Suppose you have a fetus exposed to lots of stress, say, malnutrition, and who thus programs a thrifty metabolism. Later, as an adult, she gets pregnant. She consumes normal amounts of food. Because she has that thrifty metabolism, is so good at storing away nutrients in case that fetal famine ever comes back again, her body grabs a disproportionate share of the nutrients in her bloodstream for herself. In other words, amid consuming an average amount of food, her fetus gets a less than average share of it, producing mild malnutrition. And thus programs a milder version of a thrifty
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