Fetal Origins of Adult Disease

The book consists of seven sections that will describe the role of early life events in determining long-term health outcomes and the mechanisms proposed to account for these effects. The first section describes the normal process of pregnancy and birth, the mechanisms driving parturition, and the essential prenatal and post natal requirements for optimal fetal development. This is followed by a chapter on the role of genetic versus epigenetic factors. Subsequent sections will describe programming effects on essential physiological systems known to be affected by pre-/post-natal factors. In each section an introductory chapter will describe basic findings and subsequent chapters will describe relevance in terms of human disease. A final section will address the way forward in terms of research and the development of optimal animal models to continue the research into this growing area of interest, and the clinical implications of these findings and health practice recommendations.