The stated purpose of this research is to establish a connection between chronic degenerative diseases. It would also look into the aspects whether these originate in humans while they are still in the womb. The report also focuses on the effects of the Dutch famine on the people affected.
The basic principle used are for determining the connection between the impact of famine on the fertility of the women, adaptations of the fetus during their gestation period and the increased risks of contracting chronic degenerative diseases later in their adult life.
Briefly, summarize the results
This report finds that people who were born small had a risk of chronic bronchitis and CHD and those who were born large had the risk of getting cancer. Women that were exposed to famine during late gestation did not put on any weight and those exposed during early and mid gestation put on more weight. This affected their fetus resulting in the birth of small and large babies.
Limitations of the research design
Although this report compares the health of people in later life when exposed to famines the data for the research is mainly based on their mothers in their gestation periods and the affect of famine on their fertility. In addition, the stress on them due to shortage of food, war and absence of life partners are not taken into consideration.
The data even with its certain limitations does support the researcher’s conclusions. Their findings do suggest that the risk of CHD, like hypercholesterolemia, decreased glucose tolerance, blood pressure and obesity, which are linked with each other, originate in the uterus. Their finding also suggests that malnutrition of the mothers during pregnancy permanently affects the baby’s health but not their size at birth.
Do you have any ethical concerns about the effects or testing methods of the research?
No, there are no ethical concerns about the testing methods or their effects on the subjects. Data has been taken from the hospital records during the Dutch Famine and the subjects were only interviewed and measured. They were not experimented upon and only statistical data was compared.
This is indeed a well-researched and reported article as it focuses on the direct impact of the Dutch famine on the adult life of those conceived during that time. Although it has, a few limitations but the results can be exploited for the betterment of the future generations of these people.