Prenatal and Postnatal Milk Supplementation and Adult Insulin-like Growth Factor I: Long-term Follow-up of a Randomized Controlled Trial
- 1Department of Social Medicine and 2Department of Surgery, Bristol Royal Infirmary, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; and 3Department of Child Health, University College of Wales, Cardiff, United Kingdom
- Requests for reprints:
Yoav Ben-Shlomo, Department of Social Medicine, Canynge Hall, University of Bristol, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2PR, United Kingdom. Phone: 0044-117-928-7206; Fax: 0044-117-928-7325. E-mail: y.ben-shlomo{at}bristol.ac.uk
Abstract
Objective: Insulin-like growth factors (IGF) are increasingly recognized as important determinants of adult health, in particular risk of certain cancers. However, little is known about the determinants of adult IGFs and to what degree they may be programmed by early life influences.
Design: Randomized controlled trial of prenatal and postnatal milk supplementation among 951 subjects born in 1972 to 1974 in South Wales.
Main outcome measure: Measures of IGF-I, IGF binding protein 3, and the molar ratio.
Results: Data on adult IGFs were available from 663 subjects at a mean age of 25 years. Subjects in the intervention arm had lower IGF-I (−8.5 ng/mL; 95% confidence interval, −15.1 to −1.8, P = 0.01) and ratio (−1.20; 95% confidence interval, −2.33 to −0.04, P = 0.04). These differences could not be explained by follow-up bias or confounding factors.
Conclusions: These results provide experimental data on the role of early life programming either in the intrauterine or postnatal period that may have long-term influences on the IGF axis, with potential implications for disease risk.
Footnotes
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
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Note: No conflict of interest. YBS had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.
Contributors: DPD was involved in the design and running of the original Barry Caerphilly Growth trial. GDS, YBS, and DPD conceived the follow-up study. YBS, GDS, DPD, and A McC designed and A McC ran the follow-up study with supervision from YBS, GDS, and DPD. JH and PS supervised and undertook the laboratory assays. YBS undertook the statistical analysis and drafted the first version of the article. All authors commented and helped redraft the final version.
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- Accepted February 2, 1905.
- Received December 15, 1904.
- Revision received January 10, 1905.
