New evidence suggests major benefits in later life – if moms simply ‘do things right’ for their kids, right from the beginning. Once again, diet and physical activity have been tagged as major factors in our lives…
It’s a minor effort, for moms and dads to follow ‘best parenting practices’ right from the start. But it can mean a significantly healthier, happier, longer life for their kids. Especially when good habits are learned early.
A landmark analysis
“The Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) study is the first lifestyle intervention study using advanced liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) metabolomics technology to an-alyse molecular mechanisms underlying the health effects of lifestyle changes from childhood to adolescence,” begins the abstract of a new study.
If you were wondering whether that’s actually English… It is. But it’s a prime example of the highest expression of what I call ‘Lab-glish’: The precise, scientific prose in which research scientists express themselves in learned-journal papers.
Translation…
The same document also, thoughtfully, provides this plain-English translation elsewhere in the text: “A new study from the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) uncovers how early lifestyle changes can have long-lasting impacts,” it explains. “A diet and physical activity intervention in childhood and adolescence was found to pro-foundly influence metabolism even years later.”
What they found
By analysing blood samples, the researchers were able to identify changes in 80 metabolites. Their levels give a direct indication of how well or poorly the body is working.
“These were metabolites linked to critical processes for the development of cardiometabolic diseas-es, such as lipid metabolism, inflammation, and gut health,” says team spokesperson Postdoctoral Researcher Iman Zarei, of the University of Eastern Finland (UEF).
What makes the findings particularly important is that 17 of these metabolites remained altered even after eight years, although the most intensive part of the lifestyle intervention only lasted for the first two years.
The takeaway
Some of the most notable changes were in fatty amides, molecules involved in a variety of physio-logical functions such as inflammation, weight control, eating behaviour, sleep induction, pain and anxiety control, angiogenesis, arterial dilation and neuroprotection.
Such changes may be linked to a lower risk of several chronic afflictions, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, in later life.
My take
We’ve had indications of such findings in previous studies. But nothing so profound, detailed or wide-reaching – until now.
If all new parents took the time, and made the minor efforts required to ‘do the right things’, from pregnancy through childhood, the majority of kids being born now might be able to avoid many of the chronic diseases currently plaguing midle-aged and older folks whose folks didn’t have the ben-efit of such knowledge.
And in the process, we could save the world hundreds of billions – maybe even trillions – of dollars a year in health care costs associated with entirely preventable diseases…
~ Maggie J.