There is a documented link between fetal nutrition and the development of disease risk in adult life. Including the early postnatal period, during which a newborn continues to grow rapidly influenced by environmental factors, suggests that individuals are subject to risks for more than just the fetal period. Fetal and Early Postnatal Programming and its Influence on Adult Health focuses on interrelated aspects of cellular programming related to early nutrition and this potential global health problem.
Children are the foundation of the United States, and supporting them is a key component of building a successful future. However, millions of children face health inequities that compromise their development, well-being, and long-term outcomes, despite substantial scientific evidence about how those adversities contribute to poor health. Advancements in neurobiological and socio-behavioral science show that critical biological systems develop in the prenatal through early childhood periods, and neurobiological development is extremely responsive to environmental influences during these stages. Consequently, social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors significantly affect a child's health ecosystem and ability to thrive throughout adulthood. Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity builds upon and updates research from Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity (2017) and From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development (2000). This report provides a brief overview of stressors that affect childhood development and health, a framework for applying current brain and development science to the real world, a roadmap for implementing tailored interventions, and recommendations about improving systems to better align with our understanding of the significant impact of health equity.
Health problems such as hypertension, tendency to diabetes, obesity, blood lipids, vascular disease, bone health, behaviour and learning and longevity may be ‘imprinted’ during early life. This process is defined as ‘programming’ whereby a nutritional stimulus operating at a critical, sensitive period of pre and postnatal life imprints permanent effects on the structure, physiology and metabolism. For this reason, academics and industry set-up the EC supported Scientific Workshop -Early Nutrition and its Later Consequences: New Opportunities. The prime objective of the Workshop was to generate a sound exchange of the latest scientific developments within the field of early nutrition to look for opportunities for new preventive health concepts. Further, a closer look was taken at the development of food applications which could provide (future) mothers and infants with improved nutrition that will ultimately lead to better future health. The Workshop was organised by the Dept. of Pediatrics, University of Munich, Germany in collaboration with the Danone Institutes and the Infant Nutrition Cluster, a collaboration of three large research projects funded by the EU.
The handbook synthesizes the comprehensive interdisciplinary research on the psychological and behavioral dimensions of life before, during, and immediately after birth. It examines how experiences during the prenatal period are associated with basic physiological and psychological imprints that last a lifetime and explores the ways in which brain networks reflect these experiences. Chapters offer findings on prenatal development, fetal programming, fetal stress, and epigenetics. In addition, chapters discuss psychotherapy for infants – before, during, and after birth – as well as prevention to promote positive health and well-being outcomes. Topics featured in this handbook include: Contemporary environmental stressors and adverse pregnancy outcomes The psychology of newborn intensive care. Art therapy and its use in treating prenatal trauma. The failures and successes of Cathartic Regression Therapy. Prenatal bonding and its positive effects on postnatal health and well-being. The role of family midwives and early prevention. The cultural meaning of prenatal psychology. The Handbook of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians and related professionals, as well as graduate students in a wide range of interrelated disciplines, including developmental psychology, pediatric and obstetrical medicine, neuroscience, infancy and early child development, obstetrics and gynecology, nursing, social work, and early childhood education.
This multivolume reference work addresses the fact that the well being of humankind is predicated not only on individuals receiving adequate nutrition but also on their genetic makeup. The work includes more than 100 chapters organized in the following major sections: Introduction and Overview; Epigenetics of Organs and Diseases in Relation to Diet and Nutrition; Detailed Processes in Epigenetics of Diet and Nutrition; Modulating Epigenetics with Diet and Nutrition; and Practical Techniques. While it is well known that genes may encode proteins responsible for structural and dynamic components, there is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that nutrition itself may alter the way in which genes are expressed via the process of epigenetics. This is where chemically imposed alteration in the DNA sequence occurs or where the functional expression of DNA is modulated. This may include changes in DNA methylation, non-coding RNA, chromatin, histone acetylation or methylation, and genomic imprinting. Knowledge regarding the number of dietary components that impact on epigenetic processes is increasing almost daily. Marshalling all the information on the complex relationships between diet, nutrition, and epigenetic processes is somewhat difficult due to the wide myriad of material. It is for this reason that the present work has been compiled.
This landmark publication provides the first definitive account of how and why subtle influences on the fetus and during early life can have such profound consequences for adult health and diseases. Although the epidemiological evidence for this link has long proved compelling, it is only much more recently that the scientific and physiological basis has begun to be studied in depth and fully understood. The compilation, written by many of the world's leading experts in this exciting field, summarizes these scientific and clinical advances.
This volume offers the most comprehensive coverage on fetal programming. Chapters are written by authors of international and national standing, leaders in the field and trendsetters. The clinical relevance of the current research is emphasized in each chapter, which also contains key points, key words, and concise summaries for ease of learning. Fetal programming affects conditions in the immediate postnatal period, as well as in later life and adulthood. These conditions include cardiovascular disease, frank hypertension, stroke, dyslipidemia, coagulopathy, increased insulin resistance-metabolic syndrome, type-2 diabetes, leukemia, testicular cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome, precocious puberty, impaired immune function, renal disease, lung disease, and osteoporosis. Neuropathologies, behavioral and mental deficiencies, schizophrenia, and depression have also been reported in adults who were exposed to nutritional inadequacies in utero. Diet, Nutrition and Fetal Programming provides an overview on the effects of fetal programming on disease, and comprehensive looks at maternal nutrition factors and fetal programming effects on brain and behavior, and physiology and disease. It also provides an in depth look at specific nutrient restrictions and supplements on physiology and disease, the effects of maternal disease on fetal programming, mechanisms of programming, and a special section on the international aspects and policies on fetal programming.
There is no longer any doubt that the inherited genetic constitution of the individual has a large influence on the entire life cycle, from human fetal development and pre- and postnatal growth to subsequent health status. However, growing evidence suggests that this predisposition is not rigid, but that early genetic imprinting, caused by exposure to a diverse spectrum of nutrients, macromolecules, microbial agents and other cellular or soluble components present in the external environment, is also of importance. According to this concept of the developmental origins of adult diseases, intrauterine and early life events play an important role in the etiology of human diseases: there seems to exist a critical 'window of opportunity' in the human infant before and during pregnancy, and up to 24 months of age. Altered exposure to different environmental agents during this critical period may determine the nature of responses in the perinatal period, and the expression of specific disease states in later life. The papers presented in this publication thus focus on the impact of perinatal growth, nutrition, environmental microflora, and host immune responses on the outcome of health and disease in later life.
Proteostasis integrates biological pathways controlling biogenesis, trafficking, folding, and degradation of proteins. This book focuses on two protein breakdown/degradation processes (proteolysis), which are part of a normally functioning proteostatic system: the ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy. Chapter 2 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Vitamin C holds a unique place in scientific and cultural history. In this book, a group of leading scientific researchers describe new insights into the myriad ways vitamin C is employed during normal physiological functioning. In addition, the text provides an extensive overview of the following: the rationale for utilizing vitamin C in the clinic, updates on recent uses of vitamin C in cancer treatment through high-dose intravenous therapies, the role vitamin C plays in the treatment of sepsis and infectious disease, management of the ways vitamin C can improve stem cell differentiation, as well as vitamin C use in other important health situations. Features Includes chapters from a team of leading international scholars Reviews the history and recent research on the functions, benefits, and uses of vitamin C Focuses special attention on the way vitamin C can be used in the treatment of cancers Discusses how vitamin C can be employed against infectious disease
