The Healthy Start to Life Education for Adolescents Project was developed by the Liggins Institute to enable communication and translation of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) research for adolescents.

The LENScience team worked with teachers from schools throughout Auckland to explore whether or not DOHaD was an appropriate context to facilitate development of scientific and health literacy, via exploration of scientific research associated with socio-scientific issues. The answer was an unequivocal yes, including when we extended this work to the Cook Islands and Tonga.

We have found that across a wide range of communities, 11 to 14 year olds are fascinated by exploration of evidence of the association between early-life nutrition and life-long wellbeing; 13 to 14 year olds are captured by evidence exploring why their generation has entered puberty earlier than their parents, and what long-term impacts this might have; 15 to 16 year olds are passionately interested in evidence demonstrating that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes, rampant in many New Zealand and Pacific communities, could be reduced by health-promoting actions during adolescence and prior to parenthood; and 17 to 18 year olds find that engaging in exploration of DOHaD research enhances their understanding of concepts of gene expression and epigenetics, and supports their development of capabilities associated with critical citizenship.