Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

The concept of the early life developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) in adults has stimulated a new approach to understanding disease trajectories, with major public health implications. Indeed, the principle of the 'lifecourse of disease' now influences health policies internationally. Environmental influences during pregnancy and early life that affect lifelong health are well documented, but there is a new focus on the preconception period and the significance of paternal health on the fetus. This fully revised second edition highlights scientific and clinical advances in the field, exploring new understanding of mechanisms such as epigenetics and the increasingly recognised role of external influences, including pollution. The book is structured logically, covering environment, clinical outcomes, mechanisms of DOHaD, interventions throughout the lifespan and finally implications for public health and policy. Clinicians and scientists alike will improve their understanding of the developmental origins of health and disease with this essential text.

This landmark publication provides the first definitive account of how and why subtle influences on the fetus and during early life can have such profound consequences for adult health and diseases. Although the epidemiological evidence for this link has long proved compelling, it is only much more recently that the scientific and physiological basis for this has begun to be studied in depth and fully understood. This compilation, written by many of the world's leading experts in this exciting field, summarizes these scientific and clinical advances. The link between early development and the onset of many chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis, also raises important public health issues. Another fascinating theme in the book concerns evolutionary developmental biology and how the 'evo-devo' debate can cast light on these concepts. Clinicians and scientists alike will all learn a lot about this exciting and emerging field.