Page 86 - Special Issue: Healthy Baby

pregnancy are associated with a decrease in birth weight. A low intake of We must take the same care in preparing the
animal protein relative to carbohydrate is also associated with an increase human womb for the seed of life to be planted
of blood pressure at forty years of age. In order to obtain adequate glycine therein that we take to prepare the womb of the
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for growth, meat and egg protein should be balanced with the liberal use earth for the seeds of the plant life from which
of liver, skin, bone broths, legumes and green vegetables. we and our animals will take nourishment. A
The use of cod liver oil is independently associated with birth weight. generous intake of all nutrients—especially the
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Seven out of twelve trials have shown folic acid supplementation to increase fat-soluble vitamins, essential fatty acids, biotin,
birth weight. Iron deficiency compromises fetal growth, and a major folate, choline and glycine—will supply the soil
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deficiency in any vitamin or mineral is likely to do the same. of the womb with everything the life developing
In general, the role of vitamins and minerals in providing for robust within it needs for robust and vigorous growth
fetal growth is understudied and probably much more important than the and a long, healthy life to come.
scarcity of available literature would suggest.
Chris Masterjohn is the author of two peer-
QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY reviewed publications and the editor of
Although the quantity of growth is a useful marker for the risk of dis- Cholesterol-and-Health.com. A frequent
ease, the determining factor is the quality of growth. Choline may confer contributor to Wise Traditions, Masterjohn is
remarkable benefits to the developing nervous system without having much preparing to pursue a PhD in molecular
of an impact on head circumference, and vitamin A may provide for robust nutrition.
kidney function without having much of an impact on the size of the waist
or torso.

THE DEVELOPMENTAL ORIGINS THEORY
The British researcher David J. Barker first proposed the developmental origins theory in the 1980s to explain a
puzzling paradox: as British prosperity increased, so did heart disease; yet geographically, the most heart disease was
found in the poorest places in Britain. Barker found geographical associations of heart disease with infant mortality, but
not with smoking or dietary fat. Yet even infant mortality had declined over the course of the century, just as prosperity
had gone up. When he accounted for a time lag between cause and effect of more than 50 years, however, the paradox
was resolved—something was determining the risk of disease at or near birth, not late in life when the disease develops. 58
Barker and his team of researchers then studied the birth weight of individuals born between 1911 and 1930 in
Hertfordshire, UK. This allowed them to study the association at the level of individuals rather than local districts. Infants
carried to term with birth weights between 8.5 and 9.5 pounds had a 45 percent lower risk of heart disease than infants
carried to term weighing less than 5.5 pounds; they had a similarly lower risk of stroke, a nearly 70 percent lower risk of
insulin resistance, and a slightly lower blood pressure in the seventh decade of life. The risk declined steadily and evenly
between 5.5 and 9.5 pounds and began increasing thereafter. Later, other researchers found similar trends in the United
States and southern India. 59
Data from the three-month Dutch famine that occurred during World War II suggests that specific types of diseases
are associated with specific windows of development during pregnancy. Women who were exposed to this famine during
their first trimester gave birth to offspring with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease; women exposed during their
second trimester gave birth to offspring with an increased risk of kidney disease; women exposed during their third
trimester gave birth to offspring with an increased risk of insulin disorders. 60
Developmental origins theorists have offered several explanations for these associations: poor nutrition could alter
the development of the pancreas, which secretes insulin, and the liver, which secretes cholesterol and blood clotting
proteins; muscle tissue could program itself for insulin resistance in order to spare glucose and amino acids for the brain
when the supply of these materials is limited; overgrowth of the left ventricle of the heart—which itself is independently
associated with cardiovascular disease—could be a response to the need to supply a greater volume of blood to the
brain at the expense of the other tissues. 59
Just as Weston Price had associated the skeletal defects that occur because of poor prenatal nutrition with the risk
of disease in childhood and adolescence, researchers are now associating the defects of the internal organs that occur
due to poor nourishment with the risk of disease in adulthood and old age.

84 Wise Traditions