Early feeding behaviour in relation to inequities in health outcomes

Principal researcher

Hinke Haisma

Type of research

Rosalind Franklin Fellow

Supervisors

Professor Inge Hutter

Collaboration

• Deptarment Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
• MRC-Human Nutrition Research, Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Institute of Child Health, University College London, United Kingdom
• Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil

Summary of the project

My research programme will focus on the question: How does the use of resources affect inequalities in child health. Where the use of resources includes for example, land use, health care facilities or interventions, knowledge; and inequalities can be of social, gender, or regional (rural/urban) nature.
At the population level I am interested in nutrition patterns across populations and how they influence health outcomes. Following the nutrition transition theory from Popkin (2002), populations go through different stages of the transition, starting with (1) the hunter gatherers who need to actively look for their food, with little health problems, though short life expectancy, through (2) a stage where malnutrition is common, and infectious diseases prevail, to (3) our current stage where overnutrition is more prevalent, and cardiovascular diseases are important causes of disability and death. I want to look at inequalities in child health in different populations in different stages of the nutrition transition: Groningen, Brazil, Tanzania. I will use both qualitative and quantitative methods (survey, DHS and cohort data).
In my view, new insights are to be gained from interdisciplinary research. In the past, I have worked on the edges of biology, epidemiology, medical science, and agriculture, and within spatial sciences and the healthy ageing programme, I see a lot of opportunities to work across disciplines. The challenge there is, not to just work “with” other disciplines, but truly feel and internalise the epistemologies and methodologies of the other disciplines.

Papers in Progress

• Costa THM, Haisma H, Wells JCK, Whitehead RG, Mander AP, Bluck LJC..How much breast milk do infants consume? Data from 12 countries using an isotopic methodology (manuscript submitted).

• Haisma H, Wells JCK, Wright A, Victora CG. Influence of early life socio-economic, environmental and physiological factors on body composition at age 4.5 years (manuscript in preparation).

Oral presentations

• Haisma H, Coward WA, GH Visser, JCK Wells, A Wright, CG Victora. Tracking of early life body composition and effect of energy utilisation on body composition at age 4.5 years. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation (ISRHML), “The science of human lactation: foundations of Clinical Practice”. Perth, Western-Australia, 30 January – 5 February, 2008.

• Haisma H, Wells JCK, Coward WA, Duro Filho D, Victora CG, Vonk RJ, Wright A, Visser H. Effect of complementary feeding with cow’s milk on sleeping metabolic rate in breast-fed infants. ESPGHAN pre-congress “Early nutrition and its late consequences”. Paris, 2-3 July 2004. J Paed Gastroenterol Nutrition.

• Haisma H, Coward WA, GH Visser, RJ Vonk, JCK Wells, A Wright, CG Victora. Influence of breast-feeding pattern and socio-economic status on energy expenditure of breast-fed infants in southern Brazil. Rank Prize Mini-Symposium, Grasmere, UK, December 2002.

• Albernaz E, Haisma H, Coward WA, Wright A, Victora CG. The use of deuterium for measurement of breast milk intake and complementary feeding. V Congresso Brasileiro de Epidemiología. Curitiba, Brazil, March 2002.

• Haisma H, Coward WA, Albernaz E, Wright A, Victora CG. Breast milk intake and complementary feeding measured with deuterium in exclusively, predominantly and partially breast-fed infants. Simpósio de Aleitamento Materno. Universidade de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil, August, 2001.

• Wright A, Coward WA, Haisma H, Albernaz E, Victora CG. The use of deuterium for the assessment of milk intake and complementary feeding in breast-fed babies. In: Rapid Communications of Mass Spectrometry. Congress of Stable Isotope and Mass Spectrometry User Group, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 2001.

• Haisma H, Kaptein A, Thio B, Vermeer BJ. Social aspects of psoriasis. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Congress on Dermatology and Psychiatry. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, May 1995.

Publications

• Romulus-Nieuwelink J, Doak C, Albernaz E, Victora CG, Haisma H. 2010. Breast milk and complementary food intake in Brazilian infants according to socio-economic position. Int J Ped Obesity, Sept 6, Epub ahead of print, 1-7.
• Waninge A. Ligthart KAM, Kramer J, Hoeve S, Van der Schans CP, Haisma H. 2010. Measuring waist circumference in disabled adults. Research in Developmental Disabilities 31(3), 839-47.
• Ipema K, Franssen C, Van der Schans CP, Haisma H. Influence of frequent nocturnal home hemodialysis on food preference. J Renal Nutrition 20 (2), 127-133, 2010.

• Vogel I, Rossum L van, Drongelen K, Haisma H, Mesters I, Wouwe K van, Raat H. ZonMW research report. Motives for women to stop breastfeeding before 6 months of age (in Dutch). Institute for Community Health, Erasmus MC – University Medical Centre Rotterdam, 2009.

• Kruk J van der, Haisma H. Overweight and obesity in children: what is important for nurses with respect to signalling, prevention and treatment (in Dutch). Ned. Tijdschr. EBP 2: 20-23, 2007.

• Haisma H, Coward WA, Visser GH, Vonk R, Wells JCK, Wright A, Victora CG. Socio-economic and environmental factors influence energy utilization in Brazilian breast-fed infants. J. Nutr. 136: 2945–2951, 2006

• Haisma H, Wells JCK, Coward WA, Duro Filho D, Victora CG, Vonk RJ, Wright A, Visser H. Complementary feeding with cow’s milk alters sleeping metabolic rate in breast-fed infants. J Nutr, 135(8):1889-95, 2005.

• Santos IS, Gigante DP, Coitinho DC, Haisma H, Valle NCJ, Valente G. Evaluation of the impact of a nutritional program for undernourished children in Brazil. Cad Saúde Pública 21 (3), 776-85, 2005.

• Haisma H, Coward WA, Albernaz E, Wright A, Victora CG, Barros A. The deuterium-oxide turnover method as a means to detect bias in estimations of complementary food intake. EJCN 59, 93-100, 2005.

• Haisma H, Jaarsma R, Tierolf B. Transnational evaluation ECASE (European Cooperation for Asylum Seeker Empowerment). Research report, Center for Social Development (CMO) Groningen, 2005.

• Haisma H, Jaarsma R. Final evaluation Medina (stimulation programme for migrant women to initiate own company). Research report (in Dutch), Center for Social Development (CMO) Groningen, 2005.

• Haisma H. Energy utilisation of infants in southern Brazil. The influence of socio-economic status and breast-feeding pattern. PhD Thesis, University of Groningen, the Netherlands, 208 p, 2004.

• Haisma H, Coward WA, Albernaz E, Wright A, Victora CG. Breast milk and energy intake in exclusively, predominantly and partially breast-fed infants. EJCN 57, 1633-42, 2003.

• Albernaz E, Victora CG, Haisma H, Wright A, Coward WA. Impact of lactation counselling on breast milk intake measured through isotopic methods: a randomized trial. J Nutr 133, 205-210, 2002.

• Gigante DP, Santos I, Coitinho D, Valle NCJ, Haisma H, Valente GC. Avaliação do impacto do programa nacional do leite, em Alagoas, através de métodos isotópicos: aspectos metodológicos e resultados preliminares. (Impact evaluation of a national milk programme using isotope methods, in Alagoas, Brazil: methodological aspects and preliminary results). Revista Brasileira de Epidemiología 5 (1), 63-70, 2002.