Figure 2.

A model for induction of increased risk of cardiovascular / metabolic disease or cancer by different nutritional exposures acting on the same genome during development. Optimal nutrition during development facilitates establishment of an epigenotype which is expressed as a healthy phenotype. Nutritional constraint induces altered epigenetic regulation in genes associated with increased risk of cardiovascular / metabolic disease. Conversely, nutrient abundance during development induces epigenetic changes in genes associated with increased risk of cancer. However, for both altered epigenotypes, the disease phenotype is only manifest when the organism is exposed to appropriate environmental signals, such as poor diet, during the life course. If these later environmental cues are avoided, possibly by lifestyle choice, then a healthy phenotype is maintained.