This Task Force report reviews the evidence that the seeds ofmany adult diseases are sown in utero and in infancy. The report,written by experts in the field, summarises current knowledge inthis area. It illustrates how early life nutrition can bring aboutchanges in organ development and function, thus programming risk ofdisease in adult life. It also considers what might be done inearly life to reduce the burden of future ill health.
Nutrition and Development: Short- and Long-Term Consequencesfor Health includes chapters on the history of this topic area,normal growth and development, and current recommendations andpractice in relation to nutrition and diet in early life. Chaptersexploring the possible mechanisms and pathways of critical windowsfor development cover the effects of diet and nutrition in earlylife on organ and skeletal development, the role of sex hormones inprogramming disease susceptibility, the establishment ofgastrointestinal microbiota, and the impact of early life nutritionon cognitive and neurological development.
This new report:
* describes how development occurs and explores howchanges in the fetal and postnatal environment, such as over- orunder-nutrition, can result in permanent alterations infunction;
* explains how diet and nutrition in early life canaffect risk of adult disease, with specific chapters on allergicdisease and asthma, bone health, cancer, cardiovascular disease,cognitive function, diabetes and obesity;
* includes a summary of the key points, as well asrecommendations in each chapter to help fill the gaps in ourknowledge;
* provides an overview of the main messages in apractical question and answer format suitable for lay readers.
Nutrition and Development is an important informationresource for those involved in research and teaching in the healthsciences sector and is also of value to those involved in makingdecisions about health policy. It will be of interest to a broadrange of health professionals, the food industry and those whowrite and broadcast about the effects of food on health.