Page 76 - Special Issue: Healthy Baby

Vitamins for

Fetal Development:

Conception to Birth

By Chris Masterjohn

uman life begins, biologically speaking, at
conception. This is the moment at which the new
Horganism possesses its own unique combination of
some 20,000 genes and the moment at which it becomes

capable of growth and cell division. The days and weeks

following conception form a critical window within which
the nutritional environment of the womb sets the tempo

for fetal growth. But nothing more clearly illustrates the

continuity between the new life within the womb and the

adult he or she will become than the fact that the quality
of nutrition during these nine months produces lifelong ef-
fects on the brain, kidneys and the cardiovascular system;

determines the risk of degenerative disease; and profoundly

influences the quality of life that persists through adulthood
and into old age.

74 Wise Traditions