It has been recognised for over seventy years that the early environment in which a child grows could have long-term effects on its health.1 This was suggested based on observations in England, Scotland and Sweden that death rates in specific age groups at any time depended more upon the date of birth of individuals than upon the year under consideration.1 Further support came from a study by Forsdahl et al looking at geographical variations in current death rates from arteriosclerotic heart disease in Norway.2 This showed that there was a significant positive correlation between these current death rates and geographical variations in past infant mortality rates. No such relationship was observed with current infant mortality rates2. It was subsequently shown that the geographical pattern of mortality from cardiovascular disease in England and Wales was related to maternal and neonatal mortality earlier in the century.3 This was suggested to reflect a relationship between poor nutrition in fetal and early life, and cardiovascular disease.
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Ozanne, S.E. (2009). The Long Term Effects of Early Postnatal Diet on Adult Health. In: Goldberg, G., Prentice, A., Prentice, A., Filteau, S., Simondon, K. (eds) Breast-Feeding: Early Influences on Later Health. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 639. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8749-3_11
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