Doctor's Column: Does coffee cure high blood pressure?

Dear Esther, “I did not want the pregnancy” might mean that you have now come to terms with having got an unwanted pregnancy and now you want to keep it which is good.

“What can I do” carries a tone of wanting another method to abort the pregnancy. You were taking contraceptives to avoid pregnancy and when you failed, you used other drugs to eliminate it but it survived.

This pregnancy may be giving you a warning that it has survived rough seas and any attempt to remove it may have repercussions. Abortions today are safer but not 100 per cent safe.

Whereas women abort claiming the morning after pill may have maimed the unborn, what is true is the pill is not known to be associated with abnormalities when it fails to prevent pregnancy.

That said, misoprostol usually given by mouth, under the tongue and intravaginally (what you call put in the private parts) though is more used for peptic ulcers and is commonly accessed from some pharmacies to procure abortions.

Misoprostol may be associated with foetal abnormalities when given to a pregnant woman especially in the first third of pregnancy when organs are forming. Please visit your doctor for more advice.

Dear doctor, my nine-month-old baby enjoys only sweet things. I’m told this could spoil its teeth and so I have resorted to giving honey. Can honey spoil teeth?
Manuela Adakun

Dear Manuela, at nine months, a baby may have two or three milk teeth which in around five years will be shed to develop permanent teeth.

Sweet foods cause damage to teeth when they stick between the teeth, hence inviting hungry bacteria whose products damage teeth. Also, too much sweet food may put infants at a higher risk of becoming overweight with a likelihood of developing type two diabetes, heart disease and some cancers later in life.

It is true that honey is very nutritious for anybody including infants. However, honey may contain spores of bacteria (Clostridium Botulinum,) which can grow in a baby’s immature digestive system and cause a potentially fatal condition called infant botulism.

These spores are usually harmless to adults and children over one year of age because the digestive system is more mature and has small bacteria (micro-organisms) in the intestine which stop botulinum bacteria from growing out of the spores. It is unwise to give a baby below one year honey even when it is boiled since the spores are heat resistant.

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