Cited by 364Birth, Development, and HealthCognitive Abilities and TestingDementia and Cognitive Impairment Research

Prenatal undernutrition and cognitive function in late adulthood

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de Rooij, Susanne R., Wouters, Hans, Yonker, Julie E., Painter, Rebecca C., Roseboom, Tessa J.·2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract

At the end of World War II, a severe 5-mo famine struck the cities in the western part of The Netherlands. At its peak, the rations dropped to as low as 400 calories per day. In 1972, cognitive performance in 19-y-old male conscripts was reported not to have been affected by exposure to the famine before birth. In the present study, we show that cognitive function in later life does seem affected by prenatal undernutrition. We found that at age 56 to 59, men and women exposed to famine during the early stage of gestation performed worse on a selective attention task, a cognitive ability that usually declines with increasing age. We hypothesize that this decline may be an early manifestation of an accelerated cognitive aging process.

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  • A growth-restricted fetus has fewer insulin-producing beta cells and reduced vascularization in the pancreas, and compromised structure and maturation of the brain, lungs, and liver.

    “In addition, the pancreas has fewer insulin-producing beta cells and reduced vascularization (159, 340, 473), and the structure and maturation of the brain (142), lungs (358, 359, 424, 460) and liver (209, 474) are compromised.”

    From Placental Origins of Chronic Disease (2016) · cites this paper as [142]

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  1. [31]National Bureau of Food Distribution in Wartime Rations per day period 1 Oct 1944– 22 July 1945 for the western Netherlands. 1945 (Translated from the Dutch) [[Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=Rations%20per%20day%20period%201%20Oct%201944%E2%80%93%2022%20July%201945%20for%20the%20western%20Netherlands&publication_year=1945&)]
  2. [32]Burger GCE, Sandstead HR, Drummond JC. Malnutrition and Starvation in Western Netherlands, September 1944 to July 1945. Part I and II. The Hague: General State Printing Office; 1948. [[Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Malnutrition%20and%20Starvation%20in%20Western%20Netherlands,%20September%201944%20to%20July%201945.%20Part%20I%20and%20II&author=GCE%20Burger&author=HR%20Sandstead&author=JC%20Drummond&publication_year=1948&)]
  3. [34]Bakker B, Sieben I. International Socio-Economic Index of occupational status (1992) Soc Wetenschappen. 1997;40:1–22. (Translated from the Dutch) [[Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=Soc%20Wetenschappen&title=International%20Socio-Economic%20Index%20of%20occupational%20status%20(1992)&author=B%20Bakker&author=I%20Sieben&volume=40&publication_year=1997&pages=1-22&)]
  4. [36]Heim A. AH4 Group Test of General Intelligence. Windsor, United Kingdom: NFER-Nelson Publishing Company Ltd; 1970. [[Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=AH4%20Group%20Test%20of%20General%20Intelligence&author=A%20Heim&publication_year=1970&)]

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Authors
de Rooij, S. R., Wouters, H., Yonker, J. E., Painter, R. C., & Roseboom, T. J.
Affiliations
  • Departments of aClinical Epidemiology Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, and
  • Calvin University (US)
  • Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam (NL)
  • University of Missouri (US)
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2010-09-13
Volume
107
Issue
39
Pages
16881-16886
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
OpenAlex
W2010036492
Cited by
364
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 32 · 2012: 24
FWCI
20.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Pure Amsterdam UMC (publishedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • European Science Foundation
  • Medical Research Council
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Birth, Development, and Health
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
Keywords
prenatal malnutrition, Dutch famine, cognitive aging, old age, selective attention, cognitive decline, prenatal exposure
MeSH terms
Adult, Attention, Cognition, Cognition Disorders, Female, Humans, Male, Netherlands, Pregnancy, Starvation, Maternal Exposure, Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Malnutrition

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