Prevention of obesity from perinatal stage

Abstract

Obesity is one of the major health problems and a determining factor in the prevalence of diseases such as metabolic syndrome, asthma, sleep apnea, infertility and various types of cancer. Its origin is multifactorial, involving genetic, socioeconomic and environmental factors. These last ones contribute mostly to explain the current epidemic growth of this disease. The sedentary lifestyle, inadequate diet, lack of sleep, alterations in intestinal microbiota and stress are factors related to its development. Since Barker presented his hypothesis about the "fetal origin of adult diseases", there are increasing number of studies that show the influence of an inadequate nutritional status and maternal weight in the development of chronic diseases, as obesity in offspring. The nutritional deficiencies of the pregnant mother cause epigenetic modifications and abnormal programming of the development oforgans and devices, adapting the fetus to this situation of deficiency and being able to adapt to an obesogenic environment after birth, increasing its propensity to obesity. Also, poor maternal nutritional status is related to intrauterine growth retardation and low birth weight infants, with a higher risk of childhood and adult central obesity. Currently, deficient intake of micronutrients and overweight or maternal obesity tend to overlap, and this combination may exacerbate the increase in obesity in the offspring. It is important to identify pregnant mothers at risk of suffering nutritional alterations and establish their improvement as a primary prevention strategy for overweight and obesity.