Risk factors in early life – during the first 1000 days – aggregately predict increased obesity and cardiometabolic risk in early adolescence, according to new research conducted by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. The study is the first to evaluate the combined influence of risk factors in early life with direct measures of adiposity (body mass index, fat mass index) and metabolic risk in early adolescence.
Childhood obesity
The findings were published in the November 12th issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The rapidly increasing global prevalence of childhood obesity, a strong predictor of metabolic syndrome and related diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, is a major public health challenge. The first 1,000 days, which encompass the period going from conception up to the first 24 months of age, represent a meaningful risk period for the later onset of childhood obesity. Certain prenatal and postpartum factors encompassing this period, such as maternal smoking, excessive gestational weight gain, maternal gestational diabetes, maternal diet during pregnancy, a brief breastfeeding period, and the short duration of infants’ sleep have been associated with an underlying risk of childhood obesity.
Most of these factors are modifiable and can provide information about intervention strategies for the prevention of childhood obesity in early life. “Our study evaluates the impact of these risk factors combined, which is more relevant to real-life behavior and could have a greater impact on public health,” Izzuddin Aris said, Ph.D., main author, and assistant professor of population medicine at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Harvard Medical School.
The study
For this study, the research team looked at 1,038 mother-child pairs participating in Project Viva, a prospective, observational pre-birth cohort study of gestational factors, pregnancy outcomes, and offspring health. It took place in the east of Massachusetts. They measured six modifiable risk factors: smoking during pregnancy; gestational weight gain; consumption of sugary drinks during pregnancy; breastfeeding duration; moment of introduction of complementary foods and infant sleep duration.
The findings
After adjusting for the socio-demographic characteristics and body mass index of the parents, the researchers found an increase in adiposity indicators, such as body mass index and fat mass index, as well as an increase in metabolic risk markers, such as triglyceride levels and insulin resistance, with an increasing number of risk factors. Children with 5-6 risk factors versus those with 0-1 risk factors also had the highest risk of being overweight or obese and were in the quartile with the highest metabolic risk score for early adolescence.
“The findings of our study not only suggest targets for future interventions in early life, but also suggest that interventions to prevent later obesity and cardiometabolic risk may be more effective when they are implemented early in life and are focused on multiple factors,” Emily Oken said, professor of population medicine at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Harvard Medical School and main author of the study.
Link: https://www.sochob.cl/web1/los-factores-de-riesgo-modificables-en-los-primeros-1-000-dias-de-vida-predicen-mayor-adiposidad-y-riesgo-cardiometabolico/
Date: November 21st, 2020
Source: https://www.news-medical.net
Reference: Hu J, Aris IM, Lin PD, et al. Longitudinal associations of modifiable risk factors in the first 1000 days with weight status and metabolic risk in early adolescence. Am J Clin Nutr. 2020 Nov 12:nqaa297.
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