Publications by authors named "Mary T McCann"

Background: Overweight/obesity and iron deficiency (ID) are highly prevalent in women of reproductive age (WRA), impacting on women's health. Obesity is a risk factor for nutritional deficiencies but its association with ID is unclear.

Objectives: To determine the association between adiposity and markers of iron status and ID prevalence in WRA.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study highlights how larger portion sizes contribute to childhood obesity, yet little is known about how parents decide on portion sizes at home.
  • Parents often base their decisions on their own portion sizes and their understanding of their child's appetite, which can lead to unconscious habits.
  • To help ensure appropriate portion sizes, strategies such as modeling behavior, using unit packaging, and encouraging children's self-regulation are suggested, while a lack of knowledge about portion size guidelines remains a significant barrier.
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Background: The achievement of target 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations in pregnancy may be altered by maternal obesity.

Objective: The authors examined the effects of maternal supplementation of 10 μg compared with 20 μg vitamin D3/d on maternal and umbilical cord 25(OH)D. The secondary aim was to investigate the influence of maternal BMI (in kg/m2) on the response of the primary outcomes.

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Micronutrient deficiencies are of growing public health concern. An understanding of how micronutrient deficiencies affect health and measures that can be taken to improve micronutrient status are essential to improve population health. The main purpose of the 2018 Irish Section Meeting 'Targeted approaches to tackling current nutritional issues' was to provide an overview of current issues in relation to micronutrient status at various stages of the lifecycle.

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Midwives are responsible for providing advice regarding the complex issues of healthy eating and weight management during pregnancy. This study utilised an inductive data-driven thematic approach in order to determine midwives' perceptions, knowledge, and experiences of providing healthy eating and weight management advice to pregnant women. Semistructured interviews with 17 midwives were transcribed verbatim and data subjected to thematic analysis.

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Extensive research into the impact of nutrition labelling across Europe has shown that many consumers can effectively use a nutrition label to rank a food for healthiness. The present paper considers observational and laboratory evidence which has examined the impact of nutrition labelling (on food packaging and at point of purchase) on dietary behaviour. In addition, the potential counterproductive effects of foods bearing 'healthy' nutrition labels are examined.

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Nutrition labelling is an important strategic approach for encouraging consumers to make healthier food choices. The availability of highly palatable foods labelled as 'low fat or reduced calorie' may encourage the over-consumption of these products. This study aimed to determine whether the manipulation of nutrition labelling information can influence food portion size consumption.

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There is an ongoing increase in the availability of foods fortified with micronutrients and dietary supplements. This may result in differing intakes of micronutrients within the population and perhaps larger differences in intakes. Insight into population micronutrient intakes and evaluation of too low or too high intakes is required to see whether there are potential problems regarding inadequacy or excessive intakes.

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