British mega-selling singer Adele is in trouble with the law. After giving birth to a baby boy in October, authorities say she failed to register her son's birth within the stipulated 42-day deadline. She broke the law, and it's going to cost her a few bob.
But do you think the 24-year-old Skyfall songstress really gives a toss? Likely she and and boyfriend Simon Konecki are a bit too busy these days to worry about such legal technicalities, but her mommy moment will result in a fine of £1,000 fine ($1,590 CD).
According to an article on the Huffington Post, the UK government requires all births to be "registered within 42 days of the child being born." The filed documents must contain details such as the baby's gender, date and place of birth, parents' names and addresses, their date and place birth, as well as job titles.
“Cops are hardly going to be banging on their door tomorrow and it’s probably just an oversight on their part," a source told the Sun.
In the States alone, Adele sold more than 10 million copies of her album "21." She is notoriously private, though, so I'm guessing she has held off on registering the birth in case details are leaked to the press. So far she has managed to keep even her son's name under wraps—which is quite the feat in this age of Chronic Overshare and Peeping Pap.
Clearly she won't be able to dodge the law for much longer. But what advice would you give to Adele to keep her son out of the limelight?
We all know that breast milk is best for baby. But now there's damning evidence that formula can be harmful, particularly for premature infants. According to an article in Science Daily, a new study from the University of California has revealed that fatty acids involved in the digestion of formula can cause necrotizing enterocolitis (NE)—a severe, often fatal intestinal condition.
Having tested nine different infant formulas, the researchers published their findings online in the journal Pediatric Research. Although scientists have known before now that formula-fed premature babies are particularly susceptible to NE, they never understood the underlying reason.
While a mature or adult intestine is able to withstand cell damage due to free fatty acids, that of a preterm baby isn't. When researchers respectively tested infant formula and breast milk against digestive enzymes in vitro, the formula digestion led to cellular death or or cytotoxicity "in less than 5 minutes in some cases."
Breast milk was thought to have built-in mechanism to ward against cytotoxicity because it is digested at a slower, more controlled rate. While digestion of formula caused "death in 47 percent to 99 percent of neutrophils while only 6 percent of them died as a result of milk digestion."
The study is a revelation for neonatal intensive care units and for full-term babies at risk for gastrointestinal and sensitivities, such as autism spectrum disorders. Breastfeeding premature babies can be challenging, if not impossible in many cases.
Clearly either a better infant formula must be manufactured, or hospitals need in-house breast milk banks if babies, particularly those born preterm, are to get the best possible start they deserve.
Extreme anorexic Valeria Levitin might just be the thinnest woman alive. At around 54lbs, she has matchstick thighs, and her photo is a disturbing reminder about the perils of eating disorders. However, not everyone sees it that way. Levitin gets fan mail from girls aspiring to be as equally, skeletally skinny.
“I have received emails from young girls who want me to teach them how to be like me," 39-year-old Levitin told the UK Sun. “All the letters I’ve had are from women, mainly in their twenties, who see me as some kind of inspiration. This is why I want to campaign against anorexia. I am not going to teach them how to die. It is not a game, it is not a joke, it is your life.”
Levitin doesn't skimp on her words. Her disorder started when she was a teenager, and she says it has since ruined her life. Originally from Russia, Levitin resides in Monaco, she blames her mother for restricting her diet from a young age. As a teenager she moved to the U.S. and succumbed to the pressure to stay thin.
Now, at just half the weight she should be, Levitin eats very little because her body now rejects many foods. She has missed out on a relationship and family.
“I want to share my story to help sufferers and their families from repeating my fate. I want young people to live happy, healthy and meaningful lives. Anorexia has made me lonely, unattractive and repulsive for the people around me.”
But Levitin is on the mend, slowly. In her fragile state she has to be careful about falling. “This disease is not about being cured by a doctor. It’s a deeper problem than that, it’s a lack of harmony between body and soul... When you become healthier your body will start eating, not vice versa. You don’t force yourself to eat then become better, it’s not like that.”
These days her incentive to get well has everything to do with conception. Even though she would use a surrogate to carry a baby, Levitin is determined to start a family of her own. "I have so much to give."
Read one of her fan letters below, courtesy of the Sun:
"Hello dear Valeria,
I am 23 and weigh 8½st (119lbs) and I do not like myself this way. I want to look skinny like Thumbelina. Nobody can persuade me not to diet, even though I acquired gastritis and pancreatitis.
I have tried all kinds of diets but they all yielded only temporary results. On my present diet I do not feel hungry eating 10½oz to 14oz of food per day, I cannot return to my old way of eating because I fear I will gain weight.
All my relatives are telling me it will hurt me, that I will be a victim of anorexia. I am a little worried that one day I will be faced with a problem of critically low weight and I want to know when to get worried. When did it happen to you?"
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