Mechanisms behind early life nutrition and adult disease outcome

Obesity is increasing around the globe. While adult lifestyle factors undoubtedly contribute to the incidence of obesity and its attendant disorders, mounting evidence suggests that programming of obesity may occur following under- and over-nutrition during development. As hypothalamic control of appetite and energy expenditure is set early in life and can be perturbed by certain exposures such as undernutrition and altered metabolic and hormonal signals, in utero exposure to altered maternal nutrition and inadequate nutrition during early postnatal life may contribute to programming of obesity in offspring. Data from animal studies indicate both intrauterine and postnatal environments are critical determinants of the development of pathways regulating energy homeostasis. This review summarizes recent evidence of the impact of maternal nutrition as well as postnatal nutrition of the offspring on subsequent obesity and disease risk of the offspring. While much of the experimental work reviewed here was conducted in the rodent, these observations provide useful insights into avenues for future research into developing preventive measures to curb the obesity epidemic.