How nutrition impacts fetal development

Topic – Fetal Nutrition and its Effects on Adult Health and Disease

Fetal nutrition has become a very contentious and pervasive issue with American society. For one, supply chain disruptions have caused extreme shortages of baby formula throughout the United States. Likewise, the large concentration of baby formula development has created a concentration risk related to baby formula. Here, as much of the baby formula in the United States is produced in a handful of facilities, an economic disruption to one facility can have an adverse economic impact on society of overall. This is coupled with the rising inflation that is becoming pervasive around the world, and the prices of baby formula increase. This has a very adverse impact on fetal nutrition as many of the more common elements used to help nourish the fetus are not widely available to supply and demand constraints. Likewise, the rise in inflation is causing difficult of pregnant women to access the treatment and nutrition needed to nurture a healthy fetus. The combination of rising costs and lack of access have caused fetal nutritional standards to decline overtime. Likewise, the impact on adult health is also impacted adversely due to declining health standards in developed nations overall. Obesity, heart disease, sedentary lifestyles and more contribute to lifestyles that lead to excessive obesity. This ultimately causes adverse impacts on fetal nutrition as the mother does not have the proper dietary habits required for healthy development. This combination of increased costs, poor dietary decisions, and lack of important information all contributed to fetal nutrition on health and disease.

To begin, research conducted by Antonow-Schlorke suggests that many major diseases that occur in later life are a result of fetal nutrition. ( Antonow-Schlorke, 2011). According to the research, diseases such as heart diseases, diabetes, coronary disease, and hypertension can all be traced both directly and indirect to fetal nutrition. Here research conducted by Bried found that most of this variance is due to the consequences of “programming” during the fetal stage. Programming, according to Bried, is the instance in which a stimulus occurs repeated during a particularly sensitive and susceptible period in the fetal lifecycle. These programming instances ultimately create permanent effects with the structural, physiological and metabolic process of the fetus. Eventually these instances manifest themselves in the form of adverse condition, such as obesity later on in life (Briend 1979). Further evidence from Hansen provides still further evidence of the harmful and positive impacts of nutrition on fetal development. In their study Hansen conducted a study of 25,000 UK men and women related to the fetal impacts of heart disease, hypertension and diabetes on children in their later life. He found a strong correlation to adverse nutrition impacts and the behavior of the mother during the child bearing process. Replication of the UK findings has led to wide acceptance that low rates of fetal growth are associated with cardiovascular disease in later life. It is important to note that the scientific studies are unable to provide pinpoint correlation between nutrition and fetal development. However, many studies have shown poor nutritional habits will impact the development of the fetus overall (Hansen, 1989) Here many studies show an adverse impact when the maternoplacental nutrient supply fails to match the fetal nutrient demand. It is ultimately this mismatch which cause many of the longer-term development impacts that impact society in the long run.

To continue, the prior paragraph noted the importance of the mother in the overall development of the fetus. Much of the above paragraphs are based on the “fetal origins” hypothesis developed by Jaddoe. Here, the research shows that alternations in fetal nutrition can impact the overall endocrine system. This in term will result in dev elopement adaptions that can parentally alter the structure, physiology and metabolism of individuals throughout their life (Jaddoe 2008). According to the research conduct by Jaddoe, there are two primary condition in which a permanent change in adult life can occur The first is that the stimulus must occur in a critically sensitive time within the fetal life. This is turn activates the “programming effect” which was discussed in the paragraphs above. Due to this programming effect, the research indicates that many of these changes become permanent, manifesting themselves in later life. Fetal programming in turn is not unique to the homo sapiens species. In fact, in evolutionary terms, the phenomenon is likely to reflect the benefits of plasticity during early development according to research conducted by Jasienska (Jasienska, 2013). Here, the research looked to specifically equate nutrition elements in both animals and humans to their eventual long-term outcomes relative to peers. Through his research, Jasienska found that coronary heart disease is a consequence of undernutrition of a fetus during its critical adaption phase. In the study, Jasienska found that feeding pregnant rats a low-protein diet results in lifelong elevation of blood pressure in the offspring. The same occurred with both mice and monkeys. Other notable long-term effects of alterations in maternal nutrition include changes in cholesterol metabolism, insulin secretion, and renal development. These studies were later repeated by Lindsey, Buss and Wahdwa (Lindsay, 2013). When looking deeper into why these changes occur, research shows that many hormonal elements are impacted during the “programming” phase, ultimately result in long lasting changes for the individual. Fetal tissue development, hormone secretion, and tissue hormone sensitivity are all adversely impacted due to lower nutritional impact. Drugs and alcohol abuse only exacerbate these circumstances.

So far, the report has discussed the issue of programming and how it impacts fetal development in adults later on in life. The prior paragraphs also discussed recent research indicating that a correlation between nutrition of the fetal development exists, albeit in a week way. The economic impact on the ability to properly pay for materials also impacts fetal nutrition and adult development

From an economic perspective, inflation has continued to impact that products and services that directly impact fetal nutrition. Healthcare costs, by themselves account for roughly 18% of the GDP within the United States. By the year 2030, this figure is expected to increase to 20% or nearly $6.4 trillion dollars. By 2030, this will account for nearly $12,000 of costs per person in the United States. This figure of rising costs ultimately hinders the ability of parents to properly nourish their fetus. Instead, females may look to lower their cost expenditures by trading down in the health and nutrition market. By trading down, many mothers believe they are saving money, in anticipation of the child being born. However, what is actually occurring is that the child is being fed nutrients that are less likely to keep them healthy. If this occurs throughout a women’s pregnancy the programming theory discussed earlier becomes active. Here, the most critical development instances of the child are subject to poor eating habits, thereby contributing to adverse nutritional consequences

In addition, from an economic perspective, higher inflation is making input costs much higher for the consumer. As a result, certain nutritional elements have now become unavailable as rising costs price out lower to middle class individuals. This again, can cause consumers to trade down, purchasing meals that that not as nourishing and services that ultimately are not as well regarded as their competitors. This also contributes to the proper lack of information on this subject within minority communities in general.

Lifestyle behaviors contributed heavily to fetus development. With the large rise in sedentary lifestyles more consumers are looking for convenience. They are often unwilling and in certain instances, unable to engage in a healthy lifestyle conducive to the healthy development of a fetus. Instead, many people adopt unhealthy policies used to maximize current These issues are also exacerbated by a low social economic status. Here, both education and income both have an adverse role on the developmental outcomes of a fetus. For one, the topic of adequate income was discussed in detail above. Without a proper income, many of the high-quality nutrition products required for great development are unavailable. This ultimately forces low income families to trade down, purchasing cheaper but often unhealthy product offerings during the most critical element of the fetal development process. Figure one shows one aspect of this. Here, the figures show birthweight and mortality rates. A study conducted by Yajnik looked at the issue of nutrition, birth weight and heart disease. They conducted a study of 1586 men born in Sheffield during 2007–2015. The study showed that it was particularly people who were small at birth as a result of growth retardation, rather than those born prematurely, who were at increased risk of the disease

Studies have also shown a correlation between high blood pressure and hypertension due in part to poor nutrition, low income levels, and lack of education. These issues from studies have then shown these issues to impact individual behavior at later life. Admittedly the correlation is weak as other factors such as environment, parental influences and other factors can impact the development of disease at a later life. Essentially studies have found that fetal size and thinness at birth ultimately have implications for an individual throughout their life. Here, studies have shown that a women’s nutrition habits along with their overall body composition during pregnancy are related to cardio vascular risk for fetal development. However, the research around this topic continues to be inconclusive, thereby causing large amount of discord within the healthy profession.

Future work will need to identify the factors that set the trajectory of fetal growth and the influences that limit the maternoplacental delivery of nutrients and oxygen to the fetus. In addition, work will need to leverage tools related to artificial intelligence, data analytics and more to properly ascertain the risk of a fetus to adverse healthcare complications at a later date. For one, the use of these mechanism can greatly lower many of the adverse consequences discussed above related to fetal development in later years. Likewise the ability to effectively prevent many of these adverse consequences greatly increases. For example, tracking the nutrition intake of women through artificial intelligence can enhance the possibility of positive fetal development. This can be increased irrespective of social-economic status or financial well-being. As a result, these improvements can help improve the overall development of children well within the next few decades. This discussion also included the economic impact of inflation on the ability of consumers to purchase the needed products to ensure healthy fetal development. Here elements such as inflation, supply chain disruptions, and a tight labor market were discussed. The economic considerations on the ability of consumer to purchase strong nutritional products is also impacted. It is imperative to help lower nutritional costs, but also to increase access to these products to ensure the development of the fetus.