The research connecting mother’s diet during pregnancy and long term health status of her child continue to roll in, with yet another study finding a strong link between maternal diet and obesity. For several years now, health experts and researchers alike have been trying to find the roots of the current growing obesity epidemic, and as the study suggests it may start in the womb.
The study found that through a process called epigenetic change, a mother’s diet can lead to a child’s predisposition to lay down more fat by altering the child’s DNA function. More importantly, the international study led by Southampton University along with teams from Singapore and New Zealand, found that this affect occurs regardless of a mother’s weight or the child’s birth weight.
Although many previous studies have found a correlation between a mother’s diet and her baby’s health, this is the first study to find that obesity cannot simply be chalked up to genes and lifestyle but can be influenced by environmental factors during development in the womb, including a mother’s diet.
The research team measured epigenetic changes in 300 babies at birth and found that these changes strongly predicted the level of obesity at 6 or 9 years of age. Even researchers found themselves surprised at the size of the effect; children generally vary in how fat they are yet researchers were able to predict 25% of this variation with measurement of epigenetic change at birth.
Epigenetics is a relatively new field of study examining the changes in the functions of our DNA without changing the actual DNA sequence inherited from our parents but still get passed down to one successive generation. The pattern of gene expression is dictated by cellular material called the epigenome, which actually sits just on top of the genome and tell the gene whether to turn off or on; yell loudly or just whisper. These little markers explain how environmental factors like prenatal diet or stress can make an imprint on a gene that is passed from one generation to the next. These changes can also impact how a person responds to lifestyle changes like exercise or diet for many years to come leading researchers to conclude that more lifestyle interventions should be targeted towards women of reproductive age. This puts even more importance on regular prenatal checkups and talking to your healthcare provider about maintaining a healthy diet during pregnancy.
Tags: childhood obesity, prenatal diet
