Children removed early on from institutionalised care and placed in foster homes enjoy healthy brain connection (white matter) repair compared with those who remain institutionalised (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2012, doi:10.1073/pnas.1200041109). Brain imaging and electroencephalograms revealed the brain structure and function of Romanian children raised in institutions and in families and of orphans assigned by lottery to foster care between 6 and 31 months of age. Fostered children had white matter volumes similar to non-institutionalised children and significantly more white matter than permanently institutionalised children.

Adherence to healthy eating before pregnancy is associated with a reduced risk of gestational diabetes (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2012;96:289-95, doi:10.3945/ajcn.111.028266). Data from the Nurses’ Health Study II cohort between 1991 and 2001 indicated that risk of gestational diabetes was 24% lower in women who followed a Mediterranean type diet, 34% lower in those with …