Image courtesy of Virpi Lummaa.
In what seems a weird twist of fate, infants who are undernourished are more likely to grow up to have metabolic disorders such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes---conditions usually associated with obesity. But a new study casts doubt on the primary theory for why that is.
Most researchers currently believe the connection between undernourishment and metabolic disease is a case of adaptation gone wrong. A baby undernourished in the womb or in early toddler years, so the thinking goes, is being conditioned for a life of limited food. Their metabolism learns to be thrifty. When that person grows up and instead has access to ample food (and maybe even an excess of high-calorie junk food as is often the case today), their scaled-back metabolism can't take it, and the mismatch leads to disease. The rising incidence of metabolic diseases in the developing world ...
