The Mother and Child Foundation

The McCarrison Society for Nutrition and Health

are pleased to announce the

Cleave Award and Papers

Friday March 26th

The Medical Society of London, 11 Chandos Place, W1G 9EB

off Cavendish Square to NE – 5 minutes walk from Oxford Circus tube.

RSVP if attending please notify

Rachel Gow : 07957 187034 Rachel.Gow @ iop.kcl.ac.uk or

Michael Crawford: 07725 250541 Michael @ macrawf.demon.co.uk

The Cleave Award & Papers

18:15 Cleave Award Lecture: Epigenetics in reproduction, development and evolution. (Simon House)

 18:45 The co-existence of iodine and omega 3 deficiencies: a global issue. Focusing on Sudan, a new perspective identified by our research students. (Izzeldin Hussain)

 19:05 Discussion

 19:15 Marine Agriculture: a future means of sustainable health giving food production from the oceans. (Michael Crawford on behalf of Takehiro Tanaka)

 19:25 The Fiasco at the European Food Standards Agency over Omega-3 claims for food labelling. (Jack Winkler)

 19:45 Discussion

20:00 Reception: Buffet & wine, with networking opportunities.

working in conjunction with IBCHN, ISSFAL, and the Centre de recherche sur le vieillissement, we are hosting a major satellite meeting to the ISSFAL Congress, to be held over 2 days at the Royal Society of Medicine.

This celebration will include major speakers from around the world, and will also include the opening of a month long exhibition at the Society, on Fish, Shellfish, and Human Evolution.

The program, with full details, can be found here: A Celebration of DHA

Is your son aged between 12 and 16 years of age? Would he be interested in taking part in a scientific research project using imaging techniques?

Kings College London in collaboration with Professor Michael Crawford at The Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition, London are currently studying the relationship between omega-3/6 fatty acids and assessments of brain function.

We are inviting mainstream school children and adolescents to have an EEG (which is a non-invasive technique which measures the brains electrical activity) during some computerised puzzles (cognitive tasks) and provide a small blood sample so we can measure the amount of fatty acids in their blood. We will then compare the results to data we have already collected in children and adolescents with ADHD.

We have full NHS ethical approval and the children / adolescents are of course free to withdraw at any time.

Participants will be compensated for their time (£20) and travel expenses will be reimbursed.

Any information collected about you or your son will be confidential and any publications arising from this study will ensure anonymity

Please contact Rachel Gow on 020 7848 0475 / 07957 187 034 or Rachel.gow@kcl.ac.uk for further information.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Ethics Code 08/H0722/88

Does your son suffer from inattentive, impulsive and/or hyperactive behaviour and/or have a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)?

Is he aged between 12 and 16 years of age and be interested in taking part in a scientific research project?

During the past 10 years, a small but growing body of research suggests a potential relationship between symptoms of ADHD and abnormal levels of omega-3/6 essential fatty acids in blood profiles of children and young adults affected with the disorder. We would like to investigate this further and explore the metabolism and blood levels of essential fatty acids in children/adolescents with symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and compare the results to children without these symptoms.

To do this we would like to invite:

• Children with symptoms and/or an official diagnosis of ADHD to provide a small blood sample along with their non-affected sibling(s), if any. This is so we can compare the enzyme activity of specific genes which assist the absorption of essential fatty acids into red blood cells (the delta 5 and delta 6 desaturase genes). The blood test does not hurt and anaesthetic cream can be applied in advance.
• and (2) to complete some questionnaires about their diet and behaviour.

We have full NHS ethical approval and the children / adolescents are free to withdraw at any time.

Participants will be compensated for their time (£20) and travel expenses will be reimbursed.

Any information collected about you or your son will be confidential and any publications arising from this study will ensure anonymity.

This project is being carried out by the research team at Kings College, London in collaboration with Professor Michael Crawford at The Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition, London

Please contact Rachel Gow on 020 7848 0475/07957 187 034 or Rachel.gow@kcl.ac.uk for further information.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Ethics Code 08/H0722/88

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health regulators warned units of Nestle and more than a dozen other foodmakers about overstating or misstating the nutritional value of baby food, nuts and other products on their labels.

via Reuters.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Babies born by in vitro fertilization (IVF) do not face an increased risk of birth defects, nor are they at greater risk of being smaller than normal, according to a study conducted in Japan.

But the researchers did find that women pregnant via IVF were more likely than those who conceived naturally to develop a pregnancy complication called placenta previa, in which the placenta blocks the opening to the birth canal.

via MedlinePlus.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 24 (HealthDay News) — Black women are much more likely than whites to develop a potentially deadly weakening of the heart muscle around the time they give birth, a new study suggests.

Symptoms of peripartum cardiomyopathy, which typically occurs in the last month of pregnancy or the first few months after delivery, include shortness of breath, particularly when lying down. The death rate is between 15 percent and 56 percent.

via MedlinePlus.

SUNDAY, Feb. 28 (HealthDay News) — Exposure to unclean conditions early in life doesn’t affect a child’s risk of developing asthma, researchers say.

“In an earlier study, we found that infants were exposed to high levels of endotoxin and allergens [mite and cockroach] in their day-care centers. Therefore, we were anxious to find out, through a birth cohort study, if infants from low-income families with high risk of asthma might be protected from the development of the disease,” lead author Vera E.V. Rullo said in a news release.

via MedlinePlus.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women whose water has broken early may want to wait at least 18 months before having their next child, new research shows.

via MedlinePlus.