A Southern Cross University researcher investigating a link between cleft lip and palate in children and maternal stress is seeking 100 pregnant women to participate in a study.

Graeme Wallace, a nutritionist and PhD candidate, will investigate the theory that cleft lip and palate disorders – in which the halves of the lip or palate fail to join up during early foetal development – are linked to nutritional deficiencies caused by stress during early pregnancy.

Previous studies in the Czech Republic and Iraq have found a high correlation between cleft lip and palate disorders and the stress levels of pregnant women.

Wallace is seeking 100 pregnant women residing between Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and Melbourne to participate in his research, 50 of whom have been diagnosed as carrying a foetus with a cleft disorder, and 50 who are not carrying a foetus with the anomaly.

The women will complete a questionnaire, and give blood and urine samples to assess their nutritional status, as well as a hair sample to check for mineral deficiencies and the presence of heavy metals.

Wallace and his team will look for any correlation between nutritional status and oxidative stress in the mothers and cleft lip and palate in the children.

To participate in the research, women can call Graeme Wallace on 0418 248 983 or email him at graemew@bigpond.net.au.