Nourishing Futures: How Micronutrients Improve Pregnancy Outcomes and Reduce Healthcare Costs

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By Jessica Heaton, MSc, postgraduate student in clinical psychology. Pregnancy can be an exciting journey for many, but for others, it comes with unexpected challenges, such as maternal depression. Depression during pregnancy, or antenatal depression, affects approximately 20% of pregnant individuals. It doesn’t just make pregnancy harder—it can have long-term effects on infants and the wider whānau. Research consistently...

Micronutrients Absorbed via the Oral Mucosa Reduce Emotion Dysregulation in 5-10-Year-Old Children: A Three-Phased Randomized Open-Label Wait-list-Controlled Trial

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Smiling child with fruit
Dr Nurina Katta. Dr Katta completed her PhD in Te Puna Toiora, the Mental Health and Nutrition Lab at the University of Canterbury Understanding Emotion Dysregulation in Children When children struggle to manage their emotions, it can show up as severe irritability, temper outbursts, anger, or even aggression. These challenges can affect them now and in the future, leading to issues...

From womb to world: The role of micronutrients in shaping infant development

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happy baby
Dr Siobhan Campbell Siobhan is a recent PhD graduate from Te Puna Toiora (Mental Health and Nutrition Research Lab) based at the University of Canterbury. She is particularly interested in the impact of nutritional intervention on maternal mental health and infant development. Alongside her studies in nutritional psychology, Siobhan is completing additional studies in clinical psychology, working as an intern...

Micronutrients as a Treatment for Antenatal Depression: Results from “NUTRIMUM”, an RCT using vitamins and minerals to treat depressive symptoms during pregnancy

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AI generated illustration of pregnant woman surrounded by vtitamins and nutrition
Dr Hayley Bradley   Researchers from Te Puna Toiora (Mental Health and Nutrition Research Lab) have published a new study investigating whether broad-spectrum micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) can improve symptoms of depression during pregnancy. Antenatal depression affects between 15-21% of pregnant women worldwide (1) and increases the risk pregnancy, birth, and neonatal complications as well as postnatal depression (2-4). It has...

Vitamins and Minerals as Treatment for Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Adults: The outcomes from the NoMAD trial (Nutrients for Mental Health, Anxiety and Depression)

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A range of Fruit and Vegetables
Publication just out: Blampied, M., Tylianakis, J. M., Bell, C., Gilbert, C., & Rucklidge, J. J. (2023). Efficacy and safety of a vitamin-mineral intervention for symptoms of anxiety and depression in adults: A randomised placebo-controlled trial “NoMAD”. Journal of Affective Disorders, 339, 954-964. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.05.077

Micronutrients absorbed in the mouth reduce irritability and anger but not stress in university students

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Image of fruit and vegetables
Written by: Nurina Katta Long-term stress can increase the risk of all kinds of adverse physical and mental health conditions, such as strokes, cardiovascular disease, emotional distress, anxiety, and depression. In addition, stress can lead to poorer lifestyle choices, including smoking, drinking, and overeating1-6. There are high rates of stress among university students7; however, only a small number of students receive...

Translating science to the real world: Nutrition as a front-line form of treatment after a traumatic event

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Disasters, both natural (e.g., earthquakes, floods) and human-made (e.g., terrorism, civil strife), affect communities worldwide, often causing immense disruption and suffering, and lasting psychological injuries. Living and working in Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand has meant we have had our fair share of traumas, but then also the opportunity to study the effect of nutrients on our resilience. For example, on February...

Gut gardening to improve mental health

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The human gut is home to trillions of microorganisms, and research is finding that this microbiome has important impacts on our health and wellbeing. However, what do you do when you feel that your gut microbiome needs a boost? It is possible to change your microbiome, for both better and worse? University of Canterbury MSc Psychology student Jessica Heaton outlines interesting ways to improve our gut microbiome's bacterial diversity, and how this can impact our physical and mental health.

Fish oil supplements in New Zealand

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Are NZ fish oil supplements safe, true to label and can they provide a health benefit? I recently co-authored an article in the New Zealand Medical Journal looking at whether omega-3 fatty acids contained in 10 fish oil supplements sold in NZ are true to label, accurate with health claims and safe to consume. Overall, although likely to be safe...

Exploring the microbiome and its relationship with infant health

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For the past several years, through the NUTRIMUM study, Te Puna Toiora | UC’s Mental Health and Nutrition Research group has been investigating the effect that micronutrient supplementation, and maternal depression and anxiety can have on infant development. One of the aspects of interest in this research has been the collection of microbiome samples from mothers and infants, in...
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