Particular paths of fetal growth are now known to predict a range of disorders in adult life.
This is thought to reflect fetal programming, the phenomenon whereby nutrition and other
influences during development set the body's organs and systems for life. The thesis of this
review is that normal variations in the processes of placental development lead to variations
in the supply of nutrients to the fetus and programme a small number of key systems that are
linked to later disease. A baby's growth and nutrition depend both on the function of the …