Food, Fertility and Pregnancy: Monash University leads the way with on-line training for health professionals

Most Australian women’s diets before and during pregnancy do not meet nutrition recommendations.  This issue is further compounded by confusing dietary advice conveyed in the media, on the Internet, and by families regarding what women should and shouldn’t be eating. This advice can be confusing and costly (at best) or dangerous for the health of mother and child (at worst). 

The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Monash University has developed a flexible on-line course entitled Food, Fertility and Pregnancy for all health professionals in antenatal care.  The course has been designed to equip health professionals to answer their patient’s food and nutrition related questions regarding fertility and pregnancy.

• Is there a special fertility diet?

• Can foods determine the sex of a baby?

• Is folate the only nutrient I need to worry about during pregnancy?

• What foods can I eat when I am pregnant?

Women want confident, consistent and personalised advice regarding fertility and pregnancy.  Australian research has found that doctors, midwives and other health professionals are trusted sources of fertility and pregnancy advice.  Health professionals face many challenges when providing food and nutrition advice.  Such challenges include misinformation in the public, minimal training to provide nutrition advice, and a lack of confidence.  

The Food, Fertility and Pregnancy course aims to address these issues and to help health professionals identify when they should refer women for more specialised dietary advice.    

Information about the two week Food, Fertility and Pregnancy course is HERE.

Food as medicine - FREE online course

Professor Helen Truby and her team in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Monash University have developed a free online course addressing the question- Can we use food as medicine?

Food has traditionally been used as medicine and this course looks to explore its current role in health and disease; take a closer look at nutrition science and how it guides us on what and how much to eat for health;  and how to apply evidenced-based nutrition knowledge to guide food choices.

This course is designed for anyone with an interest in food, nutrition and health and does not require previous knowledge or experience in science or health studies.  This course would also be of interest to medical and healthcare professionals looking to upskill their knowledge in food and nutrition, and see what the current evidence is for using foods to improve health.

There are two Food as Medicine courses running in 2016, starting:

·        Monday 24 October

To learn more about this course http://www.med.monash.edu.au/scs/nutrition-dietetics/short-courses/food-as-med.html

Or to register https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/food-as-medicine  

Monash research to improve diet and reduce obesity risk among young adults

Associate Professor Cate Lombard

Using social marketing and media strategies to reduce the risk of obesity in young adults is the aim of a research project in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, thanks to a successful National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grant worth nearly $1 million.

The $950,000 grant was awarded to lead researcher Associate Professor Cate Lombard and her team for their project 'Communication health: optimising engagement and retention using social media', to motivate and engage young adults in health interventions.

“We need to learn how to engage 18-24 year olds in health-related behaviour and our project will draw on research about current marketing techniques while applying successful strategies to health messages,” said Associate Professor Lombard. 

“We will use novel online ethnographic and segmentation methodologies to understand how and why social media motivates, engages and retains young adults in obesity prevention interventions.”

Young adults aged 18-24 years are engaging with social media daily to stay connected, obtain information, communicate and support peers, with 89% of 18-29 year olds using Facebook.

“Original internet websites allowed only one-way communication through static web pages, however, new web-based internet (Web 2.0) facilitates a two-way communication through sharing or creating information,” said Associate Professor Lombard.

“These new applications including social media platforms are potentially a valuable tool to increase reach, effectiveness and impact of health interventions.”

Weight gain in young adults is driven by modifiable health behaviours, particularly eating behaviours.

Associate Professor Lombard said that young adults are less likely to meet fruit and vegetable targets, and more likely to consume sweetened drinks than other age groups.

“The challenge is how health information can successfully compete in a market saturated with unhealthy messages.”

The outcome of this research is practical insights and applications for targeting healthy eating messages to specific segments of the target population.

Associate Professor Lombard’s research team include Head, Department of Nutrition and Dietetic Professor Helen Truby, Dr Claire Palermo and Dr Tracy McCaffrey.

In further grant success, Professor Truby was awarded another NHMRC grant with colleagues from Newcastle University to examine online interventions targeting healthy eating in young adults.

“Our collaborative project will compare the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of three online interventions targeting healthy eating in young adults aged 18 to 24 years over one year,” said Professor Truby.

Professor Truby said the research team aims to increase access to personalised information and advice about usual dietary intakes; effective engagement strategies for healthy eating program; and cost.

“This was a very competitive round of NHMRC grants with a 16% success rate, so we are delighted to receive two of the five grants awarded," said Professor Truby.

FREE online course, "Food as Medicine"

Professor Helen Truby and her team in the department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Monash University have developed a free online course addressing the question- can we use food as medicine?

Food has traditionally been used as medicine and this course looks to explore its current role in health and disease; take a closer look at nutrition science and how it guides us on what and how much to eat for health;  and how to apply evidenced-based nutrition knowledge to guide food choices.

This course is designed for anyone with an interest in food, nutrition and health and does not require previous knowledge or experience in science or health studies.

This course will also be of interest to medical and healthcare professionals looking to upskill their knowledge in food and nutrition, and see what the current evidence is for using foods to improve health.

There are two Food as Medicine courses running in 2016, starting:

·        Monday 2 May

·        Monday 23 October

To learn more about this course http://www.med.monash.edu.au/scs/nutrition-dietetics/short-courses/food-as-med.html

Or to register https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/food-as-medicine  

Forget quinoa and kale, these basic foods for your kids' lunch box will give them the nutrition they need

Dr Zoe Davidson

Evelyn Volders and Zoe Davidson in The Conversation.

Read article here.

Nutrition and Dietetics student recognised for her research into the link between gut microbiota and kidney disease

Congratulations Rachel Clarke, Hons student in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics who was awarded second place for her student oral presentation at the Nutrition Society of New Zealand and Nutrition Society of Australia ASM earlier this month.

In research undertaken during her Honours year, Rachel presented her study, "Dietary Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) induce chronic kidney disease (CKD) and changes in gut homeostasis".

"My research used a mouse model to look at the effect of  dietary advanced glycation end-products (compounds that are present in heat-treated processed food) on gastrointestinal health and kidney function," said Rachel.

"The results suggest that these compounds may adversely affect both the gut and the kidney."

"This is important as the gut and gut microbiota are now thought to play a role in the development and progression of kidney disease," added Rachel.

Nutrition and Dietetics researchers present at Nutrition Society ASM

Dr Tracy McCaffrey

Department of Nutrition and Dietetics lecturer Dr Tracy McCaffrey presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Nutrition Society of New Zealand and the Nutrition Society of Australia last week in Wellington.

Dr McCaffrey gave two presentatations:  ‘Discretionary food consumption in the Victorian Health Monitor survey’ and ‘Nutrition knowledge and estimation of kilojoules: who is getting it right?’.

“The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend limiting discretionary food (DF) choices, i.e. foods containing saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and alcohol,” said Dr McCaffrey.

“Our study results suggest Victorian adults are not limiting their consumption of DFs in line with guidelines and there is a need for public health strategies to support limiting DF consumption.”

Dr McCaffrey said that continued monitoring of food consumption by comprehensive population dietary surveys are required in order to determine the success of public health approaches to limit the consumption of DFs.

In her study of portion size and kilojoule content of meals, Dr McCaffrey presented her findings suggesting that despite high nutrition knowledge, consumers have difficulty correctly estimating kJ difference between ‘standard’ and ‘large’ serving sizes.

“This suggests there needs to be continued commitment to public health strategies that raise awareness of appropriate portion sizes,” added Dr McCaffrey.

Research Fellow in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics Dr Kate Huggins also presented at the conference last week in New Zealand.