1000 Days: A Legacy of Life

About this episode

<p>Imagine if your health as an adult is partly determined by the nutrition and environment you were exposed to during a critical period of development - the first 1000 days of life. </p><p>A strong body of scientific evidence supports this explosive idea, and is gradually turning medical thinking on its head. </p><p>To understand the cause of chronic adult disease, including ageing, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity and lung problems we need to look much further back than adult lifestyle – but to the first 1000 days.</p><p>Dr Mark Porter investigates this influential idea and meets the world experts leading this burgeoning field of research. </p><p>He talks to David Barker, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Southampton and the man behind the Barker Theory. </p><p>This links the risk of developing illnesses in adult life to poor nutrition in the womb – typically evident when a baby is born underweight. </p><p>Low birth weight is associated with a number of long term health problems in adults, ranging from osteoporosis to stroke. </p><p>Chronic disease may be expressions of key developments in the womb. "That does not mean you are doomed, it means you are vulnerable" explains Professor David Barker.</p><p>Researchers have studied the Dutch Famine or 'Hunger Winter' at the end of the World War II where babies developing in the womb were exposed to severe conditions. </p><p>Nearly 70 years later, Tessa Roseboom, a researcher at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, has found long term health risks for Dutch adults who were in the womb during that difficult winter.</p><p>In recognising the long term impact of events during these early critical phases of development, the medical profession could dramatically change its approach to disease prevention.</p>