Mother's Body Size and Placental Size Predict Heart Disease in Men

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110601204044.htm

ScienceDaily (June 2, 2011) — Researchers investigating the fetal origins of chronic disease have discovered that combinations of a mother's body size and the shape and size of her baby's placenta can predict heart disease in men in later life. The research is published online June 1 in the European Heart Journal.

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placental growth depends on the structure and function of the mother's uterine wall, which is established during her own fetal life. Therefore, her own fetal experience necessarily affects placentation in her offspring. Fetal growth depends on the availability of nutrients. Restricted placental growth may, paradoxically, have a greater effect in babies who are growing rapidly because their mothers are well-nourished. We think that these babies were able to grow rapidly at first, but the small placenta started to restrict their growth mid-gestation, so that by the time they were born, they were under-nourished."

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Prof Barker says that this research is further evidence of the long-term effect of fetal development. "Chronic disease is the product of a mother's lifetime nutrition and the early growth of her child. It is not simply a consequence of poor lifestyles in later life. Rather it is a result of variations in the normal processes of human development.

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