Much of human development is completed during the first 1,000 days after conception therefore a healthy start to life can help build the foundation for life. Although non-communicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes, are chronic ailments resulting from a complex milieu of factors, research now recognises environmental exposures in early-life (from conception, and/or during fetal life, infancy and early childhood) can induce changes in development that can have a long-term impact on later health and disease risk. The environmental exposures include parental lifestyle and diet, obesity, smoking and exposure to endocrine disruptor chemicals, amongst other factors. The effects of such exposures are often graded and subtle; they do not simply disrupt development or induce disease themselves, but can affect how rapidly disease develops in an individual. This concept is termed the developmental origins of health and disease. It is thought that some of these developmental alterations come through changes in the activity of genes through epigenetic processes. Changes in gene expression and/or action may mediate responses to challenges in adulthood, such as poor diet or unhealthy lifestyle, and so affect disease risk across the life course. Timely interventions may reduce risk in individuals and also limit its transmission to the next generation. Beginning from preconception, a healthy body composition, nutritional intake and lifestyle factors including well-controlled diabetes, for both the mother and father, are all important factors. None of these solutions seem sophisticated yet their importance is underestimated. Not only will this help prevent chronic disease, but it also has the potential to produce a new generation who have better health and well-being throughout their lives. The developmental origins of health and disease emphasises that we need to take a life course and more integrated approach to adult health and disease, risks and solutions.