foodconsumer.org: Low serotonin linked to SIDS

Low serotonin linked to SIDS
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admin on 02/03/2010 12:45:00
 
A new study in the Feb. 3 issue of The Journal of the American Medical
Association suggests low serotonin levels may be at least one cause for sudden
infant death syndrome or SIDS.
Hannah Kinney, MD at Children's Hospital Boston and colleagues compared
serotonin levels in infants who died from SIDS to that in those who died from
other medical conditions and found the former did not only have low serotonin,
but also had low levels of serotonin receptors.
Serotonin is known to regulate breathing, heart rate and blood pressure during
sleep. The researchers said normal infants can wake up when they experience some
types of stresses like re breathing carbon dioxide when sleeping in the face
down position.  But infants with low serotonin would never respond to the
environmental triggers.
For the study, Kinney and colleagues measured the levels of serotonin and
tryptophan hydroxylase, which helps convert tryptophan, an amino acid, into
serotonin, in 36 infants who died from SIDS and 5 infants from other acute
causes.
Serotonin levels were 26 percent lower compared to the controls while the
tryptophan hydroxylase levels were 22 percent lower and levels of serotonin
receptors were 50 percent lower in infants dying from SIDS.
Kinney said cited in a press release that during pregnancy, mothers should avoid
the risk factors such as smoking and drinking and until 12 months of age,
infants should sleep on their backs in a crib with a firm mattress.
By Jimmy Downs