Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Nutrition, growth, and body size in relation to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes

  • Published:
Current Diabetes Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Nutritional and genetic factors interact in the etiology of type 2 diabetes. Undernutrition followed by overnutrition increases adiposity and the risk of diabetes. The thrifty hypotheses suggest that the nutritional challenges could have happened thousands of year ago (thrifty gene selection) or during one's intrauterine life (thrifty phenotype). Current strategies for the prevention of diabetes are related to avoiding overnutrition.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References and Recommended Reading

  1. King H, Aubert RE, Herman WH: Global burden of diabetes, 1995-2025; prevalence, numerical estimates and projections. Diabetes Care 1998, 21:1414–1431.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Ramchandran A, Snehalatha C, Kapur A, et al.: High prevalence of diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance in India: National Urban Diabetes Survey. Diabetologia 2001, 9:1094–1101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. McKeigue PM, Shah B, Marmot MG: Relation of central obesity and insulin resistance with high diabetes prevalence and cardiovascular risk in South Asians. Lancet 1991, 337:971–973.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Neel JV: Diabetes mellitus: a “thrifty” genotype rendered detrimental by “progress”? Am J Human Genet 1962, 14:353–362.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Hales CN, Barker DJP: Type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes: the thrifty phenotype hypothesis. Diabetologia 1992, 35:595–601.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Hales CN, Barker DJP: The thrifty phenotype hypothesis. Brit Med Bull 2001, 60:5–20. An updated version of the hypothesis with recognition of the importance of maternal hyperglycemia and childhood growth.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Reaven G: Role of insulin resistance in human disease. Diabetes 1988, 37:1595–1607.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Hales CN, Barker DJP, Clark PMS, et al.: Fetal and infant growth and impaired glucose tolerance at age 64. BMJ 1991, 303:1019–1022.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Barker DJP, Hales CN, Fall CHD, et al.: Type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidemia (syndrome X): relation to reduced fetal growth. Diabetologia 1993, 36:62–67.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Fall CHD, Stein CE, Kumaran K, et al.: Size at birth, maternal weight, and type 2 diabetes in South India. Diabet Med 1998, 15:220–227.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Stein AD, Conlisk AJ, Torun B, et al.: Cardiovascular disease risk factors are related to adult adiposity but not birth weight in young Gualemalan adults. J Nutr 2002, 132:2008–2014.

    Google Scholar 

  12. McCance DR, Pettitt DJ, Hanson RL, et al.: Birth weight and non-inslin dependent diabetes: thrifty genotype, thrifty phenotype, or surviving small baby genotype? BMJ 1994, 308:942–945.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Wilkin T, Metcalf BS, Murphy MJ, et al.: The relative contributions of birth weight, weight change, and current weight to insulin resistance in contemporary 5-years-olds. Diabetes 2002, 12:3468–3472.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Lucas A, Fewtrell MS, Cole TJ: Fetal origins of adult disease— the hypothesis revisited. BMJ 1999, 319:245–249.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Yajnik CS: Interactions of perturbations in intrauterine growth and growth during childhood on the risk of adultonset disease. Proc Nutr Soc 2000, 59:257–265. A review of information from different parts of the world, including challenges to the thrifty phenotype concept.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Crowther NJ, Cameron N, Trusler J, Gray IP: Association between poor glucose tolerance and rapid post natal weight gain in seven-year-old children. Diabetologia 1997, 41:1163–1167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Forsen T Eriksson J, Tuomilehto J, et al.: The fetal and childhood growth of persons who develop type 2 diabetes. Ann Intern Med 2000, 133:176–182.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Eriksson JG, ForsenT, Tuomilehto J, etal.: Early adiposity rebound in childhood and risk of type 2 diabetes in adult life. Diabetologia 2003, in press. A classic paper tracing early life growth and adiposity rebound of people who develop diabetes.

  19. Hattersley AT, Tooke JE: The fetal insulin hypothesis: an alternative explanation of the association of low birth weight with diabetes and vascular disease. Lancet 1999, 353:1789–1792.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Gibb W, Challis JR: Mechanisms of term and preterm birth. J Obstet Gynaecol Can 2002, 24:874–883.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Birgisdottir BE, Gunnarsdottir I, Thorsdottir I, et al.: Size at birth and glucose intolerance in a relatively genetically homogeneous, high birth weight population. Am J Clin Nutr 2002, 76:399–403.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Mi J, Law C, Zhang K, et al.: Association of body size at birth with impaired glucose tolerance during their adulthood [in Chinese]. Zhonghua Yu Fang YiXue Za Zhi 1999, 33:209–213.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Phillips DI, Barker DJ, Hales CN, et al.: Thinness at birth and insulin resistance in adult life. Diabetologia 1994, 37:150–154.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Yajnik CS, Fall CHD, Rao S, et al.: Neonatal anthropometry: the thin fat Indian baby. The Pune Maternal Nutrition Study. Int J Obesity 2003, in press.

  25. Yajnik CS, Lubree HG, Rege SS, et al.: Adiposity and hyperinsulinemia in Indians are present at birth. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2002, 12:5575–5580.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Fall CHD, Yajnik CS, Rao S, Coyaji KJ: The effects of maternal body composition before pregnancy on fetal growth. The Pune Maternal Nutrition Study. In Fetal Programming Influences on Development and Disease in Later Life. Edited by Shaughn PM, et al. London: Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynecology; 1999:231–245.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Winnick M, Noble A: Cellular response in rats during malnutrition at various stages. J Nutr 1966, 89:300–306.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Catalano PM, Thomas AJ, Huston LP, Fung CM: Effect of maternal metabolism on fetal growth and body composition. Diabetes Care 1998, (suppl 2):B85–B90.

  29. Banerji MA, Faridi N, Atluri R, et al.: Body composition, visceral fat, leptin, and insulin resistance in Asian Indian men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1999, 84:137–144.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Mi J, Law C, Zhang K-L, et al.: Effects of infant birth weight and maternal body mass index in pregnancy on components of the insulin resistance syndrome in China. Ann Intern Med 2000, 132:253–260.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Pettitt DJ, Baird HR, Aleck KA, et al.: Excessive obesity in offspring of Pima Indian women with diabetes during pregnancy. N Engl J Med 1983, 308:242–245.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Godfrey K, Walker-Bone K, Robinson S, et al.: Neonatal bone mass: influence of parental birthweight, maternal smoking, body composition and activity during pregnancy. J Bone MinerRes 2001, 16:1694–1703.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Lindsay RS, Dabelea D, Roumain J, et al.: Type 2 diabetes and low birth weight. The role of paternal inheritance in the association of low birth weight and diabetes. Diabetes 2000, 49:445–449.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Hypponen E, Smith GD, Power C: Parental diabetes and birth weight of offspring: intergenerational cohort study. BMJ 2003, 326:19–20.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Yajnik CS, Coyaji K, Joglekar CV, et al.: Paternal insulin resistance and fetal growth: problem for the “fetal insulin” and the “fetal origins” hypotheses. Diabetologia 2001, 9:1197–1198.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Kaati G, Bygren LO, Edvinsson S: Cardiovascular and diabetes mortality determined by nutrition during parents' and grandparents' slow growth period. Eur J Hum Genet 2002, 10:682–688.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Harding JE: The nutritional basis of the fetal origins of adult disease. Int J Epidemiol 2001, 30:15–23. An authoritative review of the complexities of the relationship between maternal nutrition and fetal nutrition.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Godfrey K, Robinson S, Barker DJ, et al.: Maternal nutrition in early and late pregnancy in relation to placental and fetal growth. BMJ 1996, 312:410–414.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Rao S, Yajnik CS, KanadeA, etal.: Intake of micronutrient rich foods in rural Indian mothers and size of their babies at birth. J Nutr 2001, 131:1217–1224.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Ceesay SM, Prentice AM, Cole TJ, etal.: Effect on birth weight and perinatal mortality of maternal dietary supplemenation in rural Gambia. BMJ 1997, 315:786–790.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Clapp JF: Exercise in pregnancy: a clinical update. Clin Sports Med 2000, 19:273–286.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Shiell AW, Campbell DM, Hall MH, Barker DJ: Diet in late pregnancy and glucose-insulin metabolism of the offspring 40 years later. BJOG 2000, 107:890–895.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Ravelli GP, Stein ZA, Susser MW: Obesity in young men after famine exposure in utero and early infancy. New Engl J Med 1976, 295:349–353.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Roseboom TJ, van Der Meulen JH, Ravelli AC, et al.: Effects of prenatal exposure to the Dutch famine on adult disease in later life: an overview. Twin Res 2002, 4:293–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Ravelli AC, Van der Meulen JHP, Michels RPJ, et al.: Glucose tolerance in adults after prenatal exposure to famine. Lancet 1998,351:173–177.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Stanner SA, Bulmer K, Andres C, et al.: Does malnutrition in utero determine diabetes and coronary heart disease in adulthood? Results from the Leningrad siege study, a cross sectional study. BMJ 1997, 315:1342–1348.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. McArdle HJ, Ashworth CJ: Micronutrients in fetal growth and development. Brit Med Bull 1999, 55:499–510.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Fall CHD, Yajnik CS, Rao S, et al.: Micronutrients and fetal growth. J Nutr 2003, in press.

  49. Clapp JF III: Diet, exercise and feto-placental growth. Arch Gynecol Obstet 1997, 260:101–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Sermer M, Naylor CD, Gare DJ, et al.: Impact of increasing carbohydrate intolerance on maternal-fetal outcomes in 3637 women without gestational diabetes. The Toronto Tri-Hospital gestational diabetes project. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1995, 173:146–156.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  51. Pettitt DJ, Aleck KA, Baird HR, et al.: Congenital susceptibility to NIDDM: role of intrauterine environment. Diabetes 1988, 37:622–628.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Knopp RH, Warth MR, Charles D, et al.: Lipoprotein metabolism in pregnancy, fat transport to the fetus, and effects of diabetes. Biol Neonate 1986, 50:297–317.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Pettitt DJ, Forman MR, Hanson RL, et al.: Breastfeeding and incidence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Pima Indians. Lancet 1997, 350:166–168.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Bavdekar A, Yajnik CS, Fall CHD, et al.: Insulin resistance in 8 year old Indian children. Diabetes 1999, 48:2422–2429.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Diabetes Unit, King Edward Memorial Hospital Research Center, Rasta Peth, 411011, Pune, India

    Chittaranjan S. Yajnik MD

Authors
  1. Chittaranjan S. Yajnik MD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yajnik, C.S. Nutrition, growth, and body size in relation to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Curr Diab Rep 3, 108–114 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-003-0033-x

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-003-0033-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation