Opportunities exist for nutrition and dietetic (N&D) professionals to contribute to sustainable development and support actions towards the attainment of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SGD’s). Students undertaking higher education are well-placed to develop skills and capabilities in creative and critical problem solving for sustainability. However, there is limited literature exploring nutrition and dietetic students’ perceptions of sustainability that would help to inform an effective and constructively aligned embedding of sustainability content and active learning opportunities into curriculum. This descriptive cohort study design utilised a 17-question online survey to explore 95 Australian N&D undergraduate students’ self-reported familiarity with and perceived importance of sustainability and related concepts, and view of sustainability for future practice. Participants reported being more familiar with the term environmental sustainability and related concepts than economic or social sustainability. Varying levels of familiarity of 42 sustainability related concepts within economic resilience, environmental integrity, social development and cross-cutting issues were reported. Most participants (82%, n = 78) reported sustainability was very important in general (82%, n = 78), and for professional practice (63%, n = 60). Over half of the participants identified government led initiatives to address the future of society (65%, n = 71). Our study highlights the complexity of sustainability in a discipline specific context and the need for understanding students’ perceptions of sustainability to inform N&D curriculum design.

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are complex unconjugated glycans associated with positive infant health outcomes. This study has examined current knowledge of the effect of maternal diet and nutritional status on the composition of HMOs in breast milk. Using the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, a comprehensive, systematic literature search was conducted using Scopus, Web of Science, Global Health (CABI), and MEDLINE. Titles and abstracts were screened independently by two reviewers against predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria and reported on maternal dietary intake (n = 3), maternal body composition indices (n = 9), and dietary supplementation interventions (n = 2). In total, data from 1388 lactating mothers (4011 milk samples) were included. Design methodologies varied substantially across studies, particularly for milk sample collection, HMO analysis, dietary and body composition assessment. Overall, this review has identified potential associations between maternal dietary intake and nutritional status and the HMO composition of human milk, though an abundance and sufficiency of evidence is lacking. Standardised procedures for human milk sample collection and HMO analysis, along with robust and validated nutrition assessment techniques, should be employed to further investigate the impact of maternal nutritional factors on HMO composition.

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are complex glycans associated with positive infant health outcomes. The concentrations of HMOs in the milk of lactating women are associated with substantial intra- and inter-individual differences and may be influenced by maternal physiological and/or nutrition-related factors. The primary aim of this study was to explore potential influences of short-term maternal diet and current body composition on HMO profiles in mature human milk. Milk samples were collected at 3–4 months postpartum from 101 healthy Australian women using standardised procedures, and analysed for macronutrients (lactose, fat, and protein). In addition, HMO concentrations were analysed using liquid-chromatography mass-spectrometry (LC-MS). Maternal dietary data were collected using three validated 24-h dietary recalls, and the body composition of a subgroup of mothers was assessed by DEXA scans (n = 30). Most (79%) of the women were secretor-positive. Individual nutrients were not significantly correlated with HMO concentrations after correction for multiple comparisons (p > 0.05), except for dietary folate intake. DEXA scans revealed no associations between HMO profiles and maternal body composition during established lactation. The study findings suggest a lack of clear and consistent associations between maternal nutrition and HMO concentrations in mature human milk from healthy lactating women with adequate dietary intake. The prevailing influence of genetic variation in lactating mothers may overshadow any impact of maternal nutritional and/or physiological status on HMO composition in mature human milk.