Early Nutrition and Long-Term Health: Mechanisms, Consequences, and Opportunities

by Jose M Saavedra, Anne M. Dattilo

Overview

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780081001684
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	12/20/2016
Series:	Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition
Pages:	620
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jose M. Saavedra, MD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is a clinician, researcher, educator, with a long -term interest and dedication to the areas of pediatric nutritional care, microbiota, probiotics, disease prevention, and infant health.

Anne M. Dattilo, PhD, RD, CDE, is a clinical dietician and investigator with longstanding dedication to the prevention of gestational diabetes and promotion of healthy infant nutrition. She currently oversees the scientific content of the Global First Thousand Days Nutrition Education Program at Nestlé Nutrition within her role as Associate Director of Nutrition Science.

Table of Contents

Introduction Nutrition in the First 1,000 days of Life: Society’s greatest opportunity

Part One: Nutrition in Early Life: Effects and Mechanisms Impacting Growth, Development, and Long-Term Health 1. Prenatal nutrition and nutrition in pregnancy: Effects on long-term growth and development 2. Breastfeeding: Effects on growth, development, and long-term health 3. Early nutrition: Effects on infant growth and body composition 4. Early Nutrition: Effects on short and long term health: Two examples 5. Early nutrition: Effects of specific nutrient intake on growth, development and long term health 6. The effect of infant allergen/immunogen exposure on long-term health 7. Early nutrition and its effect on allergy development 8. Impact of early nutrition on intestinal microbiome: effects on immunity and long-term health 9. Eating Development in Young Children: Understanding the Complex Interplay of Developmental Domains

Part Two: Early Nutrition and Non-Communicable Disease 10. Early nutrition and its effect on the development of celiac disease 11. Early nutrition and its effect on the development of obesity 12. Early nutrition and its effect on the development of type-2 diabetes 13. Early nutrition and its effect on the development of allergic diseases 14. Early nutrition and its effect on the development of functional GI disorders

Part Three: Nutritional Programming in the First 1,000 Days: A Window of Opportunity 15. Programming long term health: Maternal and fetal nutrition and diet needs 16. Programming long term health: Nutritional and dietary needs in infant prematurity 17. Programming long-term health: Establishing healthy eating patterns in early infancy 18. Programming long-term health: Effect of parent feeding approaches on long-term diet and eating patterns 19. Programming long term health: Nutrition and diet in infants aged 6 months to 1 year 20. Programming long term health: Nutrition and diet in toddlers

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Presents all aspects of early life nutrition’s impact on long-term health and disease, and the potential actions that can be entertained to improve them

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Linda Van Horn, PhD, RDN (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)
Description: As the title implies, this is a comprehensive book covering a vast array of topics related to nutrition and its impact on early life. Written by over 40 qualified authors, it is divided into three parts that differentiate nutrition in early life, early nutrition and noncommunicable disease, and nutritional programming in the first 1,000 days.
Purpose: The indirectly stated purpose is to review the data documenting the importance of nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life as well as the long-term impact on chronic diseases. The emerging evidence of maternal/fetal nutrition programming and the value of postnatal nutrition are also discussed. These are important topics that are rapidly evolving. Overall, it appears the book has accomplished the authors' goals.
Audience: The book is directed at a widely diverse but medically professional audience with an interest in learning, updating, and/or synthesizing the current knowledge of maternal/fetal nutrition and the long-term impact on postnatal health and immunological benefits/risks. The authors are from various parts of the world, and include several from the U.S.
Features: The book covers a wide array of topics ranging from prenatal influences to allergens, celiac disease, short-term and long-term health. For example, chapter 4 goes into considerable detail on the implications of differential nutrient supply during the perinatal and postnatal time periods on childhood health. Two groupings of nutrient examples, protein and the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, are discussed. Chapter 5 describes the implications of preventing or resolving individual nutrient deficiency states and the implications on long-term health, primarily as related to developmental/cognitive outcomes. The first section regarding protein intake very nicely details implications of varied amounts of protein intake during infancy on specific organ development (e.g. heart, brain, kidney). For each nutrient, the authors nicely detail relevant information spanning the pre/periconception time, pregnancy, and early childhood. In addition to discussing the implications of nutrient deficiency, there is some discussion of implications of nutrient excess. It importantly identifies limitations in neurocognitive testing instruments that researchers and clinicians have available to evaluate central nervous system effects of nutrient sufficiency or deficiency.
Assessment: Overall, the book is very comprehensive. Noteworthy is chapter 18 on the effect of parent feeding approaches on long-term diet and eating patterns. Parental feeding practices (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful styles) are described and their effects on weight changes in early childhood are summarized. The strengths and limitations of the assessment tools used in these early childhood feeding studies are summarized in a 10-page table. Differences in infant satiety levels and weight status for breastfed versus bottle-fed babies are mentioned, but this comparison lacks the depth of overwhelming research correlating breastfeeding and its positive effects on appetite self-regulation, promotion of appropriate weight gain, healthy gut microbiota, and other related benefits for the infant. Chapter 20, on nutrition and diet in toddlers covers conception through 24 months of age (first 1,000 days), providing a comprehensive narrative explaining the role of diet in infant and toddler growth. However, a table summary would have provided a clearer presentation. The inter-relationships between nutrients and toddlers' health are limited to macronutrients and iron. An interpretation of more current trends in early life eating patterns that resemble eating patterns of youth living in the U.S. is lacking, given the plenitude of recent NHANES data as well as that from large cohort studies in the U.K. and Australia.

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