PEAR Study v 1.2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Dietary exposures to toxic metals in pregnancy: The PEAR Study (Pregnancy, the Environment And nutRition
IRAS ID
321048
Contact name
Caroline Taylor
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
Diet is an important factor for every pregnancy for the health and development of the baby. The NHS in England provides guidance on avoiding or limiting fish and game meat/gamebirds to keep intakes of the toxic metals to a minimum. We don't know how closely women follow this advice and how well following the advice protects women from toxic metals. This information is essential to make sure that the guidance is effective.
We would like to find out how much of these foods women eat during pregnancy and how that affects the amount of the metals in their bodies. We'd also like to find out what they know about the guidance and how that affects their food choices.
We're also interested in arsenic, which can be contained in rice, and whether there should be guidance on this.
We'll include about 300 women in early pregnancy who live in north Bristol and are booked for delivery at Southmead Hospital.
Women will be sent two electronic questionnaires at about 12 weeks of pregnancy to fill in at home. The first will ask them to record everything they eat or drink over 2 days. The second will ask more about how often they eat particular foods, together with some questions about themselves and what they know about the NHS guidance (this second one will be repeated at 32 weeks). At the 12-week hospital scan clinic visit, we'll ask the clinic staff to take some extra blood (less than a teaspoon) into a tube we’ll provide to women to be returned in the post. This will be analysed for mercury and lead. At the same time we'll send the women a small plastic bottle in the post to fill with a urine sample at home for return in the post for lead and arsenic measurement.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/YH/0265
Date of REC Opinion
20 Dec 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion