Barker hypothesis or, a little less snappily, the theory of fetal origins of adult disease. Barker, an epidemiologist, posited that what happens in the womb can determine health and well-being for the rest of one’s life. “For every organ, there is a critical period, often very brief, when it goes through development,” he said not long before his death in 2013. “It happens for different organs at different times. After birth only the liver and the brain and the immune system remain plastic. Everything else is done.” Most authorities now extend that period of crucial vulnerability from the
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