Early Nutrition And Long Term Health

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

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

In this book, a selected group of international experts review nutritional practices and feeding behaviors in infancy and early childhood. They present the latest knowledge on feeding practices during the period considered and their effect on growth, development, and immediate and long-term health. One of the main topics discussed involves feeding practices in the newborn critical care unit, concentrating on the use of human donor milk and probiotics in the diet of premature and ill newborns. Another point of focus is the causes and the effect of an insufficient intake of selected micronutrients, such as iron and zinc, which is highly prevalent particularly in the developing world. Besides, this publication contains information on the influence of early feeding habits on the later development of a number of health-related issues such as food allergies, later food preferences and eating habits, obesity, bone development, the risk of developing celiac disease in genetically predisposed children.This volume provides essential reading for pediatricians, clinical investigators and health workers interested in the effects of early nutrition on health.

This Task Force report reviews the evidence that the seeds ofmany adult diseases are sown in utero and in infancy. The report,written by experts in the field, summarises current knowledge inthis area. It illustrates how early life nutrition can bring aboutchanges in organ development and function, thus programming risk ofdisease in adult life. It also considers what might be done inearly life to reduce the burden of future ill health. Nutrition and Development: Short- and Long-Term Consequencesfor Health includes chapters on the history of this topic area,normal growth and development, and current recommendations andpractice in relation to nutrition and diet in early life. Chaptersexploring the possible mechanisms and pathways of critical windowsfor development cover the effects of diet and nutrition in earlylife on organ and skeletal development, the role of sex hormones inprogramming disease susceptibility, the establishment ofgastrointestinal microbiota, and the impact of early life nutritionon cognitive and neurological development. This new report: • describes how development occurs and explores howchanges in the fetal and postnatal environment, such as over- orunder-nutrition, can result in permanent alterations infunction; • explains how diet and nutrition in early life canaffect risk of adult disease, with specific chapters on allergicdisease and asthma, bone health, cancer, cardiovascular disease,cognitive function, diabetes and obesity; • includes a summary of the key points, as well asrecommendations in each chapter to help fill the gaps in ourknowledge; • provides an overview of the main messages in apractical question and answer format suitable for lay readers. Nutrition and Development is an important informationresource for those involved in research and teaching in the healthsciences sector and is also of value to those involved in makingdecisions about health policy. It will be of interest to a broadrange of health professionals, the food industry and those whowrite and broadcast about the effects of food on 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.

Improved conditions of care for premature infants have led to markedly increased survival rates over the last few decades, particularly in very low and extremely low birth weight infants. Nutritional measures play a central role in the long-term outcome, health and quality of life of these premature infants. In this publication, leading experts from all 5 continents present the most recent evidence and critical analyses of nutrient requirements and the practice of nutritional care (with the focus on very low birth weight infants) to provide guidance for clinical application. After the introductory chapters, covering nutritional needs and research evidence in a more general manner, topics such as amino acids and proteins, lipids, microminerals and vitamins, parenteral and enteral nutrition as well as approaches to various disease conditions are addressed. Due to its focus on critical appraisals and recommendations, this book is of interest not only for the researcher who wants to keep up to date, but also for the clinician faced with premature infants in his practice.

There is no other time in life when the provision of adequate and balanced nutrition is of greater importance than during infancy and childhood. During this dynamic phase characterized by rapid growth, development and developmental plasticity, a sufficient amount and appropriate composition of nutrients both in health and disease are of key importance for growth, functional outcomes such as cognition and immune response, and the metabolic programming of long-term health and well-being. This compact reference text provides concise information to readers who seek quick guidance on practical issues in the nutrition of infants, children and adolescents. After the success of the first edition, which sold more than 50'000 copies in several languages, the editors prepared this thoroughly revised and updated second edition which focuses again on nutritional challenges in both affluent and poor populations around the world. Serving as a practical reference guide, this book will contribute to further improving the quality of feeding of healthy infants and children, as well as enhancing the standards of nutritional care in sick children.

There is ample evidence that early-life nutrition plays a powerful role in programming a person's development, metabolism and health for the future. Optimizing early nutrition may reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, allergies, diabetes and obesity, and positively influence immune function as well as cognitive and behavioral outcomes later in life. The first part of this book covers the impact of nutrition on the immune system, the role of gut microbiota in the immune status, as well as the prevention and management of food allergies in children. The second part is dedicated to obesity prevention: experts in epigenetics and metabolic programming share scientific evidence on the use of biomarkers for predicting the risk of early obesity. They also discuss potential strategies for interrupting intergenerational cycles of obesity during pregnancy, early infancy and childhood. The last part covers complementary feeding and its importance in short- and long-term health, and how it can affect behavioral and psychological aspects, as well as food preferences in later life.