It is becoming increasingly evidenced that what we eat as a child plays a significant role in the diseases that we develop in later life. In particular the seeds of Western lifestyle disease such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes may have their origins during infant life. Low quality Western style diets devoid of essential components may increase the risk of developing Western lifestyle diseases as an adult. Further, this is not simply a case of bad habits carrying into adulthood, but instead that the damage is actually done during those early formative years. Breastfeeding for example may produce better adult health outcomes than formula feeding as an infant. In addition, a large body of evidence suggests that prior to infancy, the nutritional component of the mother’s diet may influence the future health prospects of the offspring, and in this regard a number of factors such as the level of essential nutrients, alcohol intake and cigarette smoking may influence future health outcomes.
One marker of future disease risk is the ratio of deep abdominal to subcutaneous fat, with relatively high amounts of abdominal fat increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease significantly. A recent study1 investigated the degree of abdominal adipose tissue in Chinese, Malay and Indian neonates born in Singapore in order to determine ethnic differences. The results showed that the Indian and Malay neonates has a greater volume of deeper abdominal adipose tissue that their Chinese counterparts, suggesting that genetic, or environmental factors in the womb, may contribute to the differences observed. If these differences persisted as the infants aged, they could significantly alter the risk of cardiovascular disease. The reasons that different ethnicities have very different risks for cardiovascular disease has been a question that has been investigated extensively. These findings suggest that different ethnic risks may relate as far back as when the individual was in the womb.
RdB
