Preface

Summary

This book could not have been written ten years ago. In the first instance, the field it covers, that of developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) was at that stage embryonic and highly controversial. While there was compelling epidemiological data, there was a lack of experimental and mechanistic data on which to create consensus. But over the last decade the science of DOHaD has advanced rapidly. The epidemiological evidence for the DOHaD paradigm is now strongly supported by prospective clinical data, experimental observations and a growing understanding of the underlying molecular and developmental mechanisms. Further, the scope of physiological systems that may be involved has expanded. The relevance of the phenomenon to the ecology of human disease in different populations is now much clearer.

So there is now a pressing need for a book such as this. By the time of its publication, three world congresses on DOHaD will have occurred; an international learned society has been formed; and there are a substantial number of reviews on many aspects of the field and its implications. Yet to date there is no definitive textbook. Students, clinicians and researchers need a volume that brings current knowledge together, whether to introduce them to the subject as a whole or to help them broaden their knowledge of an expanding field.

Moreover, the implications of the DOHaD concept are now becoming clear. The scientific implications now extend not only into epidemiology, developmental biology and physiology, but also into evolutionary biology and anthropology.