Clinical and experimental studies suggest that early life experiences, perhaps spanning multiple generations, affect lifelong risk of metabolic dysfunction through epigenetic mechanisms. Data published in 2011 suggest that epigenetic analysis could potentially have utility as a marker of early metabolic pathology and might enable early life prophylaxis.
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F. Low provided assistance with reviewing the literature.
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Gluckman, P. Epigenetics, the life-course and metabolic disease. Nat Rev Endocrinol 8, 74–76 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2011.226
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2011.226
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