Almost 2 billion adults in the world are overweight, and more than half of them are classified
as obese, while nearly one-third of children globally experience poor growth and …

Pregnancy offers a window of opportunity to program the future health of both mothers and
offspring. During gestation, women experience a series of physical and metabolic …

Physiological changes occur in pregnancy to nurture the developing foetus and prepare the
mother for labour and delivery. Some of these changes influence normal biochemical values …

Epidemiological evidence links an individual's susceptibility to chronic disease in adult life to
events during their intrauterine phase of development. Biologically this should not be …

Several healthy developmental processes such as pregnancy, fetal development, and infant
development include a multitude of physiological changes: weight gain, hormonal, and …

Abstract Cardiovascular disease complicates 1–4% of pregnancies—with a higher
prevalence when including hypertensive disorders—and is the leading cause of maternal …

The placenta is arguably the most important organ of the body, but paradoxically the most
poorly understood. During its transient existence, it performs actions that are later taken on …

The new field of microbiome research studies the microbes within multicellular hosts and the
many effects of these microbes on the host's health and well-being. We now know that …

Many of the immune and metabolic changes occurring during normal pregnancy also
describe metabolic syndrome. Gut microbiota can cause symptoms of metabolic syndrome …

The human gut microbiome can modulate metabolic health and affect insulin resistance, and
it may play an important role in the etiology of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Here, we …