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
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.
About the project
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Project period: 01.04.2017 - 01.04.2025 (Active)
- Coordinating Institution: Norwegian Institute of Public Health
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Project Manager:
- Anne Lise Brantsæter, Avdeling for miljø og helse, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
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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
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.