Suboptimal maternal nutrition affects offspring health in adult life

Abstract

Suboptimal maternal nutrition during pregnancy is prevalent and compromises fetal development. Physiological and metabolic adaptations made by the fetus to an inadequate, or excess, maternal nutritional environment, may promote immediate survival but are lasting, conferring significantly increased risks of ill health in childhood and adulthood. In addition, such fetal adaptations are particularly detrimental when nutrient supply is no longer constrained in contemporary nutrient rich environments. Given the prevalence of suboptimal maternal nutritional environments during fetal development, effective prevention, early detection and therapeutic interventions to reduce the increased risks on population health must be a health priority. Therefore, the mechanisms of these lasting in utero adaptations are highly relevant to establishing how exposure to a suboptimal nutritional environment impacts on the health of current generations living in an environment challenged by excess nutrition.

Keywords: Adipose tissue; Fetal programming; Maternal nutrition; Obesity.