Can Thrifty Gene(s) or Predictive Fetal Programming for Thriftiness Lead to Obesity?
Figure 3
Parameter areas of advantage of the 3 genotypes when there is a correlation between birth-time and lifetime conditions: (a) , (b) , and (c) . With a small positive correlation, the advantage of fetal programmer increases substantially. However, even very weak negative correlation can drive fetal programmer to extinction when life expectancy is high. Selection for fetal programming, therefore, must be driven by factors that produce significant positive birth-time and lifetime correlations.
