Developmental Origins of Health and Disease There is increasing evidence that the health of adult populations is influenced by the nutritional provision imparted to its members during their conception and through the first three years of their post-conception life, reflecting the origination of the structures in an individual's body from developmental processes. The links between early nutrition and later health initially came to light through the work of Dr. David Barker, who showed that in poorer regions of the UK, those who survived infancy predominantly died of athersclerotic disease as adults and demonstrated an inverse relationship between birthweight and ischemic heart disease. Similar relationships between low birth weights with increased risk of heart disease have now been replicated in the United States, Scandinavian countries, Finland, the Netherlands and in India, as well as in animal models of nutritional deprivation.