What exactly is meant by “fetal programming”? The theory of “fetal programming” has been described as a model of gene-environment interaction which explains the influence of the in utero environment on the molecular character of development (Barker & Clark, 1997; Hales & Barker, 1992). One of the forefathers of the theory of fetal programming is David Barker who, starting in the 1980s and 1990s, proposed and tested the hypothesis that an adverse fetal nutritional environment but plentiful food in adulthood might be a major factor associated with a number of adult diseases (Schulz, 2010). This “Barker Hypothesis,” as it became known, further hypothesized that adverse intrauterine conditions may result in a negative, or poor, maternal forecast, commonly manifested in small for gestational age status or reduced infant birth weight. This poor maternal forecast in a sense “predicts” that the child will be born into a postnatal environment in which resources are scarce, and thus, the child has been forecasted or programmed to thrive in such a poor environment. Poor maternal forecasts can prove incorrect if a child is born into what is or soon becomes a nutrient-rich environment.
