Why Obesity in Parents Matters -- Maternal obesity during pregnancy and cardio-metabolic development in the offspring -- Maternal obesity and gestational weight gain as determinants of long-term health -- Young maternal age, body composition and gestational intake impact pregnancy outcome: translational perspectives -- Maternal obesity and programming of the early embryo -- Paternal Obesity and Programming of Offspring Health -- The impact of maternal obesity and weight loss during the periconceptional period on offspring metabolism -- Mechanisms linking maternal obesity to offspring metabolic health -- The effect of maternal overnutrition on reward and anxiety in offspring -- The Implications of Maternal Obesity on Offspring Physiology and Behavior in the Non-human Primate -- The Impact of Maternal Obesity on Offspring Obesity via Programmed Adipogenesis and Appetite -- Developmental programming of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) -- Maternal Metabolic State and Cancer Risk: An Evolving Manifestation of Generational Impact -- The influence of maternal obesity on offspring cardiovascular control and insights from rodent models -- Maternal obesity effects on the risk of allergic diseases in offspring -- Epigenetic mechanisms of maternal obesity effects on the descendants -- Early microbe contact in defining child metabolic health and obesity risk.

In this book, leading figures in the field of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease provide up-to-date information from human clinical trials, cohorts, and animal physiology experiments to reveal the interdependence between parental obesity and health of the offspring. Obesity of the mother and father produces obesity in their offspring, so we are caught up in an intergenerational cycle, which means that even our children�s future health is in peril. This book gives a timely and much-needed synthesis of the mechanisms, potential targets of future interventions, and the challenges that need to be overcome in order to break the intergenerational cycle of obesity. This has profound implications for the way in which scientific, clinical and health policy activities are to be directed in order to combat the so-called epidemic of obesity, as well as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. The book will be of interest to students, clinicians, researchers and health policy makers who are either seeking an introduction to the area of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease or have a specific interest in the pathogenesis of obesity.