EARLY LIFE DETERMINANTS OF GROWTH, BODY COMPOSITION, & CARDIOMETABOLIC RISK

Abstract

In the GUSTO mother-offspring cohort, we investigated how early life growth and nutrition can influence childhood cardiometabolic risk. Developmental mismatch due to discordant fetal and postnatal nutritional environments was found to increase cardiometabolic risk even in a population not subjected to extreme undernutrition. We found detailed phenotyping of body composition patterns at birth and childhood to be predictive of childhood cardiometabolic risk, beyond traditional markers of nutritional status like weight or BMI. We found longer breastfeeding duration to have protective effects, particularly in children exposed to increased gestational glycemia. Our findings may aid identification of children at increased cardiometabolic risk.