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The association between lower birth weight and increased disease risk in adulthood has drawn attention to the physiological processes that shape the gestational environment. We implement genome-wide transcriptional profiling of maternal blood samples to identify subsets of genes and associated transcription control pathways that predict offspring birth weight. Female participants (N = 178, mean = 27.0 years) in a prospective observational birth cohort study were contacted between 2009 and 2014 to identify new pregnancies. An in-home interview was scheduled for early in the third trimester (mean = 30.3 weeks) to collect pregnancy-related information and a blood sample, and birth weight was measured shortly after delivery. Transcriptional activity in white blood cells was determined with a whole-genome gene expression direct hybridization assay. Fifty transcripts were differentially expressed in association with offspring birth weight, with 18 up-regulated in relation to lower birth weight, and 32 down-regulated. Examination of transcription control pathways identified increased activity of NF-κB, AP-1, EGR1, EGR4, and Gfi families, and reduced the activity of CEBP, in association with lower birth weight. Transcript origin analyses identified non-classical CD16+ monocytes, CD1c+ myeloid dendritic cells, and neutrophils as the primary cellular mediators of differential gene expression. These results point toward a systematic regulatory shift in maternal white blood cell activity in association with lower offspring birth weight, and they suggest that analyses of gene expression during gestation may provide insight into regulatory and cellular mechanisms that influence birth outcomes.

Objective: Children exposed to institutional rearing often exhibit problems across a broad array of developmental domains. We compared the consequences of long-term, high-quality foster care versus standard institution-based care, which began in early childhood on cardiometabolic and immune markers assessed at the time of adolescence., Methods: The Bucharest Early Intervention Project is a longitudinal investigation of children institutionalized during early childhood (ages 6 to 30 months at baseline) who were subsequently randomized to either high-quality foster care or continued institutional care. At the age of 16 years, 127 respondents participated in a biomarker collection protocol, including 44 institutionalized children randomly assigned to receive care as usual, 41 institutionalized children randomized to be removed from institutional care and placed in high-quality foster care in infancy, and a control group of 42 demographically matched children raised in biological families. Outcomes included body mass index (BMI), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, C-reactive protein, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor α, glycosylated hemoglobin A1c, and Epstein-Barr virus antibody titers., Results: Early institutional rearing was not associated with differences in cardiometabolic or immune markers. Randomization to foster care and age of placement into foster care were also unrelated to these markers, with the exception of BMI z-score, where children assigned to care as usual had lower BMI z-scores relative to children assigned to foster care (-0.23 versus 0.08, p = .06), and older age at placement was associated with lower BMI (β = -0.07, p = .03)., Conclusions: The impact of institutional rearing on measures of cardiometabolic health and immune system functioning is either absent or not evident until later in development. These findings provide new insights into the biological embedding of adversity and how it varies developmentally and across regulatory systems and adversity type., Clinical Trial Registration: NCT00747396.

Obesity, hypertension, and diabetes have risen dramatically in Asia, but few cohort studies track age and secular trends in these conditions. We use Cebu (The Philippines) Longitudinal Health and Nutrition survey data to document 1998 to 2015 prevalence and co-occurrence of body mass index (BMI; >25 kg/m 2 ), high waist circumference (WC; >80 cm), elevated blood pressure (EBP; systolic ⩾130 or diastolic ⩾85 mm Hg), and type 2 diabetes among ~2000 women aged 29 to 62 years in 1998; and identify their relationship to community, household, and individual factors using longitudinal logistic regression. Prevalence (1998-2015) rates were 35% to 49%, BMI >25 kg/m 2 ; 32% to 58% high WC; 21% to 59% EBP; and 2% to 14% diabetes. Only 20% of women had none of these conditions in 2015. Diabetes was strongly driven by age and secular trends in high WC related to higher socioeconomic status and urbanization. Hypertension increased with age in lower socioeconomic status rural and more affluent urban women. Results underscore the continuing need for public health measures to prevent obesity and to identify and treat hypertension and diabetes.

Despite a growing understanding that the social determinants of health have an impact on body mass index (BMI), the role of fatherhood on young men's BMI is understudied. This longitudinal study examines BMI in young men over time as they transition from adolescence into fatherhood in a nationally representative sample. Data from all four waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health supported a 20-year longitudinal analysis of 10,253 men beginning in 1994. A "fatherhood-year" data set was created and changes in BMI were examined based on fatherhood status (nonfather, nonresident father, resident father), fatherhood years, and covariates. Though age is positively associated with BMI over all years for all men, comparing nonresident and resident fathers with nonfathers reveals different trajectories based on fatherhood status. Entrance into fatherhood is associated with an increase in BMI trajectory for both nonresident and resident fathers, while nonfathers exhibit a decrease over the same period. In this longitudinal, population-based study, fatherhood and residence status play a role in men's BMI. Designing obesity prevention interventions for young men that begin in adolescence and carry through young adulthood should target the distinctive needs of these populations, potentially improving their health outcomes., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

Background: Rates of overweight and obesity are on the rise globally, and excess adipose tissue may contribute to elevations in inflammation during pregnancy, leading to pregnancy complications and adverse birth outcomes., Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate adiposity and inflammation in young women as predictors of inflammation in the third trimester of pregnancy in a community-based sample of healthy women., Methods: Female participants (24-30 y) in a prospective observational cohort study (Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey) were contacted between 2009 and 2014 to identify new pregnancies. A total of 309 women provided data from 409 pregnancies. An in-home interview was scheduled for the third trimester to collect pregnancy information, anthropometric measurements, and a blood sample. Circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) was measured with a high-sensitivity immunoassay. Data collected from assessments in 2005 and 2009 were used to assess body mass index (BMI) and CRP in young adulthood, before pregnancy. Robust regression models were implemented to evaluate BMI and CRP in young adulthood as predictors of pregnancy CRP., Results: Pre-pregnancy BMI was a stronger predictor of third-trimester circulating CRP than BMI in the third trimester. No association was found between pregnancy weight gain and CRP. Pre-pregnancy CRP was a significant predictor of CRP in pregnancy, independent of BMI., Conclusions: Levels of overweight/obesity and inflammation in young adulthood, before pregnancy, are important predictors of inflammation in the third trimester of pregnancy. These results may have implications for addressing the growing concern about the contribution of obesity to adverse birth outcomes, and they suggest that factors that influence the regulation of inflammation, before pregnancy and independent of adiposity, may be important in shaping the inflammatory response to pregnancy., (© 2016 American Society for Nutrition.)

This paper examines how body size changes over the early life course to predict high sensitivity C-reactive protein in a U.S. based sample. Using three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we test the chronic disease epidemiological models of fetal origins, sensitive periods, and chains of risk from birth into adulthood. Few studies link birth weight and changes in obesity status over adolescence and early adulthood to adult obesity and inflammation. Consistent with fetal origins and sensitive periods hypotheses, body size and obesity status at each developmental period, along with increasing body size between periods, are highly correlated with adult CRP. However, the predictive power of earlier life course periods is mediated by body size and body size change at later periods in a pattern consistent with the chains of risk model. Adult increases in obesity had effect sizes of nearly 0.3 sd, and effect sizes from overweight to the largest obesity categories were between 0.3 and 1 sd. There was also evidence that risk can be offset by weight loss, which suggests that interventions can reduce inflammation and cardiovascular risk, that females are more sensitive to body size changes, and that body size trajectories over the early life course account for African American- and Hispanic-white disparities in adult inflammation., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Researchers have hypothesized that the degree to which an individual's actual behavior approximates the culturally valued lifestyle encoded in the dominant cultural model has consequences for physical and mental health. We contribute to this line of research by analyzing data from a longitudinal study composed of five annual surveys (2002-2006 inclusive) from 791 adults in one society of foragers-farmers in the Bolivian Amazon, the Tsimane'. We estimate the association between a standard measure of individual achievement of the cultural model, cultural consonance, and three indicators of body morphology. Drawing on research suggesting that in societies in the early stages of economic development an increase in socioeconomic status is associated with an increase in mean body mass, we expect to find a positive association between cultural consonance and three anthropometric measures. We found the expected positive association between cultural consonance and anthropometric measures-especially for men-only when using ordinary least square (OLS) regression models, but not when using fixed-effects regression models. The real magnitude of the association was low. The comparison of estimates from OLS and fixed-effect regression models suggests that previous findings on the effects of cultural consonance on body morphology using cross-sectional data should be read with caution because the association might be largely explained by fixed characteristics of individuals not accounted in OLS models., (© 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death in the Philippines, although few studies here have examined the lipid profiles underlying disease risk. The isolated low high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) phenotype has been implicated as a CVD risk factor, the prevalence of which exhibits significant variation across populations. To assess population variation in individual lipid components and their associations with diet and anthropometric characteristics, we compare lipid profiles in a population of adult Filipino women (n=1877) to US women participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, n=477). We conducted multiple regression models to assess the relationship between lipid components, body mass index, and dietary variables in the two populations. We measured the prevalence of lipid phenotypes, and logistic regression models determined the predictors of the isolated low HDL-c phenotype. High density lipoprotein cholesterol was lower in the Philippines (40.8+/-0.2 mg/dL) than in NHANES (60.7+/-0.7 mg/dL). The prevalence of the isolated low HDL-c phenotype was 28.8%, compared to 2.10% in NHANES. High prevalence among Filipinos was relatively invariant across all levels of BMI, but was strongly inversely related to BMI in NHANES and exhibited only at the BMI>25 kg/m2 threshold. Diet did not consistently predict the low-HDL phenotype in Filipinos. Filipino women exhibit a high prevalence of the isolated low HDL-c phenotype, which is largely decoupled from anthropometric factors. The relationship of CVD to population variation in dyslipidemia and body composition needs further study, particularly in populations where the burden of cardiovascular and metabolic disease is rapidly increasing.

Objectives. To examine whether workplace interventions to increase workplace flexibility and supervisor support and decrease work–family conflict can reduce cardiometabolic risk. Methods. We randomly assigned employees from information technology (n = 555) and long-term care (n = 973) industries in the United States to the Work, Family and Health Network intervention or usual practice (we collected the data 2009–2013). We calculated a validated cardiometabolic risk score (CRS) based on resting blood pressure, HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin), HDL (high-density lipoprotein) and total cholesterol, height and weight (body mass index), and tobacco consumption. We compared changes in baseline CRS to 12-month follow-up. Results. There was no significant main effect on CRS associated with the intervention in either industry. However, significant interaction effects revealed that the intervention improved CRS at the 12-month follow-up among intervention participants in both industries with a higher baseline CRS. Age also moderated intervention effects: older employees had significantly larger reductions in CRS at 12 months than did younger employees. Conclusions. The intervention benefited employee health by reducing CRS equivalent to 5 to 10 years of age-related changes for those with a higher baseline CRS and for older employees. Trial Registration. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02050204. (Am J Public Health. 2023;113(12):1322–1331. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307413) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: A growing body of evidence suggests inflammatory markers can help predict poor outcomes in pregnancy. We evaluated C‐reactive protein (CRP)—a key biomarker of inflammation—before and after a safe immune provocation (the seasonal influenza vaccine) during pregnancy. We evaluated predictors of the magnitude of response, as well as the association between CRP response and birth outcomes. Methods: Nonrandomized prospective cohort trial measuring CRP before and 3 days after administering seasonal flu vaccine to low‐risk obstetrical patients in Calgary, Alberta. Results: We analyzed 27 prevaccination/postvaccination samples. Body mass index (BMI) was positively associated with CRP at Day 0, and women with higher prepregnancy BMI had a less robust response to vaccination than did leaner women. There was a strong positive association between CRP response and infant birth weight; women who had the greatest response to vaccination (by tertile) gave birth to babies that weighed, on average, 256.2 g more than babies born to women with the lowest response. Conclusions: Higher BMI in pregnant women was associated with higher baseline CRP and less pronounced CRP response to vaccination. Stronger CRP response was associated with higher birth weight. These findings underscore the potential value of a more dynamic approach to studying the regulation of inflammation during pregnancy and its implications for birth outcomes. This study was registered as a clinical trial in clinicaltrials.gov (ID: REB15/1418). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the effect of breastfeeding on childhood obesity in the U.S. The study evaluated the relation between body mass index (BMI) and infant feeding using linear-, logistic-, and sibling fixed-effects regression models. Results show that breast feeding during infancy may help against obesity and these results could provide additional support for implementation of policies made to support breastfeeding mothers, according to the authors.

Background: Cannabis use has been linked to lower systemic inflammation, but the pathways connecting cannabis use and systemic inflammation are unclear. Here we investigate whether body mass index (BMI) accounts for the association between cannabis use and systemic inflammation in a cohort of sexual and gender minority youth assigned male at birth (n = 712).Methods: Substance use was assessed across six biannual visits. Cannabis use was measured using the Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test-Revised (CUDIT-R) and urine screening for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). At the final visit, BMI was measured, and a plasma sample was collected to measure biomarkers of systemic inflammation: C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6, interleukin-1β, and tumor necrosis factor-α. Inflammatory markers were log2-transformed. Age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, HIV status, cigarette use, alcohol use, and polydrug use were included as covariates.Results: In models including all covariates except BMI, greater cumulative CUDIT-R score was associated with lower CRP (β = -0.14; 95% CI: -0.22,-0.05) and lower interleukin-6 (β = -0.12; 95% CI: -0.21,-0.04). These associations were attenuated when BMI was added to the model. Mediation analyses revealed an indirect effect of cumulative CUDIT-R score on CRP (β = -0.08; 95% CI: -0.12,-0.05) and interleukin-6 (β = -0.08; 95% CI: -0.12,-0.05), mediated by BMI. Models using urine THC or self-reported frequency to operationalize cannabis use produced similar results. We found no clear evidence that HIV status moderates these associations.Conclusions: These results suggest that BMI may partially account for the apparent anti-inflammatory effects of cannabis use. Research on the mechanisms linking cannabis use, adiposity, and inflammation may uncover promising intervention targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Research with humans and non-human primate species has found an association between social rank and individual health. Among humans, a robust literature in industrial societies has shown that each step down the rank hierarchy is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Here, we present supportive evidence for the social gradient in health drawing on data from 289 men (18+ years of age) from a society of foragers-farmers in the Bolivian Amazon (Tsimane''). We use a measure of social rank that captures the locally perceived position of a man in the hierarchy of important people in a village. In multivariate regression analysis we found a positive and statistically significant association between social rank and three standard indicators of nutritional status: body mass index (BMI), mid-arm circumference, and the sum of four skinfolds. Results persisted after controlling for material and psychosocial pathways that have been shown to mediate the association between individual socioeconomic status and health in industrial societies. Future research should explore locally-relevant psychosocial factors that may mediate the association between social status and health in non-industrial societies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In industrial economies schooling produces positive non-market returns but do traditional forms of human capital also produce such returns, and do schooling and traditional human capital act as complements or substitutes in their association with well-being? Drawing on data from 450 adults (16+ years of age) from an indigenous Amazonian society in Bolivia, we estimate the association between traditional plant knowledge and nutritional status as measured by body-mass index. After conditioning for many covariates, we find that doubling an adult's traditional knowledge is associated with a mean improvement in BMI of 6.3 per cent; the association is stronger for unschooled adults and for those living far from the market town. Though schooling bore a negative association with traditional knowledge, those two forms of human capital had independent associations with BMI. The analysis suggests that schooling does not necessarily undermine the accumulation of traditional knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing interest in assessing how income influences the consumption of wildlife in poor rural areas of developing nations. The interest stems from the possibility of using income to contribute to the conservation of wildlife. Though promising, efforts have been hampered by the difficulty of obtaining accurate measures of income. We propose using human body-mass index (BMI: weight in kilograms/physical stature in m²), an indicator of short-term nutritional status, as a proxy variable for monetary income to estimate income elasticities of wildlife consumption (income elasticity: percent change in wildlife consumption/one-percent change income). The advantages of BMI over monetary income include a positive association with monetary income, ease of measurement, and absence of zero values. The assessment procedure was tested among Tsimane' Amerindians, a society of foragers and farmers in the Bolivian Amazon. The population over 15 years of age (350 men and 322 women) in 13 villages was surveyed for five consecutive quarters (August 2002-November 2003). Income elasticities of wildlife consumption using BMI as a proxy for income ranged from -0.84 to -1.20. The estimates suggest that wildlife is a food item whose consumption declines with increasing income. Estimates of income elasticity of wildlife consumption using conventional indices of monetary income are negative, but lower and indistinguishable from zero owing to classical measurement errors of monetary income. The use of BMI to estimate income elasticities of wildlife consumption is promising, but requires further validation in different settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Introduction Methods Results Conclusions This study tests the hypothesis that self‐reported somatic symptoms are associated with biomarkers of stress, including elevated blood pressure and suppressed immune function, among Shuar adults living in the Ecuadorian Amazon.Research was conducted in three Shuar communities in the Upano Valley of the Ecuadorian Amazon and included the collection of biomarkers and a structured morbidity interview. Participants self‐reported somatic symptoms such as headaches, body pain, fatigue, and other bodily symptoms. We examined whether the number of somatic symptoms reported was associated with measures of immune (Epstein–Barr virus [EBV] antibodies) and cardiovascular (blood pressure) functioning in 97 Shuar adults (37 women, 60 men; ages 18–65 years). Multivariate linear regression analyses were used to examine the relationships among somatic symptoms and stress biomarkers, controlling for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), active infection, level of education, and income.Controlling for relevant covariates, Shuar adults reporting the highest level of somatic symptoms (three symptoms) were more likely to exhibit elevated systolic (β = 0.20, p = 0.04) and diastolic blood pressure (β = 0.23, p = 0.03), in comparison to adults reporting no symptoms. Shuar adults reporting two symptoms, compared to no symptoms, were more likely to exhibit elevated EBV antibody concentrations (β = 0.34, p = < 0.01).These preliminary findings demonstrate that somatic symptoms reported by Shuar men and women are associated with physiological measures widely associated with chronic psychosocial stress. These findings complement the cross‐cultural literature in medical anthropology documenting the close connection between the expression of somatic symptoms and stressful life circumstances and highlight the important role that human biologists can play in exploring biocultural phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic inflammation is a potentially important mechanism through which social inequalities may contribute to health inequalities over the life course. Excess body fat contributes to chronic inflammation, and younger adults in the US have come of age during a pronounced secular increase in body mass index (BMI). We aim to document levels of chronic inflammation in a nationally representative sample of 33-to-44 year-old adults in the US, and to describe associations with BMI, race/ethnicity, and education. High sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) was measured in Wave V (2016–18) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, with complete data available for 4349 participants. Sex-stratified weighted regression models were implemented to investigate CRP in association with education, race/ethnicity, and BMI. Geometric mean CRP was 1.9 mg/L, and 35.4% of the sample had CRP >3 mg/L. Females had significantly higher CRP than males. Body mass index was a strong positive predictor of CRP, and education level was negatively associated with CRP. Associations between education and CRP were substantially attenuated after adjusting for BMI. High risk CRP increased linearly with BMI even among the obese: 87.0 percent of females and 74.1 percent of males with class 3 obesity (BMI ≥40) were predicted to have high risk CRP > 3 mg/L. The obesity epidemic is producing an epidemic of chronic inflammation in early mid-adulthood in the US. Strong associations between BMI and chronic inflammation portend high risk for future disease—and inequitable distribution of disease—as the cohort ages. • Levels of chronic inflammation are high among young and middle-age US adults. • Body mass predicts chronic inflammation and largely explains differences by education. • The obesity epidemic is producing an epidemic of chronic inflammation in the US. • High levels of chronic inflammation portend increased risk for future disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]