Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
Am J Hum Biol. 2012 May-Jun;24(3):350-60. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.22254. Epub 2012 Feb 29.
Pediatric overweight and obesity are growing problems worldwide, with increasing prevalence among even infants and young children. The refractory nature of early overweight necessitates identifying the factors contributing to early excess weight gain for successful intervention. Early feeding practices may be particularly important in shaping long-term vulnerability to obesity. How and what infants are fed can influence weight gain, adiposity, and energy metabolism during infancy and across the life course through a number of interacting physiological and behavioral pathways. This article argues that these biological mechanisms interact with the social and behavioral context of infant feeding to create differential vulnerability to later obesity.
This article reviews recent research on the potential mechanisms linking infant feeding and risk of later obesity, focusing on the emerging role of microflora colonization.
The nutritive and non-nutritive components of breastmilk, formula and solid foods and the practices surrounding feeding shape the infant metabolome, programming growth rates and body composition, altering metabolism and physiology, promoting differential microfloral colonization, and shaping behavioral responses to foods and eating.
The occurrence of chronic disease precursors at increasingly younger ages and the tendency of overweight young children to become overweight adolescents and adults underscore the importance of understanding this complex early exposure and intervening early to prevent the development of obesity in increasingly weight-promoting environments.
儿科超重和肥胖是全球范围内日益严重的问题，即使是婴儿和幼儿的肥胖患病率也在不断增加。早期超重的难治性需要确定导致早期超重的因素，以便成功进行干预。早期喂养方式对于塑造长期肥胖易感性可能尤为重要。婴儿喂养的方式和内容会通过多种相互作用的生理和行为途径影响婴儿期和整个生命周期的体重增加、肥胖程度和能量代谢。本文认为，这些生物学机制与婴儿喂养的社会和行为环境相互作用，导致对后期肥胖的不同易感性。
本文综述了近期关于婴儿喂养与后期肥胖风险之间潜在机制的研究，重点关注微生物群定植的新作用。
母乳、配方奶和固体食物的营养和非营养成分以及喂养实践塑造了婴儿的代谢组，编程生长速度和身体成分，改变代谢和生理，促进微生物群的定植，以及塑造对食物和进食的行为反应。
慢性疾病前体在越来越年轻的年龄出现，以及超重幼儿成为超重青少年和成年人的趋势，突显了了解这种复杂的早期暴露并尽早干预以防止在日益促进体重增加的环境中肥胖发展的重要性。
