Field Notes
Unique WHO-Cornell Nutrition Research Partnership Launches
A renewed partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) will extend the global impact of Cornell University’s Division of Nutritional Sciences, engaging university experts in reviews and training that help shape WHO guidelines and research networks.
As part of the partnership, which extends into 2026, the division will serve as a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/WHO Collaborating Centre on Nutrition Research for Health—the only such center in the United States dedicated to nutrition issues.
“One of our missions is the translation of research for the public good, and this is a direct example of that,” says Patricia Cassano, PhD, MPH, division director and the Alan D. Mathios Professor in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell. “We’re applying our expertise in nutrition and health to systematic reviews that will help policymakers develop guidelines advising the world on how to improve nutrition for better health. It’s a critically important partnership.”
A centerpiece of the partnership is the WHO/Cochrane/Cornell Summer Institute, to be held virtually this July with approximately 30 international nutrition scientists and practitioners expected to participate from as far as India and Ecuador.
The institute features two weeks of training in systematic reviews of nutrition interventions in populations, a process that underpins the formation of WHO guidelines. Systematic reviews define policy-relevant research questions, then examine and summarize evidence and gaps in research using rigorous methodologies championed by the nonprofit Cochrane.
For example, Cassano says, the institute recently focused on systematic reviews needed to advance WHO guidelines related to infant feeding in the context of the virus that causes COVID-19, and to reducing childhood obesity. Overall, she says, more than a dozen WHO policy guidelines have incorporated the institute’s research reviews, which she says tap division and university expertise spanning nutrition, epidemiology, public health, statistics, and information science.
Francesco Branca, MD, PhD, director of the WHO’s department of nutrition for health and development, says he’s pleased to continue a partnership with Cornell that he says has worked actively and successfully since 2016.
“We consider it essential to continue engaging and collaborating with the Division of Nutritional Sciences,” Branca says.
In addition to the systematic reviews led by Cassano, the center focuses on building the capacity of research networks in the PAHO region, which includes more than 113 summer institute alumni, through collaborative projects and multicenter studies.
“In many countries, teams have been trained and these are the experts who implement evidence-informed decision-making,” says Luis Gabriel Cuervo, MD, PhD, PAHO/WHO’s senior adviser on research for health. “Because these teams also engage in international research collaborations, we now have networks of leaders raising the quality and resilience of local health systems and services. These capacities are invaluable assets for their communities.”
For example, summer institute alums have started Cochrane centers for systematic reviews and training in India and Malaysia.
Cassano says, “You’re building the ability to produce reviews relevant for local and regional situations—to inform the synthesis and translation of evidence for policymakers and practitioners.”
— Source: Cornell University
UK Study Shows Kids’ Physical Activity Fell Amid Pandemic
New research has revealed children’s physical activity levels in the United Kingdom were significantly lower by the time the COVID-19 pandemic public lockdown restrictions were lifted.
The study, led by the University of Bristol, found that by the end of 2021 little more than one-third (36%) were meeting the national recommended physical activity guidelines.
While there was no change in their parents’ physical activity levels, the National Institute for Health and Care Research–funded study findings showed 10- to 11-year-olds took part in, on average, just 56 minutes—less than the recommended one hour—of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity during weekdays from last April to December.
That’s around eight minutes on average less, a drop of 13%, than children of a similar age were doing before the pandemic.
Russ Jago, PhD, a professor of physical activity and public health at the University of Bristol and senior author of the study, says, “It was surprising the extent children’s physical activity levels had fallen after the pandemic, indicating that changes in physical activity patterns didn’t revert to previous levels once freedoms had been restored.
“These findings highlight a greater need to work with children, families, schools, and communities to maximize the opportunities for children to be physically active as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The findings showed children were less active on the weekends than during the week, taking part in 46 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity during weekend days. This was around eight minutes lower than the activity of children who were measured using the same methods prepandemic.
The study, published in the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity, also revealed a marked increase in sedentary time during the week, with children being sedentary 25 minutes longer per day than previously.
The study recruited 393 children and their parents from 23 schools in the Bristol area, who wore an accelerometer to measure intensity of physical activity and answered a questionnaire. This information was compared with data from 1,296 children and their parents, who were recruited from 50 schools in the same area before the pandemic.
Physical activity is important for children’s health and happiness. The UK chief medical officers recommend all children and young people take part in an hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day. This is activity that gets children slightly hot, slightly sweaty, and out of breath. The chief medical officers also advise children should limit the amount of time they spend being sedentary.
The study’s first author, Ruth Salway, PhD, a statistician at the University of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies, says, “The key strength of this study was we used data collected before and after the pandemic, using the same methods and in the same schools.
“The data clearly demonstrates children’s physical activity had deteriorated once the restrictions were lifted. This emphasizes the importance of understanding how such habits change over time so appropriate support and interventions can be introduced as normality resumes.”
— Source: University of Bristol