Obesity and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Pathways for Programming in Mouse, Monkey, and Man—Where Do We Go Next? The 2014 Norbert Freinkel Award Lecture

Abstract

Obesity and gestational diabetes mellitus continue to increase worldwide and span the spectrum of age, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Alarmingly, 1 in 10 infants and toddlers is obese, and 1 in 5 youths is both obese and at risk for metabolic syndrome prior to puberty. The mechanisms underlying how poor maternal health imparts risk for future metabolic disease in the offspring are beginning to emerge in deeply phenotyped human and nonhuman primate models. Maternal diet and obesity impact fuels, hormones, and inflammation with powerful effects on fetal metabolic systems. These are accompanied by persistent changes in the infant microbiome and epigenome and in offspring behavior. These results suggest that gestational and lactational dietary exposures are driving health risks in the next generation. Whether maternal diet can prevent changes in the womb to alter infant life-course disease risk is still unknown. Controlled, mechanistic studies to identify interventions are sorely needed for a healthier next generation.