Around 40% of the EU population suffers from a mental disorder. Healthy development can be derailed by excessive or prolonged activation of stress response systems in the body and brain during fetal life. Such toxic stress exposure can have damaging effects on learning, behavior, and mental health across the lifespan. Our ERA-NET consortium (Project EMBED) focuses on two cohorts (offspring of obese or stressed mothers), aiming to address specific questions on mental health risk factors. This might be then used in the clinic for disease prevention and health promotion during pregnancy.

Our hypothesis is that maternal obesity and inadequate nutrition during prenatal life can trigger similar responses to maternal stress, altering developmental trajectories and increasing the risk for mental health in adulthood. These adverse experiences can increase the likelihood of developmental delays and later health problems.

Our consortium analyzes epigenetic modifications from the abovementioned cohorts, assessing whether common biological signals characterize early exposure to metabolic and psychological stress, affecting the long-lasting expression and methylation of genes involved in depression, obesity, and immune-metabolic function. We propose to use the ALSPAC data to compare and validate the findings from our consortium-generated data, in a larger/complementary context.