Life Course Perspective: Evidence for the Role of Nutrition.

2014

Elizabeth Adams
[email protected]
503-494-0981

The "Life Course Perspective" proposes that environmental exposures, including biological, physical, social, and behavioral factors, as well as life experiences, throughout the entire life span, influence health outcomes in current and future generations. Nutrition, from preconception to adulthood, encompasses all of these factors and has the potential to positively or negatively shape the individual or population health trajectories and their intergenerational differences. This paper applies the T2E2 model (timing, timeline, equity and environment), developed by Fine and Kotelchuck, as an overlay to examine advances in nutritional science, as well as the complex associations between life stages, nutrients, nutrigenomics, and access to healthy foods, that support the life course perspective. Examples of the application of nutrition to each of the four constructs are provided, as well as a strong recommendation for inclusion of nutrition as a key focal point for all health professionals

Life Course, Nutrition, Maternal and Child Health, Children

Peer-reviewed publications in scholarly journals Published/In Press

Professionals, Policymakers, Students

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10995-013-1280-3

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