[Metabolic programming]

Abstract

The normal programmed development of a multicellular organism lays on a synchronized series of events driven by genetic instructions acquired during conception. During the early critical periods in life the organism has the ability to respond to environmental situations that are strange to normal development by adaptations at several levels. Such early adaptations change the organism's physiology and metabolism and continue to be expressed even in the absence of the stimulus that initiated them, a process called "metabolic programming". Human epidemiological and animal studies support the concept that metabolic programming induced by nutritional experiences during critical periods in development might have consequences later in adulthood. Moreover, it has been suggested that those nutritional experiences in children during the perinatal period could contribute to metabolic programming leading to diseases of appearance during the adult life such as obesity and diabetes.