Location: Microbiome and Metabolism Research
Project Number: 6026-10700-001-021-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 2, 2024
End Date: May 30, 2029
Objective:
1. Investigate the impact of nutrition and physical activity during pregnancy on offspring metabolism and health outcomes.
1.A. Examine whether maternal nutrition and adiposity during gestation programs cardiometabolic health and brain function during adolescence, the GLOWING follow up study.
1.B. Characterize the impact of maternal exercise during gestation on offspring cardiometabolic health and brain development through age 11 years, the EXPECTING Study.
1.C. Evaluate the effect of a gestational exercise intervention in community settings.
2. Investigate nutritional status in longitudinal cohorts and in vulnerable populations.
2.A. Determine the effect of maternal and child dietary patterns on nutritional adequacy, growth, cognition, and immune functions.
2.B. Evaluate the impact of allergen elimination diets on the nutritional status of food-allergic children to develop precision nutrition guidelines.
3. Evaluate the effects of maternal dietary intake and breastfeeding interventions in improving breastfeeding outcomes and in modulating human milk composition and function.
3.A. Optimizing dietary quality to enhance human milk composition.
3.B. Determine the effect of antenatal milk expression on breastfeeding outcomes in women with overweight and obesity.
Approach:
More than 60% of women enter pregnancy with overweight or obesity, which may impact mothers’ and their offspring’s health. Yet, it is unclear what interventions can mitigate these effects. The ACNC’s ongoing studies, GLOWING and EXPECTING, are investigating how maternal obesity and maternal exercise, respectively, influence offspring health. While preliminary data exists, it is unclear whether these effects persist later in childhood. Objective 1 will address this knowledge gap by investigating the effect of exercise for pregnant women with obesity and sedentary behaviors and by recalling the GLOWING participants at age 11 and 14 yr and the EXPECTING participants at age 5, 8 and 11 yr to evaluate their cardiometabolic health and brain function during childhood. Objective 1 will also use implementation science, evidence-based guidelines and results from the COMMUNITY EXPECTING pilot trial to test an exercise intervention in a fully-powered, large scale trial in community settings. Objective 2 will identify healthy dietary patterns during lactation and early childhood that support breastfeeding and offspring health outcomes, while considering important social determinants of health such as access to a quality early care and education environment and access to adequate nutritious food (i.e. food and nutrition security). Objective 2 will also explore dietary quality in children who are avoiding multiple food groups by diet prescription to avoid food allergens. Objective 3 will explore interventions during the lactation period that will enhance breastfeeding outcomes as well as human milk composition including both nutritive and non-nutritive bioactive components. The extent to which specific interventions can be leveraged to optimize breastfeeding practices, including breastfeeding initiation and duration, will be defined. Figure 1 summarizes the objectives of the proposed project plan. Results will inform the development of public health guidelines for nutrition and physical activity, targeting women of childbearing age with overweight or obesity, with an aim to improve cardiometabolic health for future generations.
