scholarly journals Developmental origins of health and disease: a new approach for the identification of adults who suffered undernutrition in early life

2018 ◽  
Vol Volume 11 ◽  
pp. 543-551
Author(s):  
Haroldo da Silva Ferreira ◽  
Antonio Fernando Silva Xavier Junior ◽  
Monica Lopes Assunção ◽  
Tainá Cardoso Caminha Uchôa ◽  
Abel Barbosa Lira-Neto ◽  
...  
Author(s):  
Fiona Lynch ◽  
Sharon Lewis ◽  
Ivan Macciocca ◽  
Jeffrey M. Craig

Abstract Epigenetics is likely to play a role in the mediation of the effects of genes and environment in risk for many non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) theory presents unique opportunities regarding the possibility of early life interventions to alter the epigenetic makeup of an individual, thereby modifying their risk for a variety of NCDs. While it is important to determine how we can lower the risk of these NCDs, it is equally important to understand how the public’s knowledge and opinion of DOHaD and epigenetic concepts may influence their willingness to undertake such interventions for themselves and their children. In this review, we provide an overview of epigenetics, DOHaD, NCDs, and the links between them. We explore the issues surrounding using epigenetics to identify those at increased risk of NCDs, including the concept of predictive testing of children. We also outline what is currently understood about the public’s understanding and opinion of epigenetics, DOHaD, and their relation to NCDs. In doing so, we demonstrate that it is essential that future research explores the public’s awareness and understanding of epigenetics and epigenetic concepts. This will provide much-needed information which will prepare health professionals for the introduction of epigenetic testing into future healthcare.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Suzuki

Since its debut in a ground-breaking report by Barker and Osmond in 1986, the concept of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) has been further developed in several aspects. Its methodology and conclusions relating to proposed origins and outcomes of early life events have been developing and spreading internationally. Indeed, the DOHaD concept now seems to have influenced many fields of research. This article aims to briefly review why the DOHaD concept is important in biomedical science, how it has developed, is currently developing, and how it should develop in future.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 433-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Prescott ◽  
K. Allen ◽  
K. Armstrong ◽  
C. Collins ◽  
H. Dickinson ◽  
...  

The evidence underpinning the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) is overwhelming. As the emphasis shifts more towards interventions and the translational strategies for disease prevention, it is important to capitalize on collaboration and knowledge sharing to maximize opportunities for discovery and replication. DOHaD meetings are facilitating this interaction. However, strategies to perpetuate focussed discussions and collaborations around and between conferences are more likely to facilitate the development of DOHaD research. For this reason, the DOHaD Society of Australia and New Zealand (DOHaD ANZ) has initiated themed Working Groups, which convened at the 2014–2015 conferences. This report introduces the DOHaD ANZ Working Groups and summarizes their plans and activities. One of the first Working Groups to form was the ActEarly birth cohort group, which is moving towards more translational goals. Reflecting growing emphasis on the impact of early life biodiversity – even before birth – we also have a Working Group titled Infection, inflammation and the microbiome. We have several Working Groups exploring other major non-cancerous disease outcomes over the lifespan, including Brain, behaviour and development and Obesity, cardiovascular and metabolic health. The Epigenetics and Animal Models Working Groups cut across all these areas and seeks to ensure interaction between researchers. Finally, we have a group focussed on ‘Translation, policy and communication’ which focusses on how we can best take the evidence we produce into the community to effect change. By coordinating and perpetuating DOHaD discussions in this way we aim to enhance DOHaD research in our region.


2018 ◽  
Vol 243 (10) ◽  
pp. 836-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Zheng ◽  
Qianyun Feng ◽  
Sheng Zheng ◽  
Xinhua Xiao

Osteoporosis, the most frequent metabolic disorder of bone, is a complex disease with a multifactorial origin that is influenced by genes and environments. However, the pathogenesis of osteoporosis has not been fully elucidated. The theory of “Developmental Origins of Health and Disease” indicates that early life environment exposure determines the risks of cardiometabolic diseases in adulthood. However, investigations into the effects of maternal nutrition and nutrition exposure during early life on the development of osteoporosis are limited. Recently, emerging evidence has strongly suggested that maternal nutrition has long-term influences on bone metabolism in offspring, and epigenetic modifications maybe the underlying mechanisms of this process. This review aimed to address maternal nutrition and its implications for the developmental origins of osteoporosis in offspring. It is novel in providing a theoretical basis for the early prevention of osteoporosis. Impact statement Our review aimed to address maternal nutrition and its implications for the developmental origins of osteoporosis in offspring, that can novelly provide a theoretical basis for the early prevention of osteoporosis.


Physiology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suttira Intapad ◽  
Norma B. Ojeda ◽  
John Henry Dasinger ◽  
Barbara T. Alexander

The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) proposes that adverse events during early life program an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Experimental models provide proof of concept but also indicate that insults during early life program sex differences in adult blood pressure and cardiovascular risk. This review will highlight the potential mechanisms that contribute to the etiology of sex differences in the developmental programming of cardiovascular disease.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 2584 ◽  
Author(s):  
You-Lin Tain ◽  
Chien-Ning Hsu

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a mounting epidemic worldwide. MetS can start in early life, in a microenvironment that is now known as the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD). The concept of DOHaD also offers opportunities for reprogramming strategies that aim to reverse programming processes in early life. Resveratrol, a polyphenolic compound has a wide spectrum of beneficial effects on human health. In this review, we first summarize the epidemiological and experimental evidence supporting the developmental programming of MetS. This review also presents an overview of the evidence linking different molecular targets of resveratrol to developmental programming of MetS-related disorders. This will be followed by studies documenting resveratrol as a reprogramming agent to protect against MetS-related disorders. Further clinical studies are required in order to bridge the gap between animal models and clinical trials in order to establish the effective dose and therapeutic duration for resveratrol as a reprogramming therapy on MetS disorders from developmental origins.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Felix ◽  
C. A. M. Cecil

AbstractEpigenetic changes represent a potential mechanism underlying associations of early-life exposures and later life health outcomes. Population-based cohort studies starting in early life are an attractive framework to study the role of such changes. DNA methylation is the most studied epigenetic mechanism in population research. We discuss the application of DNA methylation in early-life population studies, some recent findings, key challenges and recommendations for future research. Studies into DNA methylation within the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease framework generally either explore associations between prenatal exposures and offspring DNA methylation or associations between offspring DNA methylation in early life and later health outcomes. Only a few studies to date have integrated prospective exposure, epigenetic and phenotypic data in order to explicitly test the role of DNA methylation as a potential biological mediator of environmental effects on health outcomes. Population epigenetics is an emerging field which has challenges in terms of methodology and interpretation of the data. Key challenges include tissue specificity, cell type adjustment, issues of power and comparability of findings, genetic influences, and exploring causality and functional consequences. Ongoing studies are working on addressing these issues. Large collaborative efforts of prospective cohorts are emerging, with clear benefits in terms of optimizing power and use of resources, and in advancing methodology. In the future, multidisciplinary approaches, within and beyond longitudinal birth and preconception cohorts will advance this complex, but highly promising, the field of research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 420-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. McKerracher ◽  
T. Moffat ◽  
M. Barker ◽  
D. Williams ◽  
D. M. Sloboda

AbstractEvidence supporting the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis indicates that improving early life environments can reduce non-communicable disease risks and improve health over the lifecourse. A widespread understanding of this evidence may help to reshape structures, guidelines and individual behaviors to better the developmental conditions for the next generations. Yet, few efforts have yet been made to translate the DOHaD concept beyond the research community. To understand why, and to identify priorities for DOHaD Knowledge Translation (KT) programs, we review here a portion of published descriptions of DOHaD KT efforts and critiques thereof. We focus on KT targeting people equipped to apply DOHaD knowledge to their everyday home or work lives. We identified 17 reports of direct-to-public DOHaD KT that met our inclusion criteria. Relevant KT programs have been or are being initiated in nine countries, most focusing on secondary school students or care-workers-in-training; few target parents-to-be. Early indicators suggest that such programs can empower participants. Main critiques of DOHaD KT suggest it may overburden mothers with responsibility for children’s health and health environments, minimizing the roles of other people and institutions. Simultaneously, though, many mothers-to-be seek reliable guidance on prenatal health and nutrition, and would likely benefit from engagement with DOHaD KT. We thus recommend emphasizing solidarity, and bringing together people likely to one day become parents (youth), people planning pregnancies, expecting couples, care workers and policymakers into empowering conversation about DOHaD and about the importance and complexity of early life environments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 267-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Gómez-Gallego ◽  
Izaskun García-Mantrana ◽  
Cecilia Martínez-Costa ◽  
Seppo Salminen ◽  
Erika Isolauri ◽  
...  

According to the developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis, our health is determined by events experienced in utero and during early infancy. Indeed, both our prenatal and postnatal nutrition conditions have an impact on the initial architecture and activity of our microbiota. Recent evidence has underlined the importance of the composition of the early gut microbiota in relation to malnutrition, whether it be undernutrition or overnutrition, that is, in terms of both stunted and overweight development. It remains unclear how early microbial contact is linked to the risk of disease, as well as whether alterations in the microbiome underlie the pathogenesis of malnutrition or are merely the end result of it, which indicates that thequestion of causality must urgently be answered. This review provides information on the complex interaction between the microbiota and nutrition during the first 1,000 days of life, taking into account the impact of both undernutrition and overnutrition on the microbiota and on infants’ health outcomes in the short- and long-term.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (21) ◽  
pp. 11872
Author(s):  
Chien-Ning Hsu ◽  
Chih-Yao Hou ◽  
Wei-Hsuan Hsu ◽  
You-Lin Tain

One of the leading global public-health burdens is metabolic syndrome (MetS), despite the many advances in pharmacotherapies. MetS, now known as “developmental origins of health and disease” (DOHaD), can have its origins in early life. Offspring MetS can be programmed by various adverse early-life conditions, such as nutrition imbalance, maternal conditions or diseases, maternal chemical exposure, and medication use. Conversely, early interventions have shown potential to revoke programming processes to prevent MetS of developmental origins, namely reprogramming. In this review, we summarize what is currently known about adverse environmental insults implicated in MetS of developmental origins, including the fundamental underlying mechanisms. We also describe animal models that have been developed to study the developmental programming of MetS. This review extends previous research reviews by addressing implementation of reprogramming strategies to prevent the programming of MetS. These mechanism-targeted strategies include antioxidants, melatonin, resveratrol, probiotics/prebiotics, and amino acids. Much work remains to be accomplished to determine the insults that could induce MetS, to identify the mechanisms behind MetS programming, and to develop potential reprogramming strategies for clinical translation.


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