Investigations of Early Nutrition
Effects on Long-Term Health

Environmental factors such as suboptimal parental diet can lead to perturbations of in utero
growth and development. In turn, this can have long-lasting negative effects on health in
later life by leading to increased risk and earlier onset of diseases such as type 2 diabetes,
obesity, cardiovascular conditions, cancer, and neurological disorders. In addition, future
generations are at risk of inheriting these conditions through nongenetic mechanisms.
Elucidating the molecular pathways involved in these processes may help in the design of
prevention strategies and may also lead to the identification of biomarkers and potential
drug targets for improved patient management.