Since 1980, the worldwide prevalence of obesity has doubled, with a subsequent increase of the risk for life threatening comorbidities accompanied with a severe economic burden (2,3). In fact, 65% of the world's population live in countries where obesity kills more people than underweight...
We argued that the fetal brain may be particular sensitive to developmental programming since the brain is subject to dramatic developmental processes during the prenatal life period and introduced the developmental origins of behavior, health and disease (DOBHaD) hypothesis. The central aim of this dissertation was to examine the effect of exposure to maternal anxiety during pregnancy on neurocognitive functioning in infants and young children. Because research in the DOBHaD field almost exclusively focused on the effects of negative maternal states and traits we also included a potential positive/protective factor in our study: maternal mindfulness...
This thesis addresses three topics in obesity research: a. alterations in the obese brain and b. insulin resistance and inflammation. The studies described in this thesis are performed in humans with the major aim to translate findings from rodents and explore new pathways that might be targeted for future medical treatment...