ENeA: All courses

Welcome to the Focus Module

"Early Immunity and Nutrition"

Introduction

Accumulating evidence shows that different stimuli such as malnutrition during critical periods of development, which leads to poor nutritional status, may permanently affect cell populations, organ systems and physiological pathways. This is recognized as the “developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD)” theory (Palmer, 2011). In this module we will discuss the importance of nutrition to the human immune system. Malnutrition during gestation has been associated with long-lasting negative effects in the offspring’s immune system (Obanewa & Newell, 2017) while malnutrition during childhood has been associated with a significantly increased incidence and fatality of infectious diseases such as diarrhoea and pneumonia (Jones et al., 2010). However, this link between nutrition and the immune system is not limited to global malnutrition or the deficiency of specific nutrients. The timing and composition of complementary feeding in infancy on subsequent risk of food allergy, or the modulation of antibody response to vaccination by nutritional status have also been reported.

120 minutes learning time: Self assessments, graphics, interactive tools and videos