A healthy and potentially sustainable Nordic diet in early life and aspects of child growth and development

Healthy diets optimize our developmental potential starting from life in womb and can promote longevity, well-being and healthy lives. On the other hand, diets of poor quality were attributable to one in five deaths globally in 2017, mainly caused by cardiovascular disease followed by cancer and diabetes. Moreover, 39 million children under the age of five were overweight or obese in 2020, being at increased future risk of non-communicable diseases. Not only are unhealthy diets detrimental to public health, but more so, they negatively impact the global environment. What we eat directly impacts public health, food systems, environment, economy and the future. However, all healthy foods do not directly translate to being environmentally sustainable. Besides, our dietary habits tend to be influenced by culture, palatability, availability and affordability. Sustainable diets are defined as being health-enhancing with a low environmental impact, while also being culturally appropriate and economically viable. The New Nordic Diet (NND) has been proposed as a regionally appropriate and sustainable diet to the Nordic countries. Consequently, the potential health benefits of the NND have been increasingly investigated in different samples and populations, but there is as yet limited knowledge on the effects of adherence to the NND from fetal life through maternal diet and into childhood. The first 1000 days of life represent a vulnerable phase from the time of conception to child age two years. Healthy child growth and development resulting from a nutritionally adequate maternal and child diet during this phase and beyond, has the potential to impact both present and future health. In the current thesis, we wanted to investigate whether a dietary pattern in line with the NND could be beneficial for aspects of growth and development in children, while also being healthy and potentially sustainable. Three research aims were put forth to investigate this overarching purpose, which also correspond to the three research papers included in this thesis. First, we aimed to develop child diet scores reflecting adherence to the NND, based on a maternal pregnancy NND-score comprising of ten subscales, which was developed in an earlier related project. The subscales of the score intended to capture foods with a Nordic identity that are locally available, traditionally consumed or have an importance as a food source in the Nordic countries, and that have a healthier potential compared to similar foods in the same food group. Second, we aimed to assess potential associations with the NND-scores and weight status at eight years of age. Third, we wanted to investigate potential associations with the NND-scores and measures of child development up to five years of age.publishedVersio

Exodus and the Anthropocene: Tracing climate-change-induced migration in India

For thousands of years humans have concentrated in a surprisingly narrow subset of Earth’s available climates, characterised by mean annual temperatures of around ∼13 °C. Depending on scenarios of population growth and warming, over the coming 50 years, 1 to 3 billion people are projected to be left outside the climate conditions that have served humanity in the past. Absent climate mitigation or migration, a substantial part of humanity will be exposed to mean annual temperatures warmer than nearly anywhere today. (Xu et al., 2020) Internal climate migrants are rapidly becoming the human face of climate change. By 2050—in just three regions—climate change could force more than 143 million people to move within their countries. (Kanta Kumari Rigaud et al., 2018). Our studies indicate that a substantial number of instances of climate change-induced migration are already happening across the Indian subcontinent. Often, these changes in the climate are the direct result of anthropogenic activities. We propose that migration is not a system but a behaviour of the system that governs how suitable a location is for long-term settlement. We also propose a set of factors, called the Human Liveability Factors (HLFs for short), that influence this suitability. The impact of these factors is interpreted with a subjective lens by the inhabitants according to the means at their disposal. As the perceived “liveability” of a place falls, the inhabitants tend towards migration. From a systems perspective, we observed that HLFs influence each other and are externally influenced by factors such as changes in population, particularly in the case of climate migrants’ natural environment stressors. We also draw correlations between NDVI data of the past decade to current climate migration hotspots in the Indian subcontinent, confirming that most of these hotspots lie in regions with a significant loss in vegetation. We use the HLF framework to demonstrate the case for the Beed district in Maharashtra, India, in the present day and the case of Mumbai, India, against the projected rise in sea level for the year 2040. We also present three conceptual solutions that cater to the needs of adaptability and resilience to tackle climate migration in India within the context of livelihoods, urban planning, and CSR Initiative

Childhood adherence to a potentially healthy and sustainable Nordic diet and later overweight:The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

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Development and description of New Nordic Diet scores across infancy and childhood in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

Abstract In recent years, examining dietary patterns has become a more common way of investigating potential associations between diet and adverse health outcomes. The New Nordic Diet (NND) is a potentially healthy and sustainable dietary pattern characterized by foods that are locally available and traditionally consumed in the Nordic countries. The diet has been typically examined in adult populations, and less is known about compliance to the NND from infancy throughout childhood. In the current study, we therefore aimed to develop and describe child age‐specific NND scores. This study is based on the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and uses data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway (MBRN). We have previously developed a NND score for the maternal diet during pregnancy, and the development of the child diet scores was based on the rationale of this score. Food frequency data from n = 89 715 at child age 6 months, n = 76 432 at 18 months, n = 58 884 at 3 years, and n = 35 978 at 7 years were used to construct subscales in accordance with the maternal diet score. Subscales were composed of responses to a selection of food and drink items or other questions and were dichotomized by the median, yielding four age‐specific diet scores where the possible scoring ranged from 0 to 6 at 6 months and 3 years and from 0 to 9 at 18 months and 7 years. The developed scores will be used to examine associations with childhood overweight and cognitive and mental development in future studies

Adherence to a healthy and potentially sustainable Nordic diet is associated with child development in The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

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Body mass index's relationship to psychological distress and vitality in men and women and possible mediators of the association

Aims of the study: Mental health problems among those with a non-typical body weight have been increasingly researched the last couple of decades. The role of positive mental health in this relationship, however, has been less investigated. Studies indicate that positive and negative mental health are two independent constructs, and not simply the opposite of one another. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and negative and positive indicators of mental health, measured by psychological distress and vitality, respectively. Further, we explored gender differences and the mediating effect of physical activity, diet, sense of mastery and social support. Methods: The data in this study was self-reported and obtained from the cross-sectional Level of Living surveys conducted in 2008 and 2012. The sample was nationally representative and the final sample for this study consisted of men and women aged 18-79 (N=7909). Psychological distress was assessed by the Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5), and vitality by the Vitality subscale, both which are included in the Short Form-36 (SF-36). BMI was explored as six standardised categories; from underweight to obesity class III. Statistical analyses included hierarchal binary logistic regression and mediation analyses by PROCESS. Results: The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 37% and 10.7% respectively. 1.5% of the study population was underweight. The results indicated that reporting psychological distress was not associated with overweight and obesity, as a significant association only was found among underweight women. On the other hand, low vitality was reported by men and women alike in all categories, except for overweight women. Furthermore, the mediators acted differently in men and women. Psychological distress was mediated by physical activity among men, and by social support among women. Vitality was found to be mediated by physical activity among both genders, and vegetable consumption also mediated the relationship between BMI and vitality among men. Conclusion: The results suggest that BMI is differently associated with positive and negative indicators of mental health, and mediated by partly different factors in men and women. Intervention programmes for the overweight and obese should approach men and women accordingly. Further studies are encouraged to include both positive and negative measures of mental health when studying the effects of BMI, and should also encompass various measures of positive mental health.M-FO

Unanticipated cytodiagnosis of filariasis: A Study of 16 cases

Background: Bancroftian Filariasisisatropical and sub tropical disease caused by Wuchereriabancrofti and transmitted by the Culexmosquitoes. The diagnosis of it is conventionally made by demonstrating microfilaria eintheperipheral blood smear. Microfilariae and adult filarial worm have been incidentally detected in fine needle aspirate of swelling at various sites in amicrofilaremic patients. Currently 1.4 billion people worldwide are at risk of being infected. In India 600 million people are at risk of filariasis.Cytology has important role in the diagnosis of occult Filariasis. Objectives: To discuss the role of FNAC in diagnosing occult Filariasis. Material and Methods: This is a retrospective study carried out in the Department of Pathology at SRMS IMS, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. Aspiration was made by 22-23 gauze needle, smears were stained by Papanicolaou and May-GrünwaldGiemsa stain. Result:16 cases of cytological specimensincidentallyshowed microfilaria without any clinical suspicion which included breast lumps (three cases), thyroid swelling (three cases), lymph nodes (two cases), subcutaneous swelling (two cases), ascitic fluid (one case), pleural fluid (one case), lung mass (one case), scrotal swelling (one case), cervical smear (one case) and space occupying lesion in liver (one case). Fragments of adult worm were reported in four cases. Only one patient with scrotal swelling had microfilaremia. Conclusion:FNAC can play an important role in diagnosing occult Filariasis in clinically unsuspected cases

Diet in Early Life Is Related to Child Mental Health and Personality at 8 Years: Findings from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

There is rising concern about population mental health. Personality and mental health traits manifest early. Sufficient nutrition is fundamental to early development. However, little is known about early life dietary impact on later mental health. The aim of this study was to investigate associations of exposure to a healthy and sustainable antenatal and early childhood diet with personality traits and symptoms of depression and anxiety measured at 8 years of age. This study is based on the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and uses data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway (MBRN) including 40,566 participants. Mental health measures and personality traits were assessed at 8 years. Dietary data from pregnancy, child age 6 and 18 months and 3 and 7 years were used. With few exceptions, inverse associations were observed between healthier diet at all time points and depression and anxiety symptom scores at age 8. We found positive associations between diet scores at almost all time points and extraversion, benevolence, conscientiousness and imagination. Inverse associations were observed between diet scores and neuroticism. Combined, these findings underpin a probable impact of both maternal pregnancy diet and early childhood diet on several aspects of child mental health