The perinatal period as a window of opportunity for preventing childhood obesity

Abstract

The review substantiates the understanding of the absence of melatonin production with a circadian rhythm in pregnant women associated with certain pathologies (obesity, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, gestosis of pregnancy, chronic placental insufficiency, etc.) and its role in the genesis of metabolic dysregulation in childhood and programming of health problems later in life. A new approach to assessing the risks of obesity and development of methods of its prevention in children, who did not receive maternal melatonin has been determined, with special attention to an individual selection of a milk formula that is optimally close to the breast milk composition. Key words: obesity, newborn, melatonin, circadian rhythm, breast milk, human milk oligosaccharides