Prenatal exposure to famine can lead to changes in the embryo’s genes that may affect the adult person’s health into midlife, according to researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Their findings show a trickle-down effect from pregnant women to the DNA of their unborn children and the timeframe over which such early damage can operate.

Previous studies have suggested that adult disease risk may be associated with unsuitable or adverse environmental conditions early in development. The data for this study are first to show that early-life environmental conditions can cause what are called epigenetic (epi= “on” + genetic) changes in humans that persist throughout life.

In Holland in 1944-45 during World War II a food embargo led to famine. Research indicates that children conceived during the Dutch Hunger Winter experienced detrimental health effects six decades later. Pre-natal exposure to the famine has been associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in later life.

Separate, related studies suggest possible associations of specific pre-natal nutritional imbalances and even of maternal over-nutrition with other health conditions including cancer.