PREGNANT Hunter women will get the first bite of the cherry when it comes to nutrition research aimed at improving the physical and intellectual health of their babies.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The University of Newcastle is using “augmented reality” technology to help prevent gestational diabetes and excessive weight gain via a study looking to improve the health of both the mother and the child.
“The effects of what you eat in pregnancy last a lifetime, and world wide, there are studies that show that what a mum eats while she is pregnant impacts on a child’s intelligence up to ages seven-to-eight,” Professor Clare Collins said.
“Our own studies have shown that what mum eats relates to the baby’s body composition, and their blood pressure up to ages three-to-four. We did one study that showed that mums who ate healthier food had toddlers with lower blood pressure.”
The research team is recruiting women between 12-to-22 weeks of pregnancy to use an app to better understand what a carbohydrate portion size looks like.
PhD candidate Hannah Brown said she hoped it would help “beat the confusion” surrounding carbohydrates, as there was a lot of inaccurate information available on the internet.
“There is evidence that high blood sugar levels in pregnancy, even for women who don’t have gestational diabetes, can still have negative effects for the woman and the baby as well,” Ms Brown said.
“We’ve focused on carbohydrates, not just which ones to eat, but how much, by looking at the portion sizes.”
While women all over Australia could complete the online survey, only Hunter-based participants would have access to the augmented reality app, which allows them to see what a standard serve of carbohydrate looks like in comparison to what is on their plate.
“I used it at a restaurant and counted seven standard serves,” Ms Brown said. “It is not saying that’s all you can have, but it’s about being aware of how much is there. In pregnancy it is recommended women have 8.5 standard serves per day from the grains and cereals food group. With breakfast, lunch and snacks, you may have already had six serves, and then if you’re then having seven serves at dinner, it’s a crazy amount.”
The research team is also calling for women who are 28-to-36 weeks pregnant and having their baby at John Hunter Hospital, to fill in a diet survey and allow them access to medical record outcome data.
“We want to show it will cost less money if women get the right advice to eat healthy during pregnancy, that it is not only good for mum, and good for the baby, but good for the health system as well,” Professor Clare Collins said.
“We’re trying to give women what they have told us they want, which is to know that the information is from trusted health professionals, and that it is right for them.”
Professor Collins said when an expectant mother had a healthy diet, research had shown she would be less likely to have high blood pressure in pregnancy, less likely to gain an excess of weight, less likely to get gestational diabetes, and it would be less likely that the baby would end up in neonatal intensive care.
“We know if we could support all of the women at John hunter Hospital’s antenatal clinics we could prevent one baby going to neonatal intensive care unnecessarily.
“The technology study is trying to give women the skills to deal with the obesogenic environment and to deal with the confusion about what’s in food and what is the right food to eat for them while they are pregnant,” Professor Collins, a chief investigator for the study, said.
“It’s the future. If we can look after mums from a nutrition point of view, we are looking after the future generation, preparing them to take on the world because they will have their best physical and intellectual health if we look after mums as well as we can in pregnancy.”
If you are interested in participating in any of the three research projects, find out more via the following links:
To participate in the carbohydrate portion size and smartphone pregnancy app study, visit: https://tinyurl.com/pregnancystudyUON.
For the diet quality during pregnancy and maternal and infant health and health care costs study: http://bit.ly/costdiet.
And for a post-gestational diabetes study, visit http://bit.ly/pastGDM.
