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1. Childhood body mass is positively associated with cesarean birth in Y ucatec M aya subsistence farmers

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.22920  

   Veile, Amanda ; Kramer, Karen L. ( October 2016 , American Journal of Human Biology)

   The epidemiologic link between cesarean birth and childhood obesity is unresolved, partly because most studies come from industrialized settings where many post‐birth factors affect the risk for obesity. We take advantage of an unusual ethnographic situation where hospital and cesarean birth modes have recently been introduced among Yucatec Maya subsistence farmers, but young children have had minimal exposure to the nutritional transition. While we expect to find very low rates of childhood obesity, we predict that cesarean‐born children will be larger and heavier than vaginally born children.

   Weight and height were collected monthly on 108 children aged 0–5 (3576 observations total). Birth mode and birthweight were collected by maternal interview. Data were analyzed using linear mixed models that compare child growth [Maya population‐specificZ‐scores for weight‐for‐age and body mass index‐for‐age (WAZ and BMIZ)] in cesarean and vaginally born children aged 0–5 years.

   The cesarean rate was 20%, no children were obese, and 5% were overweight. Cesarean birth was a significant predictor of child WAZ and BMIZ after accounting for maternal effects, child birthweight, and sex. Children who were born by cesarean to mothers with high BMI had the highest WAZ of all children by 5 years of age, and the highest BMIZ of all children at all ages.

   Cesarean‐born Maya children had higher BMI than vaginally born children, even in the absence of many known confounding factors that contribute to childhood obesity. Child growth was most sensitive to birth mode when mothers had high BMI.

    

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2. FTO variation and early frontostriatal brain development in children

   https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.23926  

   Thapaliya, Gita ; Kundu, Poorbita ; Jansen, Elena ; Naymik, Marcus A. ; Lee, Richard ; Bruchhage, Muriel Marisa Katharina ; D'Sa, Viren ; Huentelman, Matthew J. ; Lewis, Candace R. ; Müller, Hans‐Georg ; et al ( October 2023 , Obesity)

   Common obesity‐associated genetic variants at the fat mass and obesity‐associated (FTO) locus have been associated with appetitive behaviors and altered structure and function of frontostriatal brain regions. The authors aimed to investigate the influence ofFTOvariation on frontostriatal appetite circuits in early life.

   Data were drawn from RESONANCE, a longitudinal study of early brain development. Growth trajectories of nucleus accumbens and frontal lobe volumes, as well as total gray matter and white matter volume, by risk allele (AA) carrier status onFTOsingle‐nucleotide polymorphism rs9939609 were examined in 228 children (102 female, 126 male) using magnetic resonance imaging assessments obtained from infancy through middle childhood. The authors fit functional concurrent regression models with brain volume outcomes over age as functional responses, andFTOgenotype, sex, BMIzscore, and maternal education were included as predictors.

   Bootstrap pointwise 95% CI for regression coefficient functions in the functional concurrent regression models showed that the AA group versus the group with no risk allele (TT) had greater nucleus accumbens volume (adjusted for total brain volume) in the interval of 750 to 2250 days (2–6 years).

   These findings suggest that common genetic risk for obesity is associated with differences in early development of brain reward circuitry and argue for investigating dynamic relationships among genotype, brain, behavior, and weight throughout development.

    

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3. Household conditions modulate associations between cesarean delivery and childhood growth

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24563  

   Veile, Amanda J. ; Kramer, Karen Leslie ; Otárola‐Castillo, Erik ( July 2022 , American Journal of Biological Anthropology)

   Cesarean delivery is associated with childhood obesity in urbanized and sanitized environments, but this is not well‐studied across broader epidemiologic settings. We examine birth mode, household conditions, and child growth in a Yucatec Maya farming community with limited sanitary infrastructure. We test the hypotheses that household infrastructure and epidemiologic conditions: (1)modulateassociations between cesarean delivery and growth, and (2) are more strongly associated with growth compared to birth mode.

   Birth mode, household characteristics (construction materials/waste disposal/water variables) and growth were examined in 106 children (0–5 years, 3554 longitudinal observations). Ahousehold modification index(HMI) was created to indicate “baseline” (more traditional) versus “modified” (more modernized) houses. Weight/height/BMI Z‐scores (WHO‐standards) were modeled with respect to HMI and birth mode using nested generalized linear mixed‐effects models. A series of interaction models were then compared.

   Four household modification variables (concrete roof and floor, latrine/septic tank, burning trash) were associated with greater growth gains and used to compose the HMI. Cesarean delivery was associated with slightly higher Z‐scores for most anthropometric outcomes. HMI modulated the association between birth mode and children's weight and height, but not BMI, trajectories. Weight and BMI Z‐scores, but not height Z‐scores, were higher at all ages under high HMI (“modified”) versus low HMI (“baseline”) conditions regardless of birth mode.

   Understudied household conditions can modulate the association between cesarean delivery and childhood growth. These findings contribute to a large body of literature linking cesarean delivery to a variety of child health outcomes including obesity.

    

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4. Gestational weight change and childhood body composition trajectories from pregnancy to early adolescence

   https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.23367  

   Widen, Elizabeth M. ; Burns, Natalie ; Daniels, Michael ; Backlund, Grant ; Rickman, Rachel ; Foster, Saralyn ; Nichols, Amy R. ; Hoepner, Lori A. ; Kinsey, Eliza W. ; Ramirez‐Carvey, Judyth ; et al ( March 2022 , Obesity)

   A mother–child dyad trajectory model of weight and body composition spanning from conception to adolescence was developed to understand how early life exposures shape childhood body composition.

   African American (49.3%) and Dominican (50.7%) pregnant mothers (n= 337) were enrolled during pregnancy, and their children (47.5% female) were followed from ages 5 to 14. Gestational weight gain (GWG) was abstracted from medical records. Child weight, height, percentage body fat, and waist circumference were measured. GWG and child body composition trajectories were jointly modeled with a flexible latent class model with a class membership component that included prepregnancy BMI.

   Four prenatal and child body composition trajectory patterns were identified, and sex‐specific patterns were observed for the joint GWG–postnatal body composition trajectories with more distinct patterns among girls but not boys. Girls of mothers with high GWG across gestation had the highest BMIzscore, waist circumference, and percentage body fat trajectories from ages 5 to 14; however, boys in this high GWG group did not show similar growth patterns.

   Jointly modeled prenatal weight and child body composition trajectories showed sex‐specific patterns. Growth patterns from childhood though early adolescence appeared to be more profoundly affected by higher GWG patterns in females, suggesting sex differences in developmental programming.

    

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5. Maternal–infant interaction quality is associated with child NR3C1CpG site methylation at 7 years of age

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23876  

   Holdsworth, Elizabeth A. ; Schell, Lawrence M. ; Appleton, Allison A. ( February 2023 , American Journal of Human Biology)

   Infancy is both a critical window for hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis development, and a sensitive period for social–emotional influences. We hypothesized that the social–emotional quality of maternal–infant interactions are associated with methylation of HPA‐axis geneNR3C1later in childhood.

   Using a subsample of 114 mother‐infant pairs from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), linear regression models were created to predict variance in methylation of seven selected CpG sites fromNR3C1in whole blood at age 7 years, including the main predictor variable of the first principal component score of observed maternal–infant interaction quality (derived from the Thorpe Interaction Measure at 12 months of age) and covariates of cell‐type proportion, maternal financial difficulties and marital status at 8 months postnatal, child birthweight, and sex.

   CpG site cg27122725 methylation was negatively associated with warmer, more positive maternal interaction with her infant (β = 0.19,p = .02,q = 0.13). In sensitivity analyses, the second highest quartile of maternal behavior (neutral, hesitant behavior) was positively associated with cg12466613 methylation. The other five CpG sites were not significantly associated with maternal–infant interaction quality.

   Narrow individual variation of maternal interaction with her infant is associated with childhood methylation of two CpG sites onNR3C1that may be particularly sensitive to environmental influences. Infancy may be a sensitive period for even small influences from the social–emotional environment on the epigenetic determinants of HPA‐axis function.

    

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