Doctoral Dissertation Research: Prenatal and postnatal correlates of infant growth and development

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A growing body of research in biological anthropology and related disciplines indicates that an individual's early life environment can have long-term effects on their physiology and well-being. This doctoral dissertation project will investigate whether maternal nutrition and breastfeeding duration are associated with the amount and distribution of fat that infants have between birth and four months of age, in a population with high and rising rates of infant, child, and adult obesity. Certain fat distributions are thought to be related to the risk of obesity, and this fundamental research will be important in characterizing variation in infant growth and development and for comparisons with data from other populations. The research will contribute to our broader understanding of human biological variation and adaptations, and the evolution of modern human life history, and could inform public health research on the global obesity epidemic. The project will provide research training and scientific education in a STEM field to graduate and undergraduate students from the U.S., and build both research capacity and collaborations at the research site.The investigator will use a longitudinal design to collect data on infant size and fatness in Samoan infants, as they grow from birth to four months of age, using the "gold standard" dual X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) technique. The use of DEXA will allow for measurement of both total body fat and body fat distribution. She will test whether maternal nutrition during pregnancy and breastfeeding duration are associated with how much fat infants have at birth and four months, as well as the body regions where fat is distributed. Greater fat stored around the organs and less fat directly stored under the skin is thought to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease in adults. The data generated in this project may inform the design of future interventions that target the prevention of obesity at the earliest point. In addition, findings from this project will contribute to the understanding of how fat growth in early life varies by population history and the current environmental stresses a population faces (e.g., highly pathogenic environments and highly caloric, low nutritional environments), and will be relevant to all human populations.