Welcome to the Gastroenterology research theme. Headed by Dr Rebecca Hill, studies under this theme seek to explore the relationship between digestion, diseases of the digestive tract, and nutrition. Foci include inflammatory bowel disease, supplemental feeding, water absorption, and probiotics.
Bone health in Crohn’s disease
Children with CD are at risk of early onset osteoporosis and ultimately, fracture, due to both the disease itself, and the necessary treatments, impacting negatively on bone development. This study aims to evaluate the physical pathogenesis of low bone health (bone geometry, density and strength parameters) in children with CD by measuring both the quantity of bone, using Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA), and the quality of bone, using Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (pQCT). When these assessments are combined with serum biomarker assays to measure bone cell activity, and TBK counting to measure body cell mass (indicates nutritional status), it will provide a more comprehensive assessment of bone health in CD, fully investigating the relationship between bone & its surrounding muscle tissue. This project will allow the assessment of bone and muscle relationships and hence, the future development of non-pharmaceutical intervention studies that target the specific bone and/or muscle parameters in need of improvement that are associated with poor bone health. With a greater understanding of the process of bone disease in CD, preventative and treatment strategies will be developed to be incorporated into routine care to assist these children and future generations.
Research Team:
Dr Rebecca Hill – Children's Nutrition Research Centre, The University of Queensland
Prof Peter SW Davies – Children's Nutrition Research Centre, The University of Queensland
Mrs Denise Brookes – Children's Nutrition Research Centre, The University of Queensland
Assoc Prof Peter Lewindon – Children's Nutrition Research Centre, The University of Queensland; Queensland Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Service, Royal Children's Hospital
The impact of age of onset on bone health in Crohn’s disease
This is an extension of the bone health in Crohn’s disease paediatric project. It aims to determine if childhood onset of Crohn’s disease poses a greater threat to long term bone health than adult onset. Adult patients with Crohn’s disease who were diagnosed during childhood and adolescence will be compared with adult patients diagnosed after the age of 22 years. The results of this study, in conjunction with the study addressed above, will contribute to the design of an intervention study ultimately aiming to prevent bone disorders in this population.
Research Team:
Dr Rebecca Hill – Children's Nutrition Research Centre, The University of Queensland
Prof Peter SW Davies – Children's Nutrition Research Centre, The University of Queensland
Mrs Denise Brookes – Children's Nutrition Research Centre, The University of Queensland
Assoc Prof Peter Lewindon – Children's Nutrition Research Centre; Royal Children's Hospital
Prof Graham Radford-Smith – Department of Gastroenterology, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
Thickened fluids and water availability
This research is a collaboration with the Infant Feeding Theme.
We need water to hydrate our bodies. Health professionals working in feeding/ swallowing clinics frequently recommend the use of thickening agents to thicken fluids for therapeutic purposes with both adult and paediatric caseloads. Within the paediatric population, thickened fluids are often recommended by health professionals for two main groups of patients: (a) children at risk of aspirating regular (i.e. thin) fluids into their airway, and (b) those children who display gastro-oesophageal reflux. The rationale behind thickening fluids is to assist with the safe swallowing of fluids and/ or to reduce the reflux of feeds, thereby, optimising nutritional status and (it is assumed) preventing dehydration. However, little information is currently available regarding the bioavailability of water from thickened fluids.
We recently published a ‘proof of concept’ study in Dysphagia1, where we used a single case study design to describe a simple, accurate, and non-invasive methodology for assessing the impact of thickening agents on the bioavailability of water in thickened fluids. We are using this methodology with a pilot group of 10 healthy adults and 10 healthy children ≥5 years old to examine the bioavailability of water from thickened fluids in the healthy, mature gut. Later, we plan to use this information to guide further studies which will examine the bioavailability of water from thickened fluids in the developing gut of infants, and in cases of gut pathology. We believe these additional studies are important, as most of the patients who are prescribed thickened fluids are very young and/ or have gut pathology. The current study is a necessary first step.
1. Hill RJ, Dodrill P, Bluck LJ, et al., (2010). A novel stable isotope approach for determining the impact of thickening agents on water absorption. Dysphagia, 25(1): p. 1-5.
Research Team:
Dr Rebecca Hill – Children's Nutrition Research Centre, The University of Queensland
Dr Pamela Dodrill – Queensland Children’s Medical Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital
Prof Peter SW Davies – Children's Nutrition Research Centre, The University of Queensland
Healthy Eating Learning Program (HELP) for Fussy Eaters
Please click here for information on the Healthy Eating Learning Program (HELP) for Fussy Eaters.
The patient group included in the HELP study that pertains to Gastroenterology is Austism Spectrum Disorders.
Research Team:
Dr Pamela Dodrill – Queensland Children’s Medical Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital
Meghann O’Connor – Queensland Children’s Medical Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital
Jeanne Finnie – Queensland Children’s Medical Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital
Jane Morgan – Queensland Children’s Medical Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital
Peter Frederiksen – Queensland Children’s Medical Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital
Nadine Frederiksen – Queensland Children’s Medical Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital
Dr Rebecca Hill – Children’s Nutrition Research Centre, The University of Queensland
Dr Alexia Murphy – Children’s Nutrition Research Centre, The University of Queensland
Prof Peter SW Davies - Children’s Nutrition Research Centre, The University of Queensland
