PhD defence by Erica Elizabeth Eberl

Ice cream, Oranges, or Clay? - Characteristics and Risk Factors of Dietary Behaviours in Pregnancy

Assessment Committee:
Associate professor Tuomas Oskari Kilpeläinen, NNF Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR), University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Professor Christina C. Dahm, Aarhus University
Professor Keith Godfrey, University of Southampton

Supervisors:
Professor Ruth Loos
Associate Professor Marta Guasch Ferre
Professor Sjurdur Frodi Olsen,

Department:
Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research

Graduate Programme:
Public Health and Epidemiology

Place:
Building 20, Room: Victor Haderup Auditorium, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 København N

Email address to gain access to the thesis: erica.eberl@sund.ku.dk
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.

Short description of the thesis:
What a woman eats and drinks during pregnancy can have a profound effect on the health of both mother and offspring. Yet pregnancy itself often triggers changes in appetite, food preferences, and eating behaviour, which can act as barriers to healthy eating. This thesis investigates such changes in two different settings: the initiation of geophagia (soil consumption) among pregnant women in rural Tanzania, and food-specific dietary changes among 63,000 pregnant women from the Danish National Birth Cohort. Using free-text dietary data, nutrient biomarkers, and genetic analyses, this thesis advances our understanding of who changes their diet during pregnancy, how, and under what biological and social influences.