ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the evidence supporting the crucial role that fetal and early life exposures have on the long-term risk for chronic diseases, especially obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. It discusses specific modifiable exposures in key periods of growth and development, and highlights promising opportunities to break the vicious cycle. The rapidly increasing burden of non-communicable diseases among youth at increasingly younger ages suggests that early life exposures have long-term implications for health. Intrauterine exposure to maternal nutritional deficiencies, obesity, diabetes, smoking, and environmental chemicals are associated with an increased risk of chronic disease among offspring. As exposed offspring who show signs of chronic disease enter their reproductive years, a vicious cycle may be set in motion. Effective prevention strategies that can slow the transmission of chronic disease across generations are urgently needed. Emerging evidence strongly suggests that exposure to several pollutants during critical periods may alter neuroendocrine responses and increase the risk of obesity, metabolic, neurocognitive, and respiratory outcomes.
