This project aimed to examine whether skeletal development in childhood is programmed by early life factors, by studying the relationship between maternal diet as assessed by food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), other determinants of maternal nutrition such as smoking and exercise, and bone mass acquisition in childhood. The latter was assessed by measuring total body bone mineral content (BMC), bone area and bone mineral density (BMD) by performing total body DXA scans in 7000 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort at age nine. Regional development at sites such as the spine, upper and lower limbs was also evaluated. In further studies, we aimed to explore the mechanisms involved in any such programming effect by examining the role of genetic factors by studying associations between DXA parameters and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in different genes.