Publications by authors named "Mary F-F Chong"

Background: Data on the relationship between potassium intake and major cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with diabetes are scarce. We aim to study the association between estimated potassium intake and risk of MACE in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: The discovery cohort consisted of 1572 participants with type 2 diabetes from a secondary hospital.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on preventing early childhood caries (ECC), a common disease in kids, by empowering parents with technology-enabled support to improve their children's diets and oral hygiene practices.
  • Participants will include mother-child pairs from Singapore who will either receive traditional educational materials or attend online sessions designed to enhance parental involvement and support; various assessments will track the incidence of caries and other related outcomes.
  • With ethical approval in place, the study aims to publish its findings in peer-reviewed journals, contributing valuable insights on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the intervention.
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The associations between circulating PUFA and cardiovascular risk factors and events in healthy Asian populations have been less examined robustly compared with Western populations. This systematic review aimed to summarise current evidence on the associations between -3 and -6 PUFA biomarkers and cardiovascular risk factors and events in healthy Asian populations. Four databases were searched for observational studies from 2010 until 2024.

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Background: Maternal feeding practices play a major role in children's dietary intakes. However, there is limited data on the associations between trajectories of dietary patterns (DPs) and patterns of maternal feeding practices during early childhood.

Methods: Using data from a multi-ethnic Asian cohort study, namely the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO), dietary intakes were measured using Food Frequency Questionnaires in children at 18 months, 5 and 7 years of age.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Researchers studied how a mother's diet quality and eating habits during pregnancy affect her child's metabolic health, particularly focusing on weight and insulin resistance in children by age 6.
  • - They found that a better diet quality during pregnancy was linked to lower insulin resistance in children, while mothers who mainly ate at night tended to have offspring with higher insulin resistance, especially among boys.
  • - Overall, the study highlights the significance of maternal eating patterns and diet quality during pregnancy, suggesting both factors can influence a child’s metabolic health, with stronger effects observed in male children and in those exposed to lower diet quality.
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Background: The cognitive benefits of breastfeeding are widely recognized; however, its effects on brain development and later academic skills require further examination. This study aimed to examine the longitudinal relations between breastmilk feeding, neurophysiological changes, and early academic skills.

Methods: In the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) birth cohort, breastmilk feeding practices were collected every 3 months from 3 weeks to 18 months postpartum.

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Studies examining preconception eating behaviours with longitudinal dietary patterns from preconception to late pregnancy as well as gestational weight gain (GWG) are limited. We derived dietary pattern trajectories from preconception to late-pregnancy, and related preconception eating behaviours to these trajectories and GWG. Preconception eating behaviours were assessed using the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire measuring cognitive restraint (CR) - conscious restriction of food intake, emotional eating (EE) - overeating in response to negative emotions, and uncontrolled eating (UE) - overeating with a feeling of lack of control.

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Background: Tracking combinations of lifestyle behaviours during childhood ("lifestyle pattern trajectories") can identify subgroups of children that might benefit from lifestyle interventions aiming to improve health outcomes later in life. However, studies on the critical transition period from early to middle childhood are limited. We aimed to describe lifestyle patterns trajectories in children from 2 to 8 years of age and evaluated their associations with cardiometabolic risk markers at age 8 years in a multi-ethnic Asian cohort.

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Background And Objectives: Studies on longitudinal trajectories of diet and the influence on aging in older adults are limited. We characterized diet quality trajectories over the past 2 decades among adults aged ≥85 years and examined their associations with cognitive and psychosocial outcomes.

Research Design And Methods: We used data from 861 participants in the population-based Singapore Chinese Health Study.

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Purpose: To examine the associations between infants' dietary nutrient trajectories and subsequent neurodevelopment during childhood in the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes study.

Methods: One-day food records were collected at ages 6, 9 and 12 months, whilst Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III and Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test-2 were conducted at ages 24 and 54 months respectively. Nutrient trajectories were constructed using multi-level mixed modelling and associations with neurodevelopment (24 months: n = 484; 54 months: n = 444) were examined using adjusted multivariable linear regression.

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Adopting a healthy diet during and after pregnancy is important for women's cardiometabolic health. We related changes in diet quality from pregnancy to 6 years postpregnancy to cardiometabolic markers 8 years postpregnancy. In 652 women from the GUSTO cohort, we assessed dietary intakes at 26-28 weeks' gestation and 6 years postpregnancy using 24 h recall and a food frequency questionnaire, respectively; diet quality was scored using a modified Healthy Eating Index for Singaporean women.

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Background: Evidence is accumulating that intake of animal-based and plant-based proteins has different effects on cardiometabolic health, but less is known about the health effect of isocaloric substitution of animal-based and plant-based proteins. Data from Asian populations are limited.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of isocaloric substitution of total plant-based proteins for total and various animal-based protein food groups and to evaluate the effects of substituting protein from legumes and pulses for various animal-based protein food groups on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and predicted 10-y CVD risk.

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Background: The timing of introduction of complementary foods and the duration of breastfeeding (BF) have been independently associated with child overweight and obesity; however, their combined influence on body fat partitioning and cardiometabolic risk is unclear.

Objective: We investigated the associations of the timing of introduction of complementary foods, the duration of BF, and their interaction with child adiposity and cardiometabolic risk markers.

Methods: We analyzed data from 839 children in the prospective Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort.

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Background: Diet indices are widely used in nutritional research across communities but do not "capture" the full extent of diet variability across multiple countries. Empirically derived dietary patterns can provide additional information because they reflect combinations of foods potentially associated with health outcomes. Limited studies have evaluated preconception dietary patterns in heterogeneous populations.

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Objective: The Pre-Diabetes Interventions and Continued Tracking to Ease-out Diabetes (Pre-DICTED) Program is a diabetes prevention trial comparing the diabetes conversion rate at 3 years between the intervention group, which receives the incentivized lifestyle intervention program with stepwise addition of metformin, and the control group, which receives the standard of care. We describe the baseline characteristics and compare Pre-DICTED participants with other diabetes prevention trials cohort.

Research Design And Methods: Participants were aged between 21 and 64 years, overweight (body mass index (BMI) ≥23.

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Background And Aims: Few studies examined the influence of carotenoids and vitamin E on blood pressure or hypertension during and after pregnancy. We related perinatal plasma concentrations of carotenoids and vitamin E (in individual forms and in combination) to blood pressure and hypertension at late pregnancy and 4 years post-pregnancy.

Methods And Results: In 684 women of the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes cohort, we quantified plasma carotenoids and vitamin E concentrations at delivery.

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Background: Children's energy balance-related behaviours (EBRB), comprising diet, screen time, physical activity, and sleep, combine into "lifestyle patterns", which may exert a synergistic effect on health. To date, studies investigating this synergy have primarily focused on obesity risk, without addressing other facets of health.

Objectives: To examine the prospective associations of preschoolers' lifestyle patterns with socio-emotional, behavioural, and body mass index (BMI) outcomes at 8 years.

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Background: Early epidemiological studies have associated low birthweight with increased cardiovascular risk. We aimed to examine whether the fat and fat-free components of birthweight have differing relationships with childhood cardiovascular risk markers.

Methods: In the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort, air displacement plethysmography was conducted within 24 h after delivery in 290 naturally conceived singletons.

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Background: Few studies have investigated molecular biomarkers of specific executive function (EF) skills in children. We aimed to characterise the prospective associations between metabolome and multiple domains of EF using a bidirectional design.

Methods: This study was conducted within a longitudinal birth cohort, the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO).

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Background: Integrated patterns of energy balance-related behaviours of preschool children in Asia are sparse, with few comparative analyses.

Purpose: Using cohorts in Singapore (GUSTO) and France (EDEN), we characterized lifestyle patterns of children and investigated their associations with family-focused contextual factors.

Methods: Ten behavioural variables related to child's diet, walking, outdoor play and screen time were ascertained by parental questionnaires at age 5-6 years.

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Background: The tryptophan-kynurenine (KYN) pathway is linked to obesity-related systemic inflammation and metabolic health. The pathway generates multiple metabolites, with little available data on their relationships to early markers of increased metabolic disease risk in children. The aim of this study was to examine the association of multiple KYN pathway metabolites with metabolic risk markers in prepubertal Asian children.

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Context: The kynurenine pathway generates metabolites integral to energy metabolism, neurotransmission, and immune function. Circulating kynurenine metabolites positively correlate with adiposity in children and adults, yet it is not known whether this relationship is present already at birth.

Objective: In this prospective longitudinal study, we investigate the relationship between cord blood kynurenine metabolites and measures of adiposity from birth to 4.

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