ABSTRACT

The first 1,000 days of life is a critical window of development, determining susceptibility to adult obesity and cardiometabolic health. Environmental insults during this rapid development phase may result in irreversible adverse outcomes. Animal and human studies provide evidence for the fetal origins of adult non-communicable disease hypothesis. Fetal nutrition is a more important programming stimulus affecting fetal growth than birth weight. Birth weight may be an intermediate, rather than a primary indicator of the relationship between fetal growth and adult disease. A clear definition of catch-up growth is needed to differentiate between the effects of growth periods on adult disease. Epidemiologists from a variety of fields have challenged the fetal origins of disease hypothesis. Low birth weight is not associated with adult chronic disease risk in all studies. Cardiovascular diseases are related to both low birth weight and poor adulthood socioeconomic circumstances.