Dr. Alejandra Cantoral Preciado joins the One Health initiative of the Maternal and Child Observatory (OMI) by developing a research line focused on the intersection between environment, nutrition, and maternal and child health. Her work contributes to scientific evidence on how environmental pollutants and dietary determinants influence human development.

Through longitudinal studies within Mexican cohorts, she has documented the effects of prenatal and postnatal exposure to heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and cadmium, as well as endocrine disruptors (including phthalates and bisphenols) and fluorides, on various health outcomes such as growth, adiposity, neurocognitive function, and child metabolic health.

Her work integrates the assessment of environmental risks with the analysis of nutritional and socioeconomic factors, highlighting the importance of the prenatal stage and early years of life as critical windows for metabolic programming and long-term well-being.

From a One Health perspective, these studies transcend the clinical-nutritional scope by linking human health, environmental health, and food systems through an interdisciplinary approach that brings together environmental epidemiology, population nutrition, and health policy, among others.