Past drug use may affect grandchildrenNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — A mother’s drug use may have far-reaching consequences, eventually affecting the self-esteem of her grandchildren, new research suggests.In a study of three generations of urban, minority families, researchers found that children whose grandmothers had a history of drug abuse tended to have poorer self-esteem than their peers.

The connection appeared to be explained by the second generation. That is, women whose mothers abused drugs had a more troubled relationship with their own children.

“This study suggests that mothers’ drug problems are not just near-term risks for their children, but also pose long-term risks for their children’s future functioning as parents and thereby for their grandchildren,” the study authors report in the journal Pediatrics.

Dr. Judith S. Brook of New York University School of Medicine led the research.

The findings are based on interviews with 149 New York City children ages seven to 12, their mothers and grandmothers. The researchers found that when grandmothers had a history of drug abuse, their daughters tended to have more conflicts with and negative feelings towards their own children.

Their children, in turn, had lower feelings of self-worth compared with their peers.

The findings suggest that poor parenting skills are being passed down through the generations of drug-affected families, according to Brook’s team.

This implies that addressing “future grandmothers’” drug problems could have positive effects on multiple generations, they conclude.

“Improving grandmothers’ parenting skills and preventing or intervening to reduce grandmothers’ drug use,” the researchers write, “may well have effects on their own behaviour, their children’s behaviour, and the development of their grandchildren.”Coffee seen not to raise heart attack riskNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Drinking coffee does not appear increase the risk of heart attack, according to a study of older Swedish women, and it may even be protective.Several studies have examined ties between coffee consumption and risk of heart attack, but results have been mixed. Some studies have suggested a harmful effect of coffee consumption on the heart, whereas others have shown no link.

In their study, Dr. Sarah A. Rosner, of Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues prospectively examined the effect of coffee consumption on the risk of heart attack in 32,650 Swedish women between 40 and 74 years of age.

The women were participating in a study initiated between 1987 and 1990. During an average follow-up of 5.1 years, a total of 459 heart attacks occurred. Of these, 391 were nonfatal and 68 were fatal.

In analyses adjusting for possible confounding factors, the team found that women who drank five or more cups of java per week had a 32 percent reduced relative risk of having a heart attack compared with women who drank zero to four cups per week, although this did not reach statistical significance.

Overall, there was “a nonsignificant trend towards lower risk with higher consumption levels,” the investigators report.

There are “several plausible biologic mechanisms” by which coffee may reduce risk of heart attack, Rosner’s team explains. “Coffee contains phenolic compounds, which are known antioxidants and may reduce oxidative stress,” they note. Additionally, coffee has been shown to improve the body’s use of insulin and may protect against Type 2 diabetes.Healthy teeth and gums start in infancyNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — As part of February’s National Children’s Dental Health Month, the American Dental Association reminds parents that children should visit the dentist within six months of getting their first tooth and no later than their first birthday.“We like to see the child by their first birthday so we can talk to parents about good oral hygiene practices and we also do see a certain number of children who have early decay in the mouth,” Dr. Kimberly Harms, ADA consumer advisor and general dentist at Rivers Edge Dental Clinic in Farmington, Minnesota, told Reuters Health.

New moms should know that babies’ gums should be wiped with a damp cloth after every feeding; once a tooth erupts, it needs to be cleaned all the way around.

“We have bacteria that build up in the mouth every 24 hours and we need to get rid of it,” she said.

The message about the importance of children flossing has “fallen on fairly deaf ears,” Harm added, partly because flossing, especially for children, is no easy task. “But there are a lot of flossing aids for kids on the market now and I have noticed in my practice a much greater acceptance of flossing since these devices have been developed,” Harms told Reuters Health.

Tooth sealants, which are now routinely used to protect the chewing surfaces, have dramatically reduced the incidence of cavities in kids, Harms said.

A sealant is a clear or tooth-coloured plastic material that is applied to the chewing surfaces of the back teeth where decay occurs most often.

Sealants protect normal depressions and grooves in the teeth which are particularly susceptible to tooth decay.

“The six-year molars are usually the first teeth that we seal, but we do seal baby teeth if we see a certain amount of decay or if the tooth has a deep groove where bacteria can get in but your toothbrush can’t,” Harms explained.

In the past 20 years, preventive dental care, such as the use of tooth sealants, has fuelled a significant decrease in tooth decay among school-age children with access to a dentist, Harms said.