Figure 1
From: Developmental origins of non-communicable disease: Implications for research and public health
Periods of vulnerability to environmental influences. The most critical period is the perinatal period, during which epigenetic plasticity is high and can be influenced by a variety of environmental cues, including chemicals, nutrition, infection, etc.). Later in life, growth and the hormonally active puberty period is also a vulnerability period. In adults it is believed that elder persons are more vulnerable to a variety of insults