Sjurdur Frodi Olsen, MD, MSc, DMSc, PhD

Responsibilities

Sjurdur F. Olsen is Head of Centre for Fetal Programming with 11 associated partner institutions in DK and abroad; is leading SSI's Maternal Nutrition Group with 6 staffmembers; served on expert committees RE Maternal Nutrition; Adjunct Professor of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health; member of the Danish National Birth Cohort's Management Group ; Theme Leader in EU's IP Early Nutrition Programming Project, EARNEST; and, with Prof W ZHOU, co-PI on a fish oil trial with pregnant women in China.

Research area

Throughout his carrier he has been focusing on the impact of maternal diet on child health, with an initial focus on the long chain n-3 fatty acids. He is part of the team that established the Danish National Birth Cohort. Recently he linitiated follow-up studies over up to 20y, based on his and his colleagues' old studies, to examine impact of vit D, folate, endocrine disupters and other factors in the maternal diet on offspring cardiovascular, mental, bone, reproductive and respiratory health.

Prices and awards

Simon Spies Medical Research Prize 1995 (approx. 13,400 US$) and Professor Johannes Ipsen Lecture 2004, held at the University of Aarhus 4 March 2004.

Selected publications

Olsen SF, Sørensen JD, Secher NJ, Hedegaard M, Henriksen TB, Hansen HS, Grant A. Randomised controlled trial of effect of fish-oil supplementation on pregnancy duration. Lancet 1992; 339: 1003-07.

Olsen SF, Secher NJ. Low consumption of seafood in early pregnancy as a risk factor for preterm delivery: prospective cohort study. British Medical Journal 2002 Feb 23; 324 (7335): 447-450. Published as ELPS (Electronic Long and Paper Short), the longer version can be seen at http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/324/7335/447?view=full&pmid=11859044

Olsen SF, TB Mikkelsen, VK Knudsen, I Orozova-Bekkevold, Th I Halldórsson, M Strøm, ML Østerdal. Data collected on maternal dietary exposures in the Danish National Birth Cohort. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2007; 21: 76-86.

Olsen SF, Halldorsson ThI, Willett WC, Knudsen VK, Gillman MW, Mikkelsen TB, Olsen J and The NUTRIX Consortium. Milk consumption during pregnancy is associated with increased infant size at birth: prospective cohort study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2007; 86: 1104-10.

Østerdal ML, Strøm M, Klemmensen ÅK, Knudsen VK, Juhl M, Halldorsson ThI, Nybo Andersen A-M, Magnus P, Olsen SF. Does leisure time physical activity in early pregnancy protect against pre-eclampsia? Prospective cohort in Danish women. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2009; 116: 98-107.