Early Life Nutrition and Lifelong Health - Derbyshire Local Medical ...

BMA Board of ScienceForewordFor 175 years the BMA has promoted medicine and the allied sciences as part of its founding principleto maintain the honour and interests of the medical profession. One element of this work is to beadvocates for the health of the public. In doing so we listen first to our members’ concerns. At theannual representative meeting (ARM) members tell us of the problems they see in the communitiesand patients they serve. Motions are proposed by grass roots doctors and debated at the ARM.Approximately 600 doctors form the representative body (RB), which is the democratically elected,policy-making body of the BMA. Motions passed at the ARM are usually adopted as BMA policy. A listof all BMA polices can be found at www.bma.org.ukThis report was commissioned after an ARM debate in June 2007 that called on the BMA’s Board ofScience to recognise and promote the importance of fetal and early life nutrition and its relationship tolifelong health. The Board of Science has previously produced three reports that broadly coverchildhood nutrition and exercise. Growing up in Britain: ensuring a healthy future for our children(1999) discusses child health, with a focus on nutrition rather than exercise, from conception to theage of five. Adolescent health (2003) reviews nutrition, exercise and obesity in teenagers (13-19 yearolds). It serves in part to develop the 1999 report in order to cover children up to the age of 12 years.It highlights the main aspects of childhood nutrition and exercise, draws attention to the role of theclinician, and provides links to sources of further information. It also makes recommendations fortackling the obesity epidemic in the UK. Preventing childhood obesity (2005) highlights the situationwith regard to childhood obesity and the impact this can have on children’s current and future health.It examines the role of healthcare professionals and the environmental barriers to change that need tobe overcome or removed.This report concerns early life nutrition – predominantly fetal and infant nutrition – providing usefulreference information and ‘key messages’ for healthcare professionals. It discusses the evidence-baseand draws conclusions about the ways in which the patterns of early life nutrition can be improved,and the likely consequences of such improvements. This is now of critical importance in addressing therapid increase in the incidence of so-called lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2diabetes, which are linked to overweight and obesity. In addition there is now compelling evidence fora role of early life nutrition in setting the risk of other conditions including osteoporosis, asthma, lungdisease and some forms of cancer. 1 Evidence is growing that early life nutrition can play a role inbehavioural and cognitive problems in children and adolescents, and possibly even in cognitive declineand other aspects of ageing.This report from the BMA Board of Science is intended to be a useful point of reference for a wideaudience, including health professionals, policy makers and members of the public. The approach ofthe BMA Board of Science is to provide a clear synthesis of the available research, and to developevidence-based conclusions and recommendations for policy.Professor Sir Charles GeorgeChair, Board of ScienceThe Board of Science, a standing committee of the BMA, provides an interface between the medical profession, theGovernment and the public. The Board produces numerous reports containing policies for national action by Governmentand other organisations, with specific recommendations affecting the medical and allied professions.Early life nutrition and lifelong healthix