Doctoral Dissertation Research: Intergenerational impacts of diet and lifestyle change among Alaska Native women and their children

人类发育生物学的最新研究表明，胎儿生长可能存在与母体营养环境有关的进化适应模式。在现代人群中，如果母亲肥胖可能对婴儿和儿童的结局产生负面影响，胎儿生长和母亲营养之间的这种联系可能不适应。这个博士论文项目将探讨居住在阿拉斯加安克雷奇的阿拉斯加土著妇女和她们的孩子之间传统（与商店购买）食品消费的代际影响。在过去的20到30年里，这一人群的肥胖和相关问题急剧增加，之前的研究主要集中在商店购买的食物和减少体育锻炼的直接影响上。研究饮食的潜在代际影响将扩大我们对营养如何影响人类生理的理解。该项目将支持社区与阿拉斯加土著组织和社区的伙伴关系，让当地学生参与研究，并为公共卫生工作提供信息，以解决与全球相关的肥胖流行病。对子宫内营养环境的长期基础生物学和由此产生的健康影响的研究导致了这样一种假设，即胎儿调整代谢设定值以适应它即将进入的世界的普遍营养条件。由于饮食和生活方式的文化转变，产妇肥胖率和血糖升高可能正在创造一种进化上新的妊娠环境，促进胎儿生长改变、肥胖和后代代谢失调。通过评估饮食组成（传统和商店购买的食物）如何影响阿拉斯加土著妇女怀孕期间的母体代谢，这是一个正在经历饮食变化的人群，本研究将检查母体妊娠代谢对胎儿和婴儿生长的影响。拟议的研究将以与阿拉斯加土著社区建立长期富有成效的合作为目标进行，并将有助于更好地了解在这一人口中观察到的新出现的健康差异。

Recent studies in human developmental biology suggest that there may be evolutionarily adaptive patterns of fetal growth that are related to the maternal nutritional environment. In modern populations, this linkage between fetal growth and maternal nutrition may be maladaptive in cases where maternal obesity may negatively affect infant and child outcomes. This doctoral dissertation project will explore the intergenerational effects of traditional (versus store-bought) food consumption among Alaska Native women and their children residing in Anchorage, Alaska. This population has seen dramatic increases in obesity and related problems in the last 20 to 30 years, and prior research has focused on the direct impacts of store-bought foods and decreased physical activity. Studying the potential intergenerational effects of diet will expand our understanding of how nutrition shapes human physiology. The project will support community partnerships with Alaska Native organizations and communities, involve local students in the research, and inform public health efforts to address the globally-relevant obesity epidemic.Research on the long-term basic biology, and the resulting health impacts, of the intrauterine nutritional environment has led to the hypothesis that the fetus adjusts metabolic set points to match prevailing nutritional conditions in the world it will soon enter. Rising rates of maternal obesity and elevated blood glucose due to culturally-based shifts in diet and lifestyle may be creating an evolutionarily novel gestational milieu that promotes altered fetal growth, obesity, and metabolic dysregulation in offspring. By assessing how dietary composition (traditional and store-bought foods) impacts maternal metabolism during pregnancy among Alaska Native women, a population who is experiencing ongoing shifts in diet, this study will examine the impacts of maternal pregnancy metabolism on fetal and infant growth. The proposed research will be conducted with the goal of establishing a long-term productive collaboration with the Alaska Native community, and will contribute to a better understanding of emerging health disparities observed in this population.