Keith P. West, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Sucheta Mehra, Alain Labrique et al.
<h3>Importance</h3> Maternal micronutrient deficiencies may adversely affect fetal and infant health, yet there is insufficient evidence of effects on these outcomes to guide antenatal micronutrient supplementation in South Asia. <h3>Objective</h3> To assess effects of antenatal multiple micronutrie...
Kerry Schulze, Sucheta Mehra, Saijuddin Shaikh, Hasmot Ali et al.
BACKGROUND: Antenatal multiple micronutrient (MM) supplementation improves birth outcomes relative to iron-folic acid (IFA) in developing countries, but limited data exist on its impact on pregnancy micronutrient status. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the efficacy of a daily MM (15 nutrients) compared with ...
Rebecca D. Merrill, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Hasmot Ali, Nusrat Jahan et al.
Women of reproductive age are at a high risk of iron deficiency, often as a result of diets low in bioavailable iron. In some settings, the iron content of domestic groundwater sources is high, yet its contribution to iron intake and status has not been examined. In a rural Bangladeshi population of...
Rebecca D. Merrill, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Hasmot Ali, Alain Labrique et al.
Iron deficiency was absent in a recent population assessment of rural Bangladeshi women exhibiting anemia (57%), suggesting other causes of low hemoglobin. We assessed the relative influence on anemia of thalassemia, groundwater arsenic and iron, and diet among women of reproductive age living in ru...
Abu Ahmed Shamim, Kerry Schulze, Rebecca D. Merrill, Alamgir Kabir et al.
Background Tocopherols were discovered for their role in animal reproduction, but little is known about the contribution of deficiencies of vitamin E to human pregnancy loss. Objective We sought to determine whether higher first-trimester concentrations of α-tocopherol and γ-tocopherol were associat...
Abu Ahmed Shamim, Alamgir Kabir, Rebecca D. Merrill, Hasmot Ali et al.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of the current analysis was to explore the association of multiple micronutrients with Hb concentration among pregnant women in a South Asian setting, a topic that has not been adequately explored. DESIGN: Sociodemographic, anthropometric and micronutrient status (plasma fer...
Christopher D. Heaney, Brittany Kmush, Ana Navas‐Acién, Kevin A. Francesconi et al.
Background Arsenic has immunomodulatory properties and may have the potential to alter susceptibility to infection in humans. Objectives We aimed to assess the relation of arsenic exposure during pregnancy with immune function and hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection, defined as seroconversion during p...
Rebecca D. Merrill, Alain Labrique, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Kerry Schulze et al.
Over the past 30 years, tubewells have become a ubiquitous source of potable groundwater in South Asia. Considered safer than surface water, groundwater naturally contains minerals that may impact human health; however, few data exist on tubewell water mineral content or its association with human n...
Alamgir Kabir, Rebecca D. Merrill, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Rolf D. W. Klemn et al.
This analysis was conducted to explore the association between 5 birth size measurements (weight, length and head, chest and mid-upper arm [MUAC] circumferences) as dependent variables and 10 maternal factors as independent variables using canonical correlation analysis (CCA). CCA considers simultan...
Rolf Klemm, Rebecca D. Merrill, Lee Wu, Abu Ahmed Shamim et al.
Birth size is an important gauge of fetal and neonatal health. Birth size measurements were collected within 72 h of life for 16 290 live born, singleton infants in rural Bangladesh from 2004 to 2007. Gestational age was calculated based on the date of last menstrual period. Newborns were classified...
Rebecca D. Merrill, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Alain Labrique, Hasmot Ali et al.
Iron is ubiquitous in natural water sources used around the world for drinking and cooking. The health impact of chronic exposure to iron through water, which in groundwater sources can reach well above the World Health Organization's defined aesthetic limit of 0.3 mg/L, is not currently understood....
Keith P. West, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Alain Labrique, Hasmot Ali et al.
Antenatal micronutrient deficiencies may impair fetal and infant health. We conducted a cluster‐randomized, double‐masked trial among 44,567 pregnant women and 28,516 infants to assess efficacy of daily MM vs IFA supplementation, from the 1 st trimester to 12 wk postpartum, in improving fetal and in...
Abu Ahmed Shamim, Abu Abdullah Mohammad Hanif, Rebecca D. Merrill, Rebecca K. Campbell et al.
Fortified blended foods (FBFs) are widely used to prevent undernutrition in early childhood in food-insecure settings. We field tested enhanced Wheat Soy Blend (WSB++)-a FBF fortified with micronutrients, milk powder, sugar, and oil-in preparation for a complementary food supplement (CFS) trial in r...
Parul Christian, Saijuddin Shaikh, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Sucheta Mehra et al.
BACKGROUND: Growth faltering in the first 2 years of life is high in South Asia where prevalence of stunting is estimated at 40-50%. Although nutrition counselling has shown modest benefits, few intervention trials of food supplementation exist showing improvements in growth and prevention of stunti...
Sucheta Mehra, Kerry Schulze, Rebecca D. Merrill, Saijuddin Shaikh et al.
Nutrition interventions in the critical first 2 years of life have had only modest effects on stunting, a length for age Z‐score (LAZ) < ‐ 2, suggesting that non‐nutritional factors contribute to compromised growth. We are assessing gut permeability and environmental exposures at 24 mo of age as ...
Rebecca D. Merrill
While anemia can result from many conditions including infectious diseases such as hook worm and malaria, micronutrient deficiencies of folate, vitamin A and vitamin B 12 , to name a few, and inherited blood disorders such as thalassemia, the consensus is that half of all anemia cases, world-wide, c...
Rebecca D. Merrill, Saskia de Pee, Tahmeed Ahmed, Klaus Krämer et al.
<ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Background</ns4:bold> : Lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) are effective for treating childhood wasting and for preventing stunting, wasting, and anemia, but large-scale production and programmatic use are a barrier. Locally-developed and produced LNS may be more affordable and...
Andrew J. Hryckowian, Bryan D. Merrill, Nathan T. Porter, William Van Treuren et al.
Summary Our emerging view of the gut microbiome largely focuses on bacteria and less is known about other microbial components such as of bacteriophages (phages). Though phages are abundant in the gut, very few phages have been isolated from this ecosystem. Here, we report the genomes of 27 phages f...
Keith P. West, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Sucheta Mehra, Alain Labrique et al.
In poor regions of the world, multiple micronutrient (MM) deficiencies are common among pregnant women, along with burdens of low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth, small for gestational age (SGA), stillbirth, infant mortality, and maternal mortality. Several studies have compared the effects of dai...
Christopher D. Heaney, Brittany Kmush, Ana Navas‐Acién, Kevin Francesconi Francesconi et al.
infection during pregnancy Christopher Heaney, MS, PhD; Brittany Kmush, MS; Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD; Kevin Francesconi Francesconi, PhD; Kerry Schulze, PhD; Kenrad Nelson, MD; Delisa Fairweather, PhD; Sabra Klein, PhD; Hasmot Ali; Saijuddin Shaikh; Rebecca Merrill PhD; Lee Wu; Keith West Dr PH, RD;...