Reyn van Ewijk

Abstract Developmental plasticity refers to biological adaptations, most often prenatally, to environmental cues. These can help organisms adapt to similar postnatal environments, with health benefits if prenatal and postnatal conditions match. While associations between various prenatal exposures and adverse offspring health have been documented, the interaction between prenatal and postnatal conditions remains less understood.

Abstract Epigenetic adaptations around conception can help organisms adjust to their future environment. Pre-conception cold exposure is thought to increase active brown fat mass, and as brown fat metabolizes stored energy to generate heat, this helps adjust to life in cold environments. We examine the implications of this process for human metabolic health. We use data on 437,504 individuals born between 1934 and 1971 from the UK Biobank, and match these to historical temperature data.