3 Things That Will Make You Feel Great About The World

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Love is in the air! Here are our favorite feel-good (and do-gooder) stories of the last seven days.

Watch a deaf man hear his daughter say “I love you” for the first time, thanks to new technology

One man’s dream of hearing his daughter’s voice for the first time is finally coming true. D.C. Goutoufas, 47, had been deaf since the age of 4. Now, thanks to a cochlear implant surgery at Tampa General Hospital, Goutoufas’s wish has been granted.

The very first words that he heard? “I love you,” out of the mouth of his 17-year-old daughter Olivia, after which she blew a whistle that Goutoufas’s father had left him before passing away.

Goutoufas will continue to work with technicians at Tampa Bay Hearing and Balance Center for up to three years to reach the full listening capabilities of his breakthrough new “bionic ears,” Tampa news channel WTNH reports.

RELATED: Your Ultimate Guide to Healthy Ears

Check out the 39 random acts of kindness this sweet dad and daughter duo completed together

This daddy-daughter team decided that the best way to spend their birthdays this year was by giving back—in 39 ways to be exact.

Oxford, England native Lee Beck and his daughter Amelie spent the two weeks surrounding their May birthdays completing one act of kindness for each year they had lived—Amelie was turning 7, and Lee 32. The acts, which Beck shared in a YouTube video last week, ranged from picking up litter in a local park to delivering thank-you cards at nearby fire and police stations.

Beck told ABC News that he hopes the video inspires others to perform even one random act of kindness in their own community. “It has been a very emotional time as we have learned about various causes, and we have a lot of memories to take away from it all. We will certainly be doing some kind acts next year,” he told ABC News.

Check out all 39 acts of kindness that Lee and Amelie completed in this video:

RELATED: Acts of Kindness Can Make You Happier

This cat took on a black bear, reminding us that believing in yourself is half the battle

Black bears are a pretty usual sight in Anchorage, Alaska, but resident Darlis Elliott had quite the surprise when one ended up on her porch.

Luckily for Elliott, her cat, Nani, made up for in confidence what she lacked in size: One fierce pounce against Elliott’s glass door from Nani sent the bear scurrying away in fear. We could all take a lesson from Nani and the bear’s David and Goliath tale, namely that even the small can be strong when the situation calls for it. Plus, it’s good to end a long with with a laugh—TGIF!

Watch the hilarious showdown here:

RELATED: Feel Confident At Any Age

 

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5 Essential Tricks for Treating a Sunburn

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Of course you understand the importance of sunscreen, but sometimes, no matter how diligent you were with reapplying, you still end up getting too much sun. While the damage of a sunburn can’t be undone (sadly), there are things you can do to speed up the healing process and soothe your red, inflamed skin. We asked Joshua Zeichner, MD, director of cosmetic and clinical research in the department of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, about the best way to feel better fast.

Work from the inside out

So you’re on the way home from the beach, and one look in the rearview mirror tells you that you’re in trouble. As soon as you realize your skin is a little too red, take an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory pill like ibuprofen or aspirin, Dr. Zeichner recommends. This can help stop inflammation and redness from getting any worse and ease pain.

RELATED: 5 Skincare Tricks to Look Better in a Bikini

Cool down

Once you get to a shower, rinse off with cool water to soothe skin and remove any chlorine, salt water or sand that may be lingering and causing more irritation. Have a bath? Even better! Add a cup of whole oats to the cool bath water for extra calming power.

Moisturize

The sun zaps moisture from the skin, so be sure to replenish it regularly over the next few days with a rich moisturizer. Zeichner recommends looking for ones that contain aloe, glycerin or hyaluronic acid like Sun Bum Cool Down Aloe Spray ($12, nordstrom.com). If it’s a small area like your nose, neck or ears, try a 1% hydrocortisone ointment like Cortizone 10 Hydrocortisone Anti-Itch Cream Plus 10 Moisturizers ($9, walgreens.com) to reduce inflammation. Hot tip: Keep your moisturizers in the fridge for an extra refreshing treat.

RELATED: How To Perform a Self-Exam For Skin Cancer

Use a DIY compress

Try using a cool compress soaked in skim milk, egg whites or green tea. The proteins in milk and egg whites coat and calm the burn while green tea reduces inflammation.

Drink up

Not only does the sun take away the moisture from your skin, it also dehydrates the rest of your body as well, which is why you may also feel extra tired after a long day in the sun. Counteract the sun’s damage by drinking lots of water and eating water filled fruit like watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, or grapes.

RELATED: 15 Biggest Sunscreen Mistakes

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How Probiotics May Help Ease Social Anxiety

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You’re probably aware of the benefits of probiotics (aka “friendly” bacteria) for digestive health, which include reduced bloating, management of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), and help with diarrhea triggered by antibiotics or traveling. What you may not know is that probiotics are also tied to a slew of additional health benefits, from skin and oral health, to immune support, cholesterol reduction, and even weight control.

Now a new study, published in the journal Psychiatry Research shows that consuming these “good” bacteria in fermented foods may also help curb social anxiety. The study, from College of William and Mary, included more than 700 students (mostly women) enrolled in an intro psychology class. Each participant filled out a questionnaire about his or her consumption of fermented foods, like yogurt or sauerkraut. They also answered personality questionnaires designed to tease out patterns of neuroticism (a personality trait) and social anxiety. In the end, researchers found that people with neurotic personalities were more likely to experience social anxiety, and that eating fermented foods was tied to a lower likelihood of symptoms.

RELATED: 20 Best Foods for Fiber

This fascinating study adds to a growing body of research about the potential effects of probiotics on mental well-being. One animal study, from McMaster University in Ontario, swapped gut bacteria from mice with different personalities. Fearless mice became timid after receiving microbes from anxious counterparts, and vice versa. Aggressive mice also became calm when researchers changed their gut microbes by altering their diets.

A human study from UCLA found that women who received a probiotic-rich yogurt rather than a placebo experienced brain changes that reduced their emotional responses to images of angry or frightened faces. Scientists say these effects are a result of a “communication highway” between the gut and the brain, and show that gut bacteria are powerful brain influencers.

While much of this research is still in its infancy,  bolstering your diet by incorporating these four types of probiotic-rich foods is an easy (and tasty) way to take advantage of the potential benefits.

RELATED: 6 ‘Bad’ Carbs That Are Actually Good For You

Sauerkraut

Think beyond Oktoberfest! Eat this goodie year round “as is” as an easy side dish, add it to garden salads and sandwiches, or include a dollop on top of soup, cooked or chilled lentils, hummus, or potatoes.

Kimchi

Add this Korean staple, typically made from fermented cabbage, radishes, or cucumbers, to omelets, veggie salads, whole grain rice or noodles, or use kimchi as a topping for tacos, pizza, or “clean” lean proteins, like seafood, poultry, or beans.

Yogurt

Make it sweet or savory. Use plain yogurt, seasoned with garlic, black pepper and herbs as a dip, or the base of a dressing for slaw, potatoes, or chilled veggie sides, like dilled cucumbers. Sweeten yogurt with fruit, along with herbs and spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, or mint. Add nuts and whole grains, like rolled oats, or cooked, chilled quinoa, to make muesli, or layered parfaits.

RELATED: 13 Best Foods for Your Gut Health

Kefir

Drink kefir straight up, whip it into smoothies, or stir in add-ins, like fruit and shaved dark chocolate, and pour into popsicle molds. Plain kefir can also be seasoned in savory ways and used for sauces and dressing. If you don’t eat dairy you can find plant-based versions of both yogurt and kefir.

If you’re considering a supplement only do so if you’re healthy; otherwise check with your doctor first. If you have any allergies or intolerances read the ingredient lists carefully – some probiotics may contain gluten, soy, or milk derivatives. Look for one that contains about 5 billion CFU’s, or colony forming units. CFUs indicates the number of live active cultures per pill. Talk to your doctor or personal nutritionist about which brand or strains of bacteria are best for you. Also be sure to check the expiration date, keep the pills either refrigerated or away from heat and light (check the label) to preserve the bacteria, and do not exceed the recommended dose.

RELATED: 12 Worst Habits For Your Mental Health

Do you feel like your physical or emotional health transformed after you started consuming more probiotics? Chat with us on Twitter by mentioning @goodhealth and @CynthiaSass.

Cynthia Sass is a nutritionist and registered dietitian with master’s degrees in both nutrition science and public health. Frequently seen on national TV, she’s Health’s contributing nutrition editor, and privately counsels clients in New York, Los Angeles, and long distance. Cynthia is currently the sports nutrition consultant to the New York Rangers NHL team and the New York Yankees MLB team, and is board certified as a specialist in sports dietetics. Cynthia is a three time New York Times best selling author, and her brand new book is Slim Down Now: Shed Pounds and Inches with Real Food, Real Fast. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

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Losing Weight May Ease Asthma in Obese People

FRIDAY, June 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Losing weight may help reduce asthma severity in obese adults, a new Canadian study finds.

“We were pleased to see significant improvement in asthma symptoms, as well as quality of life for these individuals. This study further supports the need to manage [chronic disorders] to improve patient lives,” said study author Dr. Smita Pakhale, from The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa.

People who are obese are about 1.5 times more likely to have asthma than those who aren’t obese. A 3-unit increase in body mass index — BMI, an estimate of body fat based on weight and height — is associated with a 35 percent increase in the risk of asthma, the researchers said in a news release from the American College of Chest Physicians.

A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal weight. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is overweight, while 30 and over is considered obese.

The study found that when obese people with asthma lost weight, they showed improvement in asthma severity, asthma control and quality of life.

The study appears in the June issue of the journal Chest.

More information

The American Lung Association has more about asthma.

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School Coaches Often Ill-Equipped to Spot, Manage Concussions

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) — U.S. middle school and high school coaches may not be sufficiently trained and equipped to quickly recognize concussions in student athletes, two new studies suggest.

Without solid concussion training, coaches may mishandle a student’s head injury, experts said.

“High school coaches are the primary responders on the field when head injuries occur, and every state now has some sort of mandate when it comes to the handling of student athlete concussions, which is great,” said Meredith Madden, a resident in athletic training at Boston College and lead author of one of the new studies.

Her survey of Massachusetts coaches revealed some shortcomings.

“What we found is that although high school coaches do generally have an excellent knowledge of signs and symptoms, when they are given management scenarios involving concussion situations that are a little bit atypical, it can become difficult for them to quickly identify the situation,” Madden said.

The other study, involving football coaches in Wisconsin, found some of them also lacked sufficient awareness of concussion guidelines.

Both studies were to be presented at this week’s meeting of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, in St. Louis. Research presented at meetings is often considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

Youth concussion laws vary by state. The good news: In 2009 Washington state enacted the first sport-related concussion laws governing student athletes, and by 2014 all 50 states and the District of Columbia had some type of youth concussion law.

But the National Federation of State High School Associations notes that while most state laws address when to remove an injured player from the field and when to allow an athlete’s return to play, some states — such as Mississippi — do not require high school coaches to take any concussion training.

In states where training is required, Madden said, its effect hasn’t been evaluated. So, she and her colleagues set out to assess the impact of concussion training for high school coach in Massachusetts. There, student coaches working under the aegis of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association must take an online concussion-education course within the first year of hire.

The goal is to provide basic first aid instruction and to help coaches recognize signs of head injury or concussion.

Madden’s team conducted an online survey of 104 coaches. Twelve coaches also participated in face-to-face interviews.

Most coaches had basic information on concussion symptoms, the researchers found.

Confusion, headache, dizziness and blurred vision were correctly identified as signs of concussion by more than 90 percent of coaches. Loss of consciousness, nausea and amnesia were also correctly identified as symptoms more than 75 percent of the time.

But only about four in 10 coaches knew that poor sleep is also a symptom, while about 10 percent incorrectly highlighted symptoms that are not concussion-related, the researchers said.

Also, although more than 90 percent of the coaches could properly handle a concussion when presented with a straightforward injury scenario, that number plummeted to less than 60 percent in the face of a less-typical scenario.

The Wisconsin study of more than 700 coaches found that high school coaches were generally well-informed about concussion and related state guidelines, regardless of education level or experience.

But youth and middle school coaches were significantly less able to spot concussions, and the researchers said educational programs are needed for coaches at this younger level.

“We are not saying coaches should have to diagnose or treat concussions,” Madden said. “But we do want them to be able to quickly identify them so treatment happens quickly.”

Steven Broglio, an associate professor and athletic trainer, is also director of the NeuroSport Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In a perfect world, “all medical decisions need to be taken out of the coaches’ hands,” he said.

“That’s not why they’re there,” Broglio added. “That’s not really what they’ve trained for.”

But, school budgets are often tight, so hiring personnel trained to spot and respond to concussions isn’t always feasible. “In the meantime,” Broglio said, “we do have to improve our education of coaches.”

More information

There’s more on head safety and concussion risk at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Fat No Longer the Focus of New U.S. Dietary Guidelines

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Nutrition experts are hailing a federal decision to drop recommended restrictions on total fat consumption in the forthcoming 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Over the past decade, research has shown that a diet rich in healthy fats can be better for people, particularly if those fats help offset consumption of foods containing high levels of salt, sugar and refined grains, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston, wrote in a viewpoint article on the federal decision.

The report appears in the June 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

That research prompted independent scientists on the federally funded 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee to quietly abandon current recommended restrictions on dietary fat, he said.

For the first time since 1980, the committee did not propose restricting total fat consumption in its technical report, which was released earlier this year.

Low-fat diets have had unintended consequences, turning people away from healthy high-fat foods and toward foods rich in added sugars, starches and refined grains. This has helped fuel the twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes in America, Mozaffarian said.

“We really need to sing it from the rooftops that the low-fat diet concept is dead,” Mozaffarian said. “There are no health benefits to it.”

Current dietary guidelines hold that only up to 35 percent of daily calories should come from fat. The committee’s recommendation drops the entire concept, Mozaffarian noted.

“What’s really noticeable is not they came out with a dramatic statement that we should drop the limit on total fat, but that they really quietly ignored the whole thing,” he said. “There’s no chapter on fat. There’s no statement on fats.”

Based on the committee’s recommendation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are expected to issue an updated set of dietary guidelines later this year that omits any limits on total fat consumption, Mozaffarian said.

Sotiria Everett, a registered dietitian at the Katz Institute for Women’s Health in Lake Success, N.Y., said, “This seems to follow increasing scientific evidence that reducing total fat intake may not benefit heart health and cholesterol levels, especially since consumers’ response to the initial limitations on fat led to increased consumption of refined carbohydrates and added sugar.”

Dropping restrictions on healthy fats will allow Americans to adopt eating habits like the Mediterranean diet, which has been shown to improve heart health even though it includes high-fat items, Everett said.

“Many eating patterns that support heart health, such as the Mediterranean diet, consist of a fat intake that is above 35 percent fat, largely due to the emphasis of foods high in unsaturated fat such as olive oil, nuts and fatty fish,” she said.

Most dietary fats still should come from plant-based unsaturated fats, which have been shown to improve blood cholesterol levels and reduce a person’s risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, Everett said.

But even limited amounts of saturated fats are fine, particularly if they come from plant sources like nuts or avocados, Mozaffarian said.

Mozaffarian argued that these new guidelines should offer more clarity than confusion, because now people can choose foods based on their overall quality rather than individual nutrients they contain.

“This doesn’t mean that butter is good for you or that bacon is good for you. It means we have to really think about the overall quality of our food,” he said.

For example, high-fat foods like vegetable oil, nuts and whole-milk dairy products can be very healthy, while low-fat foods like bagels, white rice, crackers and low-fat potato chips are terrible, Mozaffarian said.

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of Women’s Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said, “These new guidelines are intended to bring health back to the American diet, by encouraging fruits, vegetables and healthy fats. Hopefully, this will help in reducing the obesity epidemic.”

Mozaffarian hopes that other federal programs will follow suit. For example, the Nutrition Facts label on food products currently uses a 30 percent dietary limit to calculate what an average person’s daily fat intake should be, and the National School Lunch Program recently banned whole milk while keeping sugar-sweetened nonfat milk on cafeteria menus, he said.

“I think the public and doctors should really push the government to cause all of its programs to get up to date with the modern science,” he said.

Both Mozaffarian and his viewpoint co-author, Dr. David Ludwig, director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, were supported in part by grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

More information

Visit the Mayo Clinic for more on the Mediterranean diet.

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Many Doctors Underestimate Risks of Prescription Painkillers: Survey

FRIDAY, June 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Doctors who are ill-informed about narcotic painkillers are unintentionally contributing to their misuse, new research suggests.

Almost half of 1,000 primary care doctors surveyed in the United States mistakenly believed that abuse-deterrent pills — those that can’t be crushed and snorted or injected — are less addictive than standard narcotic painkillers (opioids).

“Physicians and patients may mistakenly view these medicines as safe in one form and dangerous in another, but these products are addictive no matter how you take them,” wrote study leader Dr. G. Caleb Alexander, co-director of the Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

“If doctors and patients fail to understand this, they may believe opioids are safer than is actually the case and prescribe them more readily than they should,” he said in a Hopkins news release.

Primary care doctors — internists, family physicians and general practitioners — are the top prescribers of painkillers in the United States, the researchers said. Prescription drug overdose death rates in the United States have more than tripled since 1990, and use of prescription painkillers nearly doubled between 2000 and 2010, they pointed out in background notes. These include drugs such as oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet); hydrocodone (Vicodin); morphine (Kadian, Avinza); and codeine.

The survey was conducted between February and May 2014. One-third of the doctors also said they believed that most prescription drug abusers don’t take pills by mouth, as intended. Research has shown, however, that the overwhelming majority do. Many fewer snort or inject prescription painkillers, the study’s authors noted.

“Doctors continue to overestimate the effectiveness of prescription pain medications and underestimate their risks, and that’s why we are facing such a public health crisis,” Alexander said.

“When it comes to the opioid epidemic, we must be cautious about overreliance on technological fixes for what is first and foremost a problem of overprescribing,” he added.

All of the doctors surveyed believed that prescription drug abuse was at least a minor problem in their communities. More than half felt it was a “big” issue. Overall, measures that could potentially reduce narcotic painkiller abuse were widely supported.

For instance, almost nine out of 10 “strongly supported” limiting patients who get narcotics to just one prescriber and/or pharmacy, which would restrict the number of pills they could receive.

Two-thirds of the doctors said they strongly supported “contracts” in which patients agree to use their medication as directed and not sell or give it to anyone else. And more than half strongly supported urine tests for chronic painkiller users to monitor appropriate medication use.

The survey results were published online June 23 in the Clinical Journal of Pain.

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse provides more information on prescription drug abuse.

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More Than 100,000 Lululemon Tops Recalled in the U.S. Due to Safety Concerns

Photo: courtesy of cpsc.gov

Remember that time Lululemon mistakenly sold see-through yoga pants? Now there’s a new problem with their gear—one that’s a bit more serious (and potentially dangerous).

About 133,000 Lululemon tops in the United States and 185,000 in Canada with elastic draw cords were recalled yesterday after seven reported incidents of injuries to the face and eye after wearing them. The recalled tops—which include a number of hoodies, jackets, and other styles including the “Don’t Hurry Be Happy Pullover” and the “Gratitude Wrap”—all have an elastic draw cord with hard metal or plastic tips in the hood or around the neck area.

RELATED: The Piece of Running Gear No One Asked For

Apparently, according to a U.S. Consumer and Product Safety Commission (CPSC) report, when the elastic draw cord is pulled or caught on something, then released, it can snap back into the face and cause injuries.

The tops in question were sold at Lululemon stores, online at lululemon.com, and through “select sales partners” between January 2008 and December 2014, per the report.

If you own one, the CPSC advises you to stop wearing it (or at least remove the cord before re-wearing it) and contact Lululemon to request a new, non-elastic draw cord with instructions on how to replace the original cord. Call (877) 263-9300 toll-free, email the company’s Guest Education Center at gec@lululemon.com, or visit lululemon.com and click on “Important Safety Notice” for more information.

RELATED: The Health Benefits of Lululemon’s ‘Anti-Ball Crushing’ Pants

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Weight-Loss Surgery May Help Ease Incontinence: Study

FRIDAY, June 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Weight-loss surgery may also help ease urinary incontinence in the long term, a new study suggests.

Obesity is a key risk factor for urinary incontinence, a distressing condition that causes people to accidentally leak urine. Weight-loss surgery helps obese people shed unwanted pounds. In turn, that weight loss seems to help prevent a loss of bladder control, the study from the University of California, San Francisco, found.

This research looked at benefits three years after weight-loss surgery.

“Our findings showing another important long-term benefit to bariatric surgery might help to motivate people who are severely overweight,” study first author Dr. Leslee Subak said in a university news release. She is a professor in obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, as well as urology and epidemiology.

An estimated 30 million adults in the United States experience urinary incontinence, according to the study authors. The condition can reduce quality of life, they added.

“Research has previously shown that weight loss by several methods — low-calorie diet, behavioral weight reduction, and bariatric surgery — were all associated with improved incontinence in overweight people through the first year,” Subak said.

But before this, there hasn’t been evidence of the longer-term effects, she noted.

Two thousand people between the ages of 18 and 78 were recruited for the study. All had undergone weight-loss surgery between 2005 and 2009. Their procedures were done at 10 different hospitals around the United States. Most of the participants — 79 percent — were women.

About half of the women and more than one-fifth of the men admitted to having an episode of incontinence at least once a week before they had surgery.

A significant weight loss — 29 percent of body weight for women and 26 percent for men — led to dramatic improvements in bladder control for most of the study’s participants three years after weight-loss surgery. The greater the weight loss, the greater their odds of improvement, the study found.

The authors noted older participants or those with serious walking problems had less progress. Also, with every 10-pound weight gain, the risk of relapse increased.

Results of the study were published online recently in JAMA Internal Medicine.

More information

For more on weight-loss surgery, visit the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

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‘Overwhelming’ Evidence That Same-Sex Parenting Won’t Harm Kids

FRIDAY, June 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) — There is no evidence that having same-sex parents harms children in any way, a new comprehensive review finds.

The well-being of children of same-sex couples was an issue the U.S. Supreme Court addressed in its landmark 5-4 ruling on Friday that upheld the legality of gay marriage.

“Without the recognition, stability and predictability marriage offers, children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. “They also suffer the significant material costs of being raised by unmarried parents, relegated to a more difficult and uncertain family life. The marriage laws at issue thus harm and humiliate the children of same-sex couples.”

In the new review, Jimi Adams, associate professor of health and behavioral studies at the University of Colorado Denver, said he wanted to find out if children suffered any disadvantages simply because their parents were of the same sex.

“As same-sex marriage has been debated in courts across the country, there has been the lingering question about the effects of same-sex parenting on children,” Adams said in a university news release.

“I found overwhelming evidence that scientists agree that there is not a negative impact to children of same-sex couples,” he said.

Adams’ team analyzed data from thousands of studies on the issue. The data overwhelming found that children of same-sex parents do not differ from those of heterosexual or single parents on a range of social and behavioral outcomes.

According to the research, by 1990 a consensus between researchers on the issue began to emerge, and by 2000 “overwhelming” consensus had been reached that same-sex parenting does not harm children.

One expert in child mental health “applauded” the new research.

The issue “has been studied and the overwhelming evidence has supported this finding for the past 25 years,” said Dr. Victor Fornari, who directs the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y., and Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y.

The study findings were reported online recently in Social Science Research.

More information

The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy has more about same-sex parents and their children.

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