Working together to increase Australian children’s liking of vegetables: A position statement by the vegetable intake strategic alliance (VISA)

Children need to be repeatedly and consistently exposed to a variety of vegetables from an early age to achieve an increase in vegetable intake. A focus on enjoyment and learning to like eating vegetables at an early age is critical to forming favourable lifelong eating habits. Coordinated work is needed to ensure vegetables are available and promoted in a range of settings, using evidence-based initiatives, to create an environment that will support children’s acceptance of vegetables. This will help to facilitate increased intake, and ultimately realise the associated health benefits. The challenges and evidence base for a new approach are described

Association between maternal hyperglycemia in pregnancy and offspring anthropometry in early childhood: the pandora wave 1 study

Background: In-utero hyperglycemia exposure influences later cardiometabolic risk, although few studies include women with pre-existing type 2 diabetes (T2D) or assess maternal body mass index (BMI) as a potential confounder. Objective: To explore the association of maternal T2D and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) with childhood anthropometry, and the influence of maternal BMI on these associations. Methods: The PANDORA cohort comprises women (n = 1138) and children (n = 1163). Women with GDM and T2D were recruited from a hyperglycemia in pregnancy register, and women with normoglycemia from the community. Wave 1 follow-up included 423 children, aged 1.5–5 years (median follow-up age 2.5 years). Multivariable linear regression assessed associations between maternal antenatal variables, including BMI and glycemic status, with offspring anthropometry (weight, height, BMI, skinfold thicknesses, waist, arm and head circumferences). Results: Greater maternal antenatal BMI was associated with increased anthropometric measures in offspring independent of maternal glycemic status. After adjustment, including for maternal BMI, children exposed to maternal GDM had lower mean weight (−0.54 kg, 95% CI: −0.99, −0.11), BMI (−0.55 kg/m2, 95% CI: −0.91, −0.20), head (−0.52 cm, 95% CI: −0.88, −0.16) and mid-upper arm (−0.32 cm, 95% CI: −0.63, −0.01) circumferences, and greater mean suprailiac skinfold (0.78 mm, 95% CI: 0.13, 1.43), compared to children exposed to normoglycemia. Adjustment for maternal BMI strengthened the negative association between GDM and child weight, BMI and circumferences. Children exposed to maternal T2D had smaller mean head circumference (−0.82 cm, 95% CI: −1.33, −0.31) than children exposed to normoglycemia. Maternal T2D was no longer associated with greater child mean skinfolds (p = 0.14) or waist circumference (p = 0.18) after adjustment for maternal BMI. Conclusions: Children exposed to GDM had greater suprailiac skinfold thickness than unexposed children, despite having lower mean weight, BMI and mid-upper arm circumference, and both GDM and T2D were associated with smaller mean head circumference. Future research should assess whether childhood anthropometric differences influence lifetime cardiometabolic and neurodevelopmental risk.Angela Titmuss, Federica Barzi, Elizabeth L. M. Barr, Vanya Webster, Anna Wood, Joanna Kelaart, Marie Kirkwood, Christine Connors, Jacqueline A. Boyle, Elizabeth Moore, Jeremy Oats, H. David McIntyre, Paul Zimmet, Alex D. H. Brown, Jonathan E. Shaw, Maria E. Craig, and Louise J. Maple-Brow

Cohort profile: the pregnancy and neonatal diabetes outcomes in remote Australia (PANDORA) study

Abstract not availableI-Lynn Lee, Brydie Purbrick, Federica Barzi, Alex Brown, Christine Connors, Cherie Whitbread ... et al

Type 2 diabetes after a pregnancy with gestational diabetes among First Nations women in Australia: the PANDORA study.

Aims: To determine among First Nations and Europid pregnant women the cumulative incidence and predictors of postpartum type 2 diabetes and prediabetes and describe post-partum cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk profiles. Methods: PANDORA is a prospective longitudinal cohort of women recruited in pregnancy.Ethnic-specific rates of postpartum type 2 diabetes and prediabetes were reported for women with diabetes in pregnancy (DIP), gestational diabetes (GDM) or normoglycaemia in pregnancy over a short follow-up of 2.5 years (n = 325). Pregnancy characteristics and CVD risk profiles according to glycaemic status, and factors associated with postpartum diabetes/prediabetes were examined in First Nations women. Results: The cumulative incidence of postpartum type 2 diabetes among women with DI Por GDM were higher for First Nations women (48%, 13/27, women with DIP, 13%, 11/82, GDM), compared to Europid women (nil DIP or GDM p < 0.001). Characteristics associated with type 2 diabetes/prediabetes among First Nations women with GDM/DIP included, older age, multiparity, family history of diabetes, higher glucose values, insulin use and body mass index (BMI). Conclusions: First Nations women experience a high incidence of postpartum type 2 diabetes after GDM/DIP, highlighting the need for culturally responsive policies at an individual and systems level, to prevent diabetes and its complications.Anna J. Wood, Jacqueline A. Boyle, Elizabeth L.M. Barr, Federica Barzi, Matthew J.L. Hare, Angela Titmuss, Danielle K. Longmore, Elizabeth Death, Joanna Kelaart, Marie Kirkwood, Sian Graham, Christine Connors, Elizabeth Moore, Kerin O, Dea, Jeremy J.N. Oats, Harold D. McIntyre, Paul Z. Zimmet, Zhong X. Lu, Alex Brown, Jonathan E. Shaw, Louise J. Maple-Brow

Pregnancy and neonatal diabetes outcomes in remote Australia: the PANDORA study - an observational birth cohort

Background: In Australia’s Northern Territory, 33% of babies are born to Indigenous mothers, who experience high rates of hyperglycemia in pregnancy. We aimed to determine the extent to which pregnancy outcomes for Indigenous Australian women are explained by relative frequencies of diabetes type [type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and gestational diabetes (GDM)]. Methods: This prospective birth cohort study examined participants recruited from a hyperglycemia in pregnancy register. Baseline data collected were antenatal and perinatal clinical information, cord blood and neonatal anthropometry. Of 1135 women (48% Indigenous), 900 had diabetes: 175 T2DM, 86 newly diagnosed diabetes in pregnancy (DIP) and 639 had GDM. A group of 235 women without hyperglycemia in pregnancy was also recruited. Results: Diabetes type differed for Indigenous and non-Indigenous women (T2DM, 36 vs 5%; DIP, 15 vs 7%; GDM, 49 vs 88%, p < 0.001). Within each diabetes type, Indigenous women were younger and had higher smoking rates. Among women with GDM/DIP, Indigenous women demonstrated poorer birth outcomes than non-Indigenous women: large for gestational age, 19 vs 11%, p = 0·002; neonatal fat 11.3 vs 10.2%, p < 0.001. In the full cohort, on multivariate regression, T2DM and DIP were independently associated (and Indigenous ethnicity was not) with pregnancy outcomes. Conclusions: Higher rates of T2DM among Indigenous women predominantly contribute to absolute poorer pregnancy outcomes among Indigenous women with hyperglycemia. As with Indigenous and minority populations globally, prevention or delay of type 2 diabetes in younger women is vital to improve pregnancy outcomes and possibly to improve the long-term health of their offspring.Louise Maple-Brown, I-Lynn Lee, Danielle Longmore, Federica Barzi, Christine Connors ... Alex DH Brown ... et al