Nutritional approaches to breaking the intergenerational cycle of obesity

The link between poor maternal nutrition and an increased burden of disease in subsequent generations has been widely demonstrated in both human and animal studies. Historically, the nutritional challenges experienced by pregnant and lactating women were largely those of insufficient calories and severe micronutrient deficiencies. More recently, however, Western societies have been confronted with a new nutritional challenge; that of maternal obesity and excessive maternal intake of calories, fat, and sugar. Exposure of the developing fetus and infant to this obesogenic environment results in an increased risk of obesity and metabolic disease later in life. Furthermore, increased caloric, fat, and sugar intake can occur in conjunction with micronutrient deficiency, which may further exacerbate these programming effects. In light of the current epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease, attention has now turned to identifying nutritional interventions for breaking this intergenerational obesity cycle. In this review, we discuss the approaches that have been explored to date and highlight the need for further research.Beverly S. Muhlhausler, Jessica R. Gugusheff, Zhi Yi Ong and Mini A. Vithayathi

Maternal cafeteria diet consumption and the programming of food preferences in the offspring: the role of the mu-opioid receptor.

Numerous studies in rodent models have shown that the offspring of dams fed a high-fat high-sugar (cafeteria) diet throughout pregnancy and lactation develop a specific preference for the same kinds of foods in adulthood. Furthermore, studies into potential mechanisms have revealed that the offspring of cafeteria diet fed dams also have altered expression of key components of the mesolimbic reward pathway including the mu-opioid receptor. The current work used a rodent model to look specifically at the role of the mu-opioid receptor in the programming of food preferences and investigated when during development exposure to a maternal cafeteria-style diet could be most harmful. The first aim of this thesis was to isolate whether exposure to a cafeteria diet before birth or in the pre-weaning period had a greater effect on the adult food preferences of the offspring. Using a cross-fostering method, we demonstrated that the male offspring of control or cafeteria diet fed (JF) dams that were cross-fostered at birth onto JF dams exhibited higher fat intake when challenged with a cafeteria diet at 7 weeks of age than offspring exposed to the cafeteria diet only before birth or not at all. Building on this work, we then investigated the effect of maternal cafeteria diet exposure on the postnatal development of the mu-opioid receptor. Using an in situ hybridisation method, we showed that female offspring of JF dams had reduced expression of the mu-opioid receptor in the ventral tegmental area in late postnatal development (week 3,4) relative to controls but not at the earlier timepoints explored (birth, week 1). The outcomes of the first two chapters of this thesis highlight the importance of the postnatal period in the establishment of offspring food preferences. The final experiment, which forms the final two chapters of the thesis, used an opioid receptor antagonist to examine in greater detail the potential of the mu-opioid receptor as a mechanism for the programming of food preferences. We demonstrated that whilst the administration of the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone in the fourth week of life significantly reduced fat intake in control offspring given access to a cafeteria diet immediately postweaning, it failed to do so in male JF offspring and was less effective at reducing fat intake in JF females. This outcome provides evidence that changes in mu-opioid receptor expression induced by early life exposure to a cafeteria diet may indeed have functional consequences for the regulation of palatable food by the offspring. We also hypothesised that opioid receptor blockade during the fourth week of life would have long term effects on the food preferences of offspring; this however was not observed in the present study. Nevertheless, this thesis provides considerable evidence to suggest that alterations in the development of the mu-opioid receptor plays an important role in the programming of food preference in offspring exposed to cafeteria diet in early life. In addition, it also identifies the postnatal period as potentially being ‘critical window’ during which exposure to cafeteria diet is most harmful to the offspring.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, 201

Healthy lifestyle behaviours are associated with children’s psychological health: a\ua0cross-sectional study

Protecting children's mental health is important and studies have shown that diet and exercise can have a positive impact. There are limited data available, however, from representative populations of children on the relationship between regular healthy lifestyle behaviours and psychological health. Data were obtained from the New South Wales Child Population Health Survey, 2013-2014. Parents were asked about diet, physical activity and screen time behaviours and completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for one child aged 5-15. Higher SDQ scores indicate poorer psychological health and risk for mental health problems. Multivariable linear and logistic regression examined the relationships among dietary consumption, physical activity, screen time and SDQ scores, adjusting for potential confounding. Meeting screen time recommendations was most strongly associated with a lower SDQ total difficulties score (5-10 years: -1.56 (-2.68, -0.44); 11-15 years: -2.12 (-3.11, -1.12)). Children and adolescents who met screen time recommendations were also significantly less likely to have any score in the at-risk range. Children and adolescents meeting vegetable intake guidelines had significantly lower total difficulties scores (5-10 years: -1.54 (-3.03, -0.05); 11-15 years: -1.19 (-3.60, -0.39)), as did adolescents meeting discretionary food guidelines (-1.16 (-2.14, -0.18)) and children consuming the recommended fruit intake (-1.26 (-2.42, -0.10)). Our findings indicate that more effective interventions to increase the proportion of young Australians who meet the guidelines for diet and screen time would contribute to protecting their mental health

Prioritising Housing Maintenance to Improve Health in Indigenous Communities in NSW over 20 years

Many studies document the relationship between housing quality and health status. Poor housing in Aboriginal communities continues to be linked to the compromised health status of Aboriginal Australians. The New South Wales (NSW) Housing for Health (HfH) program has been assessing and repairing Aboriginal community housing across the state for 20 years using a standardised intervention methodology that aims to improve the health of Aboriginal people in NSW by improving their living environments. Items are tested and repairs are prioritised to maximise safety and health benefits and measured against 11 Critical Healthy Living Priorities (e.g., safety, facilities for washing people and clothes, removing waste and preparing food). Descriptive analysis of data collected pre- and post-intervention from 3670 houses was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the program. Analysis demonstrated statistically significant improvements in the ability of the houses to support safe and healthy living for all critical healthy living priorities post-interventions. Trend analysis demonstrated the magnitude of these improvements increased over 20 years. In 24 communities (n = 802 houses) where projects were repeated (5–17 years later), results indicate sustainability of improvements for 9 of 11 priorities. However, the overall condition of health-related hardware in Aboriginal community housing across NSW pre-intervention has not significantly changed during the program’s 20 years. Results suggest a systematic lack of routine maintenance and quality control continues to be the overwhelming cause for this lack of improvement pre-intervention. Our evaluation of the HfH program demonstrated that fidelity to a standardised housing testing and repair methodology to improve residents’ safety and health can have sustainable effects on housing infrastructure and associated health benefits, such as a 40% reduction in infectious disease hospital separations. Housing and health agencies should collaborate more closely on social housing programs and ensure programs are adequately resourced to address safety and health issues

Sex and age-dependent effects of a maternal junk food diet on the mu-opioid receptor in rat offspring

Abstract not availableJessica R. Gugusheff, Sung Eun Bae, Alexandra Rao, Iain J. Clarke, Lucilla Poston, Paul D. Taylor, Clive W. Coen, Beverly S. Muhlhausle