摘要
The prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus has increased rapidly over the past few decades,and prevention efforts have not been successful.Fetal programming involves the earliest stage of obesity development,and provides a novel concept to complement other strategies for lifelong prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus.The World Health Organization now advocates a life-course approach to prevent/control obesity,starting with pre-conceptional and antenatal maternal health.Maternal overnutrition,gestational diabetes mellitus and excessive gestational weight gain lead to fetal overgrowth,and“programs”the offspring with an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus in childhood and adulthood.This review summarizes current data on fetal programming of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus including potential causative factors,mechanisms and interventions to reduce its impact.