Pre-eclampsia, Toxemia
We hear so much about pre-eclampsia which can be life threatening to the mother and baby.See also: www.getpregnantover40.com for information on having a healthy pregnancy over 40
Here is some research which may have pinpointed why pre-eclampsia occurs in the first place. It appears that the mother's blood pressure rises in response to an abnormal development in the vessels of the placenta. Read more:
In most pregnancies development of the blood supply to the placenta (vascularisation) is completed at around 20 weeks into the pregnancy. However if this fails to develop normally, the growing placenta starts to pump out a hormone called neurokinin B. This hormone seems to be inactive in the foetus, but a team led by Professor Phil Lowry (University of Reading) has recently deduced that once it crosses the placenta into the mother it is processed differently; neurokinin B causes the mother’s blood pressure to rise, which means that more nutrients are able to reach the foetus. This rise in blood pressure leads directly to the condition called pre-eclampsia.
from: www.innovations-report.com
