Dissertation Research: Birth Weight, Culture Change, and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Filipino Adolescents

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Recent research suggests that prenatal undernutrition, reflected in low birth weight, permanently programs the metabolism of the fetus to function at low levels of nutritional resources, increasing the risk for obesity, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) later in life. Although the programming hypothesis could help explain the current epidemic rise of these diseases in developing nations, where low birth weight is common, it has rarely been examined outside the US or Europe. This study proposes to assess relationships between birth weight and standard CVD risk factors in Filipino adolescents living in metropolitan Cebu, the Phillipines. In addition to collaboration with the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey, blood pressure, adiposity, and cholesterol will be measured in over 400 randomly-selected low and high-birth weight individuals. Birth weight data will be complimented by data on current diet, activity, and lifetime socioeconomic change to explore the interactions between pre- and postnatal factors in the expression of CVD risk factors in this modernizing population. This study is significant in that it expands assessment of the programming hypothesis cross-culturally, approaches the problem of culture change and health from a novel developmental perspective, and may provide insights into nutritional adaptation and human adaptability.