The importance of early life in childhood obesity and related diseases: a report from the 2014 Gravida Strategic Summit.

Obesity and its related non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer, impose huge burdens on society, particularly the healthcare system. Until recently, public health and policy were primarily focused on secondary prevention and treatment of NCDs. However, epidemiological and experimental evidence indicates that early-life exposures influence the risk of childhood obesity and related diseases later in life, and has now focused attention on the health of both mother and child. During pregnancy and the early neonatal period, individuals respond to their environment by establishing anatomical, physiological and biochemical trajectories that shape their future health. This period of developmental plasticity provides an early window of opportunity to mitigate the environmental insults that may increase an individual's sensitivity to, or risk of, developing obesity or related diseases later in life. Although much investigation has already occurred in the area of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease research, the science itself is still in its infancy. It remains for researchers to tackle the important outstanding questions and translate their knowledge into workable solutions for the public good. The challenge, however, is to decide which areas to focus on. With these opportunities and challenges in mind, the 2014 Gravida Summit convened to examine how its early-life research program can determine which areas of research into mechanisms, biomarkers and interventions could contribute to the international research strategy to fight childhood obesity and its related diseases.

Periconceptional undernutrition in sheep leads to decreased locomotor activity in a natural environment.

Maternal undernutrition during pregnancy increases offspring obesity and metabolic disease risk. We hypothesized that periconceptional undernutrition in sheep from 60 days before conception through to day 30 of gestation (UN) would decrease voluntary locomotor activity in adult offspring. Distance travelled was measured at 18 months of age for ∼48 h in the paddock. Data were analysed using multiple regression analysis, with explanatory variables including sex, nutrition group, birth weight, average time between GPS measurements and percentage of time during the measurement period spent in daylight. Mean (±s.e.) distance walked (m/h) was greater for control (CON) than UN animals, and greater for females than males [110.2 (6.5), CON females; 110.7 (6.3), CON males; 105.1 (5.3), UN females and 95.5 (5.8), UN males; P = 0.02 for nutrition group effect and for sex effect]. Periconceptional undernutrition may lead to a significant decrease in voluntary physical activity in adult offspring.