AsianScientist (Apr. 20, 2011) – A mother’s pregnancy diet may lead to her child suffering from childhood obesity, by altering her baby’s DNA through a process known as epigenetic change.
In a study published in the journal Diabetes, an international team of scientists from the UK, New Zealand and Singapore measured the epigenetic state (the degree of chemical modification) of DNA in umbilical cord tissue from nearly three hundred children. The researchers showed that this strongly predicted the degree of obesity at six or nine years of age.
In addition they found that a diet low in carbohydrates in the first trimester of pregnancy most influenced the degree of epigenetic change. Significantly, this effect acts independently of the mother’s weight and of the child’s weight at birth.
“The study demonstrates the importance of developmental factors before birth in the pathway to childhood obesity – and we already know that childhood obesity is an important predictor of later diabetes and heart disease,” says Prof. Gluckman.
“It confirms our suspicions that maternal nutrition does indeed influence the offspring’s risk of later obesity and disease and that these factors are linked through epigenetic mechanisms. This is important as epigenetic profiles are not necessarily fixed, so there is the potential to halt progression towards disease through nutritional and or pharmacological interventions during early life.
The article can be found at: Godfrey KM et al. (2011) Epigenetic Gene Promoter Methylation at Birth Is Associated With Child’s Later Adiposity.
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Source: University of Aukland.
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