Previous studies have suggested possible adverse side-effects of maternal use of folic acid-containing supplements (FACSs) during pregnancy on wheeze and asthma in early childhood. We investigated the association between maternal use of FACSs and childhood respiratory health and atopy in the first 8 yrs of life.Data on maternal use of FACSs, collected during pregnancy, were available for 3,786 children participating in the Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy birth cohort study. Questionnaire data on children's respiratory and allergic symptoms were collected annually and allergic sensitisation and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) were measured at 8 yrs of age.No overall (from 1 to 8 yrs of age) associations were observed between maternal use of FACSs and (frequent) asthma symptoms, wheeze, lower respiratory tract infection, frequent respiratory tract infection and eczema. Maternal folic acid use was associated with wheeze at 1 yr of age (prevalence ratio 1.20, 95% CI 1.04-1.39), but not with wheeze at later ages. Pre-natal exposure to FACSs was not associated with sensitisation and BHR.Apart from a small increased risk of early wheeze, we observed no adverse respiratory or allergic outcomes associated with pre-natal FACSs exposure in our study population.

Our study contributes to the evidence that children with higher serum magnesium concentrations are less likely to have asthma. The associations between serum vitamin D concentrations and asthma were age-dependent.

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SUMMARYWe investigated associations of time in bed and multiple sleep quality characteristics with cardiometabolic markers in children. Data from the prevention and incidence of asthma and mite allergy study, a populationbased prospective birth-cohort study started in 1996-1997 in the Netherlands, were analysed. In total 1481 children aged 11-12 years completed a questionnaire (including questions on sleep) and underwent a medical examination. We measured body mass index, waist circumference, totaland high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure and glycated haemoglobin. Results showed that in girls, some sleep characteristics were related to anthropometrics (body mass index, waist circumference) and cholesterol. Girls who had a long time in bed (11-12.5 h) had 0.16 lower body mass index z-score (95% confidence interval À0.31; À0.01) and 0.99 cm smaller waist circumference (95% confidence interval À2.01; À0.13) compared with girls who spent 10-10.5 h in bed. Girls who went to bed late and rose early had 0.16 mM higher total cholesterol (95% confidence interval 0.01; 0.31) and 0.08 mM higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (95% confidence interval 0.01; 0.14) than 'early to bed/early rise' girls. Girls with night-time awakenings had 0.14 mM higher total cholesterol (95% confidence interval 0.03; 0.25) than girls without nighttime awakenings. Girls who felt sleepy/tired ≥1 day per week had 0.10 mM lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (95% confidence interval À0.16; À0.04) and 0.17 mM higher total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (95% confidence interval 0.02; 0.32) than girls who did not feel sleepy. No associations were found for boys. Sleep characteristics were not related to blood pressure and glycated haemoglobin, and effect sizes of the associations in girls were small. Therefore, we consider it premature to propose that improved sleep could reduce cardiovascular risk during childhood. IN TROD UCTI ONStudies in adults have shown that inadequate sleep is associated with metabolic syndrome and diabetes (Van Cauter et al., 2008) and with cardiometabolic risk factors, including weight status (Cappuccio et al., 2010), cholesterol, blood pressure (BP;Bjorvatn et al., 2007) and glucose metabolism (Spiegel et al., 2005).Because cardiometabolic risk factors track from adolescence into adulthood (Camhi and Katzmarzyk,

Despite the fact that starting night or shift work is associated with some unhealthy lifestyle habits, this study did not confirm a positive association of night and shift work with weight change over 1 year, except for normal-weight workers moving from day to shift work.