The first 1000 days: The 5 ways early nutrition determines your future risk of obesity and heart disease | Prof Lucilla Poston & Dr Federica Amati

Jonathan Wolf (0:00)

Welcome to ZOE Science and Nutrition, where world leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health.

The blueprint for your life started much earlier than you realized, long before you took your first breath, before your heart beat its first beat, even before your mom and dad ever met. And as you started to become you in the cramped, dark universe of your mother's womb, and your cells divided and your organs developed, biological changes were already beginning that echo in your body today. Once you were born, your nutrition in those early days influenced your immune system and your metabolism in ways that still reverberate in your body today. That's the story of the first 1000 days of life. From conception to a child's second birthday. A window that's so powerful that scientists now believe it influences our future risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, even how our immune system works. And yet despite its importance, this phase of life is clouded by confusion. The advice we get feels urgent and extreme, but often contradictory. It can feel impossible to know who to trust. So to cut through the noise and dispel those myths, I'm joined by Lucilla Poston, Professor of Maternal and Fetal Health at King's College London, and probably the world's leading expert on how a mother's nutrition and metabolism shaped the long-term health of their children. Also with us is Dr. Federica Amati, ZOE's head nutritionist and an expert on personalizing nutrition to individual life stages. Together, they unpack how recent scientific research has transformed our understanding of how nutrition during conception, pregnancy and early childhood affects our health. They dispel myths and share straightforward science-backed nutrition advice to help you and your loved ones navigate this vital time of life. Lucilla, thank you for joining me today.

Lucilla Poston (2:03)

My pleasure.

Jonathan Wolf (2:04)

And Federica, wonderful to have you here.

Federica Amati (2:06)

Excited to be here.

Jonathan Wolf (2:07)

So we always like to kick off this show with a rapid-fire Q&A. And we have these very strict rules for professors, Lucilla, which is you can say yes or no. Or if you have to, you can give us a one-sentence answer. You're willing to give it a go?

Federica Amati (2:21)

Yep.

Jonathan Wolf (2:22)

Can obesity really begin in the womb?

Lucilla Poston (2:26)

In part, yes.

Jonathan Wolf (2:28)

Can the father's lifestyle before conception influence a child's future health?

Lucilla Poston (2:35)

Yes.

Jonathan Wolf (2:36)

Federica, during pregnancy, should the mother eat for two? No. Are baby pouches a good way to feed young children?

Federica Amati (2:46)

Not by themselves, no.

Jonathan Wolf (2:48)

Lucilla, can what a mother eats before conception affect the health of a child as an adult? Yes.

Federica Amati (2:55)

This episode isn't just for couples trying to conceive or for people who are already pregnant. This is for the population to understand that if we can be in good health before we're pregnant, it massively improves the health of the baby and it improves maternal health because it reduces the risk of things like gestational diabetes or preeclampsia, which is high blood pressure in pregnancy and can be very dangerous. This is the kind of podcast to send to your friends, your aunties, your sisters, your daughters, because if you can get to a better, healthier diet before you're pregnant, that's where the magic really happens.

Jonathan Wolf (3:29)

All right. Well, look, I'm really excited to get into all of this. I'd like to start right at the beginning, Lucilla. What does this mean, the first thousand days of life?

Lucilla Poston (3:38)

Well, if you work out the days, it's the number of days in pregnancy plus the number of days up to the age of about two.

It's very important in pregnancy and postpartum that you think about nutrition, particularly during those thousand days. I personally think it's not long enough. So, you should go back pre-conception and then you should go a bit further down the line in terms of the age of children, maybe up to the age of five or beyond. But it's a good way of thinking about vulnerability in mums and babies.

Jonathan Wolf (4:10)

I think the thing that surprises me is that it doesn't start at birth. You're talking about nutrition starting before they're even eating anything.

Lucilla Poston (4:17)

That's right. Well, they are eating something effectively through the placenta.

Jonathan Wolf (4:22)

Can you help me to understand?

Lucilla Poston (4:24)

Yeah. So, essentially, the baby isn't eating itself. The mother is dependent on the mum for eating what it needs. And then everything that the baby needs goes across the mum's placenta. And then the baby gets into the baby's blood, and then the baby benefits from that or not, depending on what the mother is eating. The nuances of that are considerable. So, you know, there are lots of different things that we have to consider about whether the placenta is transporting those nutrients from the mum's blood to the baby's blood, effectively. And which ones are getting across, and which ones go across better than others. But essentially, that's how it works. I mean, that's how a baby gets its nutrition, is entirely from the mum. But the baby is essentially eating from the mother's blood, and it's not through its mouth.