Poor In Utero Growth, and Reduced β-Cell Compensation and High Fasting Glucose From Childhood, Are Harbingers of Glucose Intolerance in Young Indians.

Inadequate compensatory insulin secretory response to decreasing insulin sensitivity in early life is the major pathophysiology underlying glucose intolerance in thin rural Indians. Smaller birth size, maternal pregnancy hyperglycemia, and higher glycemia from childhood herald future glucose intolerance, mandating a strategy for diabetes prevention from early life, preferably intergenerationally.