Early Nutrition Impact On Short And Long Term Health

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally and presents a major challenge to policy makers and clinicians alike. Recent research has suggested that obesity has its origins in early life and that early diet can programme a developing fetus’ and young infant’s future susceptibility to obesity. This volume contains recent findings presented at the International Conference on Early Nutrition Programming and Health Outcomes in Later Life: Obesity and Beyond - a satellite meeting of the 15th European Congress on Obesity, held in Budapest in April 2007. Basic scientific research, data from epidemiological studies and clinical trial results were all presented during the programme. This volume includes articles discussing the evidence for an effect of early nutrition programming on later obesity and cardiovascular risk; the growing evidence for an intergenerational cycle of obesity; the role of maternal leptin in programming appetite; possible cellular mechanisms for altered energy balance, including mitochondrial programming and the effects of regulators of metabolism; and how epigenetic changes might be the fundamental underlying mechanism explaining programming effects. Consumer understanding of the concept of early nutrition programming and the extent to which early nutrition programming is taken into account in infant feeding policies are also discussed.

A summary of current knowledge and unresolved issues Recognition of evidence-based medicine is not only increasing rapidly, but it has become essential to pediatric nutrition. Starting with some methodological issues - discussing systemic reviews, meta-analyses and clinical trials - this publication then concisely summarizes current knowledge as well as ignorance and uncertainty regarding selected aspects of childhood nutrition. These aspects include functional gastrointestinal disorders, issues concerning various kinds of milk, complementary foods, enteral nutrition, celiac disease or obesity. Contents are based on evidence and summarize current guidelines; moreover, when there is no clear evidence, they provide some food for thought. Overall, this publication has been written to enable the clinician to make informed decisions regarding pediatric nutrition.

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.