Conception Date

A new study shows that the month of conception may impact future success in school.

Scientists at the School of Medicine at Indiana University have found a link between academic progress and the time of the year a child was conceived. Led by neonatologist Paul Winchester, researchers linked test scores in the test programs statewide in the month of conception. The results showed that mathematics and language are the lowest for children who were conceived in the months from June to August [Astrologers may take note: although scientifically promotion, the practice of forecasting constitutional factors by month of conception is an old empirical tradition Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine.

A strange coincidence? Not according to researchers at Indiana. They argue that the fetal brain develops soon after conception and pesticides used on crops to saturate the air during the summer months. Nitrates in pesticides can alter the hormonal balance of pregnancy and harm the brain development of fetuses.

Nitrates and pesticides have been known to cause maternal hypothyroidism, which is associated with cognitive deficits in children. The consumption of pesticides in surface waters has also been directly associated with low cognitive scores. There may be many years before we know the magnitude of adverse effects that pesticides may have on neurological development.