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Journal Article 4.1: Stevens, L. M. (2016). Environmental contaminants and reproductive bodies: Provider perspectives on risk, gender, and responsibility. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 57, 471-485.

Abstract: Increasingly, leading health organizations recommend that women who are pregnant or considering pregnancy avoid certain toxic chemicals found in our products, homes, and communities in order to protect fetuses from developmental and future harm. In the contemporary United States, women’s maternal bodies have been treated as sites of exceptional risk and individual responsibility. Many studies have examined this phenomenon through the lens of lifestyle behaviors like smoking, drinking, and exercise. However, we know little about how environmental hazards fit into the dominant framework of gendered, individual responsibility for risk regulation. I draw on in-depth interviews with 19 reproductive healthcare providers in the United States to explore how they think about their patients’ exposure to environmental contaminants and sometimes subvert this gendered, individualized responsibility and adopt more collective frames for understanding risk.

Journal Article 4.2: Alpert, P. T. (2017). The role of vitamins and minerals on the immune system. Home Health Care Management & Practice, 29, 199-202.

Abstract: It has long been recognized that individuals living in poverty who suffer from malnutrition are more susceptible to infections and certain diseases due to deficiencies in macronutrients such as proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. More recently, it has come to light that micronutrients such as several vitamins and minerals also play major roles in boosting the immune system to protect against certain infections, inflammation, and possibly some cancers. This article discusses the various immune boosting properties of several micronutrients.