According to new research done by the Universities of Bradford and Durham, baby teeth from children who died during the 1845-52 Irish famine could help us predict the future health of children born today.

The team analysed the teeth of children and adults from two 19th century cemeteries, one at a Workhouse in Ireland where famine victims were buried and the other in London, which holds the graves of some of those who fled the famine. They found that the biochemical composition of teeth that were forming in the womb and during a child’s early years not only provided insight into the health of the baby’s mother, it even showed major differences between those infants who died and those who survived beyond early childhood.