Macronutrients consumed by the pregnant mother enter her homeostatically regulated metabolism, which buffers the fetus against short-term increases or deficits in intake. In contrast, hormones that coordinate this homeostasis, including cortisol, respond acutely to stressors. Because maternal cortisol crosses the placenta to influence fetal tissues, transient stress activation during pregnancy can durably change offspring development. These principles lead to the expectation that adversity during pregnancy will primarily impact offspring via acutely-responsive systems like stress physiology, while intergenerational effects of the mother's protein–energy nutrition will reflect her chronic nutritional experiences across pre-pregnant life. Thus, although developing fetal systems are sensitive to maternal psychosocial and nutritional adversity in utero, the intergenerational impacts of these systems reflect distinct timescales of maternal experience.

怀孕母亲消耗的大量营养素进入体内稳态调节的新陈代谢，从而缓冲胎儿免受短期摄入增加或摄入不足的影响。相反，协调这种体内平衡的激素（包括皮质醇）对应激源会产生急性反应。由于母体皮质醇穿过胎盘影响胎儿组织，因此怀孕期间的短暂应激激活可以持久地改变后代的发育。这些原则导致人们期望怀孕期间的逆境将主要通过诸如应激生理等急性反应系统影响后代，而母亲的蛋白质-能量营养的代际影响将反映出她整个孕前的长期营养经历。从而，