Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 The developmental origins of health and disease: an overview
- 2 The ‘developmental origins’ hypothesis: epidemiology
- 3 The conceptual basis for the developmental origins of health and disease
- 4 The periconceptional and embryonic period
- 5 Epigenetic mechanisms
- 6 A mitochondrial component of developmental programming
- 7 Role of exposure to environmental chemicals in developmental origins of health and disease
- 8 Maternal nutrition and fetal growth and development
- 9 Placental mechanisms and developmental origins of health and disease
- 10 Control of fetal metabolism: relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
- 11 Lipid metabolism: relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
- 12 Prenatal hypoxia: relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
- 13 The fetal hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis: relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
- 14 Perinatal influences on the endocrine and metabolic axes during childhood
- 15 Patterns of growth: relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
- 16 The developmental environment and the endocrine pancreas
- 17 The developmental environment and insulin resistance
- 18 The developmental environment and the development of obesity
- 19 The developmental environment and its role in the metabolic syndrome
- 20 Programming the cardiovascular system
- 21 The role of vascular dysfunction in developmental origins of health and disease: evidence from human and animal studies
- 22 The developmental environment and atherogenesis
- 23 The developmental environment, renal function and disease
- 24 The developmental environment: effect on fluid and electrolyte homeostasis
- 25 The developmental environment: effects on lung structure and function
- 26 Developmental origins of asthma and related allergic disorders
- 27 The developmental environment: influences on subsequent cognitive function and behaviour
- 28 The developmental environment and the origins of neurological disorders
- 29 The developmental environment: clinical perspectives on effects on the musculoskeletal system
- 30 The developmental environment: experimental perspectives on skeletal development
- 31 The developmental environment and the early origins of cancer
- 32 The developmental environment: implications for ageing and life span
- 33 Developmental origins of health and disease: implications for primary intervention for cardiovascular and metabolic disease
- 34 Developmental origins of health and disease: public-health perspectives
- 35 Developmental origins of health and disease: implications for developing countries
- 36 Developmental origins of health and disease: ethical and social considerations
- 37 Past obstacles and future promise
- Index
- References
2 - The ‘developmental origins’ hypothesis: epidemiology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 The developmental origins of health and disease: an overview
- 2 The ‘developmental origins’ hypothesis: epidemiology
- 3 The conceptual basis for the developmental origins of health and disease
- 4 The periconceptional and embryonic period
- 5 Epigenetic mechanisms
- 6 A mitochondrial component of developmental programming
- 7 Role of exposure to environmental chemicals in developmental origins of health and disease
- 8 Maternal nutrition and fetal growth and development
- 9 Placental mechanisms and developmental origins of health and disease
- 10 Control of fetal metabolism: relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
- 11 Lipid metabolism: relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
- 12 Prenatal hypoxia: relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
- 13 The fetal hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis: relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
- 14 Perinatal influences on the endocrine and metabolic axes during childhood
- 15 Patterns of growth: relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
- 16 The developmental environment and the endocrine pancreas
- 17 The developmental environment and insulin resistance
- 18 The developmental environment and the development of obesity
- 19 The developmental environment and its role in the metabolic syndrome
- 20 Programming the cardiovascular system
- 21 The role of vascular dysfunction in developmental origins of health and disease: evidence from human and animal studies
- 22 The developmental environment and atherogenesis
- 23 The developmental environment, renal function and disease
- 24 The developmental environment: effect on fluid and electrolyte homeostasis
- 25 The developmental environment: effects on lung structure and function
- 26 Developmental origins of asthma and related allergic disorders
- 27 The developmental environment: influences on subsequent cognitive function and behaviour
- 28 The developmental environment and the origins of neurological disorders
- 29 The developmental environment: clinical perspectives on effects on the musculoskeletal system
- 30 The developmental environment: experimental perspectives on skeletal development
- 31 The developmental environment and the early origins of cancer
- 32 The developmental environment: implications for ageing and life span
- 33 Developmental origins of health and disease: implications for primary intervention for cardiovascular and metabolic disease
- 34 Developmental origins of health and disease: public-health perspectives
- 35 Developmental origins of health and disease: implications for developing countries
- 36 Developmental origins of health and disease: ethical and social considerations
- 37 Past obstacles and future promise
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Research worldwide has established that people who were small at birth and had poor growth in infancy have an increased risk of adult coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes, particularly if this is followed by increased childhood weight gain. There is also evidence linking impaired early growth with other degenerative disorders in later life, including stroke, hypertension, obesity, osteoporosis, obstructive airways disease, reduced cognitive function and poor mental health. The relations between smaller infant size and an increased risk of ill health and adult disease extend across the normal range of infant size in a graded manner. Moreover, recent animal studies and epidemiological data have demonstrated that while maternal thinness and unbalanced diet during pregnancy may have modest effects on size at birth, they are nonetheless associated with raised blood pressure and altered glucose–insulin metabolism and stress responsiveness in the adult offspring. It is now clear that the associations do not simply reflect genetic influences; rather the findings indicate that interactions between the genetic influences and the early-life environment determine disease and susceptibility to adverse influences in the adult environment.
The observations have led to the hypothesis that cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and obstructive airways disease originate through developmental plastic responses made by the fetus and infant as part of a prediction of the subsequent environment to which it anticipates that it will be exposed.
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- Information
- Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , pp. 6 - 32Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
References
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