 There is an escalating epidemic of type 2 diabetes T2D across the world in all ethnic groups, in particular, people of South Asian origin. Current strategies for preventing T2D rely mainly on altering risk factors such as obesity, sedentary lifestyle and healthy eating. Though this is important, it is unlikely to make a big impact on this escalating epidemic, which consumes significant proportion of health care budgets, world-wide. Some of the risk of developing metabolic diseases such as T2D and cardiovascular disorders CVD are evident even at birth. Indeed, recent research suggests that factors acting during early development, including foetal growth restriction and exposure to gestational diabetes GDM in the mother increases diabetes and obesity risk in later life. The investigators recent work has shown that maternal vitamin B12 insufficiency and hyper-homocysteinaemia, in combination with normalhigh maternal folate status, is associated with an increased risk of GDM in the mothers, growth restriction in the foetus, and adiposity and insulin resistance in the children. 