Nutritional programming of brain development and function: can it protect against early-life stress induced (accelerated) cognitive decline?

During the postnatal phase exposure to stress can persistently impact brain structure and function and has been associated with later life cognitive decline. During this sensitive developmental period, nutrients are essential for the brain. In this project we study the role of nutrition on the programming of the brain by early-stress and if nutrition early in life can protect against the lasting impacts thereof. We investigate in a (pre)clinical setting if stress alters breastmilk composition and if and how nutritional intervention protect agains the detrimental effects of early-life stress.