Research has suggested a link between nutritional deficiencies in early (including prenatal) life, and the development of chronic diseases—cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, stroke, cancer, and osteoporosis, among others—some decades later (World Health Organization 2000a, 2000b; Jacoby 2004). A possible link between early nutritional deficiencies and obesity has also been suggested, and it remains an area of ongoing research (Pan American Health Organization 2003). These associations are especially relevant for women, since they generally live longer than men, and therefore the complications and disabilities that result from these kinds of diseases are much more common among elderly women
