A number of epidemiological studies have explored the links between adverse prenatal conditions and increased risk for diseases, health problems, and psychological outcomes later in development. Historically, such studies have examined the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort, which consists of men and women born as term singletons in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (de Rooij, Wouters, Yonker, Painter, & Roseboom, 2010; Z. Stein, Susser, Saenger, & Marolla, 1972). The formation of the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort, resulting from the Dutch Famine of 1944–45, provided researchers with an opportunity to study one particular adverse exposure – starvation during pregnancy – and a number of health and developmental outcomes potentially associated with this challenging adverse exposure. Associations have been reported between adverse intrauterine environment as influenced by famine and a number of diseases and conditions, including but not limited to increased risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, other metabolic disorders, and decreased cognitive function later in life (Argente, Mehls, & Barrios, 2010; Barker & Clark, 1997; de Rooij, et al., 2010). In addition, researchers found that maternal weight loss or moderate to low
