Review
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World J Diabetes. Jul 15, 2022; 13(7): 482-497
Published online Jul 15, 2022. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v13.i7.482
Fetal programming of obesity and type 2 diabetes
Sumudu Nimali Seneviratne, Shaman Rajindrajith
Sumudu Nimali Seneviratne, Shaman Rajindrajith, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo 08, Sri Lanka
Author contributions: Seneviratne SN and Rajindrajith S conceptualized and designed this manuscript; Seneviratne SN reviewed the literature and wrote the manuscript; both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sumudu Nimali Seneviratne, MD, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, 25, Kynsey Road, Colombo 08, Sri Lanka. sumudu@pdt.cmb.ac.lk
Received: July 9, 2021
Peer-review started: July 9, 2021
First decision: August 8, 2021
Revised: August 18, 2021
Accepted: June 3, 2022
Article in press: June 3, 2022
Published online: July 15, 2022
Processing time: 367 Days and 2.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Fetal programming targets the earliest stages in the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes. It provides a novel paradigm to complement other strategies for lifelong prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Maternal undernutrition/overnutrition, maternal diabetes, excessive gestational weight gain and certain paternal factors are now recognized as factors associated with adverse fetal programming of obesity and type 2 diabetes in the offspring. This review provides up-to date evidence on fetal programming of obesity and type 2 diabetes including potential causative factors and mechanisms as well as potential interventions to minimize its impact on future generations.