ESPE Abstracts

There is now considerable epidemiological and experimental evidence indicating that early life environmental signals, including nutrition, affect subsequent development. It is now quite clear that a relationship exists between the periconceptional, fetal and early infant phases of life and the subsequent development of chronic diseases including obesity and type 2 diabetes. This relationship, the ‘developmental origins of health and disease’ (DOHaD), suggests that th...

It has been recognized for over 20 years that there is an association between patterns of early growth and long-term risk of traditionally adult onset diseases such as type 2 diabetes. This has been observed both in human epidemiological studies and in animal models. This led to the concept of the developmental origins of health and disease that suggests that the environment to which an individual is exposed during critical periods of development, such as the in utero...

Background: Common metabolic diseases, including diabetes and obesity, are the result of interactions between genes and environment. It is well-recognized that the maternal intrauterine environment is an important modifier of this risk. Thus, fetuses carried by women who are obese, diabetic or suffer from suboptimal nutrition are at increased risk of insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and cardiovascular disease as adults. Emerging data indicate that paternal e...