A popular article from The New York Times is worth a look. It's all about how people are so much more robust and healthy than were previous generations, particularly comparing today's Americans with those from the mid-1800s or the early 1900s. One of the topics discussed at length in the feature is disease, specifically chronic diseases that used to be commonplace and affected people from relatively early ages.

The article discusses various studies that link health and longevity to health in early childhood (and, specifically, the availability of good food, vaccinations and antibiotics). These studies have also identified a link between individuals' health and longevity and the state of their mothers' health during pregnancy.

One example: researchers studied the health of babies born to women who were pregnant during the Dutch famine, which occurred during World War II, between November 1944 and May 1945. These babies seemed no worse for their mothers' terrible suffering - their birth weights were normal, for example. However, it was found that now, as age catches up with those people, they are developing chronic diseases, including diabetes, at unusually high rates.

Similarly, a study of children born to mothers who were pregnant during the influenza epidemic of 1918-19 found that they were also more likely to suffer from chronic illnesses than were children born to women pregnant before or after the epidemic. Again, the incidence of diabetes was higher than for other people - in this case, twenty percent higher by the age of sixty-one.

The conclusion? When a mother is ill or starved during pregnancy, the danger is not just the health of the baby, but for that child as he or she grows, and even for the rest of his/her adult life. That is, the experience of the mother may predispose the child to illnesses that typically do not develop until later in life (middle age or later).