Editor: Manuel Martín 92

the present work was carried out at the tampere school of public health, university of tampere, and at the nutrition unit of department of lifestyles and inclusion, national institute for health and Welfare, helsinki. i would like to acknowledge the kind help i received from a number of people during the course of my study. this thesis would have not been possible without the kind assistance and support of the following individuals and organizations:

I must first express my gratitude to the two excellent supervisors Suvi Virtanen and mikael knip for guiding me through my dissertation. suvi played a key role in guiding my work. she is a passionate, competent and goal-oriented researcher. during the years i have known her, the DIPP Nutrition Study, under her leadership, has grown from a fledgling start- up into a large project that now employs a number of workers. suvi’s supervision struck a healthy balance between guidance and the freedom to make independent decisions regarding my work. Her trust allowed me to carry on my work successfully from my home office.

mikael is a top authority in type 1 diabetes, and has shared his wealth of knowledge and experience very freely. he was always positive and encouraging towards my work. Without mikael’s candid contributions to my understanding of type 1 diabetes, this thesis would have been superficial at best. Despite his numerous commitments, he was always among the first to return his thorough comments on the manuscripts.

ulla uusitalo played a central role in the planning and implementation of the sub-studies where dietary data from pregnant women was used. ulla’s expertise in the management of this data was invaluable, and i thoroughly enjoyed working in her peaceful, encouraging and good-humoured company.

it has been stated that in addition to a pc, every researcher should have her own ps. Jaakko nevalainen has come as close to a personal statistician as i would have dared to hope. Our collaboration first started with the vitamin E analyses of the DIPP children, and the writing of the actual article turned out to be both easier and faster than ever before. Jaakko contributed a great deal to the other dipp articles as well, and he helped willingly, patiently and with a great sense of humour whenever needed. as it was possible to address even the vague and rather silly questions to Jaakko, i ended up learning a lot from him.

i also wish to express my appreciation to marja-leena ovaskainen for her contribution to the analysis of the dietary data of pregnant women. mallikka has thorough knowledge of the dietary database used, and her assistance with the selection and handling of the dietary variables was indispensable. I also benefited from Mallikka’s comments on the manuscripts, which were profound and useful. she took the extra step to introduce me to new, wider aspects of nutritional science.

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i would also like to thank sari niinistö for contributing to our united effort in data preparation. during the process we became good friends. sari is a top quality team worker; always kind, fair and forever positive.

a warm thanks to Georg alfthan, irma salminen and Jouko sundvall for expertly planning and implementing the vitamin e and cholesterol analyses of the serum samples. i would also like to thank mike kenward and timo hakulinen for their expertise in the planning of statistical analyses. i take this opportunity to thank heli reinivuo, heli tapanainen and other thl staff for the expert contribution in processing the dietary data. further thanks should also go to Jukka lindeman and other staff of the excellent library services of thl. Without them, the systematic review would hardly have been possible.

Warmest thanks to harri niinikoski and lars stene for their encouraging attitude, and the careful reading and skilled review of the dissertation. their perceptive comments contributed to the summary of the dissertation and markedly improved shape and clarity of its contents.

in recognition of all your help and support i would like to mention all the members of the dipp nutrition study. suvi ahonen, maijaliisa erkkola, susanna kautiainen, tommi korhonen, carina kronberg-kippilä, liisa marjamäki, minna pekkala and paula virta- autio are friends from the early years of the nutrition study; since then, our team has expanded with new, eager and skilful members. special thanks to hanna haponen for her efficient assistance in collecting the DIPP serum samples.

i would like to extend my thanks to my fellow doctoral students in thl and dipp: tuula arkkola, katja hätönen, mirka lumia, Johanna metsälä, katja nissinen, bright nwaru, marianne prasad, minna similä and Jetta tuokkola. i thank also satu männistö, the organizer of the kohti karonkkaa –klubi, and other members of the club. i appreciate the information and social support shared in our meetings.

i express my gratitude to Jorma ilonen, olli simell, hans Åkerblom and riitta veijola for the opportunity to use the invaluable data from dime and dipp studies. no data, no study. Warm thanks to sirpa pohjola and ilona kalliomäki for their patient help in data checking, and to the study doctors and nurses in the dime and dipp studies. most of all, i would like to thank the families who made these studies possible by their participation.

i want to thank doctoral programs for public health, competitive research funding of the pirkanmaa hospital district, Jalmari and rauha ahokas foundation, Juho vainio foundation, medical research fund of tampere university hospital, orion-farmos research foundation, research foundation of orion corporation, yrjö Jahnsson foundation and university of tampere for funding the dissertation.

sincere thanks to my dear friend minna for her warm and lasting friendship. We share many basic attitudes and ideas about life, and i have always been able to rely on her support and understanding when it has been needed. resetting of brains on the gigs of egotrippi and other superb bands with minna has been essential for my wellbeing. minna has widened my cultural horizons by expertly introducing me to several museums and exhibitions. thank you also antti, Jari, Jukka, mika, saulis and other fishing friends for the numerous good times on the shores of forest lakes. our outings have been extremely refreshing, and i am forever happy for your friendship. i also owe a lot to my horsey friends and old friends from school and university, whom i meet much too seldom in the whirlwind of everyday life. i truly hope that this will change.

there are innumerable things in my life that i am grateful for to my parents marja and hannu. among many other things, they tried to teach me persistence, stick-with-it-ness and conscientiousness, and i feel that these lessons have been of help many times during the project. i also want to thank other relatives for their interest and support.

lastly, and most importantly, i am deeply grateful to my husband tommi for the love and acceptance that have been there on good days and bad. as a researcher of another discipline, Tommi has provided me with interesting insights in scientific issues, and has been extremely supportive in practical matters. i cannot end without thanking my three lively, stubborn, smart and funny kids olli, anni and hanna. it has been amazing to see them grow up and create their own spheres of life.