Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

At first glance, it may seem implausible that your mother's exposure to stress or toxins while she was pregnant with you, how she fed you when you were an infant, or how fast you grew during childhood can determine your risk for chronic disease as an adult. Mounting evidence, however, indicates that events occurring in the earliest stages of human development — even before birth — may influence the occurrence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma, cancers, osteoporosis, and neuropsychiatric disorders.More than 40 years ago, Widdowson and McCance¹ discovered that rat pups that were undernourished during the three weeks of . . .