Examining the effects of an eHealth intervention from infant age 6 to 12 months on child eating behaviors and maternal feeding practices one year after cessation:The Norwegian randomized controlled trial Early Food for Future Health

publishedVersio

Adherence to the New Nordic Diet during pregnancy and subsequent maternal weight development:a study conducted in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

AbstractThe rising prevalence of overweight and obesity is a worldwide public health challenge. Pregnancy and beyond is a potentially important window for future weight gain in women. We investigated associations between maternal adherence to the New Nordic diet (NND) during pregnancy and maternal BMI trajectories from delivery to 8 years post delivery. Data are from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort. Pregnant women from all of Norway were recruited between 1999 and 2008, and 55 056 are included in the present analysis. A previously constructed diet score, NND, was used to assess adherence to the diet. The score favours intake of Nordic fruits, root vegetables, cabbages, potatoes, oatmeal porridge, whole grains, wild fish, game, berries, milk and water. Linear spline multi-level models were used to estimate the association. We found that women with higher adherence to the NND pattern during pregnancy had on average lower post-partum BMI trajectories and slightly less weight gain up to 8 years post delivery compared with the lower NND adherers. These associations remained after adjustment for physical activity, education, maternal age, smoking and parity (mean diff at delivery (high v. low adherers): −0·3 kg/m2; 95 % CI −0·4, −0·2; mean diff at 8 years: −0·5 kg/m2; 95 % CI −0·6, −0·4), and were not explained by differences in energy intake or by exclusive breast-feeding duration. Similar patterns of associations were seen with trajectories of overweight/obesity as the outcome. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the NND may have beneficial properties to long-term weight regulation among women post-partum.</jats:p

Development of a New Nordic Diet score and its association with gestational weight gain and fetal growth – a study performed in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

Objective: To construct a diet score for assessing degree of adherence to a healthy and environmentally friendly New Nordic Diet (NND) and to investigate its association with adequacy of gestational weight gain and fetal growth in a large prospective birth cohort. Design: Main exposure was NND adherence, categorized as low, medium or high adherence. Main outcomes were adequacy of gestational weight gain, described as inadequate, optimal or excessive according to the 2009 Institute of Medicine guidelines, and fetal growth, categorized as being small, appropriate or large for gestational age. Associations of NND adherence with gestational weight gain and fetal growth were estimated with multinomial logistic regression in crude and adjusted models. Setting: Norway. Subjects: Women (n 66 597) from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Results: Higher NND adherence implied higher energy and nutrient intakes, higher nutrient density and a healthier macronutrient distribution. Normal-weight women with high as compared with low NND adherence had lower adjusted odds of excessive gestational weight gain (OR=0·93; 95% CI 0·87, 0·99; P=0·024). High as compared with low NND adherence was associated with reduced odds of the infant being born small for gestational age (OR=0·92; 95% CI 0·86, 0·99; P = 0·025) and with higher odds of the baby being born large for gestational age (OR = 1·07; 95 % CI 1·00, 1·15; P = 0·048). Conclusions: The NND score captures diet quality. Adherence to a regional diet including a large representation of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, potatoes, fish, game, milk and drinking water during pregnancy may facilitate optimal gestational weight gain in normal-weight women and improve fetal growth in general.publishedVersio

Evaluation of an eHealth intervention aiming to promote healthy food habits from infancy -the Norwegian randomized controlled trial Early Food for Future Health

Confirmatory factor analysis for the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire; factor loadings for all items and Cronbach alpha scores for each factor structure. (PDF 210 kb

A qualitative study of public health nurses' perspectives and experiences on nutritional guidance for parents of infants and toddlers

Abstract In Norway, public health nurses (PHNs) are responsible for giving parents nutritional knowledge, but limited research describes how they perceive this task. This study explores PHNs' perceptions and experiences on nutritional guidance for parents of infants and toddlers. Semistructured interviews with six PHNs were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Data were subjected to thematic analysis. Five main themes were identified: (1) Dietary guidance for parents is central to the work; (2) PHNs perceive they have parents' trust, and parents are in general open to nutrition counselling; (3) food and meals must be seen in light of the family context; (4) The dialogue must be adapted to the individual family; and (5) PHNs have expertise on nutrition; however, updating knowledge is difficult. Nutritional guidance was perceived by PHNs as a core activity. They felt that they had parents' trust, and that parents were particularly open to nutritional guidance during the first 2 years. Counselling was generally well received, but conversations on overweight were perceived as difficult. PHNs strove to tailor their guidance to individual needs. However, providing guidance on a wide range of issues in different families and cultures could be challenging. They acknowledged a need for updating knowledge but the offer of courses was sparse. Our findings suggest a discrepancy between how nutrition is prioritized in the education of PHNs and what they encounter in clinical practice. In the future, this should be given more attention given the PHNs' unique position to promote healthy eating and long‐term health

Associations between timing of introduction to solid food (early and later) and infant- and maternal characteristics estimated by multivariate logistic regression.

<p>Associations between timing of introduction to solid food (early and later) and infant- and maternal characteristics estimated by multivariate logistic regression.</p

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

Characteristics of the participating mother-infant dyads (n = 740¹).

<p>Characteristics of the participating mother-infant dyads (n = 740<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0199455#t001fn001" target="_blank">¹</a>).</p

Infant and maternal characteristics according to timing of introduction to solid food (N tot = 740)¹.

<p>Infant and maternal characteristics according to timing of introduction to solid food (N tot = 740)<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0199455#t002fn001" target="_blank">¹</a>.</p

Flowchart of participants.

<p>Flowchart of participants.</p