From Early Diet to Immune Phenotype: Childhood Nutrition and Immunometabolic Programming Across the Life Course—A Scoping Review
7 affiliations
- 1Doctoral School, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timișoara, Romania
- 2First Pediatric Clinic, Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timișoara, Romania
- 3Research Center for Growth and Development Disorders in Children (CREDE), 300041 Timișoara, Romania
- 4Louis Țurcanu Emergency Clinical Hospital for Children, 300041 Timișoara, Romania
- 5Department of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy ‘Vasile Goldis’, 310414 Arad, Romania
- 6Multidisciplinary Center of Research, Evaluation, Diagnosis and Therapies in Oral Medicine, Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timișoara, Romania
- 7Clinic of Oral Pathology, Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timișoara, Romania
Abstract
Childhood diet may shape immune and inflammatory trajectories through interacting metabolic, microbial, and developmental pathways, but the long-term human evidence remains heterogeneous. This scoping review mapped longitudinal studies examining dietary exposures from birth to 18 years in relation to subsequent immune, inflammatory, allergic, autoimmune, gastrointestinal, immunometabolic, hepatic, neurocognitive, and endocrine–immunometabolic outcomes. The review was conducted in accordance with Joanna Briggs Institute guidance and reported according to PRISMA-ScR principles. A total of 403 studies were included. Evidence was concentrated in infancy and early childhood and predominantly addressed allergic and atopic outcomes; evidence on other immunological outcomes and on middle childhood and adolescence was more limited. Thirty studies provided relatively direct immunometabolic evidence, 149 contributed mechanistically indirect evidence, and 224 primarily reported longitudinal clinical diet–outcome associations. The principal mechanistic axes involved allergic sensitization and immune tolerance, lipid and fatty-acid metabolism, micronutrient and antioxidant pathways, cytokine signaling, gut microbiome and metabolite pathways, and human-milk-derived bioactive signals. Dietary diversity and overall diet quality intersected with several of these pathways. Associations were frequently context-dependent, varying according to developmental timing, host susceptibility, genetic background, immune state, and feeding context. Mechanistic interpretation rests on convergence across complementary studies rather than on complete pathways demonstrated within individual cohorts. Overall, the evidence is compatible with a proposed life-course nutritional immunology framework in which childhood diet acts as a dynamic developmental exposure interacting with microbial, metabolic, and immune processes; however, this framework derives mainly from early-life exposures and allergic and atopic outcomes, and the persistence of effects beyond early childhood remains insufficiently demonstrated. Limitations include restriction to English-language publications, marked methodological heterogeneity, residual confounding, and the absence of a formal risk-of-bias assessment.
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BibTeX
@article{cristun2026from,
title = {{From Early Diet to Immune Phenotype: Childhood Nutrition and Immunometabolic Programming Across the Life Course—A Scoping Review}},
author = {Lucian-Ioan Cristun and Otilia Mărginean and Iulius Jugănaru and Raluca-Nicoleta Vasilescu and Niculina Mang and Andrei-Ioan Munteanu and Delia-Maria Nicoară and Meda Ada Bugi and Andrei Păun and Alexandra-Diana Cheleș and Laura Cristina Rusu},
journal = {Nutrients},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3390/nu18213706},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3706},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - From Early Diet to Immune Phenotype: Childhood Nutrition and Immunometabolic Programming Across the Life Course—A Scoping Review
AU - Lucian-Ioan Cristun
AU - Otilia Mărginean
AU - Iulius Jugănaru
AU - Raluca-Nicoleta Vasilescu
AU - Niculina Mang
AU - Andrei-Ioan Munteanu
AU - Delia-Maria Nicoară
AU - Meda Ada Bugi
AU - Andrei Păun
AU - Alexandra-Diana Cheleș
AU - Laura Cristina Rusu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/08
JO - Nutrients
DO - 10.3390/nu18213706
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3706
AB - Childhood diet may shape immune and inflammatory trajectories through interacting metabolic, microbial, and developmental pathways, but the long-term human evidence remains heterogeneous. This scoping review mapped longitudinal studies examining dietary exposures from birth to 18 years in relation to subsequent immune, inflammatory, allergic, autoimmune, gastrointestinal, immunometabolic, hepatic, neurocognitive, and endocrine–immunometabolic outcomes. The review was conducted in accordance with Joanna Briggs Institute guidance and reported according to PRISMA-ScR principles. A total of 403 studies were included. Evidence was concentrated in infancy and early childhood and predominantly addressed allergic and atopic outcomes; evidence on other immunological outcomes and on middle childhood and adolescence was more limited. Thirty studies provided relatively direct immunometabolic evidence, 149 contributed mechanistically indirect evidence, and 224 primarily reported longitudinal clinical diet–outcome associations. The principal mechanistic axes involved allergic sensitization and immune tolerance, lipid and fatty-acid metabolism, micronutrient and antioxidant pathways, cytokine signaling, gut microbiome and metabolite pathways, and human-milk-derived bioactive signals. Dietary diversity and overall diet quality intersected with several of these pathways. Associations were frequently context-dependent, varying according to developmental timing, host susceptibility, genetic background, immune state, and feeding context. Mechanistic interpretation rests on convergence across complementary studies rather than on complete pathways demonstrated within individual cohorts. Overall, the evidence is compatible with a proposed life-course nutritional immunology framework in which childhood diet acts as a dynamic developmental exposure interacting with microbial, metabolic, and immune processes; however, this framework derives mainly from early-life exposures and allergic and atopic outcomes, and the persistence of effects beyond early childhood remains insufficiently demonstrated. Limitations include restriction to English-language publications, marked methodological heterogeneity, residual confounding, and the absence of a formal risk-of-bias assessment.
SN - 2072-6643
ER -