Dear Colleagues,

A considerable body of evidence have demonstrated that maternal nutrition during pregnancy and lactation have long-term effects on later health and disease, via increasing risk of common non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This phenomena is referred to “Developmental origins of adult health and disease”. Thus, it is suggested that prevention of such diseases may need to begin even before pregnancy. There is an emerging need to understand how nutrition during sensitive time periods of early developmental plasticity can impact on offspring metabolism.

 

The objective of this Special Issue on “The Effects of Maternal Nutrition on Metabolism of Infants and Children” is to showcase the latest research focusing on topics among this non-comprehensive list:

· Maternal nutrition and developmental origins of adiposity (i.e. body fatness), contributing to offspring obesity and its complication;

· Maternal macro- and micronutrient intake and offspring metabolic syndrome and diabetes, etc;

· Early-life nutrition interventions and long-term cardiometabolic outcomes;

· Maternal nutrition intake, gut microflora changes, and consequences on health;

· Molecular and epigenetics mechanisms underlying how maternal nutrition reprogram offspring metabolism.

· Maternal food safety and offspring outcomes

Dr. Linglin Xie

Guest Editor