Improved nutrition and hygiene are associated with beneficial changes in stress and epigenetic programming in children

We are becoming increasingly aware of how environmental factors influence children’s early development and health trajectories. We primarily learn directly how ambient conditions, such as air pollution or lack of nutritious food, affect the function of genes and what diseases we may develop over time. I learned this through observational research.

But a new study led by global health researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz provides the clearest and most comprehensive evidence to date about what is known about stress physiology and “epigenetic programming.” Some are provided.

In a large randomized controlled trial conducted in rural Bangladesh, researchers found that an integrated intervention that included drinking water, sanitation, handwashing, and nutrition improved the set point and reactivity of the physiological stress system in early childhood. , was found to affect accommodation.

The survey results are nature communicationsIn this article, we will detail how the health interventions had measurable effects at the genetic level in the children studied, including strengthening the stress response system, reducing oxidative stress in the body, and reducing DNA methylation levels. states.

Oxidative stress can damage cells, proteins, and DNA, contribute to aging, and can lead to diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. Methylation is a chemical modification of DNA or other molecules that is often caused by environmental conditions that can persist during cell division.

Rigorous research design

The study is the latest in a series of findings from a large-scale, ground-breaking study in Bangladesh that looked at more than 5,500 pregnant women and the children they gave birth to. Women were placed in her 720 study cluster and assigned to her one of seven groups.

Participants in four of the groups received either clean drinking water, sanitation facilities, hand-washing stations, or nutritional counseling and nutritional supplements. The remaining three groups received water/hygiene/handwashing, a combined water/hygiene/handwashing/nutrition intervention, or no intervention at all (control group).

The researchers said the design and scale of their study, known as the “WASH Benefits Bangladesh” trial, resulted in more scientifically rigorous results than most stress physiology and epigenetic studies conducted to date. ing. Intervention and control groups for comparison.

Audrey Lin, who started at UC Santa Cruz as an assistant professor of microbiology and environmental toxicology in July 2023, said, “Here we see differences in outcomes between the intervention and control groups, but neither It’s also quite large,” he said.

“When we started launching the WASH Benefits Trial in 2009, its scale was unprecedented in health and nutrition research.”

global relevance

Additionally, this study was conducted in a resource-poor region, making it more relevant on a global scale. Much of the previous research has been conducted in high-income countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, where access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities is relatively high compared to other countries around the world.

“This is exactly the situation that the majority of the world’s population faces,” said Scott, who lived in Bangladesh and Kenya for six years to help set up WASH trials and train teams in the field. Lin said.

“When this kind of research is done in high-income countries, we don’t get an accurate picture of all the important stressors that can affect children.”

This study also differs from other literature in that it used physical interventions to improve young children’s stress physiology in low-resource settings, rather than psychosocial measures such as behavioral therapy or parent coaching. It’s about being there.

By introducing safe drinking water, nutrition, sanitation, hygiene and nutrition improvements, and showing exactly when and how they change children’s physiology, these measures can be seen by governments as psychosocial interventions. It may be easier to introduce than

Still, Lin said the improvements reported by the team show that physical interventions are comparable to the impact of psychosocial measures. “The magnitude of the effects of this environmental and nutritional intervention on cortisol production is within the range of intervention effects of psychosocial interventions that have been reported in early childhood,” the study authors wrote in their paper. writing.

Lin explained that even greater health benefits could be achieved by combining these physical and psychosocial interventions.

Continuation of research

The WASH Benefits trial enrolled its first participant in 2012, and researchers continue to monitor participants. The hope is that this trial will develop into a longitudinal study that will allow researchers to see the downstream effects of physiological changes caused by interventions introduced during the first two years of life.

“We often hear that what happens in the womb can have a lifelong impact, especially when it comes to health and the development of certain diseases,” Lin says.

“The experimental design of this trial serves as a powerful platform for finding associations between our early interventions and the health outcomes of our study participants.”

Lin will be teaching her first course on research methodology at UC Santa Cruz in the fall. The research will be housed in the university’s Department of Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology and will be incorporated as part of the interdisciplinary Global and Community Health Program.