No Effect of Added Sugars in Soft Drink Compared With Sugars in Fruit on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: Results From a 4-Week, Randomized Controlled Trial.

High intakes of added sugar from soft drinks are associated with negative health outcomes such as the increased risk of gout and type 2 diabetes, weight gain and cardiovascular disease. Fruits are naturally high in sugars but their effect on cardiometabolic risk remains unknown. We examined the effect on cardiometabolic risk factors of consuming natural sugars from fruit or added sugars from sugar-sweetened soft drinks in overweight adults.

Role for colorectal teams to support non-colorectal teams to improve clinical outcomes and adherence to ERAS guidelines for segmental colectomy: a cohort study.

Background: To identify whether compliance with Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Society recommendations is associated with length of stay (LOS) in a New Zealand hospital for patients undergoing segmental colectomy in mixed acute and elective general surgery wards.

Methods: Consecutive elective colorectal surgeries (n = 770) between October 2012 and February 2019 were audited. Patients with non-segmental colectomies, multi-organ surgeries, LOS > 14 days, and those who died were excluded.

Consumption of fortified infant foods reduces dietary diversity but has a positive effect on subsequent growth in infants from Sumedang district, Indonesia.

Stunting and underweight among under-five children in Indonesia are common, raising public health concerns. Whether inappropriate complementary feeding (CF) practices compromise optimal growth during late infancy in Indonesia is uncertain. Therefore we characterized and evaluated CF practices in Indonesian infants and investigated their relationship with subsequent growth.

Vitamin D status and weight loss: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and nonrandomized controlled weight-loss trials.

Background: Obesity is associated with lower concentrations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D; however, uncertainty exists as to the direction of causation. To date, meta-analyses of randomized controlled vitamin D-supplementation trials have shown no effect of raising circulating vitamin D on body weight, although several weight-loss-intervention trials have reported an increase in circulating vitamin D after weight reduction.

Objective: We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials to determine whether weight loss compared with weight maintenance leads to an increase in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D.

Micronutrient Adequacy and Dietary Diversity Exert Positive and Distinct Effects on Linear Growth in Urban Zambian Infants.

Background: In the monitoring of infant and young child feeding, dietary diversity is used as an indicator of micronutrient adequacy; however, their relation may have weakened with the increasing use of fortified complementary foods.

Objective: The objectives were to assess the relation between dietary diversity and micronutrient adequacy in an urban infant population with a high consumption of fortified foods and to investigate whether dietary diversity and micronutrient adequacy were independently associated with subsequent growth.

Methods: We used longitudinal data on 811 infants in the Chilenje Infant Growth, Nutrition, and Infection Study conducted in Lusaka, Zambia.

Dietary diversity at 6 months of age is associated with subsequent growth and mediates the effect of maternal education on infant growth in urban Zambia.

Background: Although numerous cross-sectional studies have shown an association between WHO infant and young child feeding (IYCF) indicators and child anthropometric measures, limited longitudinal evidence exists linking these indicators with subsequent growth.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether meeting WHO IYCF indicators at 6 and 12 mo of age was associated with growth to 18 mo of age and if dietary diversity mediated the relation between household wealth, maternal education, and child growth.

Methods: We used longitudinal data on 811 infants in the CIGNIS (Chilenje Infant Growth, Nutrition, Infection Study), a randomized controlled trial comparing the effect of micronutrient-fortified porridges on infant growth in Lusaka, Zambia.

Public health policy to redress iodine insufficiency in pregnant women may widen sociodemographic disparities.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a mandatory bread fortification programme on estimated iodine intakes of childbearing women and to describe the extent to which uptake of a maternal iodine supplement recommendation is associated with sociodemographic characteristics.

Design: A postpartum survey was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire. Details on pre- and post-conceptional supplement use, bread intake, iodized salt use and maternal sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics were obtained.

Socio-demographic characteristics associated with unplanned pregnancy in New Zealand: implications for access to preconception healthcare.

New Zealand's Chief Science Advisor has recommended weight loss interventions be made available to women planning a pregnancy. In a postpartum survey of 723 New Zealand women, 44% of all pregnancies were unplanned, and in multivariate analysis, younger women, women with less income, women with higher parity, and single women were more likely to have an unplanned pregnancy (all P ≤ 0.002).

Maternal factors associated with heavy periconceptional alcohol intake and drinking following pregnancy recognition: a post-partum survey of New Zealand women.

Introduction And Aims: Alcohol consumption during pregnancy places the foetus at risk of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. Little is known about the current prevalence and patterns of alcohol consumption before and following pregnancy recognition in New Zealand.

Design And Methods: A retrospective survey of 723 post-partum women resident in maternity wards located across New Zealand was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire.

Folate knowledge and consumer behaviour among pregnant New Zealand women prior to the potential introduction of mandatory fortification.

To reduce the risk of neural tube defects, the New Zealand Ministry of Health recommends women take supplemental folic acid from at least one month preconception until the end of the twelfth week of pregnancy, as well as consume folate-rich foods. A postpartum survey was conducted to describe folate knowledge and consumer behaviour among pregnant New Zealand women prior to the potential implementation of mandatory folic acid fortification of bread in May 2012. Increasing knowledge of folic acid recommendations was associated with higher supplement uptake among women who planned their pregnancies (p=0.

Periconceptional bread intakes indicate New Zealand's proposed mandatory folic acid fortification program may be outdated: results from a postpartum survey.

Background: In September 2009, a folic acid fortification mandate (135 μg/100 g bread) was to be implemented in New Zealand. However, due to political and manufacturer objection, fortification was deferred until May 2012. Based on estimates of bread consumption derived from a 1997 nationally representative survey, this program was intended to deliver a mean additional intake of 140 μg folic acid/d to women of childbearing age.

Delaying mandatory folic acid fortification policy perpetuates health inequalities: results from a retrospective study of postpartum New Zealand women.

Background: Internationally, poor periconceptional folic acid uptake has been associated with lower socioeconomic status, minority ethnicity status and unintentional pregnancy. The aim of this study was to describe the extent to which a proposed bread fortification mandate would modify these associations.

Methods: A retrospective survey of postpartum women in hospitals and birthing centres across New Zealand was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire.