However, it is important to note that the effects of nutritional
status in early pregnancy on long-term metabolic risk may be independent of altered size at birth. Follow-up of offspring of women
exposed to the Dutch Famine at the end of World War II found
increased risks of heart disease, hyperlipidaemia and obesity in
those conceived during the famine and impaired glucose tolerance
in those exposed to famine in utero in late gestation, while only the
latter group showed reduction in birthweight.
3