Erlend Nuland Valen

• Medin, Anine Christine; Vik, Frøydis Nordgård; Helle, Christine; Helland, Sissel Heidi; Wills, Andrew Keith & Osorio, Natalie Garzon [Show all 22 contributors for this article] (2024). Scaling up evidence-based digital early life nutrition interventions in a county setting: an implementation trial – protocol for Phase 2 of the Nutrition Now project. Frontiers in Public Health. ISSN 2296-2565. 11. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1326787. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Background: Few effective health interventions transition from smaller efficacy or effectiveness studies to real-world implementation at scale, representing a gap between evidence and practice. Recognising this, we have developed Nutrition Now – a tailored digital resource building on four efficacious dietary interventions, aiming to improve nutrition in the important first 1,000 days of life. Nutrition Now targets and guides expectant parents and parents of 0–2 year olds, serves as a reliable source of evidence-based information for midwives and public health nurses at maternal and child healthcare (MCH) centres, and offers pedagogical tools for early childhood education and care (ECEC) staff. The aim of this study is to implement Nutrition Now at scale and evaluate the impact of different sets of multifaceted implementation strategies on implementation outcomes. Methods: A quasi-experimental design with three study arms will be used, providing either low, medium or high implementation support, when rolled out in 50 municipalities in 2 counties in Norway. Nutrition Now will be implemented in MCH and ECEC settings and made available to expectant parents and parents of 0–2 year olds through social media and MCH. The implementation support builds on strategies described in the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) implementation framework and is informed by dialogues with stakeholders. Impact of the different degree of implementation support will be assessed by examining reach, adoption, fidelity, and sustainability using usage data generated from the Nutrition Now resource, publicly available municipal data and qualitative interviews with MCH and ECEC staff. Discussion: Nutrition Now Phase 2 will break new ground by scaling up successively delivered and complementary dietary interventions in the first 1,000 days of life in a real-life context. The project also seeks to identify what level of implementation support is most effective when implementing digital, scalable, evidence-based early-life nutrition interventions in community settings. The project will inform implementation research and provide knowledge about effective implementation strategies to be used in a national scale-up of Nutrition Now. Trial registration: The study is registered prospectively (submitted 14/06/2022, registration date: 19/06/2022) in the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number registry (ISRCTN): reg. Number: ISRCTN10694967, https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN10694967.

• Salvesen, Lorentz; Valen, Erlend Larsen; Wills, Andrew Keith; Hillesund, Elisabet Rudjord; Vik, Frøydis Nordgård & Engeset, Dagrun [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2023). Developmental origins of health and disease knowledge is associated with diet quality in preconception young adult men and women. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. ISSN 2040-1744. doi: 10.1017/S2040174423000314. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) approach supports that nutritional exposures in early life affect an individual’s later health and risk of disease. Dietary exposure during the preconception period may also influence individual, and inter- and transgenerational health and disease risk, in both men and women. This study aimed to describe knowledge of the DOHaD approach (DOHaDKNOWLEDGE) and diet quality in preconception young adults in Norway, to assess associations between DOHaDKNOWLEDGE and a Diet Quality Score (DQS), and to assess gender differences in those above. Data from 1362 preconception young adults was obtained from the PREPARED study baseline dataset. The sample had 88% women participants, a mean age of 27 years, 36% had overweight or obesity, and 77% had higher level of education. DOHaDKNOWLEDGE was assessed by the participants’ agreement to five statements using a Likert scale. Diet quality was assessed using aspects of diet quality and a DQS derived from a dietary screener. We found moderate level of both DOHaDKNOWLEDGE (12/20 points) and diet quality (DQS: 60/100 points), indicating potential for improvements. Specifically, the greatest potential for diet quality improvements were observed for sugary foods, red and processed meats, legumes, and unsalted nuts and seeds. Gender differences were observed for both DOHaDKNOWLEDGE and diet quality. DOHaDKNOWLEDGE was positively associated with DQS, adjusted for sociodemographic factors, with little evidence of an interaction effect by gender. This study indicates that knowledge of the DOHaD approach is positively associated with diet quality in preconception young men and women. Future studies should consider incorporating pregnancy intentions, relationship status, and health literacy.

• Valen, Erlend Larsen; Grasaas, Erik; Engeset, Dagrun; Salvesen, Lorentz; Skeie, Guri & Øverby, Nina Cecilie [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). Myfood24 på norsk: et selvadministrert digitalt 24-timers kostintervju. Norsk tidsskrift for ernæring (NTFE). ISSN 1503-5034. 21(2), p. 13–22. doi: 10.18261/ntfe.21.2.3. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Innen ernæringsepidemiologien er vi i stor grad avhengige av å estimere inntak av mat og næringsstoffer basert på selvrapportering, til tross for at denne tilnærmingen er beheftet med målefeil. Graden av målefeil har betydning for analyser og tolkning av resultater, så metodene vi bruker bør være så valide som mulig. Å utvikle brukervennlige kostholdsmetoder som reduserer belastning for deltaker kan være et viktig bidrag til mer nøyaktig rapportering, samtidig som tids- og ressursbruken begrenses. Det digitale kostholdsverktøyet myfood24, opprinnelig utviklet ved Universitetet i Leeds, kan enten brukes som et selvadministrert 24-timers kostintervju, eller matdagbok. Verktøyet har de siste årene blitt oversatt og kulturelt tilpasset til flere land, både i og utenfor Europa, og har blitt validert i en rekke ulike aldersgrupper. I 2019 startet arbeidet med å lage en norsk versjon av myfood24. Det er allerede gjennomført en valideringsstudie av bilder av porsjonsstørrelser som inngår i den norske versjonen, og det planlegges å validere verktøyet ytterligere. Hensikten med denne artikkelen er å beskrive utviklingsarbeidet som er gjort. Målet er at norske myfood24 også skal kunne brukes av andre norske forskere, og med denne artikkelen ønsker vi å gjøre informasjon om verktøyet tilgjengelig.

• Valen, Erlend Nuland; Øverby, Nina Cecilie; Hardy-Johnson, Polly; Vik, Frøydis Nordgård; Salvesen, Lorentz & Omholt, Mona Linge [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2023). Lessons learned from talking with adults about nutrition: A qualitative study in the PREPARED project. Maternal & Child Nutrition. ISSN 1740-8695. doi: 10.1111/mcn.13540. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Improving diet and dietary behaviour of men and women before pregnancy has thepotential to benefit both their current and long‐term health and the health of theirchildren. Little is known, however, about adults' perception of diet's role inprepregnancy health. This study aimed to explore the state of knowledge andawareness of preconception nutritional health in adults within the fertile age rangeand what they perceived could motivate healthy eating using the self‐determinationtheory as a theoretical framework. We analysed 33 short exploratory interviewswith men (n= 18) and women (n= 15) aged 18–45 years. Participants were grabsampled from three different public locations in the southern part of Norway.Interviews were audio‐recorded, transcribed verbatim in 2020 and analysed using athematic analysis with a semantic approach in 2022. The findings suggest that adultswithin the fertile age range are not intrinsically motivated to eat healthily, but whenthey do, it is because eating healthily often aligns with other goals consistent withtheir values, that is, getting fit or looking good. They possess some basic knowledgeof healthy behaviours during pregnancy but are generally unaware of the importanceof preconception health and nutrition. There is a need to increase awareness ofthe impact of preconception health on the health of this and future generations.Improved nutritional education on the significance of diet before conception mightfacilitate optimal conditions for conceiving and for pregnancy in the adult populationwithin fertile age range.

• Øverby, Nina Cecilie; Medin, Anine Christine; Valen, Erlend Larsen; Salvesen, Lorentz; Wills, Andrew Keith & Engeset, Dagrun [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2021). Effectiveness of a digital dietary intervention program targeting young adults before parenthood: protocol for the PREPARED randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. ISSN 2044-6055. 11(12). doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-055116. Full text in Research Archive
• Hillesund, Elisabet Rudjord; Øverby, Nina Cecilie; Valen, Erlend Larsen & Engeset, Dagrun (2020). Alcohol consumption among students and its relationship with nutritional intake: a cross-sectional study. Public Health Nutrition (PHN). ISSN 1368-9800. 24(10), p. 2877–2888. doi: 10.1017/S1368980020004450.
• Valen, Erlend Larsen; Engeset, Dagrun; Øverby, Nina Cecilie & Hillesund, Elisabet Rudjord (2020). StudentKost: a cross-sectional study assessing college students’ diets: reason for concern? Journal of Nutritional Science (JNS). ISSN 2048-6790. 9. doi: 10.1017/jns.2020.33. Full text in Research Archive

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• Valand, Ida Ulrikke; Valen, Erlend Larsen & Salvesen, Lorentz (2023). Skills for life-podden, episode 4: Hæ, før barnet blir født? Prepared og preconception diet. [Internet]. Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts. Show summary

  Doktorgradsstipendiatene Erlend Valen og Lorentz Salvesen presenterer forskningen sin, og vi snakker om hvordan kosthold før man blir foreldre påvirker det fremtidige barnets helse.

• Øverby, Nina Cecilie; Hillesund, Elisabet Rudjord; Helland, Sissel Heidi; Helle, Christine; Wills, Andrew Keith & Lamu, Admassu Nadew [Show all 23 contributors for this article] (2023). Evaluating the effectiveness and implementation of evidence-based early-life nutrition interventions in a community setting a hybrid type 1 non-randomized trial – the Nutrition Now project protocol. Frontiers in Endocrinology. ISSN 1664-2392. 13. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.1071489. Full text in Research Archive

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