Red X iconGreen tick iconYellow tick icon
Help us improve our website. Take part in our 10 minute survey

Contact Details

Phone
+64 21 479 556
Email
rachael.taylor@otago.ac.nz
Position
Research Professor, Head of Department and Karitane Fellow in Early Childhood Obesity
Department
Department of Medicine (Dunedin)
Qualifications
BSc(Hons) PhD
Research summary
How sleep, diet, and activity affect weight management in children
Memberships
  • Secretary and Executive Member, Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society
  • Associated Editor, Pediatric Obesity
  • Expert Advisory Group on Childhood Obesity, Ministry of Health
  • Research-only representative, Divisional Research Committee

Research

Professor Rachael Taylor is the Karitane Fellow in Early Childhood Obesity. Rachael is also Head of the Department of Medicine and Director of the Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Centre, one of the University's flagship Research Centres.

"Developing and trialing different ways of tackling the worldwide problem of childhood obesity is a fascinating area to work in. New ideas and initiatives are constantly being developed which makes for an interesting and continually evolving area of science."

Rachael is interested in determining how sleep, diet, and physical activity can be manipulated to favourably affect body weight throughout the life cycle but particularly in childhood. Her work consists of observational studies and randomised controlled trials.

Current research includes:

  • Sleep: Validating new techniques for the measurement of 24-hour activity profiles in children, and mechanistic studies determining how inadequate sleep influences eating and activity behaviour during growth
  • BLISS (Baby-Led Introduction to Solids): To determine if using foods that infants can feed themselves encourages self-regulation of energy intake, and prevents the development of overweight (without detrimental effects on iron status and growth). 200 infants are participating in a two-year trial
  • Play: A study of 900 Otago and Auckland children which investigates whether changing school play space to encourage children to experience and manage risk affects physical activity, body weight, and bullying
  • POI (Prevention of Overweight in Infancy): A two-year trial investigating whether additional guidance around breastfeeding, food, activity and sleep can impact on the rate of weight gain in 800 infants. These participants will now be followed up to 5 years of age.

Publications

Katiforis, I., Smith, C., Haszard, J. J., Styles, S. E., Leong, C., Taylor, R. W., … Daniels, L., … Rowan, M., … McLean, N. H., Cox, A. M., … Bruckner, B. R., … Heath, A.-L. M. (2024). Household food insecurity and novel complementary feeding methods in New Zealand families. Maternal & Child Nutrition, e13715. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/mcn.13715 Journal - Research Article

Brosnan, B., Haszard, J. J., Meredith-Jones, K. A., Wickham, S.-R., Galland, B. C., & Taylor, R. W. (2024). Screen use at bedtime and sleep duration and quality among youths. JAMA Pediatrics. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.2914 Journal - Research Article

Jackson, R., Gu, C., Haszard, J., Meredith-Jones, K., Galland, B., Camp, J., Brown, D., & Taylor, R. (2024). The effect of prebedtime behaviors on sleep duration and quality in children: Protocol for a randomized crossover trial. JMIR Research Protocols, 13, e63692. doi: 10.2196/63692 Journal - Research Other

Fangupo, L. J., Haszard, J. J., Russell-Camp, T., Taylor, R. W., Richards, R., Galland, B. C., & Camp, J. (2024). The measurement of young children's nocturnal sleep health and the development of the Perception of Infant and Toddler Sleep Scale (PoITSS) in Aotearoa New Zealand whānau (families). Sleep Health. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.sleh.2024.07.004 Journal - Research Article

Gale, J. T., Haszard, J. J., Wei, D. L., Taylor, R. W., & Peddie, M. C. (2024). Evening regular activity breaks extend subsequent free-living sleep time in healthy adults: A randomised crossover trial. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 10, e001774. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001774 Journal - Research Article

Back to top