Fetal origins hypothesis
The fetal origins hypothesis (FOH), also known as the Barker hypothesis or (in biomedical literature) the fetal origins of adult disease (FOAD), proposes that conditions during gestation—especially nutrition, endocrine signals, stress, and toxic exposures—can produce lasting changes in fetal development that later influence health and disease risk across the life course. The hypothesis is now usually discussed as part of the broader developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) framework, which includes exposures from preconception through infancy and early childhood, and emphasizes the concept of developmental programming (lasting effects of early-life conditions on later physiology and metabolism).