Can helping families throughout the lifespan prevent chronic disease? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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When it comes to health, prevention of infection and disease is by far the best strategy. CDC director Mandy Cohen says the agency is taking prevention on by strongly supporting young families at a recent talk at Johns Hopkins.

Cohen: When I think about and the data tells us what is it that shapes your lifelong health patterns, that actually happens in the first few years of life. Whether mom has a healthy pregnancy, you have that healthy first five years, you're having that brain development, you're having positive childhood experiences, you're getting your childhood vaccinations. That sets the pattern. Also are you getting nutritious and healthy foods, sets the pattern for your whole life and we know from our data that your zip code determines your lifelong health patterns more than your genetic code.   :33

Once discerned, it’s possible to create strategies to disrupt such patterns, Cohen says, and the CDC is vested in the effort. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.