El papel de la dieta materna en la programación metabólica y conductual: revisión de los mecanismos biológicos implicados.

Abstract

Over the last few years, a considerable amount of studies have focused on the effect of undernutrition and overnutrition during critical periods of offspring development and their risk of developing metabolic diseases later in life. Additionally, inadequate maternal diets have been involved in the malprogramming of brain functions and some behaviours. Several mechanisms have been associated with the process of malprogramming such as epigenetics modifications, excessive oxidative stress or hypothalamic alterations. This evidence supports the idea that nutritional prevention strategies must be considered for offspring during early development stages that include the preconceptional period. Additionally, studying involved mechanisms could be particularly useful in the search of efficient therapies against malprogramming.