Macronutrients in Human Milk and Early Childhood Growth-Is Protein the Main Driver?

Background: Infant growth trajectories reflect current health status and may predict future obesity and metabolic diseases. Human milk is tailored to support optimal infant growth. However, nutrient intake rather than milk composition more accurately predicts growth outcomes.

Planetary health: A new approach to healing the Anthropocene.

The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch reflecting the large-scale impact of human activity on the Earth's natural systems. This era is also characterized by other significant threats to ecologic well-being that are less evident in the sedimentary records. Extensive environmental changes with industrialization and urbanization have also contributed to declining biodiversity and microbial dysbiosis in essential ecosystems-the original and foundational lifeforms that continue to sustain virtually all ecosystems today, including our own.

Effects of pregnancy and lactation prebiotics supplementation on infant allergic disease: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Ingestion of prebiotics during pregnancy and lactation may have immunomodulatory benefits for the developing fetal and infant immune system and provide a potential dietary strategy to reduce the risk of allergic diseases.

Objective: We sought to determine whether maternal supplementation with dietary prebiotics reduces the risk of allergic outcomes in infants with hereditary risk.

Methods: We undertook a double-blind randomized controlled trial in which pregnant women were allocated to consume prebiotics (14.

Airway epithelium respiratory illnesses and allergy (AERIAL) birth cohort: study protocol.

Introduction: Recurrent wheezing disorders including asthma are complex and heterogeneous diseases that affect up to 30% of all children, contributing to a major burden on children, their families, and global healthcare systems. It is now recognized that a dysfunctional airway epithelium plays a central role in the pathogenesis of recurrent wheeze, although the underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood. This prospective birth cohort aims to bridge this knowledge gap by investigating the influence of intrinsic epithelial dysfunction on the risk for developing respiratory disorders and the modulation of this risk by maternal morbidities, exposures, and respiratory exposures in the first year of life.

Homicide or Happiness: Did Folate Fortification and Public Health Campaigns Influence Homicide Rates and the Great American Crime Decline?

The last several years have witnessed a remarkable growth in research directed at nutrition and behavior, with increased interest in the field of nutritional criminology. It is becoming clear that dietary patterns and specific nutrients play an important role in cognition and behavior, including those related to aggression, violence, and antisocial activity. Included in this expanding knowledge base is the recognition that folate, through multiple pathways, including enzymatic reactions and gut microbiome ecology, plays a critical role in central nervous system functioning.

Nutritional Criminology: Why the Emerging Research on Ultra-Processed Food Matters to Health and Justice.

There is mounting concern over the potential harms associated with ultra-processed foods, including poor mental health and antisocial behavior. Cutting-edge research provides an enhanced understanding of biophysiological mechanisms, including microbiome pathways, and invites a historical reexamination of earlier work that investigated the relationship between nutrition and criminal behavior. Here, in this perspective article, we explore how this emergent research casts new light and greater significance on previous key observations.

Metagenomic Characterisation of the Gut Microbiome and Effect of Complementary Feeding on spp. in Australian Infants.

Complementary feeding induces dramatic ecological shifts in the infant gut microbiota toward more diverse compositions and functional metabolic capacities, with potential implications for immune and metabolic health. The aim of this study was to examine whether the age at which solid foods are introduced differentially affects the microbiota in predominantly breastfed infants compared with predominantly formula-fed infants. We performed whole-genome shotgun metagenomic sequencing of infant stool samples from a cohort of six-month-old Australian infants enrolled in a nested study within the ORIGINS Project longitudinal birth cohort.

"Food faddists and pseudoscientists!": Reflections on the history of resistance to ultra-processed foods.

The term 'ultra-processed food' emerged in the 1980s, mostly used in reference to highly-processed convenience foods and snacks, often energy-dense, poor in nutrients, and inclusive of various synthetic additives such as emulsifiers, colors, artificial sweeteners, and/or flavor enhancers. Concern over such foods was part of the growing holistic and environmental health movements of the 1970-80s; yet, those who raised alarm about the encroachment of ultra-processed foods were often labeled, especially by industry and their powerful allies, as 'food faddists' and 'pseudoscientists'. Today, the topic of ultra-processed foods is generating massive personal, public, and planetary health interest.

Egg-sensitised infants have elevated CD4 effector memory T regulatory cells from birth.

Background: IgE-mediated sensitisation to egg is common in infants. In some cases, the processes leading to egg sensitisation are established in early life, even before introduction to solid foods. The underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Beyond Plants: The Ultra-Processing of Global Diets Is Harming the Health of People, Places, and Planet.

Global food systems are a central issue for personal and planetary health in the Anthropocene. One aspect of major concern is the dramatic global spread of ultra-processed convenience foods in the last 75 years, which is linked with the rising human burden of disease and growing sustainability and environmental health challenges. However, there are also calls to radically transform global food systems, from animal to plant-derived protein sources, which may have unintended consequences.

Increasing emergency department visits for anaphylaxis in very early childhood: A canary in the coal mine.

Aim: The incidence of anaphylaxis is increasing globally in tandem with changing environmental and lifestyle factors. There is very limited data on very early childhood presentations. We aim to assess changes in rates, characteristics and management of infant anaphylaxis in a paediatric ED over a 15-year period.

The ORIGINS Project Biobank: A Collaborative Bio Resource for Investigating the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease.

Early onset Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), including obesity, allergies, and mental ill-health in childhood, present a serious and increasing threat to lifelong health and longevity. The ORGINS Project (ORIGINS) addresses the urgent need for multidisciplinary efforts to understand the detrimental multisystem impacts of modern environments using well-curated large-scale longitudinal biological sample collections. ORGINS is a prospective community birth cohort aiming to enrol 10,000 pregnant people and follow each family until the children reach 5 years of age.

Time-out for well-being: A mixed methods evaluation of attitudes and likelihood to engage in different types of online emotional well-being programmes in the perinatal period.

Background: Positive maternal mental health during the perinatal period contributes to general well-being and positive emotional bonds with the child, encouraging an optimal developmental trajectory. Online interventions to enhance maternal well-being and develop coping skills, such as meditation-based interventions, can be a low-cost way to improve mother and child outcomes. However, this depends on end-user engagement.

Feasibility and safety of introducing cashew nut spread in infant diets-A randomized trial.

Background: To reduce peanut allergy prevalence, infant feeding guidelines now recommend introducing peanuts in an age-appropriate form (such as peanut butter) as part of complementary feeding. However, due to a lack of randomized trial evidence, most infant feeding and food allergy prevention guidelines do not include tree nuts. The aims of this trial were to determine safety and feasibility of dosage consumption recommendations for infant cashew nut spread introduction.

Airway Epithelium Respiratory Illnesses and Allergy (AERIAL) birth cohort: study protocol.

Introduction: Recurrent wheezing disorders including asthma are complex and heterogeneous diseases that affect up to 30% of all children, contributing to a major burden on children, their families, and global healthcare systems. It is now recognized that a dysfunctional airway epithelium plays a central role in the pathogenesis of recurrent wheeze, although the underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood. This prospective birth cohort aims to bridge this knowledge gap by investigating the influence of intrinsic epithelial dysfunction on the risk for developing respiratory disorders and the modulation of this risk by maternal morbidities, exposures, and respiratory exposures in the first year of life.

The Founder: Dispositional Greed, Showbiz, and the Commercial Determinants of Health.

Marketing unhealthy products by multinational corporations has caused considerable harm to individual health, collective wellbeing, and environmental sustainability. This is a growing threat to all societies and a significant contributor to the rising global burden of non-communicable diseases and early mortality. While there is growing consideration of the commercial determinants of health, this is largely focused on the methods by which unhealthy products are marketed and disseminated, including efforts to manipulate policy.

Vitality Revisited: The Evolving Concept of Flourishing and Its Relevance to Personal and Public Health.

Human flourishing, the state of optimal functioning and well-being across all aspects of an individual's life, has been a topic of philosophical and theological discussion for centuries. In the mid-20th century, social psychologists and health scientists began exploring the concept of flourishing in the context of health and high-level wellness. However, it is only in recent years, in part due to the USD 43 million Global Flourishing Study including 22 countries, that flourishing has entered the mainstream discourse.

Understanding Engagement in Digital Mental Health and Well-being Programs for Women in the Perinatal Period: Systematic Review Without Meta-analysis.

Background: Pregnancy and the postnatal period can be a time of increased psychological distress, which can be detrimental to both the mother and the developing child. Digital interventions are cost-effective and accessible tools to support positive mental health in women during the perinatal period. Although studies report efficacy, a key concern regarding web-based interventions is the lack of engagement leading to drop out, lack of participation, or reduced potential intervention benefits.