Interventions designed to reduce excessive gestational weight gain can reduce the incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Helen Truby et al. published in Diabetes research and clinical practice.

Maternal gestational weight gain during pregnancy: prioritising the conversation

Ruth Walker et al. published in the Australian Journal of Primary Health.

Read article here.

SLEEP AND FOOD CHOICES: WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES FROM AN INTERNATIONAL SAMPLE

Helen Truby et al. published in The FASEB Journal.

Read article here.

AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE OF WOMEN’S BELIEFS AND EXPERINCES REGARDING GESTATIONAL WEIGHT GAIN AND ANTENATAL CARE

Helen Truby et al. published in the FASEB Journal.

Read article here.

SCS researchers working to improve health outcomes for obese children and older adults

Dr Michelle Blumfield and Dr David Scott

Two School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) researchers have been acknowledged by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) through Career Development and Early Career Fellowships.  

Dr David Scott from the Department of Medicine received a Career Development Fellowship to reduce risk factors for falls and fractures in obese older Australians while Department of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Dr Michelle Blumfield will study the impact of sleep in pregnancy on maternal and child weight-related outcomes.

Dr Scott’s Fellowship, worth $425,000 over four years will address two of Australia’s significant public health issues: our ageing population and obesity epidemic.

“40% of Australia’s older adult population will soon be obese—while this population generally have normal life expectancy, they can develop functional disability at a much younger age than non-obese older adults,” said Dr Scott.

As an exercise scientist, Dr Scott is particularly interested in how exercise can reduce disability, and the increasing number of falls and fractures now occurring in our growing obese older adult population.

“My research to date has demonstrated that low muscle mass and function (sarcopenia) and high levels of fat inside our muscles (IMAT) are important risk factors for falls, osteoporosis and fractures in obese older adults,” said Dr Scott.

“Over the next four years, I will conduct exercise studies targeting improvements in muscle and bone health in older adults with obesity, and investigate strategies to ensure exercise programs are achievable and provide optimal outcomes in this population.”  

By improving physical function and preventing falls and fractures, Dr Scott believes his research can help reduce health costs and improve the quality of life of older adults.

Dr Blumfield’s research is tackling another serious public health problem, childhood obesity.  

“Strong evidence supports the tracking of overweight and obesity from infancy to adult life and reduced sleep is a strong risk factor for obesity in infants, children and adults,” said Dr Blumfield.

Sleep disruption has been linked to increased energy intake, poorer food choices, decreased signals to stop eating and a lowered metabolism.

“In pregnancy, sleep deprivation has been associated with higher rates of caesarean section, preterm birth, risk of gestational diabetes mellitus and postnatal depression, however, no research has examined the relationship between sleep, diet and maternal-child adiposity using reference measures.”

Dr Blumfield has developed a research program to optimise maternal and child weight-related outcomes by improving sleeping practices in pregnancy.

Dr Blumfield’s projects include several ‘world firsts’— the use of reference methods for sleep measurement in pregnancy with longitudinal assessment of maternal-child outcomes, and a randomised controlled trial to test the effect of increased sleep opportunity in pregnancy on prenatal predictors of childhood obesity.

Drs Scott and Blumfield thank their supervisors and collaborators, including Professor Peter Ebeling, Professor Helen Truby, Dr Sean Cain, Professor Euan Wallace and Associate Professor Arul Earnest.

Women researchers continue career progression thanks to Faculty grant

Dr Michelle Blumfield

Congratulations Dr Michelle Blumfield and Dr Rachel Hill, researchers in the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) who have each received the Faculty’s Advancing Women in Research Award.

With a long-standing commitment to gender equity and diversity and to increasing the representation of women in senior academic roles, the Advancing Women's Research Success Grant supports the career progression of early to mid-career high potential female academic staff.

Dr Rachel Hill

By providing funding at a critical time in the careers of high potential female academic staff, this initiative aims to reduce the impact of career breaks and/or intense caring responsibilities on research productivity.

A lecturer in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dr Michelle Blumfield’s research focuses on the primary prevention of adiposity related non-communicable diseases.

“I study the role of maternal diet during pregnancy and its relationship with offspring phenotype and health outcomes, including body composition, blood pressure, cognition and sleeping behaviour,” said Dr Blumfield.

“This grant provides me with the funds to employ a research assistant, who will assist me to collect data for my study examining the effect of a circadian informed sleep intervention on glucose tolerance, weight gain and body composition parameters in pregnancy.”

Dr Blumfield said that without these funds, she would not have the opportunity to collect data in 2016 due to her current limited working capacity—she is the primary carer of two small children and has other commitments as a lecturer.

“These funds have the capacity to make a significant difference to my success with national funding bodies in the future,” said Dr Blumfield.

Also juggling career and family responsibilities, NHMRC Career Development Fellow Dr Rachel Hill studies animal models to better understand the pathophysiology that underlies mental illness.

“We use a range of models to determine how genes and our environment (including infection and stress) alter brain development and behaviour,” said Dr Hill, who is currently on maternity leave with a 4 month old and a 4 year old.

Until recently Head of Psychoneuroendocrinology laboratory at the Florey Institute, Dr Hill will join SCS in August as Head of the new Behavioural Neuroscience lab, Molecular Psychiatry division.

 “I will work closely with Professor Suresh Sundram to investigate common dysfunctional pathways in human patients and mouse models that can be targeted for novel therapeutic development.”

Professor Sundram has assessed expression levels of over 90 genes in patients with schizophrenia.

“This grant will enable us to assess the same genes in one of our mouse models—the maternal immune activation model—allowing us to determine any common links between prenatal exposure to infection and schizophrenia in the human population,” said Dr Hill.

Dr Hill said this is the first step to finding the common pathway of dysfunction in schizophrenia.

“It is great to work for an employer that supports women to excel in a highly competitive research environment and recognizes that in order to do so there is sometimes a need for extra resources during time of career disruption (i.e. during child-rearing years) to keep ahead of the game,” said Dr Blumfield.

Dr Blumfield thanks and acknowledges Head, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics Professor Helen Truby for providing a flexible working environment for women and always supporting their career development.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Two Different Macronutrient Profiles on Weight, Body Composition and Metabolic Parameters in Obese Adolescents Seeking Weight Loss

Helen Truby et al. published in PLoS One.

Read article here.