BBC Radio 4 - The First 1000 Days - A Legacy For Life - Part 2: Infancy

FAB RESEARCH COMMENT:

23 Aug 2011 - BBC Radio 4

This is the second episode of three in this excellent Radio 4 Podcast series, explaining why many fundamental aspects of our health and wellbing across our whole lifespan are actually determined before we are born, but are then further shaped during the critical period of early childhood or infancy - the period on which this episode is focused.

Obviously, numerous environmental factors that operate later in life also influence our health and wellbeing - including diet, exercise and other aspects of 'lifestyle', among many others. 

However, these later-life factors are less powerful than the forces operating in early life, when our brains and bodies are first being built, and 'programmed'.

Nutrition is one of the most powerful influences on our health and wellbeing, because as well as literally providing the raw materials for that body- and brain-building, nutrition also influences gene expression and regulation.

For links to the other episodes in this series, see:


Part 1: In the Womb - broadcast 16 August 2011

Part 3: Future Generations - broadcast 30 August 2011