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1. Metabolomic profiling of stool of two‐year old children from the INSIGHT study reveals links between butyrate and child weight outcomes

   https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.12833  

   Nandy, Debmalya ; Craig, Sarah J. C. ; Cai, Jingwei ; Tian, Yuan ; Paul, Ian M. ; Savage, Jennifer S. ; Marini, Michele E. ; Hohman, Emily E. ; Reimherr, Matthew L. ; Patterson, Andrew D. ; et al ( July 2021 , Pediatric Obesity)

   Metabolomic analysis is commonly used to understand the biological underpinning of diseases such as obesity. However, our knowledge of gut metabolites related to weight outcomes in young children is currently limited.

   To (1) explore the relationships between metabolites and child weight outcomes, (2) determine the potential effect of covariates (e.g., child's diet, maternal health/habits during pregnancy, etc.) in the relationship between metabolites and child weight outcomes, and (3) explore the relationship between selected gut metabolites and gut microbiota abundance.

   Using¹H‐NMR, we quantified 30 metabolites from stool samples of 170 two‐year‐old children. To identify metabolites and covariates associated with children's weight outcomes (BMI [weight/height²], BMIz‐score [BMI adjusted for age and sex], and growth index [weight/height]), we analysed the¹H‐NMR data, along with 20 covariates recorded on children and mothers, using LASSO and best subset selection regression techniques. Previously characterized microbiota community information from the same stool samples was used to determine associations between selected gut metabolites and gut microbiota.

   At age 2 years, stool butyrate concentration had a significant positive association with child BMI (p‐value = 3.58 × 10^–4), BMIz‐score (p‐value = 3.47 × 10^–4), and growth index (p‐value = 7.73 × 10^–4). Covariates such as maternal smoking during pregnancy are important to consider. Butyrate concentration was positively associated with the abundance of the bacterial genusFaecalibacterium(p‐value = 9.61 × 10⁻³).

   Stool butyrate concentration is positively associated with increased child weight outcomes and should be investigated further as a factor affecting childhood obesity.

    

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2. Coming to the Caribbean—acclimation of Rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta ) at Cayo Santiago

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24748  

   Francis, George ; Wang, Qian ( April 2023 , American Journal of Biological Anthropology)

   To investigate whether the Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico (Latitude: 18.1564°N; temperature range 19°C to 32°C) rhesus macaque population has acclimated to their tropical island conditions since arriving from Lucknow, India (Latitude: 26.8470°N; temperature range 8°C to 41°C) in 1938.

   Using the derived skeletal collection, measurements were taken of long bone lengths, diaphyseal circumference, and body weight using 635 (237 males and 398 females) skeletally mature individuals. Measurements sampled colony members born over a 51‐year time span at Cayo Santiago, from 1951 to 2002.

   Results demonstrated that body weights and diaphyseal circumferences significantly declined in both males and females. Long bone lengths relative to body weight and diaphyseal circumference also increased in females. Whereas body weight, long bone length and diaphyseal circumference declined at near parallel rates in males.

   The population has acclimated to homogenous, tropical, conditions of the Caribbean island since their arrival over 80 years ago. Trends in both sexes aligned with Bergmann's rule, though females displayed a greater decline in body weight, as well as greater affinity with Allen's rule, than did males. Buffering effects related to male competition may be responsible for this discrepancy. Overall, the Cayo Santiago populations, as shown over a significant period (1951–2002) of their history, have acclimated to their island conditions by decreasing in size and altering body proportions.

    

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3. 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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4. 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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5. 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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