Early Life Nutrition And Future Health

Inequity starts before birth and is programmed in part by nutritional exposures. If these exposures occur around the time of conception, during pregnancy, and/or in infancy or childhood (all critical periods of development) they may alter a child’s health trajectory and impact risk for impaired cognition and learning, and cardiometabolic, immune, and neuropsychiatric diseases and disorders. This Special Issue on “Early Life Nutrition and Future Health” has the following aims: 1) understand the origins of offspring health inequities from an early nutritional perspective; 2) uncover new insights into the environmental, biological, and social mechanisms that underpin these health outcomes in offspring; and 3) present novel targets and approaches to optimise health trajectories and prevent chronic diseases and disorders in later life and across generations. The research projects included herein highlight novel mechanistic, epidemiologic, and intervention studies that target key windows where nutrition has the greatest influence on future health (preconception, prenatal, and postnatal periods) and that explore vulnerable populations and animal models of early life nutritional programming.

Inequity starts before birth and is programmed in part by nutritional exposures. If these exposures occur around the time of conception, during pregnancy, and/or in infancy or childhood (all critical periods of development) they may alter a child's health trajectory and impact risk for impaired cognition and learning, and cardiometabolic, immune, and neuropsychiatric diseases and disorders. This Special Issue on “Early Life Nutrition and Future Health” has the following aims: 1) understand the origins of offspring health inequities from an early nutritional perspective; 2) uncover new insights into the environmental, biological, and social mechanisms that underpin these health outcomes in offspring; and 3) present novel targets and approaches to optimise health trajectories and prevent chronic diseases and disorders in later life and across generations. The research projects included herein highlight novel mechanistic, epidemiologic, and intervention studies that target key windows where nutrition has the greatest influence on future health (preconception, prenatal, and postnatal periods) and that explore vulnerable populations and animal models of early life nutritional programming.

The nutrition of an individual during gestation and the first two years of life—the first 1,000 days—sets the stage for lifelong health. Nutrition quality and quantity in this period can influence the risk of developing diseases that constitute today’s epidemics. Early-life nutrition can program the body’s tissues, organ structure and function, and metabolic and immunologic responses. These factors impact growth, development and cognition, and the risk of cardiovascular diseases, allergies and obesity. The first part of Early Nutrition and Long-Term Health examines the mechanisms by which early nutrition affects the risk of developing these conditions. The second part of this book reviews specific non-communicable diseases (NCDs) associated with early nutrition. The third part discusses the effects of nutritional programming from fetal life to toddlerhood. Prevention of over- or undernutrition in early life, rather than dietary, behavioral or therapeutic interventions in later life, is likely to have a greater return on society’s investment in coping with the modern epidemic of NCDs. Examines the relation between early life nutrition and long-term health Covers the mechanistic aspects of nutritional programming and its impact on risk of chronic non-communicable diseases Reviews associations between infant and child diet and its effect on growth, development, cognition and later occurrence of cardiovascular diseases, allergies, metabolic conditions and obesity

More children born today will survive to adulthood than at any time in history. It is now time to emphasize health and development in middle childhood and adolescence--developmental phases that are critical to health in adulthood and the next generation. Child and Adolescent Health and Development explores the benefits that accrue from sustained and targeted interventions across the first two decades of life. The volume outlines the investment case for effective, costed, and scalable interventions for low-resource settings, emphasizing the cross-sectoral role of education. This evidence base can guide policy makers in prioritizing actions to promote survival, health, cognition, and physical growth throughout childhood and adolescence.

Early Nutrition and Long-Term Health: Mechanisms, Consequences, and Opportunities, Second Edition updates and expands upon the content in the first edition and adds focus on actionable and modifiable aspects of nutrition that have an impact on long-term health and disease. Part I examines the associations and the mechanisms of early life nutrition on growth as well as the development of cognitive, metabolic, immune, and dietary patterns and behaviors. Part II reviews the associations and impact of early life nutrition on non-communicable disease as well as their societal and economic impact. Part III focuses on the dietary and nutritional needs and approaches to optimizing the different stages of nutrition, from conception to the second year of life. Nutritionists, pediatricians, academics with research interest in this area, and food industry and healthcare professionals working in infant/child product and services, as well as students studying related disciplines, will benefit from this updated reference. Examines the relation between early life nutrition and long-term health Reviews the mechanistic aspects of the impact of diet, nutrition, from conception through the first years of life, on health in later life Details the associations and the impact of early life nutrition on growth and development, cognition, immunity, metabolism, and dietary habits and patterns Addresses the relationship of early life nutrition and with non-communicable diseases, including allergies, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic conditions, and obesity, as well as approaches to curtail them Explores the current societal and economic impact and the potential for interventions to improving nutrition and health

Health problems such as hypertension, tendency to diabetes, obesity, blood lipids, vascular disease, bone health, behaviour and learning and longevity may be ‘imprinted’ during early life. This process is defined as ‘programming’ whereby a nutritional stimulus operating at a critical, sensitive period of pre and postnatal life imprints permanent effects on the structure, physiology and metabolism. For this reason, academics and industry set-up the EC supported Scientific Workshop -Early Nutrition and its Later Consequences: New Opportunities. The prime objective of the Workshop was to generate a sound exchange of the latest scientific developments within the field of early nutrition to look for opportunities for new preventive health concepts. Further, a closer look was taken at the development of food applications which could provide (future) mothers and infants with improved nutrition that will ultimately lead to better future health. The Workshop was organised by the Dept. of Pediatrics, University of Munich, Germany in collaboration with the Danone Institutes and the Infant Nutrition Cluster, a collaboration of three large research projects funded by the EU.

This Task Force report reviews the evidence that the seeds of many adult diseases are sown in utero and in infancy. The report, written by experts in the field, summarises current knowledge in this area. It illustrates how early life nutrition can bring about changes in organ development and function, thus programming risk of disease in adult life. It also considers what might be done in early life to reduce the burden of future ill health. Nutrition and Development: Short- and Long-Term Consequences for Health includes chapters on the history of this topic area, normal growth and development, and current recommendations and practice in relation to nutrition and diet in early life. Chapters exploring the possible mechanisms and pathways of critical windows for development cover the effects of diet and nutrition in early life on organ and skeletal development, the role of sex hormones in programming disease susceptibility, the establishment of gastrointestinal microbiota, and the impact of early life nutrition on cognitive and neurological development. This new report: • describes how development occurs and explores how changes in the fetal and postnatal environment, such as over- or under-nutrition, can result in permanent alterations in function; • explains how diet and nutrition in early life can affect risk of adult disease, with specific chapters on allergic disease and asthma, bone health, cancer, cardiovascular disease, cognitive function, diabetes and obesity; • includes a summary of the key points, as well as recommendations in each chapter to help fill the gaps in our knowledge; • provides an overview of the main messages in a practical question and answer format suitable for lay readers. Nutrition and Development is an important information resource for those involved in research and teaching in the health sciences sector and is also of value to those involved in making decisions about health policy. It will be of interest to a broad range of health professionals, the food industry and those who write and broadcast about the effects of food on health.