Maternal and Early Life Programming of Childhood Health: A Nutritional and Epigenetic Investigation

Dear Colleagues,

Accumulating evidence suggests that early life exposure to a range of environmental factors, including nutrition, plays a key role in defining offspring health, both in childhood and in later life. According to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis, transient environmental exposures during critical periods of growth and development (such as the periconceptional, fetal, and early infant phases of life) can alter normal physiology and have a persistent impact on metabolism and gene expression thereby influencing disease risk in later life. Such long-term consequences may not only be limited to one generation but may lead to poor health in future generations, even in the absence of direct exposure. Epigenetic phenomena (particularly DNA methylation) have been proposed as mechanisms by which fetal or early life environment may affect offspring phenotype and health years after exposure.

This Special Issue, “Maternal and Early Life Programming of Childhood Health: A Nutritional and Epigenetic Investigation”, will include original research and scientific perspectives on the influence of maternal, paternal and early life exposures (with a focus on nutrition, either as individual components or patterns) on a range of offspring health outcomes (including obesity, cardiometabolic health, type 2 diabetes, cancer, respiratory conditions, osteoporosis and neurodevelopmental disorders). In addition, the influence of these exposures on the epigenome will be discussed and the role of epigenetics in mediating diet-health relationships will be explored.  

Dr. Catherine Phillips
Dr. Ling-Wei Chen
Guest Editors

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