The Relationship between Maternal Nutrition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Dear Colleagues,

Epidemiological studies have shown a relationship between maternal nutrition (either overnutrition or undernutrition) and an increased risk of obesity and other metabolic disorders, as well as neuropsychiatric disorders, such as addictive-like behaviors and recently also neurodegenerative disorders, in the progeny. Human and animal studies have shown that early life events during development (intra-uterine environment) such as maternal nutrition can predispose the offspring to developing these conditions. Therefore, the pre- and early postnatal environment has been shown to play a critical role in the long-term health of the offspring. Preclinical studies thus far have advanced our understanding of how maternal overnutrition can lead to an increased risk of obesity in the offspring, but many questions remain open as to how maternal overnutrition may increase the risk of developing behavioral abnormalities related to addiction to drugs and uncontrolled overconsumption of palatable foods, leading to obesity. In addition, maternal overnutrition and unhealthy eating have recently been associated with cognitive impairments. However, to date, the underlying mechanisms linking maternal diet to these pathophysiological changes in the brain and behavior are not fully understood.

This Special Issue will concentrate on promoting research studying the effects of various environmental risk factors, including nutrition, during early development across the lifespan. As plasticity decreases over the lifespan, interventions applied during prenatal and/or early postnatal development might be the key in reducing the impact of neuropsychiatric disorders across the lifespan. In addition, this Special Issue will promote findings that potentially contribute to unravelling the underlying mechanisms of how maternal nutrition can induce susceptibility to different psychiatric disorders later in life and ultimately exploinge the effects of the optimization of maternal nutrition and other lifestyle interventions (such as physical exercise, food supplantation etc.) during prenatal or postnatal development that might improve or prevent these detrimental programming effects and reduce future health risks in the offspring.

We invite authors and research groups to submit research papers, review articles, and mini reviews on these topics for this Special Issue.

Dr. Daria Peleg-Raibstein
Guest Editor

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• Maternal nutrition 
• Brain development 
• Metabolic disorders 
• Affective disorders 
• Epigenetic programming 
• Addiction 
• Motivation 
• Cognitive functions