Fetal programming
Fetal programming, also known as prenatal programming, is the theory that environmental cues experienced during fetal development play a seminal role in determining health trajectories across the lifespan. Three main forms of programming that occur due to changes in the maternal environment are: Changes in development that lead to greater disease risk; Genetic changes that alter disease risk; Epigenetic changes which alter disease risk of not only the child but also that of the next generation - i.e., after a famine, grandchildren of women who were pregnant during the famine, are born smaller than the normal size, despite nutritional deficiencies having been fulfilled.