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Fetal Origins: Impact of Prenatal Care

This document provides information about a class on child and adolescent learning principles, including the date, time, and instructor. It also includes a summary of an article from Time Magazine about fetal origins research. The article discusses how factors in the womb like nutrition, pollutants, infections, and maternal health and stress can permanently influence brain wiring and organ functioning. While this suggests stability in health predispositions, the document argues that areas like intelligence, temperament and sanity can change over time through experiences.

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Jayson Deocareza
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11 views3 pages

Fetal Origins: Impact of Prenatal Care

This document provides information about a class on child and adolescent learning principles, including the date, time, and instructor. It also includes a summary of an article from Time Magazine about fetal origins research. The article discusses how factors in the womb like nutrition, pollutants, infections, and maternal health and stress can permanently influence brain wiring and organ functioning. While this suggests stability in health predispositions, the document argues that areas like intelligence, temperament and sanity can change over time through experiences.

Uploaded by

Jayson Deocareza
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Republic of the Philippines

Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Institute of Science & Technology


COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Special Education Department
Nagtahan, Sampaloc, Manila

The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles


PEDCALLP, Wednesday, 2:30 pm-5:30 pm-Prof. Lorena C. De Jesus

Name: Jayson Deocareza Section: BSE-MATH2

I. Learning Objectives:
-The students should be able to take a research-based position on
the three issues of development.
➢ Here is an interesting article titled “ How the First Nine Months
Shape the Rest of Your Life.” from the October 2010 issue of
Time Magazine.
How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of Your Life

What makes us the way we are? Why are some people predisposed to be anxious,
overweight, or asthmatic? How is it that some of us are prone to heart attacks, diabetes,
orhigh blood pressure?

There’s a list of conventional answers to these questions. We are the way we are
because it’s in our genes: the DNA we inherited at conception. We turn out the way we do
because of our childhood experiences: how we were treated and what we took in, especially
during those crucial first three years. Or our health and well-being stem from the lifestyle
choices we make as adults: what kind of diet we consume, how much exercise we get.

But there’s another powerful source of influence you may not have considered: your
life as a fetus. The kind and quantity of nutrition you received in the womb; the pollutants,
drugs, and infections you were exposed to during gestation; your mother’s health, stress
level, and state of mind while she was pregnant with you — all these factors shaped you as a
baby and a child and continue to affect you to this day.

This is the provocative contention of a field known as fetal origins, whose pioneers
assert that the nine months of gestation constitute the most consequential period of our lives,
PERMANENTLY (underscoring mine) influencing the wiring of the brain and the
functioning of organs such as the heart, liver, and pancreas. In the literature on the subject,
which has exploded over the past 10 years, you can find references to the fetal origins of
cancer, cardiovascular disease, allergies, asthma, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and mental
illness. At the farthest edge, of fetal origins research, scientists are exploring the possibility
that intrauterine conditions influence not only our physical health but also our intelligence,
temperament, and even our sanity.
As a journalist who covers science, I was intrigued when I first heard about fetal
origins. But two years ago, when I began to delve more deeply into the field, I had a more
personal motivation: I was newly pregnant. If it was true that my actions over the next nine
months would affect my offspring for the rest of my life, I needed to know more.
Of course, no woman who is pregnant today can escape hearing the message that
what she does affects her fetus. She hears it at doctor’s appointments, sees it in the pregnancy
guidebooks; Do eat this, don’t drink that, be vigilant but never stressed. Expectant mothers
could be forgiven for feeling that pregnancy is just a nine-month slog, full of guilt and devoid
of pleasure, and this research threatened to add to the burden.

But the scientists I met weren’t full of dire warnings but of the excitement of
discovery – and the hope that their discoveries would make a positive difference. Research
on fetal origins is prompting a revolutionary shift in thinking about where human qualities
come from and when they begin to develop. It’s turning pregnancy into a specific frontier:
the National Institute of Health embarked last year on a multidecade study that will examine
its subjects before they’re born. And it makes the womb a promising target for prevention,
raising hopes of conquering public-health scourges like obesity and heart disease through
interventions before birth.
Time Magazine, October 4, 2010

Answer the following questions:

1. Does the article agree that hereditary, environment, and individual choice are the
factors that contribute to what a person may become?

Yes. According to the second paragraph of the book, the genes, how we develop in
the first three years, and how we care for ourselves as adults.

2. Read the 4th paragraph. Focus on the word, PERMANENTLY, Relate this to the issue of
stability versus change. Does the word PERMANENTLY convince you that we are what our
first experiences have made of us (stability)? Explain your answer.

The word PERMANENTLY fits when it’s all about illness and disorder. Yes, from the womb, a
person can receive such an illness-like a disability. But when it comes to intelligence,
temperament, and sanity, a person can change thru time and experiences.

V. REFERENCES:
Corpuz, Brenda B., PhD [Link] The Child and Adolescent Learners and
Learning Principles. Lorimar Publishing Inc., 2018.

Common questions

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Research on fetal origins could alter public health strategies by shifting the focus of prevention efforts to the prenatal stage. By understanding how in-utero conditions affect long-term health, interventions can be designed to improve maternal nutrition and reduce stress and exposure to harmful substances during pregnancy. This proactive approach aims to mitigate risks of diseases such as obesity and heart disease before birth, potentially reducing their prevalence through early prevention .

The use of 'PERMANENTLY' in the context of fetal origins suggests that some health outcomes and predispositions are fixed as a result of prenatal experiences, supporting the stability side of the debate. However, the article acknowledges that while some conditions like disabilities may be permanent, attributes such as intelligence and temperament can change over time, indicating that not all effects are irreversible, thus offering a nuanced contribution to the stability versus change debate .

Yes, the article suggests that prenatal conditions could influence a person's intelligence by affecting brain development during gestation. It explores the hypothesis that maternal health, nutrition, and stress levels can impact the fetal brain's wiring and function, which potentially shapes cognitive abilities and intellectual development, indicating prenatal contributions to intelligence levels .

The article suggests that fetal conditions can influence mental health in adulthood by affecting the brain's wiring and function during gestation. It notes that the stress level and health of the mother, as well as the nutritional and environmental conditions in the womb, might impact future intelligence, temperament, and even sanity, which are explored as potential influences extending into adult mental disorders .

The article implies that parental actions during pregnancy play a critical role in shaping a child's future, as maternal nutrition, emotional well-being, and health behaviors can significantly influence fetal development. These factors are emphasized as determinants that are believed to have long-term effects on a child’s physical and mental health, suggesting a heightened responsibility for expectant parents to foster beneficial prenatal environments .

The concept of fetal origins posits that the intrauterine environment significantly influences an individual's lifelong health and development, challenging traditional views that prioritize genes, early childhood experiences, and adult lifestyle choices. Advocates argue that factors such as maternal nutrition, stress, and exposure to pollutants during pregnancy can permanently affect brain development and organ function, thereby affecting conditions like obesity, diabetes, and psychological health .

The study of fetal origins contributes to understanding the onset of diseases like diabetes and obesity by examining how prenatal environmental factors affect organ development and metabolism. Researchers argue that conditions such as inadequate nutrition or maternal stress can alter fetal growth patterns, potentially leading to metabolic imbalances and greater susceptibility to these diseases later in life, thus shifting some prevention insights from lifestyle changes to prenatal care .

The article indicates future research in fetal origins will likely focus on large-scale longitudinal studies that start from conception or earlier, examining the effects of prenatal environments on a range of health outcomes. This includes exploring detailed relationships between maternal factors like diet, stress, and exposure to toxins, and how these may correlate with subsequent disease risks or psychological attributes, aiming to inform more targeted public health interventions .

The research on fetal origins has the potential to influence the scientific understanding of nature versus nurture by highlighting the critical role of prenatal environmental factors, which merge both genetic and environmental influences. This perspective suggests that the interplay between a genetic predisposition and the nutritional, chemical, and emotional environment in utero is crucial in determining health and development outcomes, thus blending and extending the classic dichotomy .

Considering pregnancy as a 'public health frontier' offers potential benefits such as the opportunity for early intervention and prevention of health issues before birth, potentially reducing the incidence of diseases like obesity and heart disease. However, challenges include the ethical and pragmatic complexities of implementing such interventions uniformly and respecting individual choices in diverse health systems. This shift requires a delicate balance between scientific insights and societal values .

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