A federal appeals court overturned an earlier ruling Friday and ordered a boost in retirement benefits for female AT&T employees who took pregnancy leave before 1979, the year that federal law banned discrimination based on pregnancy. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled 2-1 in March 2006 that the women were not entitled to equal benefits, but the full court then ordered a hearing by a larger panel, which ruled 11-4 in the women’s favor on Friday. Once the law took effect in 1979, AT&T granted pregnant employees full credit for time spent on leave, but did not equalize retirement credits for pre-1979 leaves. The disputed issue in the case was whether the women’s claim required retroactive enforcement of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act against conduct by AT&T - granting less paid leave for pregnancy than for other disabilities - that was legal before 1979. But the appeals court majority said it wasn’t applying the 1979 law to AT&T’s pre-1979 limitations on disability benefits, but instead to its post-1979 decision to pay lesser retirement benefits to the same employees. read more

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In the study, baby rats that ate the most junk food — and gained more weight — were those with mothers who had feasted on junk food during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. The researchers studied pregnant rats that only ate regular chow or ate a “junk food diet” during pregnancy and/or while breastfeeding. The pregnant rats on the junk food diet made a beeline for the junk food, turning up their noses at the healthier rat chow they were also offered. But the baby rats that ate the most junk food and gained more weight were those with mothers who had feasted on junk food during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. read more

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It is acting on the insistence of doctors, who say pregnant women are gaining too much weight and the current recommendations do not factor in the country’s obesity epidemic. Carrying too much weight while pregnant increases the risk of complications for mother and baby, including birth defects, labour and delivery problems, and foetal death, according to the March of Dimes. This year, the Institute of Medicine, a private organisation that advises the federal government, is expected to begin the lengthy process of gathering scientific evidence to decide if the guidelines should be changed, said spokesperson Christine Stencel. Women with a higher body mass index have a lower target - 6,8kg only for the most obese women. Women in the study who followed the recommendations ran four times the risk of having a child who was overweight at age three, compared to women who gained less than the advised amount. read more

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