Resource allocation in utero and health in later life.
The way that a fetus obtains and allocates nutritional resources has profound consequences for its life-long health. Under the new developmental model for the origins of chronic disease, the causes to be identified are linked to normal variations in the processes of feto-placental development, that are associated with differences in the supply of nutrients to the baby. These differences programme the function of a few key systems that are linked to chronic disease, including the immune system, anti-oxidant defences, inflammation, and the number and quality of stem cells. There is not a separate cause for each different disease. Which chronic disease originates during development may depend more on timing than on qualitative differences in experience.
Medical School, University of Southampton, UK. djpbarker@gmail.com
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Barker
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Lampl
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Roseboom
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Winder
D001724:Birth Weight; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D009929:Organ Size; D010920:Placenta / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D039401:Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000208:ethnology; D012737:Sex Factors