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Early Roots of Childhood Obesity: Risk Factors, Mechanisms, and Prevention Strategies
Giuseppina Rosaria Umano, Simonetta Bellone, Raffaele Buganza, Valeria Calcaterra, Domenico Corica, Luisa DE SANCTIS, Anna Di Sessa, Maria Felicia Faienza et al.. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2025-07-30
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Childhood obesity is a growing global health concern, with established links to physical activity, nutrition, and, increasingly, to prenatal and perinatal factors. Emerging evidence highlights the significant role of maternal conditions such as obesity, comorbidities, nutrition, and environmental exposures in predisposing offspring to long-term metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. The "Developmental Origins of Health and Disease" (DOHaD) paradigm provides a framework for understanding how early life environmental exposures, particularly during the periconceptional, fetal, and neonatal periods, can program future health outcomes through epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetic modifications alter gene expression without changing the DNA sequence and are increasingly recognized as key mediators in the development of obesity. This narrative review summarizes current findings on the early determinants of childhood obesity, emphasizing the molecular and epigenetic pathways involved. A comprehensive literature search was conducted across multiple databases and international sources, focusing on recent studies from the past decade. Both human and animal research were included to provide a broad perspective. This review aims to consolidate recent insights into early life influences on obesity, underscoring the need for preventive strategies starting as early as the preconception period.
Key findings
- Emerging evidence highlights the significant role of maternal conditions such as obesity, comorbidities, nutrition, and environmental exposures in predisposing offspring to long-term metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.
Why it matters
This review is about childhood obesity, not Alzheimer's disease, and it reports no findings on dementia treatment, cure or prevention. It only describes how maternal conditions and early-life exposures may program later metabolic and cardiovascular disease.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Prevention →
Study details
- Study designnarrative review
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 48/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (International Journal of Molecular Sciences) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | International Journal of Molecular Sciences: journal h-index 426 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | Design recorded as “narrative review”, which our rubric does not rank (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 3 / 7 | Cited 26 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 8.7 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025 |
| Impact for its field and year | 5 / 6 | Cited 36.6× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 26 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Maria Elisabeth Street: h-index 39 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | University of Pavia: institution h-index 809 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 3 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 15 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40806516) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 48 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.3390/ijms26157388
- PubMed: 40806516
- Original source →
- Free full text: International Journal of Molecular Sciences →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Umano, G. R., Bellone, S., Buganza, R., Calcaterra, V., Corica, D., DE SANCTIS, L., et al. (2025). Early Roots of Childhood Obesity: Risk Factors, Mechanisms, and Prevention Strategies. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26157388
Vancouver
Umano GR, Bellone S, Buganza R, Calcaterra V, Corica D, DE SANCTIS L, et al. Early Roots of Childhood Obesity: Risk Factors, Mechanisms, and Prevention Strategies. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2025. doi:10.3390/ijms26157388. PMID: 40806516.
BibTeX
@article{umano2025-40806516,
author = {Umano, Giuseppina Rosaria and Bellone, Simonetta and Buganza, Raffaele and Calcaterra, Valeria and Corica, Domenico and DE SANCTIS, Luisa and Di Sessa, Anna and Faienza, Maria Felicia and others},
title = {{Early Roots of Childhood Obesity: Risk Factors, Mechanisms, and Prevention Strategies}},
journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.3390/ijms26157388},
pmid = {40806516},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26157388}
}
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