Overweight and obesity at age 19 after pre-natal famine exposure

Background Weight for height has been used in the past as an indicator of obesity to report that prenatal exposure to the Dutch famine of 1944–1945 determined subsequent obesity. Further evaluation is needed as unresolved questions remain about the possible impact of social class differences in fertility decline during the famine and because being overweight is now defined by a Body Mass Index (BMI: kg/m2) from 25 to
Key messages We examined the relation between undernutrition in early life and young adult body size in men born at the time of the Dutch famine of 1944–1945. To avoid possible biases arising from the decline in conceptions during the famine we concentrated on births to women who were already pregnant during the famine. We found a 1.3-fold increase in being overweight at age 19 for men exposed in early gestation but not for men exposed later in gestation. This points to an especially sensitive period in fetal development. The increase was limited to sons of manual workers, consistent with more limited access to food in this group. Our findings suggest that a body size increase in young adulthood foreshadows the long-term increase in later type 2 diabetes and mortality after early gestation famine.