Human Growth and Development (Third Edition)

Nutritional, hormonal, and other aspects of the gestational and infancy environments have effects on biology and metabolism that persist into adulthood to influence risk for cardiovascular, metabolic and other diseases of aging. These effects are examples of developmental plasticity, which involves modified growth of organs and tissues and durable epigenetic changes that influence gene expression. In this chapter, we first review the evidence linking early environments to adult health, including discussion of underlying developmental and epigenetic mechanisms and their possible evolutionary function. We then explore the applicability of these principles to two public health problems: the rapid rise of chronic diseases in lower and middle income nations, and the persistent health disparities within societies that map onto social categories such as race or class. The developmental processes reviewed here show how buffering infants and pregnant women from social and nutritional stressors could help promote healthy aging in future generations.