Durban saw the scientific community’s most renowned international prize for innovation in nutrition research awarded to Professor David Barker of the University of Southampton on Tuesday, according to a press release from Danone Clover.
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The Danone International Prize for Nutrition is worth E120 000 (more than R900 000) and is awarded every two years in recognition of the development of novel concepts in nutrition and the advancement of nutrition frontiers by researchers and research teams.
Origins in foetus
Professor Barker has been working on the innovative concept that chronic diseases in adults originate in the human foetus. His research challenged accepted theories about diet and disease in later life.
Twenty years ago, he established a link between low birth weight (due to foetal under nourishment) and the risk of heart attacks in adult life.
The idea was controversial, but subsequent studies have shown that some of the major causes of death do indeed have their origins in the womb.
Disease may develop in womb
“This has led to the hypothesis that coronary heart disease originates through under nutrition in the womb,” Barker said. “The deprived foetus adopts strategies to ensure survival; it may either change the nutrients it consumes to get energy, or alter the production of hormones, mainly insulin, which regulate growth, or redistribute the blood flow to protect key organs, including the brain.
“Slowing of growth is an important adaptation, because it reduces the foetus's requirements for nutrients. These adaptations tend to have permanent effects on the body’s structure and metabolism – a phenomenon referred to as foetal programming. Our findings have important implications for public health. They suggest a new strategy for the prevention of chronic diseases, which will focus on the nutrition of young women and their babies as well as the lifestyles of men and women in middle age,” Barker said.
“There is now sufficient evidence for public health policies to be implemented. These include the avoidance of excessive thinness or overweight in mothers before conception; access to a balanced diet for all young women; protection of infant growth; and avoidance of overweight among young children who had small body size at birth,” Barker concluded. – (Health24)
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