Socioeconomics, obesity, and early-life nutrition on the role of DNA methylation in biological embedding

Christiana A. Demetriou, Karin Van Veldhoven, Caroline Relton, Silvia Stringhini, Kyriacos Kyriacou, Paolo Vineis

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Early-life socioeconomic conditions, childhood obesity, and early-life nutrition are factors that have been associated with chronic disease in adult life. The synthesis of current research relating to the biological embodiment of earlylife exposures through DNA methylation provides some support to the involvement of DNA methylation in biological embedding and provides evidence for a mechanism through which early-life exposures can affect disease risk later in life. More specifically, several studies on early-life socioeconomic conditions, childhood overweight/obesity, and early-life nutrition show DNA methylation effects that can, in some cases, persist for years after the exposure. The results of these studies are reviewed here. This review highlights the plethora of proxies used for these exposures; the small differences observed in methylation, questioning their biological significance; and the lack of clarity regarding the direction and/or the size of some of the effects. In addition, and perhaps most importantly, publication bias cannot be ruled out, and the lack of replication of these results, especially given the lack of overlap between target regions, requires that these results are interpreted cautiously.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook of Nutrition, Diet, and Epigenetics
PublisherSpringer International Publishing
Pages125-143
Number of pages19
Volume1
ISBN (Electronic)9783319555300
ISBN (Print)9783319555294
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jan 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Biological embedding
  • Childhood obesity
  • Childhood overweight
  • Chronic disease
  • Developmental plasticity
  • DNA methylation
  • Early-life nutrition
  • Early-life socioeconomic status
  • Epigenetics
  • Exposome
  • Thrifty phenotype hypothesis

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