Waterland and his team examined the idea that environmental factors, such as stress and inadequate nutrition, during a crucial period of brain development may affect the risk of obesity in their recent study.
The arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, which controls the body’s energy balance between food intake, physical activity and metabolism, was the focus of the research. The team was led by Harry MacKay, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in pediatrics-nutrition at Baylor.
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Brain Regions Linked to BMI and Obesity
The arcuate nucleus undergoes considerable growth in the first few weeks of life in mice. This will later determine how well the body perceives when it is hungry and when it has enough food. This extensive growth occurs during a crucial period when brains are most susceptible to programming.
The researchers concentrated on epigenetics and sought to identify the genes that would and would not be used by various cell types. The sites targeted for epigenetic maturation in the mouse arcuate nucleus corresponded highly with human genomic regions linked to BMI. It was a big surprise to the researchers when they compared their epigenetic data from mice to human data.
Waterland notes that although the study did not address the timing of the epigenetic modifications in humans, past studies have demonstrated that they occur in people earlier than in mice.
“My hunch is that the same epigenetic development that we have documented in the early postnatal mouse occurs during late fetal development in humans,” he says. “If that is the case, a big concern is the high prevalence of maternal obesity in the US and many developed countries in the world, which may be affecting the health of new babies.”
Some people may feel destined to become obese if future weight issues start before birth or during the first few weeks of life. However, Waterland notes that because it’s exceedingly challenging to change your genetics, the prior research’s emphasis on genetics wasn’t particularly hopeful either.
“We can at least look for methods to enhance this in the future,” he argues, “if we understand how the environment influences development.”
It’s too soon to say whether obesity is a neurodevelopment disorder. “However, if preliminary research like this one keeps accumulating evidence,” Waterland says, “public health initiatives to stop the global obesity epidemic could put more emphasis on healthy weight gain, prenatal nutrition and stress management.”
Source: Medindia
