Intergenerational phenotypic programming

Nutrition and other factors that influence growth throughout maternal development have been observed to predict various measures relating to future offspring health. Longitudinal studies like the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS) provide the ideal setting to investigate these intergenerational patterns. My recent analysis of the link between maternal childhood weight gain and later offspring birth size identified a novel pattern of associations between chronic maternal energy status and altered fetal development.

In Cebu, faster maternal growth throughout childhood and adolescence predicted greater body length and head size in their newborns, with stronger impacts on females than males. Notably, the strength of relationships followed a pattern opposite to what occurs in response to acute pregnancy stress, with strongest effects on lean mass traits and weakest effects on traits reflecting fat mass. My collaborators and I suggest that prenatal developmental sensitivities are reversed for stable, long-term nutritional cues that reflect average/past local environments.