Fetal Programming
There may be life long health benefits from changing the environment in the womb:
Studies have shown that poorer uterine environments can increase the risk of many diseases in adulthood, including coronary heart disease, breast cancer and diabetes. Besides helping to set our body’s metabolism, conditions in the womb also can program hormone-production levels and how well some organs, like the liver, will work later in life, says Dr. Barker, a pioneer in the field of fetal programming.
See WSJ article on changing the environment in the womb.
Sounds like more ways to spend more health care dollars.
Interesting science. I wonder how long until things like this will increase the average life expectancy up to 100 or 150 years.
Yep, The best thing you can do for your health is make sure you are conceived by a young, healthy, intelligent, well-educated mother who is bathed in the lap of luxury.
The Dutch Famine Birth Cohort Study followed birth results for people exposed to “undernutrition” in utero in Amsterdam from October 1943 to February 1947. From November 1944 to May 1945 rations were as low as 400-800 calories a day.
As adults, people who were inutero during the Hungerwinter appear to be more likely to be diabetic, more likely to have pulmonary disease, and more likely to have coronary heart disease. Women were more likely to be obese and more likely to develop breast cancer.
It looks like the Dutch results are what the first sentence of the quote refers to.