The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) concept: Past, present, and future

Abstract

The “developmental origins of health and disease” (DOHaD) is a concept that has emerged over the past 50 years, linking the state of health and risk from disease in later childhood and adult life with the environmental conditions of the early life. Originally based on epidemiologic observations, the concept has given rise to a field that brings together clinical studies in a range of specialties, public and global health, experimental physiology, molecular biology (especially epigenetics), developmental biology, anthropology, the social sciences, and evolutionary biology. This chapter examines the evolution of thinking about the relationship between developmental influences and later-life health and disease; examines the establishment of DOHaD as a conceptual framework and a research field in its own right; discusses criticisms of DOHaD and barriers to its acceptance within the broader research community as well as to its recent integration into public health policy; and, finally, considers future directions that the field may take.