Diet and Nutrition Pilot Study for Chinese Adolescents and Their Mothers

Background:

Emerging epidemiological evidence suggests that early-life exposures in conjunction with genetic makeup and variability may be important in the etiology of many common adult cancers. Prospectively collected information on adolescent and early adulthood exposures is lacking and current evidence often relies on adult recall of the past with a limited array of exposure variables.

Long Term Objective:

• To investigate the feasibility of assessing exposures that may be linked to early life exposures and to later diseases. Exposures include diet, physical activity, UV-exposure, DNAmethylation status, body size and reproductive factors. This feasibility work will inform additional research in an existing large Chinese-U.S. CDC collaborative project conducted in 1993 - 1995, the Community Intervention Program (CIP) (n = 247,000).

Short Term Objectives:

• To determine the feasibility of collecting and assessing the quality of data on current diet, nutritional status, physical activity, physical strength, UV exposure, DNA methylation status and other environmental exposures as early life determinants of adult cancer in adolescents 15 - 17 years of age and early adulthood in their mothers.
• To assess differences in methylation status of DNA between those exposed to periconceptional folic acid supplementation and those unexposed.
• To compare dietary and physical activity self-reporting instruments against objective measures of dietary intake and physical activity, respectively.

Eligibility:

Pairs of mothers and their children aged 15-17 years from the CIP, who completed an associated pilot study in Laoting (Task 1), Hebei provincein the North, and Taicang, Jiangsu provincein the South, and who agree to participate in the study. An additional subsample of 100 children who completed an accompanying study (Task 1), who agree to participate in a sub-study will be eligible.

Design:

This pilot study will include 100 pairs of children and their mothers recruited from 2 provinces. A total of 50 children (aged 16-17years) from a high school (grades 9-10) will be identified in each province. To the extent possible, approximately equal numbers of children aged 16 and 17 years of age will be recruited, stratified by gender and in utero exposure to folic acid. An additional sub-sample of 100 children that completed an accompanying study (Task 1) will be enrolled for only saliva collection and completion of a food frequency questionnaire.

• INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Pairs of mothers and their children 15 - 17 years of age who completed Task1 and who agree to participate in the study (Task2 ).

Exclusion criteria

• Maternal pill usage only after conception and those who may have stopped taking folic acid pills before the second trimester.
• Pairs of mothers and children where the mother is not the primary guardian (e.g., mother died or never lived with the child).