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

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 healthCovers the mechanistic aspects of nutritional programming and its impact on risk of chronic non-communicable diseasesReviews associations between infant and child diet and its effect on growth, development, cognition and later occurrence of cardiovascular diseases, allergies, metabolic conditions and obesity

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