RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The complementary feeding period is a time of unparalleled dietary change for every human, during which the diet changes from one that is 100% milk to one that resembles the usual diet of the wider family in less than a year. Despite this major dietary shift, we know relatively little about food and nutrient intake in infants worldwide and virtually nothing about the impact of baby food "pouches" and "baby-led weaning" (BLW), which are infant feeding approaches that are becoming increasingly popular. Pouches are squeezable containers with a plastic spout that have great appeal for parents, as evidenced by their extraordinary market share worldwide. BLW is an alternative approach to introducing solids that promotes infant self-feeding of whole foods rather than being fed purées, and is popular and widely advocated on social media. The nutritional and health impacts of these novel methods of infant feeding have not yet been determined. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the First Foods New Zealand study is to determine the iron status, growth, food and nutrient intakes, breast milk intake, eating and feeding behaviors, dental health, oral motor skills, and choking risk of New Zealand infants in general and those who are using pouches or BLW compared with those who are not. METHODS: Dietary intake (two 24-hour recalls supplemented with food photographs), iron status (hemoglobin, plasma ferritin, and soluble transferrin receptor), weight status (BMI), food pouch use and extent of BLW (questionnaire), breast milk intake (deuterium oxide "dose-to-mother" technique), eating and feeding behaviors (questionnaires and video recording of an evening meal), dental health (photographs of upper and lower teeth for counting of caries and developmental defects of enamel), oral motor skills (questionnaires), and choking risk (questionnaire) will be assessed in 625 infants aged 7.0 to 9.9 months. Propensity score matching will be used to address bias caused by differences in demographics between groups so that the results more closely represent a potential causal effect. RESULTS: This observational study has full ethical approval from the Health and Disability Ethics Committees New Zealand (19/STH/151) and was funded in May 2019 by the Health Research Council (HRC) of New Zealand (grant 19/172). Data collection commenced in July 2020, and the first results are expected to be submitted for publication in 2022. CONCLUSIONS: This large study will provide much needed data on the implications for nutritional intake and health with the use of baby food pouches and BLW in infancy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620000459921; http://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=379436. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/29048.
RESUMEN
Epidemiological evidence has linked low vitamin D status to a range of mood disorders. However, studies examining whether vitamin D supplementation can improve mood-related outcomes in healthy populations are limited. We investigated whether vitamin D supplementation over winter is beneficial for improving mood-related outcomes in healthy women. A total of 152 healthy women (18-40 years) in Dunedin, New Zealand were randomly assigned to receive 50 000 IU (1·25 mg) of oral vitamin D3 or placebo once per month for 6 months. They completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, the anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Flourishing Scale every month. Additionally, they reported their positive and negative mood each day for three consecutive days every 2 months. Participants provided a blood sample at the beginning and at the end of the study for 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 analysis. ANCOVA was used to compare the outcome measures between the groups, controlling for baseline. We found no evidence of lower depression (P = 0·339), lower anxiety (P = 0·862), higher flourishing (P = 0·453), higher positive moods (P = 0·518) or lower negative moods (P = 0·538) in the treatment group compared with the control group at follow-up. Mood outcomes over the study period were similar for the two groups. We found no evidence of any beneficial effect of monthly vitamin D3 supplementation on mood-related outcomes in healthy premenopausal women over the winter period, so recommendations for supplementations are not warranted in this population for mood-related outcomes.
RESUMEN
The addition of desiccated beef liver to infant and young child complementary foods can be used to overcome nutrient deficits, however its acceptability is unknown. We conducted a series of studies to test the acceptability of complementary foods fortified with either powdered beef liver, beef meat, beef liver + meat or placebo among 96 Indonesian children aged 12 to 23 mo. This was achieved by determining liking of a single test food with added study powder, followed by a 2-wk home trial and focus group discussions to assess liking during repeated consumption of the study powders added to daily meals. The test food with added beef powders were well liked by mothers, with liking scores never falling below neutral on a 7-point scale. After home use, mothers reported that their children moderately liked their meals with added powder, with scores ranging between 3.3 and 3.5 on a 5-point scale. With the exception of lower liking for the combination beef liver + meat powder, there were no detectable differences in mothers' overall perception of child's liking between the placebo and any of the study powders. The low disappearance rate of the study powders during the home trial was a concern, with mothers reporting a strong smell and fishy odor as the major reason why children did not like their meals. Nonetheless, mothers declared they would continue using the powder on account of the nutritional value and perceived health benefits. Strategies are underway to minimize the level of fishy odor in the beef liver powder.
