Postnatal nutrition and adult health programming.
The early postnatal interplay between nutrition, growth patterns, and metabolic and epigenetic phenomena is crucial in determining subsequent health; health that extends through the lifetime of the individual and very likely even into subsequent generations. Recent research in the area of postnatal nutrition and its relationship to adult health, with an emphasis on the appropriate-for-gestational-age infant who is born prematurely and who undergoes growth delays, is presented. Select studies in animals, pertinent to understanding the mechanisms of how early postnatal under- and overnutrition might affect adult health and propagate to subsequent generations, are reviewed. Scientifically based approaches to administering postnatal nutrition designed to improve outcomes and areas where future investigations are needed are presented.
Neu
Josef
J
Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, College of Medicine, Division of Neurology, Box J296, 1600 SW Archer Road, Room HD 513, Gainesville, FL 32610-0296, USA. neuj@peds.ufl.edu
Hauser
Nicholas
N
Douglas-Escobar
Martha
M
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007225:Infant Food; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D023421:Models, Animal; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D011247:Pregnancy