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The CATCH-UP project: The impact of pre- and postnatal exposure to mixtures of environmental toxicants on catch-up growth, obesity and cardio-metabolic health in children

Project

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Updated

The overall objective of the project is to study the potential effects of exposure to mixtures of toxicants during vulnerable life stages on child growth and weight status.

Summary

The overall objective of the project is to study the potential effects of exposure to mixtures of toxicants during vulnerable life stages on child growth and weight status. The project will also take into account the interplay between exposure to contaminants and overall diet quality of the child on the association with growth and metabolic disorders.

Our specific objectives were first, to identify the mixtures of toxicants the fetus and the child are exposed to. Second, we aim to explore the associations between these exposures and growth, obesity and metabolic disorders. So far, we have identified three major mixtures of contaminants originating from food in Norwegian pregnant women. A "meat-contaminants pattern" described by high exposure to nitrites, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and perfluoroalkyl carboxylates

(PFCAs), a "fish-contaminants pattern" described by high exposure to arsenic, mercury, dioxin-like compounds and non-dioxin like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and a "vegetables-contaminants pattern" described by high exposure to cadmium, nitrates and benzo[a]pyrene. Furthermore, preliminary results show non-linear associations between prenatal exposure to mixtures of contaminants and child growth from fetal life to childhood.

Project leader

Anne Lise Brantsæter, Avdeling for miljø og helse, Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Project participants

Eleni Zoumpoulia Papadopoulou, Avdeling for miljø og helse, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Line Småstuen Haug, Avdeling for miljø og helse, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Thomas F Webster, Boston University
Martine Vrijheid, Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology
Amrit Kaur Sakhi, Avdeling for miljø og helse, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Kristine Vejrup, Avdeling for helseundersøkelser, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Øyvind Helgeland, Avdeling for genetikk og bioinformatikk, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Line Sørensen, Norges miljø- og biovitenskapelige universitet, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Helle Katrine Knutsen, Avdeling for miljø og helse, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Cathrine Thomsen, Avdeling for miljø og helse, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Ida Henriette Caspersen, Avdeling for miljø og helse, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Helle Margrete Meltzer, Smittevern, miljø og helse, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Verena Sengpiel, Sahlgrenska University Hospital
Bo Jacobsson, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg

Start

01.04.2017

End

01.04.2025

Status

Active

Financing

NFR

Approvals

Regional committees for medical and health research ethics

Project owner/ Project manager

Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Project manager

Anne Lise Brantsæter

Published |Updated