Babies, Parenting, Child Health, Infant Nutrition

Baby Development – Study Finds Mothers Junk Food ‘Harms Child'

07.02.2008 | 6:07:42 pm | Posted by mummums

By Colleen Hurley, RD, Certified Kid’s Nutrition Specialist

baby development, parenting Mum Mum’s certainly advocates optimum nutrition for mothers and their babies. Plenty of research has shown that a healthy diet may protect a baby from many health conditions including asthma and food allergies. What if the opposite were true? Could a mother’s poor diet have counterproductive effects on a baby’s health and well-being? A new study serves up an interesting new perspective.

If the saying “you are what you eat” holds true, babies may also be comprised of what their mothers eat. The Royal Veterinary College along side London’s Wellcome Trust found that eating an unhealthy diet while pregnant or breastfeeding can harm a child’s long term health.

The animal based study found that rats that ate highly processed, fat-laden foods had offspring with high levels of fat in their bloodstream as well as around their organs even up to adolescence. This deposition of fat in the midsection is a common predictor of type II diabetes and heart disease.

The same research team, through previous studies, found that rats who ate junk food throughout pregnancy and while breastfeeding had offspring who craved very similar snacks. Yet during this study, the research team took the analysis and step further only to find that even when the young rats were weaned off the unhealthy diet, the damage had already been done.

Another interesting find of the study was the variation between the sexes. Young male rats had higher levels of insulin yet normal blood sugars; but the reverse was true for the females who also tended to be more overweight. Discussion of the study results brought up another highly debated topic- can animal studies be accurately extrapolated to human biology? Researchers of the study say absolutely, as humans share several fundamental biological systems with rats. At a minimum, the study provides credo to the fact that early dietary influence from mothers is imperative for a baby’s healthy eating habits.

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The Baby Mum-Mum blog discusses everything to do with babies and parenting with a focus on child health and child development. Baby Mum-Mum is a healthy, easy to digest baby rice snack that is enjoyed by babies and mothers around the world for its portability, gluten free ingredients and great taste. Baby Mum-Mum is a division of Want-Want Holdings, a manufacturer of healthy snack foods, beverages and related products since 1962.

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