Our primary objective for the study is to clinically and metabolically phenotype parents and their offspring to identify risk factors for obesity, T2D, and cardiometabolic risk in childhood and adolescence in a prospective birth cohort by reporting:~Maternal and/or paternal factors including anthropometrics, metabolic parameters, HNF1a genotype, lifestyle (diet and physical activity), and socioeconomic environment.~Infant factors including anthropometrics, early infant nutrition, and metabolism.~Secondary Objectives:~To evaluate if children born to mothers with T2D prior o pregnancy are at increased risk of obesity and T2D.~To determine the modifiable risk factors which contribute to the increased risk of obesity and T2D.~To evaluate the differential risk between mothers and fathers with T2D in terms of somatic and genetic contributions to risk compared to intrauterine environmental contributions to risk.~To plan a large-scale, randomized, controlled community-based breastfeeding intervention with intensive breastfeeding counseling and support for the prevention of T2D development in offspring of mothers or fathers with youth onset T2D.~To explore potential new research questions and feasibility studies for epigenetic studies using cord blood under the umbrella of the new research theme on T2D at the Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba.
The overall aim of this project is to understand the independent roles of maternal factors, intrauterine exposures, genetic factors, and postnatal environment on the development of obesity and youth-onset type 2 diabetes (T2D) in childhood.