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Role of the prenatal environment in the development of obesity
1Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229-3039, USA.
Insights
Prenatal life is a critical period for obesity development. Maternal factors like diabetes during pregnancy can alter the intrauterine environment, increasing offspring obesity risk through metabolic changes.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive biology
- Developmental biology
- Metabolic health
Background:
- Prenatal development is increasingly recognized as a critical window for long-term health outcomes.
- Obesity is a growing global health concern with complex etiological factors.
- The intrauterine environment's role in offspring obesity risk requires further elucidation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review evidence linking the intrauterine environment to later obesity risk in offspring.
- To explore potential mechanisms through which maternal factors influence fetal development and metabolic programming.
- To identify critical prenatal factors contributing to the development of obesity.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of studies examining the association between prenatal exposures and offspring obesity.
- Analysis of maternal factors including diabetes, obesity, and gestational weight gain.
- Examination of proposed biological mechanisms involving altered maternal-fetal substrate transfer.
Main Results:
- Evidence suggests a significant association between the intrauterine environment and later obesity risk.
- Maternal diabetes during pregnancy shows the strongest evidence for increasing offspring obesity risk.
- Altered metabolic substrate transfer between mother and fetus is a common theme in proposed mechanisms.
Conclusions:
- The prenatal period is a sensitive window for obesity development.
- Maternal health status, particularly diabetes, plays a crucial role in programming offspring for obesity.
- Further research into specific mechanisms is needed to inform targeted prevention strategies.
Abstract:
Establishing that prenatal life is a critical or sensitive period for the development of obesity may focus basic research and clinical prevention efforts on this period. This review summarizes evidence that the intrauterine environment influences the risk of later obesity and considers the mechanisms by which this may occur. The association between birth weight and adult weight suggests that there are enduring effects of the intrauterine environment on later obesity risk. We examine whether the maternal factors of diabetes, obesity, and pregnancy weight gain alter the intrauterine environment and thereby increase the risk of later obesity in the offspring. Of these maternal factors, evidence is strongest for the role of maternal diabetes. No single mechanism explains how these maternal factors could change the intrauterine environment to increase obesity risk. However, all potential mechanisms involve an altered transfer of metabolic substrates between mother and fetus, which may influence the developing structure or function of the organs involved in energy metabolism.