Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9600
ISSN: 2155-9600
Alexander Vaiserman
Institute of Gerontology, Ukraine
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Nutr Food Sci
Early-life malnutrition is important determinant of metabolic disorders and associated cardiovascular disease in later life. To examine whether a link exists between early-life exposure to famine and adult health, we determine the risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Ukraine residents born before, during and after the famine of 1933. The sample studied consisted of 28,358 T2D patients born in 1930-1938 and living in Ukraine regions that suffered significant demographic losses due to famine. Reference populations were based on the Ukraine census 2001 (n=2,153,335). It was approximately 1.5-fold increase in the risk of developing T2D in both men and women who were born in the first half of the 1934 year as compared to the individuals who were born in the pre-famine and post-famine cohorts. These differences are highly significant compared to the appropriate reference cohorts born in 1938 [odds ratios are 1, 48 and 1, 52 for men and women respectively]. Remarkably, those individuals who were born in the first half of 1934 and who have higher risk of developing T2D were exposed to the peak of the famine periconceptionally. The findings obtained in our research are similar to those found in studying other famine episodes such as Dutch famine of 1944-45 and suggest that periconceptual exposure to the famine may result in induction of persistent epigenetic changes that predispose to metabolic disorders in the later life.
Email: vaiserman23@gmail.com