Pregnancy and nutrition
Dr Audrey Tierney, Rachelle Opie and Madeleine Neff completed a study examining the impact of dietary interventions on pregnancy outcomes.
A controlled trial investigating the impact of early nutritional intervention and ongoing antenatal dietetic support in obese pregnant women was completed, with a total of 92 women in the intervention group and 125 women in the control group.
The trial showed that the novel dietary intervention, individually tailored for obese pregnant women, significantly improved diet quality. We are currently investigating mechanisms for translating these findings into clinical practice. Nutrition and Stem Cell Transplantation Dr Susannah King and Sarah Fagan completed a pilot study investigating body composition and energy expenditure in stem cell transplant (SCT) patients with the use of indirect calorimetry.
Body mass index and fat-free mass stores decreased significantly between baseline (prior to SCT conditioning treatment) and day 100 post SCT, indicating that even three months post-transplant, nutritional recovery has not begun. Resting energy expenditure was significantly elevated at baseline but fell by day 100, possibly related to the reduction in fat-free mass stores. A larger study is planned to extend these investigations to include autologous SCT recipients.