Professor Wendy Oddy is a nutritional epidemiologist and investigates the impact of diet and nutrition, particularly during the first few years of a child’s life, on various diseases in the population. ‘If you put poor quality fuel in your car, it won’t go very well,’ she says. ‘This is just common sense. But what is striking is how nutrition in early infancy affects a person’s health throughout the life-course.’Professor Oddy draws upon data from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study, also known as the Raine Study. This study was established between 1989 and 1991 to determine how events during pregnancy and childhood influence health in later life. It involved nearly 3,000 pregnant women with regular follow-ups to track the health of the infants through childhood and into adulthood.