Breastfed infants are dependent on an adequate supply of iodine in human milk for the production of thyroid hormones, necessary for development of the brain. Despite the importance of iodine for infant health, data on Norwegian lactating women are scarce. We measured iodine intake and evaluated iodine status and iodine knowledge among lactating women. From October to December 2018, 133 mother–infant pairs were recruited in a cross-sectional study through two public health care centers in Lillehammer and Gjøvik. Each of the women provided two human milk specimens, which were pooled, and one urine sample for analysis of iodine concentration. We used 24-h dietary recall and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to estimate short-term and habitual iodine intake from food and supplements. The median (P25, P75) human milk iodine concentration (HMIC) was 71 (45, 127) µg/L—of which, 66% had HMIC <100 µg/L. The median (P25, P75) urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was 80 µg/L (52, 141). The mean (± SD) 24-h iodine intake and habitual intake was 78 ± 79 µg/day and 75 ± 73 µg/day, respectively. In conclusion, this study confirms inadequate iodine intake and insufficient iodine status among lactating women in the inland area of Norway and medium knowledge awareness about iodine.

Recommendations for sufficient vitamin D intake in children were recently revised in Norway. However, optimal levels of vitamin D are still debated and knowledge on supplementation and vitamin D levels in healthy children in Norway is scarce. Therefore, we measured the plasma-concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) in children and adolescents attending the outpatient paediatric clinics in Innlandet Hospital Trust, Norway during two consecutive years (2015–2017). We recruited 301 children and adolescents aged 5 months to 18 years (mean 7.8, SD 4.4 years) for the study and obtained sample material for 25(OH)D measurements from 295 (98%). Information on diet, vitamin D supplementation, sun exposure, ethnicity, parental education and general health was collected by questionnaire. 25(OH)D levels were analysed and determinants for 25(OH)D were estimated by linear regression. 1.0% of the children had deficient levels (25(OH)D < 25 nmol/L) and 21.0% had insufficient levels (25–50 nmol/L). 25(OH)D levels ranging from 50 to 75 nmol/L were found among 38.3%, while 39.7% had levels above 75 nmol/L. The mean 25(OH)D level was 70.0 nmol/L (SD 23.4, range 17–142 nmol/L) with a significant seasonal variation with lowest levels in mid-winter and highest in late summer. In addition to seasonal variation independent determinants for 25(OH)D-levels were age of the child, parental ethnicity, vitamin D supplementation and soda consumption. Along with parental ethnicity other than Nordic, age was the strongest determinant of 25(OH)D, with adolescents having the lowest levels.

Background: There is a suggested coexistence between obesity and mental health discomfort in adolescence. The objective of this study was to explore if mental health indices covaried with body mass index (BMI) in adolescence and if there were gender-related disparities. Methods: Data were collected in two cross-sectional surveys of 10th-grade students (15 to 16 years old) carried out in 2002 and 2017. The questionnaires included self-reported height and weight, questions covering mental health using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), lifestyle, and sociodemographic variables. We estimated the associations between SDQ subscale scores and BMI and the prevalence of overweight and obesity in linear and logistic multivariable models. We also estimated the extent to which gender modified these associations. Results: BMI was positively associated with peer problems [beta (β): 0.08, (95% confidence interval 0.01, 0.14)], indicating that for every point increase in peer problems subscore, BMI increased by 0.08 kg/m 2. The association between internalizing (i.e., peer and emotional) problems and BMI and conduct problems and BMI was different for boys and girls (p < 0.05 for all effect modifications). Conclusion: In this repeated cross-sectional study across 15 years, we found that peer problems were associated with BMI in Norwegian adolescents. We also found that there is a possibility that adolescent boys and girls report different mental health symptoms related to increased BMI. This finding implicates a need for gender-specific attention when assessing risk factors for increased BMI in adolescents.

Mild to moderate iodine deficiency is common among women of childbearing age. Data on iodine status in infants are sparse, partly due to the challenges in collecting urine. Urinary iodine concentration (UIC) is considered a good marker for recent dietary iodine intake and status in populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability of iodine concentration measured in two spot-samples from the same day of diaper-retrieved infant urine and in their mothers’ breastmilk. We collected urine and breastmilk from a sample of 27 infants and 25 mothers participating in a cross-sectional study at two public healthcare clinics in Norway. The reliability of iodine concentration was assessed by calculating the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and the coefficient of variation (CV). The ICC for infants’ urine was 0.64 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.36–0.82), while the ICC for breastmilk was 0.83 (95% CI 0.65–0.92) Similarly, the intraindividual CV for UIC was 0.25 and 0.14 for breastmilk iodine concentration (BIC). Compared to standard methods of collecting urine for measuring iodine concentration, the diaper-pad collection method does not substantially affect the reliability of the measurements.

BackgroundVitamin D has an important role in the immune system, and has been linked to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and coronary artery disease (CAD). The exact mechanisms by which vitamin D is involved in these processes are still unclear. Therefore, we wanted to search for differences in expression of genes involved in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) activation pathway and genes that are known to alter upon vitamin D stimulation, in the aortic adventitia of CAD patients with and without RA.MethodsAffymetrix microarray was used to determine gene expression profile in surgical specimens from the adventitia of the ascending aorta of CAD patients with RA (n = 8) and without RA (n = 8) from the Feiring Heart Biopsy Study.ResultsWe identified three vitamin D associated genes that were differentially expressed between RA and non-RA patients: Growth arrest and DNA-damage-inducible protein 45 alpha (GADD45A) (FC = 1.47; p = 0.006), Nuclear Receptor Co-repressor 1 (NCOR1) (FC = 1,21; p = 0.005) and paraoxonases 2 (PON2) (FC = -1.37; p = 0.01). High expression of GADD45A in RA tissues was confirmed by real-time qRT-PCR. GADD45A expression correlated with plasma levels of 1,25(OH)2D3 (rs = 0.69; p = 0.003).ConclusionsMicroarray analyses revealed higher expression of GADD45A and NCOR1; and lower expression of PON2 in the aortic adventitia of RA than non-RA patients. Further studies are needed to elucidate if and how GADD45A, NCOR1 and PON2 are involved in the development of accelerated atherosclerosis in RA. In theory, some of these factors might have proatherogenic effects whereas others might reflect an underlying vascular pathology promoting atherogenesis (such as vascular stress).