Overview

• Researchers applied incremental dentine isotope analysis to 275 medieval English teeth to pinpoint episodes of childhood starvation through opposing shifts in carbon and nitrogen levels.
• The study finds that early-life malnutrition conferred a survival advantage against threats like the Black Death up to roughly age 30.
• Those developmental adaptations were followed by significantly higher mortality from middle- and late-adult diseases, including cardiovascular illness and cancer.
• By treating 14th-century famines and the Black Death as a natural experiment, the research offers deep-time insights into how early nutritional stress shapes lifelong health.
• Authors and public health experts are calling for strengthened nutrition programs for pregnant individuals and young children to prevent similar long-term health burdens today.