RESEARCH FOCUS
FETAL PROGRAMMING
“You are what you eat” is probably a familiar and overused phrase. What about "you are what your mother eats"?
Growing evidence has shown that maternal diet during pregnancy plays an important role in influencing not only birth outcomes, but also lifelong health of the offspring. This is widely known as "Developmental Origins of Health and Diseases (DOHaD)".
CHILDHOOD OBESITY
A big part of my research aims to tackle the global epidemic of childhood obesity through identifying early life nutrition solutions. Once an obese child myself, I understand that multiple factors contribute to childhood obesity, but optimizing early life nutrition is vital to reduce its risk.
CHRONO-NUTRITION
Emerging evidence has shown that timing of dietary intake is an important determinant of health. This will be a new research focus of Chen's lab, where we will investigate the influence of dietary timing on various health outcomes.