health researcher.

The United States is falling behind the rest of the world in supporting fathers and caregivers of older adults, new UCLA research finds — and women’s engagement in the economy is stagnating as a result.

Today, the WORLD Policy Analysis Center (WORLD) at UCLA, launched “Equality within Our Lifetimes,” the most comprehensive analysis to date of laws and policies related to gender equality in all 193 U.N. member states. While the U.S. performs well in some areas, it has become even more of an outlier when it comes to care.

STUDENTS IN THE FIELDING SCHOOL-BASED Reproductive Health Interest Group (RHIG) are gaining hands-on experience in research and advocacy while addressing an important public health concern on the UCLA campus: support for students, staff and faculty who are breastfeeding.

NATIONALLY, CHINA’S EFFORT OVER THE LAST SEVERAL DECADES to reduce maternal mortality rates by promoting hospital deliveries has been highly successful. From 1990 to 2011, maternal mortality rates declined an average of 5.7 percent per year, far greater than the average declines for low- and middle-income countries over the same period.

“Women and adolescents are often underrepresented at the policy table.”
— Dr. Corrina Moucheraud