Since the mid-1980's, David Barker, an epidemiologist at the University of Southampton (U. K.), has been studying the importance of the uterine environment (the womb) on the development of medical problems later in life. The latest research suggests that it is not at the mother's breast that the root of many medical problems is to be found, but rather in the seemingly protected environment of the womb.

He noted the correlation between low birth weight and high blood pressure later in life, and he wondered if other adult diseases had their origin in the womb. This has been the subject of investigation by researchers all over the world.

In June, 2003, the second conference of Fetal Origins of Adult Disease was held in Brighton on the south coast of England. Heart disease, obesity and late-onset diabetes often trace their origins back to conditions in the womb (as may also cognitive ability, earning power and even greed and sloth.)

Dr. Barker's original observation (based on several thousand people born in Herfordshire) was that babies who are particularly small grow into adults with a high risk of heart disease. This observation has been expanded by Gerald Reaven of Stanford University who links low birth weight with high blood pressure, disturbed fat metabolism and obesity later in life (called "syndrome X"). That small, food deprived fetuses give rise to unhealthy adults is not really a surprise, and the mechanisms involved are being studied but are speculative at this time.

One interesting report came from London where premature infants were studied (these are babies who should have still been in the womb). Some of these babies were fed "enhanced baby formula" and the other group were fed standard formula. The  1000 children were born two decades ago so they are now grown up, but they were studied at age seven and then in their mid-teens. The boys fed standard formula had lower IQ's than the others and were particularly bad at math (some of this group had brain scans which revealed an area in the left parietal lobe of their brain showing reduced activity, and this area is known to be involved in mathematical calculations).