About this Research Topic

Background

Maternal diet, from the pre-conception period right through to the end of lactation, plays a major role in shaping the life-long health of the next generation. Early work in the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) field focused on the role of maternal undernutrition as the causative factor in adverse offspring outcomes but this has now been expanded to cover a diverse range of nutrients and dietary patterns which are reflective of modern diets. Despite the variety of exposures examined in relation to adverse in utero environments, a common set of phenotypic traits manifests in the offspring including increased adiposity, cardio-metabolic dysfunction, sub-fertility, and neurological changes, predisposing to increased risk of disease. Since its inception, researchers in the DOHaD field have sought to understand the mechanisms which govern early life predisposition to disease. This has led to increased understanding of the pathways involved and identification of potential intervention strategies to negate the effects of maternal diet-induced developmental programming.

This Research Topic aims to collate the latest research examining the role of maternal nutrition on offspring growth and development. We welcome submissions from both human and animal studies exploring novel dietary exposures which influence offspring outcomes. Studies which focus on novel nutrient-based intervention strategies or studies which expand the range of adverse nutritional exposures are particularly encouraged.

We will consider Original Research articles and Reviews (narrative, mini, systematic and meta-analysis) that address how altered maternal nutrition can impact on the risk for adverse health outcomes in offspring in later life. This could include studies that examine:

• Early life nutritional interventions and their role in preventing programming in offspring
• New mechanistic insights into maternal diet-mediated offspring effects including epigenetics, sex-specific programming and transgenerational impacts
• The effects of maternal diet on offspring
• Metabolic health
• Immune function
• Neurological outcomes and behavior
• Gut function and microbiome

Keywords: Pre-conception, Disease, Adiposity, Growth, Development

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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