A "statistical error" that resulted in an upper limit being set for daily folic acid intake may have contributed to hundreds of children being born with common birth defects, scientists say.

Almost half of all expectant mothers in Ireland gain too much weight during the pregnancy.

DR ANDREW Wakefield, the-now disgraced doctor who published studies linking vaccines with autism, committed an “elaborate fraud” by faking data, the British Medical Journal has said.

Military service, particularly in the Gulf War, may be linked to development of a nerve disease the US Institute of Medicine said today. The evidence, however, is limited and inconsistent, the institute added.

A US Institute of Medicine committee of experts has said it found no link between a childhood vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella and autism.