Molecular nutrition in life course perspective: Pinpointing metabolic pathways to target during periconception

Abstract

Lifecourse nutrition encompasses nourishment from early development into parenthood. From preconception and pregnancy to childhood, late adolescence, and reproductive years, life course nutrition explores links between dietary exposures and health outcomes in current and future generations from a public health perspective, usually addressing lifestyle behaviours, reproductive well‐being and maternal‐child health strategies. However, nutritional factors that play a role in conceiving and sustaining new life might also require a molecular perspective and recognition of critical interactions between specific nutrients and relevant biochemical pathways. The present perspective summarises evidence about the links between diet during periconception and next‐generation health and outlines the main metabolic networks involved in nutritional biology of this sensitive time frame.

Key messages

• Nutrition can modulate normal periconception and subsequent well‐being, yet we still lack a fundamental understanding of the main metabolic networks involved in nutritional biology of this sensitive time frame.

• Besides one‐carbon metabolism, arguably a key regulatory network affected by periconceptional nutrition, several other nutrition‐related intracellular signals are recognised as important to support normal periconception, including high‐energy phosphate metabolism, gut microbiota‐driven factors, peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptors, adiponectine, mechanistic target of rapamycin and retinol‐binding protein‐4.

• To advance research related to molecular nutrition and periconception, the scientific community must embrace the theranostics approach in research planning and knowledge translation, and monitor additional target molecules and pathways.