healthcare thought 18

"Diets high in unsaturated fat and low in saturated fat have been associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular events and death in adults," said lead author Dr Johanna Jaakkola, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turku, Finland. "Very little is known about the long-term effects of nutrition advice for children on the diets and health of parents." The longitudinal randomised Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project (STRIP) decreased the saturated fat intake and improved the cardiovascular health of children by recommending foods rich in unsaturated, instead of saturated, fat. The current study examined whether the long-term dietary intervention focused on children was also associated with parental dietary intake and cardiometabolic risk factors over two decades of follow-up. The primary results of the STRIP study have been previously reported.2,3 Briefly, the study included 1 107 infants and their parents who were recruited fro...

"Given the high level of dietary fat consumption and maternal obesity in developed nations, these findings have important implications for the mental health of future generations," the researchers report. The research was published in the journal  Frontiers in Endocrinology . The study, led by Elinor Sullivan, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Division of Neuroscience at Oregon National Primate Research Center at OHSU, tested the effect of a maternal high-fat diet on nonhuman primates, tightly controlling their diet in a way that would be impossible in a human population. The study revealed behavioral changes in the offspring associated with impaired development of the central serotonin system in the brain. Further, it showed that introducing a healthy diet to the offspring at an early age failed to reverse the effect. Previous observational studies in people correlated maternal obesity with a range of mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders in children. T...