Canadian Researchers Lead International Effort to Prevent Chronic Disease
University of Toronto researchers will lead the Canadian arm of a $40 million research project to advance child and family health worldwide.
The Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI) seeks to prevent chronic disease in Canada, China, India and South Africa. Parliamentary Secretary Bill Blair announced the new funding at St. Michael’s Hospital on Nov. 20.
Cindy-Lee Dennis, a professor in the Faculty of Nursing and Department of Psychiatry, will lead the Canadian arm of the study, which will receive $17-million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The Canadian-focused study will work with 10,000 potential parents to improve health and habits even before pregnancy.
“One-third of Canadian children are overweight at age 5,” says Dennis, who is also Women’s Health Research Chair at St. Michael’s Hospital. “HeLTI seeks to prevent chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease by understanding the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to these diseases and then studying interventions designed to promote good health from pre-conception to early childhood.”
Two other Faculty of Medicine scientists will lead an arm of the study. The South Africa arm will be co-led by Stephen Lye, a professor in departments of Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynaecology the Senior Investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI) of Sinai Health System and Executive Director of the Alliance for Human Development at LTRI. The India arm will be co-led by Stephen Matthews, professor of Physiology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Medicine at U of T and Director of Research at the Alliance of Human Development, LTRI.
CIHR has also recently launched a process to create an Indigenous component of HeLTI in Canada in consultation with Indigenous communities.
The Canadian HeLTI arm will address healthy habits and practices in four phases—pre-conception, pregnancy, infancy and early childhood. In each phase, participants will receive:
• telephone-based collaborative care provided by nurses
• personalized e-health interventions, based on identified risk factors that target health behaviours related to nutrition and breastfeeding, physical activity and sleep
• information on a supportive and nurturing environment for the children and their family
“This research initiative will guide the development of new approaches to preventing chronic diseases and lay the groundwork for a healthy and productive future for our children,” says Canada’s Minisiter of Health, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor.
In total, Canada’s investment in HeLTI is $33.4 million over five years. An additional $7.8 million is being provided through a partnership with national research agencies in India, China and South Africa.
