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Critical and Sensitive Periods in Development and Nutrition
John Colombo1, Kathleen M Gustafson2, Susan E Carlson3
1Department of Psychology and Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA, colombo@ku.edu.
Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism
|June 20, 2020
Summary
Critical or sensitive periods influence development, especially during fetal development and nutritional programming. Research highlights challenges in human studies, advocating for harmonized experimental trials to clarify these developmental windows.
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Neuroscience
- Nutritional science
Background:
- Critical or sensitive periods significantly impact long-term developmental outcomes.
- Nutritional programming, linked to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypotheses, is a key example.
- The fetal period is recognized as a critical window for metabolic and physiological development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review research on critical/sensitive periods in social preferences and sensory systems.
- To summarize criteria for defining such periods and necessary evidence.
- To explore nutritional programming as a variant of critical/sensitive period concepts.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing research literature.
- Analysis of criteria for defining critical/sensitive periods.
- Examination of evidence from animal models, epidemiological studies, and human clinical trials.
Main Results:
- Establishing definitive evidence for critical/sensitive periods is challenging, particularly in human studies.
- Animal models offer more systematic manipulation of timing for nutritional interventions.
- Human clinical trials rarely employ the necessary systematic manipulation of nutritional timing.
Conclusions:
- Harmonized outcome measures in experimental trials are crucial for advancing research.
- Varying the timing, duration, and dose of nutrients in trials will strengthen evidence.
- Further research is needed to definitively establish critical/sensitive periods and nutritional programming effects.
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