The “Dirty Dozen” fruits and vegetables

You eat fruits and vegetables because they’re good for you, but the Environmental Working Group has come out with this year’s so-called “Dirty Dozen” fruits and vegetables...those that contain the highest levels of pesticides.

Topping the list are strawberries and spinach. Also named, three greens grouped together - kale, collard and mustard greens – along with nectarines, apples, grapes and bell and hot peppers, cherries, peaches, pears celery and tomatoes. To avoid problems, the group recommends either buying organic or rinse all produce carefully, buy local if possible and buy in season.

C-Section Rate Dipped During Pandemic’s First Year

Pre-term births via C-section and induced delivery rates in the United States remained steady in the decade leading up to the start of the COVID pandemic, but dropped suddenly in the first month of the lockdown and stayed low for the rest of the first year.

A study published on Pediatrics noted the drop, which indicated women saw their physicians less often out of fear of contracting the virus. The researchers then looked at the question of whether physicians sometimes intervene when it isn’t necessary. The statistics indicate the number of interventions dropped by 350 fewer per 100-thousand live births - what researchers said is a significant change. Then... at the end of that first year, the numbers started to rise to previous levels. Researchers say they’ll need next to study fetal death rates during that time, to see if more babies died from lack of timely intervention...in order to determine whether physicians intervene more often than necessary.