Fetal origins hypothesis
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Fetal origins hypothesis
The fetal origins hypothesis proposes that the period of gestation has significant impacts on the health and wellbeing developmental outcomes for an individual ranging from infancy to adulthood. The effects of fetal origin are marked by three characteristics: latency, wherein effects may not be apparent until much later in life; persistency, whereby conditions resulting from a fetal effect continue to exist for a given individual; and genetic programming, which describes the 'switching on' of a specific gene due to prenatal environment.[1] Research in the areas of economics, epidemiology, and epigenetics offer support for the hypothesis[2].
Background
The fetus was once believed to be a "perfect parasite,"[3] immune to harmful environmental toxins passed from the mother via the placenta. Stemming from this belief, pregnant women of the early to mid 20th century freely drank alcohol, ingested medications, smoked cigarettes, and were largely ignorant of any nutritional needs for a developing fetus. This easy going attitude about pregnancy was challenged, however, by findings relating substances ingested by a mother to tragic outcomes for a fetus. The birth defects crisis due to the medication thalidomide in the 1960s, where thousands of children were born with defects ranging from brain damage to truncated and missing arms and legs is an example of a seemingly miracle medication (supposed to prevent morning sickness) instead had disastrous consequences. [4] Similarly, in 1971, a drug known as DES, diethylstilbestrol, when taken by a pregnant woman, was found to be causing clear-cell aadenocarcinoma, an incredibly rare vaginal cancer, in young girls when it was traditionally only found to affect those of post-menopausal age.[2] This finding, in particular, demonstrates that events occurring during gestation are capable of impacting future health into adulthood. It wasn't until 1973 that fetal alcohol syndrome was first formally diagnosed, and not until 1989 that the United States government began requiring warning labels directed at pregnant women to be in place on all alcoholic beverages for sale.[2] Since
Barker's Hypothesis
Thrifty Phenotype
Economic support
Epidemiological support
Epigenetics support
"The long-vaunted distinction between nature and nurture is therefore “outdated and unhelpful”, says Janet Currie of Princeton University’s Centre for Health and Child Wellbeing. Poor nurture during pregnancy can worsen the hand that nature has dealt."[5]
Criticism of theory
Implications for intervention
Future research
See also
References
- ^ Almond, Douglas; Currie, Janet (2011). "Killing Me Softly: The Fetal Origins Hypothesis". The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 25 (3): 153–172.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ a b c Paul, Annie Murphy (2011). Origins : how the nine months before birth shape the rest of our lives (1st Free Press trade pbk. ed. ed.). New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-0743296632.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help) - ^ al.], Zena Stein ... [et (1975). Famine and human development : the Dutch hunger winter of 1944-1945. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195018110.
- ^ Fintel, Bara; Samaras, Athena T.; Carias, Edson. "THE THALIDOMIDE TRAGEDY: LESSONS FOR DRUG SAFETY AND REGULATION". Helix. Northwestern University. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
- ^ "Unequal beginnings". The Economist. 4 April 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015.