Sixty children aged 8 to 11 years in Belfast (Lancet2000;355:537–41) had reading delay and moved their outstretched arms or lost their balance when their heads were turned with their eyes closed. In a randomised trial, a programme of voluntary movements intended to replicate those of the asymmetrical tonic neck reflex and other primitive reflexes reduced the limb and balance response to head turning and apparently improved the children's reading skills in comparison with control groups. It's difficult to argue with success, but Lucina has difficulty in imagining the mechanisms by which such a movement programme might affect reading ability.

A 10 week programme of moderate exercise and dieting(New England Journal of Medicine2000;342:449–53) brought about weight loss of about 4.9 kg in overweight mothers in North Carolina whose babies were 4 weeks old at the start of the programme. There was no significant effect on the growth in weight or length of the babies compared with those of control mothers.

Women with high plasma phenylalanine concentrations should aim to achieve metabolic control before pregnancy, or as early as possible during pregnancy. A study of the 253 children of 205 such women in the USA, Canada, and Germany (Journal of the American Medical Association 2000;283:756–62) has shown a fall …