from cellular biology to the community

The foundation has a special interest in maternal health and brain development as the brain is the most outstanding characteristic of the human species. Its development is largely prenatal and its disturbance has a life long impact. Furthermore, despite the advances in obstetrics and paediatrics there was a three-fold increase in the prevalence of cerebral palsy between 1967 and the late 1980s amongst low birth weight infants. Help us reduce this life long tragedy for the child and mother by contributing to promising new research that hopes to develop diagnostic tools and interventions aimed at prevention and treatment. As birth weight falls below 2.5kg, central nervous system disorder rises from about 2 per 1,000 live births to over 200 per thousand below 1.4kg. These babies are mostly born preterm. Those who escape brain damage remain with a high risk of chronic ill health, poor mental and behavioural performance at school age. In the last two decades there has been a substantial rise in autism and mental ill health which is following from country to country the previous rise in mortality from heart disease last century. What is more, the sharp rise in the non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and mental ill health has become the major burden of ill health and disability in Western and increasingly in Southern countries.

Prenatal ailments and disturbances are increasingly seen as major determinants of these conditions. Yet, nutrition and early development has barely featured in the funding of the major grant giving bodies, which focussed on established disease and treatment. At the same time, low birth weight, which is the single most significant predictor of ill health and disability, is in Britain at its highest in Western Europe and has been so since 1945. The deepest concern is the recent sharp rise in mental ill health, which is seen by Dr Joe Hibbeln of the National Institute of Health of the USA as due to adverse prenatal nutrition. Mental ill health is predicted to rank third in the burdens of ill health by 2020. The audit of research funding has led to the deplorable result that of the millions of dollars invested, only 10% of the funding is devoted to 90% of the burden of ill-health. The Mother & Child Foundation needs financial aid and the support of professionals, politicians, media and lay people to create a change of attitude amongst Governments and Research Councils that will eliminate this misallocation of resources.

The Foundation recognises the need for international cooperation to eliminate prenatal ill health and its detrimental effect on the mother and her child. To that end, the Foundation supports research focused on treatment and prevention of conditions that affect both mothers and their children, the importance of which is often being neglected. In most Subsaharan Africa more than one in three pregnant women will have been infected with HIV. In many regions in Asia, some 60% of the women will become anaemic during pregnancy with the threat to their own survival and the health of their unborn children. This condition is made worse by associated vitamin A and iodine deficiency disease. Both are often linked. They impoverish the mental development of the new born and take their toll in maternal health. On June the 19th The Director General of the World Health Organisation Dr. Gro Brundtland , made a speech which highlighted the plight of the mother. This is the first time that any senior health administrator has recognised the pivotal role of the mother in securing the health and abilities of future children.

The Foundation needs money urgently to raise awareness amongst the public, aid agencies and Government of this challenge and help promote maternal and perinatal health around the world where the voice of the mother is seldom heard.

current research projects funded by the foundation ...

nutritional supplementation during pregnancy & birth outcome - A nutrition trial has been initiated to test the effect of multivitamine and mineral supplementation during pregnancy on birth outcome, particularly birth weight. The trial is taking place in Hackney, East London where nutritional status of expectant mothers is known to be marginal or poor with the highest low birth weight rate in the UK.

archbishop desmond tutu fellowship - The Foundation established the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellowship in 2001 to define the dependence of fetal immune system maturation on maternal nutrition. The project is being conducted with collaboration with Professor Ovrang Djahanbakhch (Newham General Hospital, London).

search for novel therapy for patients with sickle cell anaemia - In Britain, there are over 5,000 sickle cell sufferers and more than 150 are born every year. Our initial finding indicated that sickle cell patients had abnormal essentail fatty acids status. A intervention trial with essential fatty acids supplementation is planned to develop a novel therapy to reduce haemolysis, vaso-occulusive events and associated pathogenic complications. This work is being undertaken in collaboration with Dr Iheanyi E. Okpala at the Dep. Of Haematology, St Thomas' Hospital and Drs Obike G. Ibegbulam and Nwabueze O. Magulike at the University of Nigeria, Nigeria.

maternal and fetal arsonic poisoning in bangladesh - The Foundation is supporting Jay Rahman, a Bangladesh student, in his study of the effects of arsenic poisoning on pregnant women. Mr Rahman collected blood from pregnant women and from the babies at birth. The results were horrifying. Not only did the blood levels of the mothers exceed the upper safe limit set by WHO 2 - 3 fold but similar levels were found in the blood of the new born babies. That is, arsenic poisoning is operating during the most sensitive and critical periods of pre and post-natal development. This tragic situation of maternal and fetal poisoning is a time bomb.

diabetes and birth defect - Collaboration between the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition with the St Thomas' Hospital has resulted in evidence of a cell membrane defect in diabetes, which is transferred to the fetus. Here is evidence that maternal diabetes puts the unborn child at risk to birth defects, vascular disorders and subsequent development of diabetes. New treatments and prevention strategies need to be put in place to protect the mother and the child from future diabetes and vascular disease.

funded research projects in the past .....

Low birth weight & maternal nutrition in East London (The Mother and Baby Clinic, Homerton Hospital, London)

Infant feeding in very preterm infants (Homerton Hospital, London)

A collaborative study between Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition and the Diabetic Care Units of St Thomas's Hospital in London has resulted in evidence of a cell membrane defect in diabetes which is transferred to the fetus.

Work with Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition and St Thomas' Hospital has established robust evidence that adverse maternal nutrition of the high fat type used in the UK and the West, when fed to the mother, leads to reduced transfer to the fetus of the fatty nutrients essential for the blood vessels.

Studies by Dr. Lilly Dubowitz of Imperial College were funded by the Foundation to assess the lipid nutrients in the milk of these mothers. The results uncovered no significant abnormalities which suggested that either they were deficient of some nutrient other than those assessed or, there was a nutritional deficit during the pregnancy when the visual system was developing.

FoodBase is a nutrition database and diet analysis program developed by the Institute of Brain Chemistry & Human Nutrition in order to provide a wide range of nutritional applications for practical guidance on recommended intakes and reference values, counselling, clinical research.It is now used by a wide variety of clients since 1992 including people working in research, educational establishments, local authorities, food manufacturers, cookery book and magazine publishers, and hospitals in the UK as well as other European countries.

foundations's public activities .....

The Foundation has organised several events in the past, in cooperation with other organisations and charities, with the aim to bring together experts in order to exchange research ideas and educate the public. Examples of such events are given below.

November/1991 - A symposium on 'The Health of the Nation Depends on the Mother and Child'. [proceeding published in Nutrition and Health. 1992. Vol. 9 (2)]

1993 - A symposium on 'Nutrition and Neurodevelopmental Disorders' held at Hackney Hospital. [proceeding published in Nutriton and Health. 1993; volume 9(2)]

1993 - A symposium on 'Human Nutritional Origins; The Aquatic Ape' held at the British Association for the Advancement of Science. [proceeding published in Nutrition and Health. 1993. Vol. 9 (3)]

2/Dec/1999 - 'Maternal Nutrition As The Key To The Health And Ability Of The Child' held at The Royal Society of Medicine.

22/Sep/2000 - 'A New Light on Human Origins' held at the Zoological Society of London.

19/Sep/2001- 'Human Genome Project, Nutrition, Health and Food Policy' held at The Medical Society of London.

14/Nov/2002 - 'Nutrition and School Children - Health Implications of the abandonment of Nutrition Education' held at The Medical Society of London.

20/Nov/2003 - 'The Elements of Health and Disease in the Soil' held at the Institute of Physics.

14/May/2004 - 'Letten Symposium: Brain Function And Dysfunction' held at The Royal Society

22-23/Oct/2006 - The Letten & Mother and Child Foundation Symposium: Neuroscience (Novartis Foundation) and Maternal Nutrition in HIV in Africa (Royal Society)

Anne Gibson Memorial Lecture

Dr Anne Gibson was not only a great inspiration to set up The Foundation but also made a substantial donation to help to set up The Mother and Baby Clinic. In recognition of her contribution, 'Anne Gibson Memorial Lecture' has been established.

by Professor Norman Morris, FRCOG. 'Low Birth weight And Its Burden Of Disease And Disability. Maternal And Child Health Is The Important Issue In Securing The Future Of Nations.' [02/12/1999, Royal Society of Medicine]

by Dr. Manuela Martinez. 'Infant Nutrition And Peroxisomal Disease. Pre- And Neo-Natal Brain Development And A Potential Treatment For Infants With Zellweger Disease.' [06/03/2002, London Metropolitan University]

by Professor Gene Anderson. "The Role of Omega 3 Fatty Acids in Vision" [06/07/2004, London Metropolitan University]

   

top