APPLIED NUTRITION

• Staff
  • Laboratory Head
  • Research Staff
  • Students
• Goals
• Research Themes
• Research Projects
  1. Nutrition for preterm infants
  2. Perinatal fatty acid nutrition

STAFF

Laboratory Head

Research Staff

Carmel Collins

carmel.collins@fmc.sa.gov.au

Jacqueline Aldis

jacqueline.aldis@fmc.sa.gov.au

Karen Best

karen.best@cywhs.sa.gov.au

Josephine Collins

jo.collins2@fmc.sa.gov.au

Heather Garreffa

heather.garreffa@cywhs.sa.gov.au

Helen Loudis

helen.loudis@cywhs.sa.gov.au

Nicola Naccarella

nicola.naccarella@cywhs.sa.gov.au

debbie.palmer@cywhs.sa.gov.au

Rosie Warr

rosie.warr@fmc.sa.gov.au

Students

Jacqui Miller

jacqueline.miller@cywhs.sa.gov.au

GOALS

The overall aim of our research group is to optimise the nutritional intake of mothers and their infants whether the infants are born preterm or at term. The rationale for our research is that improvements in nutritional status will optimise the growth and development of all infants and this will have beneficial effects on their quality of life and whole-of-life health care costs.

RESEARCH THEMES

Our research utilises two powerful tools - randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews. Clinical trials involving dietary long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) and interventions with dietary iron in the perinatal period have been a feature of our research over the past 5 years. Other research trials involving the effect of dietary ovalbumin in breast feeding arise directly from clinical practice. Translation of research results to changes in clinical nutrition policy and practice is a major focus of our group. For this reason we are heavily involved in high quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses of nutritional interventions in pregnancy, lactation and the first years of life.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

1. Nutrition for preterm infants

Preterm infants have trouble meeting their growth targets, and improving the quality of growth in the neonatal period is important in order to help these infants achieve the best possible developmental outcome. We are undertaking a randomised controlled trial to assess whether a high protein (standard carbohydrate) human milk fortifier compared with a standard protein (high carbohydrate) human milk fortifier will improve the length gain, weight gain and lean body mass of preterm infants.

Baby having its body composition assessed.
Project supported by an award from Denis Harwood.

2. Perinatal fatty acid nutrition

DOMInO stands for DHA to Optimise Mother Infant Outcome and is a randomised controlled trial to assess the benefits of DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid found in fish) on the prevalence of postnatal depression and neurodevelopmental outcome in the children. DHA is one of the major lipids found in the brain. Both animal studies and observational cohort studies suggest that a high DHA status is associated with improvements in mood and neural function. The DOMInO trial addresses the question of whether supplementation with a DHA-enriched tuna oil during the last half of pregnancy will result in fewer women reporting symptoms of postnatal depression at 6 weeks and 6 months post-partum as well as enhancing the neurodevelopmental outcome of the resultant children at 18 months of age. Our target sample size is 2280. We completed recruitment in December 2007 and have had over 1,000 births in the study.

DHA is also thought to modulate the way the fetal and infant immune system develops and may reduce the propensity to develop allergies. Infants born in the DOMInO trial, who are at higher than normal risk for allergies because of their family history, are assessed at 1 and 3 years of age to determine if the DOMInO treatment is effective at reducing the prevalence of childhood allergies.

A one year old child undergoing skin prick testing for a number of allergens.
Project supported by NHMRC.