Using Sensor Data to Identify Factors Affecting Internal Air Quality within 279 Lower Income Households in Cornwall, South West of England.

(1) Background: Poor air quality affects health and causes premature death and disease. Outdoor air quality has received significant attention, but there has been less focus on indoor air quality and what drives levels of diverse pollutants in the home, such as particulate matter, and the impact this has on health; (2) Methods: This study conducts analysis of cross-sectional data from the Smartline project. Analyses of data from 279 social housing properties with indoor sensor data were used to assess multiple factors that could impact levels of particulate matter.

UK Internet antenatal dietary advice: a content accuracy and readability analysis.

The aim of the study was to assess the accuracy and readability of Internet prenatal nutrition advice. Between August and December 2018, 130 Internet pages returned from Google searches on foods to avoid, foods to eat and supplements use were compared with UK government advice for pregnant women. Readability was assessed using the Flesch Readability Ease (FRE) tool.

Effect of combining multiple micronutrients with iron supplementation on Hb response in children: systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

Objectives: To study the effect of combining multiple (two or more) micronutrients with Fe supplementation on Hb response, when compared with placebo and with Fe supplementation, in children.

Data Sources: Electronic databases, personal files, hand search of reviews, bibliographies of books, and abstracts and proceedings of international conferences.

Review Methods: Randomized controlled trials evaluating change in Hb levels with interventions that included Fe and multiple-micronutrient supplementation in comparison to placebo alone or Fe alone were analysed in two systematic reviews.

Potential impacts of iron biofortification in India.

Iron deficiency is a widespread nutrition and health problem in developing countries, causing impairments in physical activity and cognitive development, as well as maternal mortality. Although food fortification and supplementation programmes have been effective in some countries, their overall success remains limited. Biofortification, that is, breeding food crops for higher micronutrient content, is a relatively new approach, which has been gaining international attention recently.

Estimating the global costs of vitamin A capsule supplementation: a review of the literature.

Background: Vitamin A supplementation reduces child mortality. It is estimated that 500 million vitamin A capsules are distributed annually. Policy recommendations have assumed that the supplementation programs offer a proven technology at a relatively low cost of around US$0.

Effect of iron supplementation on haemoglobin response in children: systematic review of randomised controlled trials.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of iron supplementation on haemoglobin (Hb) in children through a systematic review of randomised controlled trials.

Materials And Methods: Electronic databases, personal files, hand search of reviews, bibliographies of books, and abstracts and proceedings of international conferences were reviewed. Randomised controlled trials evaluating change in Hb levels with interventions that included oral or parenteral iron supplementation or iron-fortified formula milk or cereals were analysed.

Meeting report on the 3rd International Congress on Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD).

Developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) focuses on the earliest stages of human development, and provides a novel paradigm to complement other strategies for lifelong prevention of common chronic health conditions. The 3 International Congress on DOHaD, held in 2005, retained the most popular features from the first two biannual Congresses, while adding a number of innovations, including increased emphasis on implications of DOHaD for the developing world; programs for trainees and young investigators; and new perspectives, including developmental plasticity, influences of social hierarchies, effects of prematurity, and populations in transition. Emerging areas of science included, first, the controversial role of infant weight gain in predicting adult obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

Plant breeding to control zinc deficiency in India: how cost-effective is biofortification?

Objective: To estimate the potential impact of zinc biofortification of rice and wheat on public health in India and to evaluate its cost-effectiveness compared with alternative interventions and international standards.

Design: The burden of zinc deficiency (ZnD) in India was expressed in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost. Current zinc intakes were derived from a nationally representative household food consumption survey (30-day recall) and attributed to household members based on adult equivalent weights.

Effect of iron supplementation on physical performance in children and adolescents: systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of iron supplementation on physical performance in children (0-18 years) through systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

Data Sources: Electronic databases, personal files, handsearch of reviews, bibliographies of books, abstracts and proceedings of international conferences.

Review Methods: RCTs with interventions that included oral or parenteral iron supplementation, fortified formula milk, or cereals were evaluated.

Effect of iron supplementation on physical growth in children: systematic review of randomised controlled trials.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of iron supplementation on physical growth in children through a systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

Data Sources: Electronic databases, personal files, and hand search of reviews, bibliographies of books, abstracts and proceedings of international conferences.

Review Methods: RCTs evaluating change in anthropometry with interventions that included oral or parenteral iron supplementation, or iron-fortified formula milk or cereals, were analysed.

The usefulness of in vitro models to predict the bioavailability of iron and zinc: a consensus statement from the HarvestPlus expert consultation.

A combination of dietary and host-related factors determines iron and zinc absorption, and several in vitro methods have been developed as preliminary screening tools for assessing bioavailability. An expert committee has reviewed evidence for their usefulness and reached a consensus. Dialyzability (with and without simulated digestion) gives some useful information but cannot predict the correct magnitude of response and may sometimes predict the wrong direction of response.

Biofortification of staple food crops.

Deficiencies of vitamin A, iron, and zinc affect over one-half of the world's population. Progress has been made to control micronutrient deficiencies through supplementation and food fortification, but new approaches are needed, especially to reach the rural poor. Biofortification (enriching the nutrition contribution of staple crops through plant breeding) is one option.

Stable isotope dilution techniques for assessing vitamin A status and bioefficacy of provitamin A carotenoids in humans.

Vitamin A deficiency is a major global public health problem. Among the variety of techniques that are available for assessing human vitamin A status, evaluating the provitamin A nutritional values of foodstuffs and estimating human vitamin A requirements, isotope dilution provides the most accurate estimates. Although the relative expense of isotope dilution restricts its applications, it has an important function as the standard of reference for other techniques.

Beta-carotene-rich orange-fleshed sweet potato improves the vitamin A status of primary school children assessed with the modified-relative-dose-response test.

Background: Beta-carotene-rich orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) is an excellent source of provitamin A. In many developing countries, sweet potato is a secondary staple food and may play a role in controlling vitamin A deficiency.

Objective: The objective was to determine the efficacy of daily consumption of boiled and mashed OFSP in improving the vitamin A status of primary school children.

Effect of iron supplementation on mental and motor development in children: systematic review of randomised controlled trials.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of iron supplementation on mental and motor development in children through a systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

Data Sources: Electronic databases, personal files, hand search of reviews, bibliographies of books, abstracts and proceedings of international conferences.

Review Methods: RCTs with interventions that included oral or parenteral iron supplementation, fortified formula milk or cereals were evaluated.

Report on the 2nd World Congress on Fetal Origins of Adult Disease, Brighton, U.K., June 7-10, 2003.

In 1989, reports suggested that the fetal environment, as reflected in birth size, was related to the risk of noncommunicable diseases in adult life. This association was first described for coronary heart disease but rapidly extended to include type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and metabolic and endocrine homeostasis. This led to the development of the fetal origins of adult disease paradigm, which resulted in a refocusing of research effort over the next 10 y to consider the lifelong consequences of perinatal influences on chronic diseases.

Titers of antibody to common pathogens: relation to food-based interventions in rural Kenyan schoolchildren.

Background: Undernutrition is widely perceived to affect the development of an effective immune system.

Objective: We used a mini-analysis system to quantitate antibody titers and evaluate the sera of 200 Kenyan schoolchildren for antibodies to Helicobacter pylori [isotypes of immunoglobulins A (IgA), G (IgG), and M (IgM)], hepatitis A virus, rotavirus, tetanus toxoid (IgG), and a panel of recombinant malarial antigens (MSP1(19), MSP2, Ag512, MSP4, and MSP5).

Design: Children participated in a school-based feeding intervention with meat, milk, or nonanimal-source foods or in a nonintervention control group.

Defining nutritional status of women in developing countries.

Objective: To define a de facto reference body mass index (BMI) for women in developing countries and compare its performance with the Quetelet BMI.

Design: A logarithmic equation for elite wt/ht references was developed using the weight (wt) and height (ht) of 10,524 non-pregnant elite mothers. Functional outcomes were compared using both BMIs.