Abstract
Specific and adequate nutrition during pregnancy and early life is an important factor in avoiding non-communicable diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancers, and chronic allergic diseases. Although epidemiologic and experimental studies have shown that nutrition is important at all stages of life, it is especially important in prenatal and the first few years of life. During the last decade, there has been a growing interest in the potential role of epigenetic mechanisms in the increasing health problems associated with allergic disease. Epigenetics involves several mechanisms including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and microRNAs which can modify the expression of genes. In this study, we focus on the effects of maternal nutrition during pregnancy, the effects of the bioactive components in human and bovine milk, and the environmental factors that can affect early life (i.e., farming, milk processing, and bacterial exposure), and which contribute to the epigenetic mechanisms underlying the persistent programming of immune functions and allergic diseases. This knowledge will help to improve approaches to nutrition in early life and help prevent allergies in the future.
Highlights
There is increasing evidence to suggest that maternal diet during pregnancy, breastfeeding, early life nutrition, and early life malnutrition can have sustained effects on immunological outcomes, such as respiratory allergies, and metabolic outcomes such as type 2 diabetes and obesity
Current knowledge on the environmental and dietary effects on epigenetics and early life immune function comes from epidemiological findings which indicate that children growing up on farms have a decreased risk of developing allergies, especially asthma
We will focus this review on the effects of maternal nutrition during pregnancy, the effects of bioactive components in human and bovine milk, and the environmental factors in early life that can contribute to the epigenetic mechanisms involved in the course of allergic diseases
Summary
There is increasing evidence to suggest that maternal diet during pregnancy, breastfeeding, early life nutrition, and early life malnutrition can have sustained effects on immunological outcomes, such as respiratory allergies, and metabolic outcomes such as type 2 diabetes and obesity. Nutritional programming during gestation might permanently affect the immunological competence and nutritional status in early life Figure 1. This is exemplified by the thrifty phenotype, where the metabolic response to undernutrition during the fetal period is inappropriate during overnutrition later in life, leading to disease manifestations [1]. Several studies have since shown that prenatal exposure
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