BACKGROUND Undernutrition during critical periods of growth and development may permanently affect lung physiology and function. OBJECTIVES To investigate whether acute undernutrition in childhood or young adulthood increases the risk of later hospitalization for obstructive airways disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or asthma. METHODS We studied 7,841 women from Prospec...

The developmental origins hypothesis postulates that under-nutrition in the early stage of life is associated with an increased risk of disease in adulthood. This study aimed to examine the association of exposure to the Chinese famine of 1959 to 1961 in early life with the risk of arthritis in adulthood.From July to September 2009, the study adopted multistage stratified random sampling cross-...

BACKGROUND Prenatal exposure to the Dutch famine is associated with an increased risk of chronic degenerative disease. We now investigate whether prenatal famine exposure affected reproductive success. METHODS We assessed reproductive success (number of children, number of twins, age at delivery, childlessness) of men and women born around the time of the Dutch famine of 1944-1945 in the Wilh...

Aims The developmental origins hypothesis proposes that undernutrition during foetal life, infancy, or childhood is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. As data on postnatal developmental programming are scarce, we investigated whether exposure to undernutrition during childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood is related to coronary heart disease (CHD) and ...

This article offers a brief summary of the complex factors leading to famine in Bengal 1940s and discusses its longer-term impacts—the afterlife, so speak—of famine. episode starvation claimed as many five million lives Bengal, had long lasting social, political, economic consequences. Several different paradigms emerged that impacted socio-political landscape midst Famine studies often focus o...

Dietary energy restriction may protect against cancer. In parts of The Netherlands, mostly in larger cities, periods of chronically impaired nutrition and even severe famine (Hunger Winter 1944-1945) existed during the 1930s and World War II (1940-1945). We studied the association between energy restriction during childhood and early adulthood on the risk of ovarian cancer later in life. In 198...

Over the last 50 years there has been a major epidemic of obesity and associated co-morbidities, the so-called 'metabolic syndrome', mostly in the western world but with an increasingly global dimension. The development of such chronic diseases has a strong genetic component, yet the timescale of their increase cannot reflect a population genetic change. Consequently, the most accepted model is...

Factors that increase vulnerability to famine include poverty, weak social and Martin Ravallion physical infrastructure, a weak and unprepared government, and a relatively closed political regime. Summary findings Defining famine as widespread, usually life-threatening, institutions that work adequately, though not perfectly, hunger or starvation, Ravallion observes that famine has in normal ti...

Small size at birth is linked with an increased risk of chronic diseases in later life. Poor maternal nutrition during gestation may contribute to restricted fetal growth, leading to increased disease susceptibility in later life. Animal studies have shown that undernutrition during gestation is associated with reduced life span and increased disease susceptibility. The Dutch famine is a unique...

Activists and scholars are seeking to end famine by promoting international legal accountability for starvation. This article deepens our understanding of the relationship between politics law observing ongoing prevalence power norms institutions during times famine. It reveals widespread use hunger courts in famine-prone South Sudan their role legally enforcing social networks that provide mos...