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Research

With well-established evidence that early life conditions have a profound influence on lifespan and health-span, new interventional birth cohorts are examining ways to optimise health potential of individuals and communities. These are aimed at going beyond preventing disease, to the conditions that facilitate flourishing from an early age.

Research

The increase in childhood allergic disease in recent decades has coincided with increased folic acid intakes during pregnancy. Circulating unmetabolized folic acid (UMFA) has been proposed as a biomarker of excessive folic acid intake. We aimed to determine if late-pregnancy serum UMFA and total folate concentrations were associated with allergic disease risk in the offspring at 1 y of age in a population at high risk of allergy.

Research

The ecology of the early environment - including microbial diversity, nutrition, nature, social interactions and the totality of exposures in the wider "exposome" - have life-long implications for all aspects of health and resilience. In particular, the emergence of "microbiome science" provides new evidence for vital relationships between biodiversity and health at every level.

Research

Mobile touch screen devices (smartphones and tablet computers) have become an integral part of many parents’ and children’s lives, with this interaction linked to physical, mental and social outcomes. Despite the known importance of parent-child attachment, evidence on the association between device use and attachment was yet to be reviewed.

Research

Little attention has been given to the health status and lifestyle behaviours of expectant fathers. This study aimed to examine health-related variables in a cohort of expectant fathers to identify potential focus areas for interventions designed to optimise health and wellbeing outcomes in this group.

Research

The current narrative surrounding children’s health and wellbeing often focuses on adversity and dysregulation with a lack of positive messaging. However, promoting protective and buffering factors may be as important as reducing adverse exposures. While the concept of flourishing is commonly applied in the context of adults, defining what flourishing means for children in current academic literature remains unclear.

Research

This study explores how the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic influenced family routines, relationships and technology use (smartphones and tablet computers) among families with infants. Infancy is known to be an important period for attachment security and future child development, and a time of being susceptible to changes within and outside of the family unit.

Research

Bold new approaches are urgently needed to overcome global health challenges. The proposed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is intended to provide rapid health breakthroughs.

Research

This study aims to understand the experience and impact of the initial COVID-19 lock-down in young families with children aged below 4 years. Free text questions were administered to participants in the ORIGINS (Australia) and Born in Bradford (UK) cohort studies to collect qualitative information on worries, concerns and enjoyable experiences during the pandemic.

Research

Iron deficiency (ID) is the most common nutritional deficiency affecting young children. Serum ferritin concentration is the preferred biomarker for measuring iron status because it reflects iron stores; however, blood collection can be distressing for young children and can be logistically difficult. A noninvasive means to measure iron status would be attractive to either diagnose or screen for ID in young children.