SEED

SEED - Stress, Eating, and Early Development Study

The Stress, Eating, and Early Development (SEED) Study examines the effects of prenatal stress and maternal weight gain on offspring mental and physical health. SEED has enrolled 180 women, recruited from the Maternal Adiposity, Metabolism, and Stress (MAMAS) study, a controlled trial of a mindfulness-based small-group intervention to reduce stress and prevent excess weight gain during pregnancy.

Environmental influences during the first years of life, beginning in the womb, are strong determinants for later life health. Accumulating evidence from prenatal programming and developmental research shows how early life stress and poor nutrition can affect health across the life course. We examine how offspring body composition, temperament, emotion regulation, and executive function develop over the first four years of life, and whether those babies born to women in the intervention group develop more optimally than those born to women from a "treatment as usual" group.

The SEED team has recently completed the third wave of assessments with children aged 18 months and is beginning to see participants for the fourth wave. Results from the study are just emerging--stay tuned for updates on findings and publications!

http://bushlab.ucsf.edu/seed-stress-eating-and-early-development-study