The role of poor fetal and infant growth in non-insulin-dependent diabetes.

Studies of 50-70 year old men and women of known characteristics at birth and age one year, suggest that very early life events may be critically important in determining susceptibility to non-insulin-dependent diabetes. Changes such as hypertension and hyperlipidaemia, often linked with loss of glucose tolerance, may also be related to abnormal patterns of early growth. It is suggested that the nutritional environment of the fetus and infant is a major determinant of adult onset non-insulin-dependent diabetes.