Growth and nutrition of willow clones

Summary

Estimating potassium nutrition of Norway spruce with needle analysis during different seasons

Tiivistelmä: Kuusen neulasanalyyttinen kaliumravitsemuksen arviointi eri vuodenaikoina

Influence of pre partum and post partum plane of nutrition on the performance of crossbred suckler cows and their progeny

Selostus: Sisäruokintakauden energiamäärien vaikutus risteytysemolehmien tuotantoon

Foliar potassium concentrations of bilberry, bog bilberry and downy birch as indicators of potassium nutrition of Scots pine on a drained peatland

Abstract

Comparison of growth, nutrition and soil properties of pure and mixed stands of Populus deltoides and Alnus subcornata

Abstract

Consumers' use of nutrition-related endorsement symbol to help their purchase decisions: An extension of the theory of planned behaviour

Tutkimuksessa haluttiin selvittää, mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat ravintoon liittyvän suositusmerkin käyttöön kuluttajan ostopäätöksen apuna. Tutkimuksen viitekehyksen pohjaksi valittiin suunnitellun toiminnan teoria, joka on osoittautunut selittämään hyvin useaa ravintoon- ja terveyteen liittyvää käyttäytymistä. Tutkimustoteutettiin kyselytutkimuksella, jonka aineisto kerättiin Internetissä julkaistulla kyselylomakkeella. Tulokset osoittivat, että kuluttajan aikomus käyttää suositusmerkkiä oli mallin vahvin selittäjä. Lisäksi merkin käyttöä selitti kuluttajan kokema sisäinen kontrolli, johon ulkoinen kontrolli vahvasti vaikuttaa. Ostopäätössitoutumisen havaittiin vaikuttavan aikomuksen ja todellisen merkin käytön väliseen yhteyteen. Yleisesti tulokset osoittivat, että kuluttajilla on aikomusta käyttää merkkiä, mutta todellinen käyttö on huomattavasti vähäisempää.

Probiotic interventions in infancy: Benefit and Safety Assessment of Extended Applications

Immaturity of the gut barrier system in the newborn has been seen to underlie a number of chronic diseases originating in infancy and manifesting later in life. The gut microbiota and breast milk provide the most important maturing signals for the gut-related immune system and reinforcement of the gut mucosal barrier function. Recently, the composition of the gut microbiota has been proposed to be instrumental in control of host body weight and metabolism as well as the inflammatory state characterizing overweight and obesity. On this basis, inflammatory Western lifestyle diseases, including overweight development, may represent a potential target for probiotic interventions beyond the well documented clinical applications. The purpose of the present undertaking was to study the efficacy and safety of perinatal probiotic intervention. The material comprised two ongoing, prospective, double-blind NAMI (Nutrition, Allergy, Mucosal immunology and Intestinal microbiota) probiotic interventions. In the mother-infant nutrition and probiotic study altogether 256 women were randomized at their first trimester of pregnancy into a dietary intervention and a control group. The intervention group received intensive dietary counselling provided by a nutritionist, and were further randomized at baseline, double-blind, to receive probiotics (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Bifidobacterium lactis) or placebo. The intervention period extended from the first trimester of pregnancy to the end of exclusive breastfeeding. In the allergy prevention study altogether 159 women were randomized, double-blind, to receive probiotics (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG) or placebo 4 weeks before expected delivery, the intervention extending for 6 months postnatally. Additionally, patient data on all premature infants with very low birth weight (VLBW) treated in the Department of Paediatrics, Turku University Hospital, during the years 1997 - 2008 were utilized. The perinatal probiotic intervention reduced the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in the mothers and perinatal dietary counselling reduced that of fetal overgrowth in GDM-affected pregnancies. Early gut microbiota modulation with probiotics modified the growth pattern of the child by restraining excessive weight gain during the first years of life. The colostrum adiponectin concentration was demonstrated to be dependent on maternal diet and nutritional status during pregnancy. It was also higher in the colostrum received by normal-weight compared to overweight children at the age of 10 years. The early perinatal probiotic intervention and the postnatal probiotic intervention in VLBW infants were shown to be safe. To conclude, the findings in this study provided clinical evidence supporting the involvement of the initial microbial and nutritional environment in metabolic programming of the child. The manipulation of early gut microbial communities with probiotics might offer an applicable strategy to impact individual energy homeostasis and thus to prevent excessive body-weight gain. The results add weight to the hypothesis that interventions aiming to prevent obesity and its metabolic consequences later in life should be initiated as early as during the perinatal period.

Pre- and postnatal nutrition – target for allergy risk reduction

A rapid increase in allergic diseases in Western societies has led to the conclusion that our modern lifestyle is a risk factor for immune dysregulation. Potential culprits and benefactors are searched among early dietary and microbial exposures, which may act to program later allergic disease. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the role of early maternal and child nutrition in reducing the risk of child allergy. The study population comprised of 256 mother – child pairs from families with a history of allergy participating in a randomized controlled dietary counseling and probiotic intervention (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12) study from early pregnancy onwards. The dietary counseling aimed for a diet complying with dietary recommendations for pregnant and lactating women, with special attention to fat quality. Maternal dietary counseling was reflected in cord blood fatty acids suggesting better essential fatty acid status in infants in the counseling group. Dietary counseling with probiotics or placebo had no effect on child allergy risk, but associations between maternal diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding and child allergic outcomes were found in secondary analyses. During pregnancy, milk intake was related to decreased and cheese intake to increased risk of child atopic eczema. During breastfeeding, intake of vitamin C was related to increased risk of asthma and intake of egg was related to decreased risk of atopic eczema. The timing of introduction of complementary foods to infant’s diet was not associated with risk of atopic eczema, when adjusted with parental opinion of child allergic symptoms (i.e., potential reverse causality). In conclusion, the results demonstrate that infant fatty acid supply can be modified via maternal dietary changes. In addition, interesting associations of maternal diet with child allergy risk were discovered. However, no difference in the incidence of allergic diseases with dietary counseling was observed. This suggests that more potent dietary interventions might be necessitated to induce clinical risk reduction of allergy. Highrisk families can safely adhere to dietary recommendations for pregnant and lactating women, and the results support the current conception that no additional benefit is gained with delaying introduction of complementary feeding.