the magical fruit
May. 2nd, 2006 01:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutBeans, beans
When I was pregnant, my husband likes to say I was on the all-bean diet (at least for a good part of the first trimester). I had unbelievable bean cravings. Not just for chocolate and peanut butter, either: chili, black bean soup, even lentils, which I normally don't care for at all.
Well, the bean cravings have returned with a vengeance for the last month, which was completely mysterious, until I decided to go find out when infants really start walking on average (and, more relevantly, what the standard deviation is, and what the variation by population is). I failed, but I ran across some really fascinating stuff about a study to determine whether supplementing zinc and/or folic acid would speed the process up (this was in Africa, mind you, so the babies were walking durned early anyway). Come to find out, supplementing folic acid speeds the process up by about 20 days.
Hmmm.
Go, cravings.
In the meantime, I've come up with a good black bean chili recipe for the crock pot. I've also made hummous from garbanzo beans (used Eden Organics canned, so no salt added; next time will use dried) and sesame seeds (every time I buy a jar of tahini, I don't use it and it goes bad. And I had sesame seeds and a coffee grinder we use for spices, so I figured it was worth a try). It was good! Tasted like the real deal, despite the fact I did not use garlic and did use white truffle oil (one of my readers should be pleased to hear this).
Oh, and that study with the supplements. Average age of walking was 8.9 months. Standard deviation was 1.8 months. Hunh? I doubt that's a normal curve; I'm betting there's a short tail on the left and a long one on the right, but who knows.
When I was pregnant, my husband likes to say I was on the all-bean diet (at least for a good part of the first trimester). I had unbelievable bean cravings. Not just for chocolate and peanut butter, either: chili, black bean soup, even lentils, which I normally don't care for at all.
Well, the bean cravings have returned with a vengeance for the last month, which was completely mysterious, until I decided to go find out when infants really start walking on average (and, more relevantly, what the standard deviation is, and what the variation by population is). I failed, but I ran across some really fascinating stuff about a study to determine whether supplementing zinc and/or folic acid would speed the process up (this was in Africa, mind you, so the babies were walking durned early anyway). Come to find out, supplementing folic acid speeds the process up by about 20 days.
Hmmm.
Go, cravings.
In the meantime, I've come up with a good black bean chili recipe for the crock pot. I've also made hummous from garbanzo beans (used Eden Organics canned, so no salt added; next time will use dried) and sesame seeds (every time I buy a jar of tahini, I don't use it and it goes bad. And I had sesame seeds and a coffee grinder we use for spices, so I figured it was worth a try). It was good! Tasted like the real deal, despite the fact I did not use garlic and did use white truffle oil (one of my readers should be pleased to hear this).
Oh, and that study with the supplements. Average age of walking was 8.9 months. Standard deviation was 1.8 months. Hunh? I doubt that's a normal curve; I'm betting there's a short tail on the left and a long one on the right, but who knows.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-03 08:26 pm (UTC)Even if the top of the curve is a lot further left on the African graph, I doubt the left side of it is any further left. If it were a normal curve, that would put over 2% of the babies walking by 8.9-(2x1.8) months, or 5.3 months or earlier!!! That just couldn't be so.
Mind you, I get the impression that normal milestones are not of very much clinical interest -- I don't think doctors really care exactly where the modes or medians are for these behaviors, as long as they know what looks definitely delayed or somehow wrong. I don't think there really is a lot of good data in this area.
Helen Schinske