Network for Adolescent Nutrition – NAN
Principal investigator: Prof. Abraham Haileamlak1/ Mubarek Abera1
Co-investigators, Alemseged Abdissa1, Caroline Fall2, Chittaranjan Yajnik3, Kate Ward2, Sirazul Sahariah4, Clive Osmond2, Shane Norris5, Marie-Louise Newell2, Sophie Moore6, Kalyanaraman Kumaran2, Ghattu V Krishnaveni7, Sarah Kehoe2, Mary Barker2, Valeriane Leroy8, Elizabeth Kimani9, Suvarna Patil10, Landing Jarjou11
Collaborating institutions: 1) Jimma University, 2) University of Southampton, 3) KEM Hospital Research Centre, Pune, 4) Centre for the Study of Social Change, 5) University of the Witwatersrand, 6) King’s College London, 7) CSI Holdsworth Memorial Hospital, 8) INSERM, 9) African Population and Health Res Centre, 10) B K L Walawalkar Rural Medical College, 11) MRC Unit, The Gambia
Background, objective and methods: Adolescence, the age from 10 to 19 years of age, is characterized by rapid physical growth, sexual maturation, brain re-wiring, and an increase in the scope and complexity of social interactions. Adolescents form 20-35% of the populations in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Adolescence is a time of nutritional vulnerability and opportunity. Good nutrition in adolescence increases cognitive ability, physical growth, peak muscle and bone mass all of which enhancing future health. Adolescence is therefore an opportunity, through optimal nutrition, to benefit the health of adolescent, adult, and that of the next generation. Adolescent nutrition has, however, been under-researched in LMICs, leading to large knowledge gaps. Little is known about how nutrition changes through adolescence, what determines these changes, and how they influence growth and NCD risk. We do not understand the drivers of dietary behavior among adolescents, and how this could be changed to benefit health. We therefore aim to address these knowledge gaps through a systematic study of dietary behavior, nutritional status and physical activity in a large sample of adolescents, who will be followed throughout adolescence in a variety of settings in India and Africa, and we will use our findings to develop intervention strategies. In preparation for this ambitious study, the current plan is to form new partnerships and bring together a multi-disciplinary multi-country consortium of researchers in adolescent nutrition, and selected expert advisors. So, this group will 1) carry out pilot data collection on the height, body composition, diet, nutritional status, and physical activity of young adolescents in 9 different settings in India and Africa using harmonized methods, 2) train teams in qualitative research and explore influences on dietary behavior in adolescents in the same settings, and 3) carry out secondary analysis using data from existing cohorts to examine how adolescent growth relates to adult NCD risk markers. These activities will, in addition to creating new knowledge, enable the sharing of skills and enhance the ability of the members to work together effectively. We will also form working groups to design specific aspects of future project.
Funding source: MRC, UK
Study period: February 2018 – December 2019;
Future Perspective: Investigating the role of infection and stress, and epigenetics, as well as designing context relevant nutritional intervention and focusing on nutritional and interventional/translational issues between 2019-2022.