XII. Human Milk in Feeding Premature Infants

implications for the HPA axis (i.e., SLC6A4, that is gene encoding serotonin transporter).For example, in adults it has been documented a significant positive correlations between twin-twin differences in adiposity and DNA methylation at SLC6A4 in peripheral blood leukocytes (12).Furthermore, a study has documented that pain-related stress in NICU is associated with methylation status at SLC6A4 (13).These results suggest a new area of research in prematurity, that is exploring developmental and feeding behavior problems of preterm infants via epigenetics mechanisms, namely Preterm Behavioral Epigenetics (PBE) (6).In addition to the direct pathways through which early nutrition might affect risk of eating disorders, it would be interesting analyzing the interplay between early nutrition and stress in determining the epigenetic variations associated with feeding behavior problems.