Bringing up Baby: in search of nutrition biomarkers for early life
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Bringing up Baby pilot study: in search of novel biomarkers for nutrition using stable isotope ratios in incremental tissues in mother/infant pairs.
IRAS ID
325216
Contact name
Julia Beaumont
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bradford
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 2 months, 30 days
Research summary
Obesity is a major public health challenge with important social and economic implications. Nutrition during early life affects the likelihood of children developing clinical obesity as adults; yet measuring how well-nourished babies are can be difficult, especially during the in-utero period. A tool providing a holistic assessment of nutrition in early life would therefore be beneficial to public health. “We are what we eat”: the nutrients in our diet are recorded in the tissues we grow. The hair and fingernails of babies record chemical changes such as nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) from their time in the womb through the first year of life. δ15N is also influenced by changes in weight, so measuring those chemical markers has the potential to tell us both the type of food a person eats and how well-nourished they are, providing a comprehensive and non-invasive approach to nutritional assessment unbiased by self-reporting. Studies in adults provide support for the use of isotope analysis as nutrition biomarkers but further work is needed in relation to growing children.
This pilot study, funded by the University of Bradford, aims to establish the effect of growth on δ15N and δ13C and determine whether such chemical changes in hair and nails of babies and their mothers could be used as biomarkers for early life nutrition; and by extension nutrition-related health risk. We will use a longitudinal observational quantitative approach, encompassing serial measurements of size, completion of questionnaires about food intake and health, and collection of nail clippings and hair samples over an 18-month period from about the third gestational trimester in a small cohort of 30 mother/infant pairs living around Bradford and Kingston-Upon-Hull.REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/EM/0281
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jan 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion