MLSE Foundation releases findings from Change the Game research project

Photo by Rachel on Unsplash

The MLSE Foundation is excited to share the results and recommendations from the Change the Game research project.

COVID-19 shut downs have presented a rare opportunity to experience what life is like without sport, to evaluate and reflect on what is important, and reimagine a better way for youth to develop through sport. Between March and May of 2021, MLSE Foundation and the University of Toronto engaged more than 6800 individual youth and parents from across Ontario to share their experiences with access, engagement, and equity factors in sport, and ideas for what bringing sport back better means to them. The sample was robust and representationally diverse in terms of gender, age, geography, race, household income, and ability status. It included youth who have collectively participated in more than 100 different sports as well as those who are not engaged in sport.  

MLSE Foundation’s Change the Game webpage underwent a transformation to become an interactive, online dashboard that includes:

• A research report containing key insights from the study alongside recommendations for youth sport providers, policymakers, funders, and researchers; and where the study team and contributors such as YCRH have been named

• A transparent and interactive results dashboard allowing anyone to visually explore how the responses to key questions and themes vary by demographic, geographical location, and equity factors

• A downloadable version of the anonymized data set

• A media release and a series of social stories to accompany the roll-out

Read the full report here.

CHILD Study: Breastfeeding may protect against obesity in early life

CHILD Study research has found that infants who are breastfed have a reduced risk of being overweight in the first year of life—and that the protective association is stronger with longer and more exclusive breastfeeding.

“We found that the risk of overweight at 12 months of age was over three times higher among infants who were not breastfed compared with infants who were exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life,” said study lead Dr. Meghan Azad.

The study, published in the October 2018 isue of Pediatrics, looked at both body mass index (BMI) and the rate of infant weight gain—an important predictor of future obesity and cardiovascular health. It used data from more than 2,500 infants and their mothers participating in the CHILD Study.

The study also found that the method of feeding breastmilk matters, and it uniquely distinguished between partial breastfeeding mixed with formula versus partial breastfeeding mixed with foods.

Read the AllerGen press release

Study: Household cleaners may cause obesity in young children

Source: AllerGen Network News

Killing germs around the house may have an impact on young childrens’ waistlines.

The connection? The infant gut microbiome, according to a study led by AllerGen investigator Dr. Anita Kozyrskyj (University of Alberta).

“Infants living in households where disinfectants are used at least weekly are twice as likely to have higher levels of the bacteria called Lachnospiraceae at three to four months of age," observes Dr. Kozyrskyj. “Those same children have a higher body mass index (BMI) at three years of age, compared to children not exposed to frequent home use of disinfectants as infants."

The finding is more than an association, she adds: "Our ‘mediation’ statistical analysis suggests that a gut microbiome enriched with Lachnospiraceae early in infancy was likely directly responsible for children becoming overweight or obese.” 

The study also found that infants in households that use eco-friendly cleaners had decreased odds of becoming overweight or obese, though the reasons for this difference remain uncertain.

Reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), these findings are based on an analysis of data from 757 children participating in AllerGen’s CHILD Study. 

• Read the AllerGen PRESS RELEASE

Instagram promotes positive attitudes towards breastfeeding

Source: AllerGen Network News

AllerGen investigator Dr. Meghan Azad (University of Manitoba) met AllerGen Highly Qualified Personnel Alessandro Marcon (University of Alberta) at AllerGen’s 2016 Research Conference in Vancouver, BC.

Their encounter catalyzed a unique research project that explored the question of whether or not Instagram users are building communities of support around women who breastfeed.

The answer, the researchers found, is “yes”! 

Analyzing more than 4,000 images and 8,000 comments posted on Instagram using popular breastfeeding-related hashtags, they found that the platform was used to create supportive networks for new mothers to share their experiences with breastfeeding. Discussions were overwhelmingly positive with virtually no hostile content.

Their paper, “Protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding on Instagram,” was published in Maternal and Child Nutrition in August 2018.

The researchers suggest that Instagram could potentially offer “new avenues and opportunities to ‘normalize,’ protect, promote, and support breastfeeding more broadly across its large and diverse global online community.” This, in turn, could help improve breastfeeding rates by changing perceptions and building supportive communities for breastfeeding moms. 

• Read AllerGen's press release

Together we can make a difference for children in pain

Members of the Centre for Pediatric Pain Research have been working closely with the Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres (CAPHC) and many others across Canada and beyond on a proposal to support a new network called “Solutions for Kids in Pain” (SKIP).

Anyone with an interest in children's pain management is asked to please take 5 minutes to complete the following online survey:

The Centre for Pediatric Pain Research will use your feedback to develop a network that will improve the way children's pain is managed in Canada and beyond! You can also follow their progress on Twitter @KidsinPain and #ItDoesntHaveToHurt.