Amsterdam's Famine Feeds the Future

In October 1944 the Dutch government in exile called for a general rail strike in the Netherlands. The German occupation forces responded by banning all transport including food supplies, and this led to famine in Amsterdam, in which thousands died, and the population generally suffered great privation. Their ordeal ended only when the Allies liberated the country in May 1945.

But from that ordeal may come knowledge which might improve the health of future generations. Medical researchers at Southampton University have recently begun a joint study with colleagues at Amsterdam University's Academic Medical Centre into the effects of malnutrition of pregnant women on the health of their children in later life.

Southampton's Environmental Epidemiology Unit, established at the university fourteen years ago by the Medical Research Council, has carried out a number of studies including one into the incidence of leukaemia at Sellafield, and has developed the concept of 'programming' – the idea that what happens to a baby in the womb pre-conditions that person's later health record. Thus, for instance, malnutrition may increase the chances of heart disease or diabetes.