BMJ 1995;310:1468 (3 June)

Letters

The influence of parental somatic features on childhood weight has been extensively studied

EDITOR,--In their editorial on the early origin of coronary heart disease (the "Barker hypothesis") Nigel Paneth and Mervyn Susser overlooked my contribution.1 In 1982 I suggested that some heavier children were relatively immune to non-insulin dependent diabetes and coronary heart disease in adult life and that the decline in rates of coronary heart disease that was occurring in some communities was linked to the increasing average weight of children in those communities.2 I was also the first to publish this hypothesis in major North American journals.3 4 In 1989 Barker and his colleagues put forward similar ideas.

I have had 11 contributions to the discussion on this subject published, including constructive appraisals of Barker et al's early papers. For example, I advised against generalised postnatal nutritional intervention to promote heavier infants, suggested that the importance of placental weight was as a marker for maternal obesity, and warned that the prenatal nutrition . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Early origin of coronary heart disease (the "Barker hypothesis")
Nigel Paneth and Mervyn Susser
BMJ 1995 310: 411-412. [Extract] [Full Text]

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