Topic Fetal Nutrition and its Effects on Adult Health and Disease

Fetal nutrition has become a very contentious and pervasive issue with American society. For one, supply chain disruptions have caused extreme shortages of baby formula throughout the United States. Likewise, the large concentration of baby formula development has created a concentration risk related to baby formula. Here, as much of the baby formula in the United States is produced in a handful of facilities, an economic disruption to one facility can have an adverse economic impact on society of overall. This is coupled with the rising inflation that is becoming pervasive around the world, and the prices of baby formula increase. This has a very adverse impact on fetal nutrition as many of the more common elements used to help nourish the fetus are not widely available to supply and demand constraints. Likewise, the rise in inflation is causing difficult of pregnant women to access the treatment and nutrition needed to nurture a healthy fetus. The combination of rising costs and lack of access have caused fetal nutritional standards to decline overtime. Likewise, the impact on adult health is also impacted adversely due to declining health standards in developed nations overall. Obesity, heart disease, sedentary lifestyles and more contribute to lifestyles that lead to excessive obesity. This ultimately causes adverse impacts on fetal nutrition as the mother does not have the proper dietary habits required for healthy development. This combination of increased costs, poor dietary decisions, and lack of important information all contributed to fetal nutrition on health and disease.

To begin, research conducted by Antonow-Schlorke suggests that many major diseases that occur in later life are a result of fetal nutrition. ( Antonow-Schlorke, 2011). According to the research, diseases such as heart diseases, diabetes, coronary disease, and hypertension can all be traced both directly and indirect to fetal nutrition. Here research conducted by Bried found that most of this variance is due to the consequences of programming during the fetal stage. Programming, according to Bried, is the instance in which a stimulus occurs repeated during a particularly sensitive and susceptible period in the fetal lifecycle. These programming instances ultimately create permanent effects with the structural, physiological and metabolic process of the fetus. Eventually these instances manifest themselves in the form of adverse condition, such as obesity later on in life (Briend 1979). Further evidence from Hansen provides still further evidence of the harmful and positive impacts of nutrition on fetal development. In their study Hansen conducted a study of 25,000 UK men and women related to the fetal impacts of heart disease, hypertension and diabetes on children in their later life. He found a strong correlation to adverse nutrition impacts and the behavior of the mother during the child bearing process. Replication of the UK findings has led to wide acceptance that low rates of fetal growth are associated with cardiovascular disease in later life. It is important to note that the scientific studies are unable to provide pinpoint correlation between nutrition and fetal development. However, many studies have shown poor nutritional habits will impact the development of the fetus overall (Hansen, 1989) Here many studies show an adverse impact when the maternoplacental nutrient supply fails to match the fetal nutrient demand. It is ultimately this mismatch which cause many of the longer-term development impacts that impact society in the long run.

To continue, the prior paragraph noted the importance of the mother in the overall development of the fetus. Much of the above paragraphs are based on the fetal origins hypothesis developed by Jaddoe. Here, the research shows that alternations in fetal nutrition can impact the overall endocrine system. This in term will result in dev elopement adaptions that can parentally alter the structure, physiology and metabolism of individuals throughout their life (Jaddoe 2008). According to the research conduct by Jaddoe, there are two primary condition in which a permanent change in adult life can occur The first is that the stimulus must occur in a critically sensitive time within the fetal life. This is turn activates...

…correlation between high blood pressure and hypertension due in part to poor nutrition, low income levels, and lack of education. These issues from studies have then shown these issues to impact individual behavior at later life. Admittedly the correlation is weak as other factors such as environment, parental influences and other factors can impact the development of disease at a later life. Essentially studies have found that fetal size and thinness at birth ultimately have implications for an individual throughout their life. Here studies have shown that a womens nutrition habits along with their overall body composition during pregnancy are related to cardio vascular risk for fetal development. However, the research around this topic continues to be inconclusive, thereby causing large amount of discord within the healthy profession.

Future work will need to identify the factors that set the trajectory of fetal growth and the influences that limit the maternoplacental delivery of nutrients and oxygen to the fetus. In addition, work will need to leverage tools related to artificial intelligence, data analytics and more to properly ascertain the risk of a fetus to adverse healthcare complications at a later date. For one, the use of these mechanism can greatly lower many of the adverse consequences discussed above related to fetal development in later years. Likewise the ability to effectively prevent many of these adverse consequences greatly increases. For example, tracking the nutrition intake of women through artificial intelligence can enhance the possibility of positive fetal development. This can be increased irrespective of social-economic status or financial well-being. As a result, these improvements can help improve the overall development of children well within the next few decades. This discussion also included the economic impact of inflation on the ability of consumers to purchase the needed products to ensure healthy fetal development. Here elements such as inflation, supply chain disruptions, and a tight labor market were discussed. The economic considerations on the ability of consumer to purchase strong nutritional products is also impacted. It is imperative to help lower nutritional costs, but also to increase access…