Nutrition & Metabolism

ORIGINS has a large number of sub-projects exploring the link between a mother's diet during pregnancy and health outcomes of the child. Projects also explore nutrition and eating habits during the early years as well as general gut health

Nutrition describes the contribution of the nutrients in foods to our overall health.

All the food we eat affects and contributes to our body and our health in some way.

ORIGINS sub-projects focus on nutritional intake of both the mother during pregnancy and the child, while also exploring the development of healthy eating habits.

Areas covered by this research domain include:

Dietary and nutritional intake
Infant feeding and breastfeeding
Mealtime habits
Metabolomics
Microbiome and gut health

Active

The Ef(FE)ct of Iron on Sleep

Investigating the association between iron deficiency and quality of sleep in one year old infants.

BioMood

The BioMood project will study how following a Mediterranean diet during pregnancy affects the gut microbiome, metabolism, and inflammation, with the expectation that it will promote a healthier microbiome and better mental health.

CEED: Colostrum Exclusivity in Early Development

Research shows at least a third of newborns receive formula in hospital, a practice shown to be associated with an increased risk of cow’s milk allergy.

Global Gut Bacteria in Newborns

Spanning across 15 countries, this study is exploring how breastmilk supports good bacteria in the infant gut and how this relationship programs the developing immune system.

IRON Child

One in three children in WA suffer iron deficiency leading to poor sleep, fussy eating, and behavioural difficulties. This project aims to develop mechanisms to prevent and treat the problems before they become clinically significant and translate findings to other communities to improve childhood wellness.

Maternal Diet Quality

This study examines the impact of nutrition-related maternal, infant and childhood health outcomes and healthcare utilisation.

Preschool ASD & Nutrition

Nutrition in preschool children with autistic behaviours.

SYMBA-3

Examining whether consuming prebiotic fibre in pregnancy reduces the risk of developing allergic disease in the first three years of life.

The SYMBA Study

SYMBA is promoting gut health (symbiosis) with prebiotic fibre taken during pregnancy for prevention of allergic disease.

The PrEggNut Study

Completed

Urinary Ferritin as a Non-Invasive Means of Assessing Iron Status in Young Children

Exploring whether urinary ferritin can be used as an alternative biomarker for measuring iron status in young children over blood draws.

The Mediterranean Diet

This study aims to examine how a Mediterranean diet and exercise in pregnancy impacts on neonatal body fat composition at birth and weight at one year of age.

ADAPTS

Antibiotic dysbiosis and probiotics trial on infants

Gateway to Allergy Prevention

This project aims to examine whether maternal probiotic supplementation promotes an enhanced immunomodulatory breastmilk composition likely to promote infant oral tolerance, and reduce food allergy in breastfed children.