University news

A group of international experts on infant growth, nutrition and gastroenterology – three topics that play vital roles in child development and health - will gather in Glasgow on Friday 13th January.

These experts, from across the UK as well as Pakistan and Denmark are set to discuss a range of critical issues, that include breast feeding and weaning, the influence of early nutrition on later health, calcium and vitamin D requirements, and global public health measures to decrease infant mortality.

Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta, a leading paediatrician from Karachi will talk on strategies to reduce infant mortality worldwide, Prof Kim Fleisher-Michaelsen, from Copenhagen, will weigh up the pros and cons of early and late weaning, Professor Ann Prentice, from MRC Human Nutrition Research in Cambridge, will discuss her research work on bone growth in The Gambia, and Professor Alan Lucas, from UCL will focus on the effects of early under nutrition on later health.

The experts are gathering to mark the retirement of Professor Lawrence Weaver, head of the Department of Child Health from 1996-2011.  Professor Weaver was formerly Reader in Human Nutrition, and in 2004 he was awarded a DSc (Glasgow) for his contribution to research in nutrition and child health.

Professor Weaver said: “I am so glad to be the excuse for bringing to Glasgow such a distinguished group of clinical scientists who share my interests, and with whom I have interacted during my career. Optimal nutrition in childhood is one of the foundations of lifelong health, and this meeting promises to highlight several overlapping areas where our increasing understanding of nutrition, growth and the function of the gut has led to great improvements in infant and child health.”

The cross cultural perspective on infant and child growth, nutrition and gastroenterology outlined above will be extended by talks from Dr Julian Thomas, from Newcastle, and Professor Christine Edwards, from Glasgow, on the effects of bacteria (both ‘good’ and ‘bad’) in the gut on health, and from Professor David Wilson, from Edinburgh, on unravelling the cause of Crohn’s disease in children, and by Professor Charlotte Wright, from Glasgow, on the value of charts in monitoring the growth of both individual children and populations. The meeting will be closed by Professor Samuel Cohn, a medieval historian, who will speak about epidemics in history.

This international meeting should attract paediatricians, nutritional scientists, gastroenterologists, students and young researchers in these fields, as well health visitors and others involved in the care of infants and children, or interested in the biology of early life.

Ends

 

---

For more information contact Cara MacDowall, University of Glasgow Media Relations Office, on 0141 330 3535; 07875 203387 or email cara.macdowall@glasgow.ac.uk

First published: 12 January 2012