Assessing the public health impact of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) nutrition interventions

Abstract

© 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel. Investing in the maternal and early-infancy periods (the first 1,000 days, i.e. from -1 to +2 years) is presently acknowledged as a key priority to ensure good nutrition and prevent all forms of malnutrition. The concept is to invest during this period to maximize the human development potential, and the early-life agenda includes prevention of stunting and promotion of optimal brain development as well as ensuring the quality of life of those who survive. Thus, public health assessments of specific interventions need to go beyond the traditional indices of prevention of death and disease. We need to consider including a full range of outcomes such as disability-adjusted life years (DALY) and quality-adjusted life years (QALY) and not only the number of deaths. The long-term outcomes of maternal and infant interventions to prevent obesity and related noncommunicable diseases remain uncertain in terms of their biological impact even under ideal conditions (ef