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Nutritional and Metabolic Programming Across the Female Lifespan: Body Composition, Hormonal Changes, and Health Outcomes

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition in Women".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 October 2025 | Viewed by 361

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Pathophysiology Unit, Department of Pathophysiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, The Medical University of Silesia, 40-752 Katowice, Poland
Interests: dietary recommendations; eating habits; fetus programming; gynecological disorders; malnutrition; metabolic health; nutrition; obesity; polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS); thyroid dysfunction; women’s health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue, which focuses on the evolving interactions among diet, metabolism, and body composition in women across their lifespan. Women experience unique metabolic and hormonal changes during critical life stages, such as puberty, pregnancy, menopause, and post-menopause, which profoundly influence their nutritional requirements, body composition, and overall health outcomes. Addressing these complex relationships can lead to innovative approaches for improving health and preventing diseases in female populations.

This Special Issue aims to advance the current understanding of how nutrition and metabolism shape body composition, hormonal changes, and long-term health outcomes in women. By examining the interplay between diet, genetics, and metabolic processes, this collection seeks to provide a more nuanced view of women’s health across different life stages. This Special Issue integrates perspectives from nutrition science, endocrinology, epigenetics, and metabolic research, offering valuable insights that address key questions within this thematic framework.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Impact of macronutrient and micronutrient intakes on body composition at various life stages.
  • Dietary interventions during puberty, pregnancy, menopause, and post-menopause.
  • Role of nutrition in the management of hormonal changes and associated metabolic conditions.
  • Epigenetic influences of diet on gene expression and long-term metabolic health.
  • Connections between dietary patterns and cognitive, emotional, and psychological well-being.
  • Nutritional strategies to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and sarcopenia in women.

By assembling a collection of high-quality studies, we hope to foster a deeper understanding of these interactions and encourage ongoing innovations in nutritional science and women’s health. We look forward to receiving your contributions and building a rich dialogue in this important field.

Dr. Piotr Kocełak
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • cognitive and emotional well-being
  • body composition
  • epigenetics
  • hormonal milestones
  • lifespan nutrition
  • menopause and diet
  • metabolic health
  • nutritional programming
  • reproductive health and nutrition
  • women’s health

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 252 KiB  
Article
Midlife Vulnerability and Food Insecurity in Women: Increased Risk of Mental Health Concerns
by Lisa Smith Kilpela, Taylur Loera, Sabrina E. Cuauro and Carolyn Black Becker
Nutrients 2025, 17(15), 2486; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17152486 - 30 Jul 2025
Viewed by 200
Abstract
Background/Objectives: A growing body of literature has demonstrated that living with food insecurity (FI) increases risk for mental health concerns in addition to nutritional deficits (e.g., suboptimal micronutrient consumption, excessive macronutrient consumption, malnutrition). Yet, research is needed to improve our understanding of subpopulations [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: A growing body of literature has demonstrated that living with food insecurity (FI) increases risk for mental health concerns in addition to nutritional deficits (e.g., suboptimal micronutrient consumption, excessive macronutrient consumption, malnutrition). Yet, research is needed to improve our understanding of subpopulations potentially at increased risk for mental health concerns when living in the context of FI. The current study examined psychosocial health across women of different developmental life stages all living with FI. Methods: Female clients of a large, urban food bank (N = 680) living with FI completed measures of mental health and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a cross-sectional design conducted on site at the food bank. Results: Consistent with past research, FI severity was correlated with poorer psychosocial health across all variables. A multivariate analysis of covariance compared women living with FI across 4 developmental life stages (young adult, early midlife, late midlife, and older adult; age range = 18–94 years), controlling for FI severity and race/ethnicity, on outcomes related to mental health and HRQOL. Women in early and late midlife reported higher anxiety, eating disorder symptoms, and eating-related psychosocial impairment than younger and older women. Conclusions: The mental health toll of living with FI is profound; midlife may comprise a developmental period of increased vulnerability to experience this mental health burden of living with FI for women. Thus, efforts are needed to develop innovative pathways for interventions to support the mental health of midlife women living with FI, likely involving multi-level and/or multicomponent approaches to resource access. Full article
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