title: Early-life nutritional exposures and lifelong health: immediate and long-lasting impacts of probiotics, vitamin D, and breastfeeding.
abstract: Pregnancy and infancy comprise the most critical stages for conditioning an individual's health, with a number of implications for subsequent risks of morbidity, mortality, and reproductive health. Nutrition may influence both the overall pregnancy outcome and the growth trajectory and immune system of the fetus and infant, with short- and long-term effects on the health of the offspring. Within this context, leading experts at Expo Milano 2015 in Milan, Italy, discussed up-to-date knowledge while providing suggestions and challenges before, during, and after pregnancy. This narrative review summarizes the key issues raised by the experts concerning the interplay between the nutritional environment from conception to early infancy and the offspring's immediate and lifelong health, with a particular focus on epigenetic mechanisms, probiotics, vitamin D, and breastfeeding. Taken together, the findings strengthen the awareness that nutritional exposures occurring from preconception to the postnatal period may be strong determinants of the offspring's health and may provide supportive evidence for current nutritional recommendations and guidelines for pregnant women and infants. Critical topics to be addressed in future research and translated into recommendations of public health relevance are also highlighted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine and Center for Fetal Research Giorgio Pardi, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristiana
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Berti
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.|Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Agostoni
authors.affiliation: Division of Neonatology and NICU, Institute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Davanzo
authors.affiliation: Centre for Population Health Research, Sansom Institute of Health Research and School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.|South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, Australia.|Population, Policy and Practice Programme, University College London Institute of Child Health, London, UK.
authors.forename: Elina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hyppönen
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Isolauri
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Domain of Infection Control and Environmental Health, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Helle M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Meltzer
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Department of Gynaecology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Régine P M
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Steegers-Theunissen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine and Center for Fetal Research Giorgio Pardi, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cetin
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D019936:Probiotics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D
keywords: epigenetics; gut microbiota; infancy; nutrition; pregnancy