Scientific research indicates that a minority of a baby’s health is determined by the genes and the majority is influenced by the environment in early life, which you can positively influence, of which nutrition is an essential part.
The right nutrition from pre-conception, pregnancy, infancy and through to toddlerhood, can have a profound impact on a child’s development and long-term health.
Nutrition is one of the most easily modified environmental factors during early childhood - and has been shown to strongly influence growth and development, as well as reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and allergy in later life.
This website contains information and modules for 'Continuing Professional Development' for health professionals, based on findings from two major EU-funded research programmes investigating the importance of early life nutrition.
These are designed to provide evidence-based information on the role of good early life nutrition to promote healthy foetal and infant development and help optimise health and wellbeing throughout childhood and into adult life.