These results were independent of gender, maternal education, maternal BMI, breastfeeding history, and child waist circumference, and persisted even when the cut-off for defining a child as growth retarded was “relaxed” to -1.62 HAZ.17 Thus, a growing body of literature now points to undernutrition early in life as a condition

that may predispose an individual to unhealthy or even atherogenic blood lipid profiles. Considering that the period between conception and 2 years of age is critical for development, AZD5363 supplier a link between poor fetal and childhood growth and cardiovascular disease is certainly plausible. There are a number of biochemical or epigenetic that may explain the association between growth retardation and adaptations in lipid metabolism. Specifically, data from animal studies suggest that undernutrition during the gestational period causes changes in lipid metabolism and structural changes in the liver.18, 19 and 20 Cong et al. found that rat pups of protein-restricted mothers had lower liver weights compared to those born to mothers with adequate nutrition.18 Perhaps more important, pups born to protein-deficient mothers had genes for 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGCR) that were hypomethylated, a condition that Selleckchem AZD0530 allows for the

activation of the transcription of the HMGCR gene, resulting in an overexpression of the protein and enhanced basal cholesterol synthesis. An exceptional study by Sohi et al. observed that rat pups born to protein-deprived mothers were hypercholesterolemic at birth and throughout early development.19 Epigenetic changes in the same litter of pups included increased histone methylation in the cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase promoter, resulting in decreased gene expression, allowing for decreased cholesterol decay and hypercholesterolemia. Nonetheless, while some data clearly support

the mechanism that nutritional deprivation in utero imparts epigenetic changes that cause atherogenic lipid profiles, the sum of the available research is still equivocal. The research cited provide reasonable evidence Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase that undernutrition early in life is associated with elements of an “unhealthy” lipid profile, but it is essential that future studies are developed to further explore potential mechanisms behind such associations, both at the biochemical and the physiological level, with strict attention to study design and data analysis. There are a number of statistical methods that are easily employed to refine our understanding of data collected through complex designs. For example, it is absolutely imperative that potential confounding factors are identified and addressed in the design phase (through randomization) or in the analysis phase (using linear regression or other advanced analyses).