Prevention of unhealthy weight gain and obesity during crucial phases throughout the lifespan (PREPHOBES)

Childhood obesity is a major public health problem leading to short-term and long-term adverse health outcomes, reduced quality of life and high societal costs. Obesity and related comorbidities seem to originate in the earliest phase of life. Adverse maternal and offspring lifestyle factors in the preconception period, pregnancy and earlychildhood are major risk factors for childhood obesity and its comorbidities. These adverse maternal and offspring lifestyle factors are highly prevalent, cluster within families and are modifiable risk factors for childhood obesity.

Urgent development of evidence-based childhood obesity prevention strategies targeting these family-based lifestyle factors in these three crucial transition periods is needed. These prevention strategies need to be developed in strong collaboration with consumers and stakeholders to enable effective large-scale implementation.

The IISPV group URPNDH, Pediatrics, nutrition & human development research unit, lead by Dr. Escribano, is a member of the winning consortium EndObesity. The JPI HDHL EndObesity project will develop, implement and evaluate innovative, multi-disciplinary strategies for prevention of childhood obesity by targeting family-based lifestyle factors in the preconception period, pregnancy and earlychildhood, covering the first 1000 days of life. EndObesity includes transnational European experts from academia, municipal/governmental health care services, educational stakeholders, industry partners and parentchildhood organizations, and combines outstanding expertise in multiple areas of childhood obesity science and implementation.

URPNDH is a multidisciplinary research group that aims to carry out quality research, working closely with other research groups and the professionals responsible for clinical practice, and to help provide answers to common health problems currently affecting the pediatric population.

Its main research lines are part of the study into health problems related to nutrition, including obesity and celiac disease, and also the effect of infant feeding on their health and later development through “metabolic programming”.

Dra. Luque and Dra. Ferre, senior researchers in the group of. Dr. Escribano involved in EndObesity project, express their enthusiasm to continue working within an European Consortium to built child’s Health