title: Maternal investment, life-history strategy of the offspring and adult chronic disease risk in South Asian women in the UK.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patterns of development predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, and ethnic differences therein, but it remains unclear why apparently 'adaptive plasticity' in early life should generate health costs in later life. We hypothesized that offspring receiving low maternal investment during fetal life, the primary period of organogenesis, should predict a shorter reproductive career and develop a fast life-history strategy, prioritizing reproduction over growth and homeostatic maintenance.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 58 young adult South Asian women living in the UK, a group with high susceptibility to CVD. We obtained gestational age, birth weight (BW) and menarcheal age by recall and measured anthropometry, body composition, resting metabolic rate (RMR) and blood pressure (BP).
  
  
  RESULTS
  BW and gestational age were inversely associated with menarcheal age, indicating that lower maternal investment is associated with faster maturation. Menarcheal age was positively associated with height but inversely with adiposity, indicating that rapid maturation prioritizes lipid stores over somatic growth. BW was inversely associated with BP, whereas adiposity was positively associated, indicating that lower maternal investment reduces BP homeostasis. BW was positively associated with RMR, whereas menarche was inversely associated, indicating that maternal investment influences adult metabolism.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Supporting our hypothesis, low maternal investment promoted faster life histories, demonstrated by earlier menarche, reduced growth and elevated adiposity. These traits were associated with poorer BP regulation. This is the first study demonstrating strategic adjustment of the balance between reproduction and metabolic health in response to the level of maternal investment during fetal life.
authors.affiliation: Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC 1N 1EH, UK Jonathan.Wells@ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Jonathan C K
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.affiliation: Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC 1N 1EH, UK.
authors.forename: Pallas
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC 1N 1EH, UK.
authors.forename: Jane E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC 1N 1EH, UK.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gayner
keywords: blood pressure; body composition; growth; life-history theory; maternal investment; menarche