 Catherine Briggs, MSc As a customer of a direct to consumer genotyping company, I was approached during New Year’s resolution season to be a participant in a study looking at the genetics of weight loss. I won’t bore you with the study design details, but I was randomly assigned to the “same diet, increased exercise” group. To comply, I’ve had to increase the duration and intensity of different types of exercise and answer a weekly survey about diet, exercise, and other habits-- all of which I had to admit to doing (or not doing) week after week. While filling in the bubble designating ‘two to four times a week’ for how often I consumed dark chocolate for the sixth week in a row, I reflected on the current literature investigating the influence of genetics on health and fitness.
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 Wei Perng, PhD The “rise again” of baby-led weaning. For the last century or so, parents have been advised to introduce solid foods to their infants – usually starting sometime between 4 and 6 months of age – by spoon-feeding specially prepared foods. The meals start out as smooth purees and, as the infant gets older, progress in texture, flavor, and variety until 1 year of age, when the baby is able to eat what the rest of the family is eating. Spoon-feeding gives the parent control over what and how much the baby is eating. However, in the last decade or so, baby-led weaning has grown in popularity. Instead of giving the infant special foods, they are allowed to feed themselves finger-sized portions of family foods. (Of course, one should keep in mind that parents have likely been practicing baby-led weaning for millenia, prior to modern food processing technologies). In addition to promoting an inclusive eating environment wherein the baby joins the family at mealtime, baby-led weaning is purported to expose infants to a wide variety of foods, thereby decreasing risk of food allergies, and promote development of fine motor skills (discussed in book Rapley G and Murkett T. Baby-led weaning: helping your baby to love good food. Random House 2008). Of particular interest to me is the hypothesis that baby-led weaning reduces future risk of obesity. But how?
 Sheryl Rifas-Shiman, MPH In the December 2017 online issue of the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, several colleagues and I reported that children who consumed high amounts of fructose in early childhood or whose mothers drank a lot of sugary beverages while pregnant may be at greater risk for developing asthma in mid-childhood.
 Veronique Gingras, MSc, PhD In August and September 2017, three nutrition studies derived from the PURE study were published in the Lancet and an old, endless – and somewhat tiresome – debate resurfaced: is a low-carbohydrate or a low-fat diet better for your health? These publications received tremendous attention with headlines such as: Study challenges conventional wisdom on fats, fruits and vegetables or PURE shakes up nutritional field: finds high fat intake beneficial. However, many of the headlines either exaggerated or misrepresented the findings. The media coverage that followed highlights how important it is to be cautious when we interpret and present results.
The First 1000 Days Of Life: A Window Of Opportunity For Novel Interventions Of Childhood Obesity1/3/2018  Izzuddin Aris, PhD Childhood overweight/obesity remains a substantial problem globally. Rising trends in children's and adolescents' body mass index have plateaued in many high-income countries, childhood obesity rates have dramatically increased in parts of Asia over the past few decades. Mounting evidence suggests that the period between conception and age 2, otherwise known as the “first 1000 days of life”, is important in shaping a child’s future risk of obesity. While previous studies have identified numerous maternal factors that can boost subsequent childhood obesity risk (e.g., maternal obesity, diabetes, excessive weight gain during pregnancy, etc.), researchers have only considered them in isolation. Recent findings from the Project Viva and Southampton Women’s Survey cohorts have highlighted that these interlinked risk factors, both independently and cumulatively, contribute to a child's future risk of obesity.
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