Citation

Lindsay KL, Entringer S, Buss C, Wadhwa PD. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2020; 116: e104659.

Affiliation

Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, CA 92697, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, CA 92697, USA; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, CA 92697, USA; Department of Epidemiology, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, CA 92697, USA; UCI Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, CA 92697, USA. Electronic address: pwadhwa@uci.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104659

PMID

32240906

Abstract

Childhood obesity constitutes a major global public health challenge. A substantial body of evidence suggests that conditions and states experienced by the embryo/fetus in utero can result in structural and functional changes in cells, tissues, organ systems and homeostatic set points related to obesity. Furthermore, growing evidence suggests that maternal conditions and states experienced prior to conception, such as stress, obesity and metabolic dysfunction, may spill over into pregnancy and influence those key aspects of gestational biology that program offspring obesity risk. In this narrative review, we advance a novel hypothesis and life-span framework to propose that maternal exposure to childhood maltreatment may constitute an important and as-yet-underappreciated risk factor implicated in developmental programming of offspring obesity risk via the long-term psychological, biological and behavioral sequelae of childhood maltreatment exposure. In this context, our framework considers the key role of maternal-placental-fetal endocrine, immune and metabolic pathways and also other processes including epigenetics, oocyte mitochondrial biology, and the maternal and infant microbiomes. Finally, our paper discusses future research directions required to elucidate the nature and mechanisms of the intergenerational transmission of the effects of maternal childhood maltreatment on offspring obesity risk.

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Childhood maltreatment; Childhood obesity; Fetal programming; Gestational biology; Intergenerational transmission; Pregnancy