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Read about NICHD’s research findings and activities from 2022.

What defines eating for health? Clearly, there is no one-size-fits-all healthy diet. The emerging field of precision nutrition aims to deliver personalized dietary recommendations to optimize health and quality of life based on an individual’s genetics, gut microbes, and other biological, lifestyle, environmental, and social factors.

The Division of Intramural Research provides fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems through basic, clinical, and population-based research.

Giving the hormone adiponectin to pregnant mice with obesity prevented later life obesity and related health conditions in their offspring, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings suggest that adiponectin, a hormone produced by fat cells, could play a role in reducing the lifelong obesity risk of children born to mothers with obesity during pregnancy.

Maternal obesity before pregnancy may increase the risk of asthma in early childhood, suggests a study by the National Institutes of Health. Children born to mothers with obesity were more likely than those born to mothers without obesity to have persistent wheezing, an indication of asthma.

Children who were first given juice before they were six months old were more likely to have overweight or obesity in early and mid-childhood, compared to kids who were given juice at one year old or later, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. The finding provides additional support for a theory that giving young children sweet foods or drinks may foster a preference for sweet tastes that can lead to weight gain later in childhood.

A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health contradicts the current recommendation that women with obesity should lose weight before trying to conceive. The study of more than 300 women with obesity found no difference in the proportion of live births among women with unexplained infertility who lost weight before infertility treatment and a similar group who did not lose weight before treatment.

Read about NICHD’s research findings and activities from 2021.

Children who were given juice before they were 6 months old drank more juice and soda, and less water, by early and mid-childhood, on average, than children first given juice at or after 12 months, according to a study conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. The findings support a theory that giving children sweet foods and drinks at an early age fosters a preference for sweet tastes that persists into childhood, increasing the risk for childhood weight gain and tooth cavities.

NICHD Director Dr. Diana Bianchi is joined by NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health Director Dr. Janine Clayton in assessing the growing maternal health crisis in the United States and describing NIH’s efforts to address it.

Preliminary data from NICHD-funded researchers provides caregiver-reported information on how children and teens fared during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For many COVID-19 patients, full recovery remains elusive even long after they should feel “better.” NIH recently announced research opportunities to understand COVID-19 long haulers, who have what researchers now refer to as Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). NICHD joins these opportunities while remaining focused on PASC patients within our audiences of interest—pregnant and lactating people, children, and those with disabilities.

Children in high-poverty neighborhoods who participated in a comprehensive preschool program that provided parents with health and educational services and job training had a lower body mass index in their late 30s than a similar group who participated in the usual early childhood programs, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study authors concluded that comprehensive, school-based early childhood programs could lead to improvements in body mass index later in life.

Women with asthma are more likely than normal to gain weight during pregnancy and to retain weight 3 months after giving birth, suggests a National Institutes of Health study. On average, women with asthma gained 3.1 kg (just under 7 lbs) more after a full-term pregnancy than women without asthma. Among women with asthma, weight gain was greater with obesity. Weight gain was also greater with more severe asthma and with asthma triggered by exercise. The study authors suggest that their findings underscore the importance of pre-pregnancy counseling for women with asthma on the need to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.

National Institutes of Health researchers have discovered a gene in mice that controls the craving for fatty and sugary foods and the desire to exercise. The gene, Prkar2a, is highly expressed in the habenula, a tiny brain region involved in responses to pain, stress, anxiety, sleep and reward. The findings could inform future research to prevent obesity and its accompanying risks for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The pandemic reinforces why the NIH INCLUDE (INvestigation of Co-occurring conditions across the Lifespan to Understand Down syndromE) Project matters to families and communities.

NIH has launched a new initiative that will combat the growing problem of maternal mortality and morbidity in the United States.

Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) does not appear to lower the risk of infection for obese women after cesarean delivery, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The treatment involves placing a low-pressure pump over a closed surgical wound to create negative air pressure. Earlier studies had suggested that NPWT might reduce infection risk and promote healing after surgery. The study of more than 1,600 obese women found no significant difference in infection between women treated with NPWT and those receiving standard wound dressing.

Exercise during pregnancy stimulates fetal production of brown fat, which boosts metabolism and burns calories, even after birth, suggests a mouse study funded by the National Institutes of Health. When fed a high-fat diet, mice born to mothers who exercised had less weight gain than mice whose mothers did not exercise.