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During the Dutch Hunger Winter of 1944–45, a German blockade left the western Netherlands with rations as low as 400–800 calories a day. Researchers who followed babies exposed in the womb found higher rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease decades later, depending on when in pregnancy the famine struck. It became a leading human example of how nutrition before birth may leave chemical marks on genes.

Dutch Hunger Winter Families Study, ongoing since the 1990s

HealthScienceHistory

The story behind the card

The famine had a clear start and end, and Dutch records were good, so researchers could compare people by exactly when they were exposed in the womb. Those exposed early in pregnancy later had more heart disease and higher body weight, and those conceived at the famine's height had about twice the usual risk of schizophrenia. Exposure late in pregnancy meant smaller babies and, later, poorer control of blood sugar. A 2008 study found that people exposed around conception still had less methylation on the growth gene IGF2 six decades on; methylation is a chemical tag on DNA that can turn a gene's activity up or down without changing its code. A 2024 study linked the famine to faster biological ageing on some, but not all, measures.

Türkçe oku
1944–45 Hollanda Açlık Kışı'nda Alman ablukası yüzünden batı Hollanda'da günlük tayın 400–800 kaloriye kadar düştü. Bu kıtlığı anne karnında yaşayanlarda onlarca yıl sonra obezite, diyabet ve kalp hastalığı daha sık görüldü; etkiler kıtlığın gebeliğin hangi döneminde yaşandığına göre değişti. Açlık Kışı, doğum öncesi beslenmenin genlerde kimyasal iz bırakabileceğinin insanlardaki en bilinen örneklerinden biri oldu.

Kıtlığın başı ve sonu belliydi, Hollanda'nın kayıtları da düzenliydi; bu sayede araştırmacılar insanları anne karnında kıtlığa tam olarak ne zaman maruz kaldıklarına göre karşılaştırabildi. Gebeliğin başında etkilenenlerde ileride kalp hastalığı ve kilo fazlası daha sık görüldü; kıtlığın en ağır günlerinde ana rahmine düşenlerde şizofreni riski yaklaşık iki katına çıktı. Gebeliğin son aylarında etkilenen bebekler daha küçük doğdu ve yetişkinlikte kan şekerlerini denetlemekte daha çok zorlandı. 2008'deki bir çalışma, ana rahmine düştükleri sırada kıtlığa maruz kalanlarda altmış yıl sonra bile büyümeyle ilgili IGF2 geninde daha az metilasyon buldu. Metilasyon, DNA'ya eklenen ve dizideki kodu değiştirmeden bir genin etkinliğini artırıp azaltabilen kimyasal bir işarettir. 2024'teki bir çalışma da kıtlığı, bazı ölçütlerde (ama hepsinde değil) daha hızlı biyolojik yaşlanmayla ilişkilendirdi.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Dutch famine of 1944–1945
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