Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide. Although the development of these disorders is most commonly associated with lifestyle factors like obesity, increasing evidence suggests that events much earlier in one’s life can also play a role. In a recent article published in BMC Medicine, a team led by researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) investigated how low birth weight and fetal growth restriction may result from the mother having certain variants of hypertension-related genes. Interestingly, these consequences can occur despite the mother not having high blood pressure during the course of the pregnancy.