How experiencing famine in the womb may shape people’s health as adults
Hunger killed an estimated 4 million people in Ukraine between 1932 and 1933 — the result of Holodomor, a famine inflicted by the Stalin-led Soviet regime. New research shows how the harm experienced during famines can extend even to people who haven’t yet been born.
The study, published Thursday in Science, strengthens the link between fetal exposure to famine and increased risk for type 2 diabetes later on in life. It found that people who had been exposed to the peak famine period in early gestation (defined as the first three months) had double the risk of developing diabetes as adults compared to those who had not been exposed. People born in areas hit harder by famine — Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Poltava — were also at greater risk.
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