Mum’s diet can make baby diabetic

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Mum’s diet can make baby diabetic

* by Madeleine Brindley, Western Ma

WHAT a woman eats while pregnant could increase her child’s risk of developing

potentially life-threatening diseases in adulthood.

Research pinpointed how eating habits during the nine months of pregnancy affect

a gene linked to diabetes, which is in turn associated with heart disease and

kidney failure.

It is thought these genetic changes could be inherited and passed on to future

generations.

The study – in the emerging field of epigenetics – is the first to show how a

poor diet during pregnancy increases children’s vulnerability to the effects of

ageing.

The Royal College of Midwives said it was important women received “clear

advice” about diet during pregnancy.

The study, by Cambridge University, which is published in the journal PNAS,

reveals how the gene Hnf4a, which has been linked to type 2 diabetes, is

regulated by maternal diet, through modifications to DNA.

Dr Ozanne, the senior author on the paper and British Heart Foundation

senior fellow from Cambridge’s Institute of Metabolic Science, said: “What is

most exciting about these findings is that we are now starting to really

understand how nutrition during the first nine months of life spent in the womb

shapes our long-term health by influencing how the cells in our body age.”

The research was based on a study of rats – scientists altered the protein

content of the mother’s diet during pregnancy, which resulted in their offspring

developing type 2 diabetes in old age.

They also studied the DNA from insulin-secreting cells from human pancreases to

show that expression of the Hnf4a gene was controlled in the same way in humans

as in rats.

Dr Ozanne added: “A healthy well-balanced diet is particularly important during

pregnancy because of the impact on the baby long-term, and the potential impact

on the grandchildren as well.”

Professor Kell, chief executive of the Biotechnology and Biological

Sciences Research Council, which funded the research alongside the British Heart

Foundation, said: “Epigenetics is a relatively young field of research with

tremendous potential to underpin our understanding of many biological processes

in all organisms.

“This study shows us how apparently minor changes within cells at the very

earliest stages of development can have a major influence on our health into old

age.”

The findings come after a Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

conference in Cardiff last week heard how obesity in pregnant women makes it

more likely that children become obese and increases the risk of them developing

type 2 diabetes.

Helen , director of the Royal College of Midwives in Wales, said: “It is

important that women receive clear and simple advice about what’s best for them

and their babies.

“This information should not confuse them at what is a vulnerable time – the

majority of women will already be worried about whether they are eating

properly.”

And Prof Pearson, associate medical director of the British Heart

Foundation, said: “We already know a healthy pregnancy is important in shaping a

child’s health, and their risk of heart disease as they grow up.

“The reasons why are not well understood, but this study in rats adds to the

evidence that a mother’s diet may sometimes alter the control of certain genes

in her unborn child.

“It’s no reason for expectant mothers to be unduly worried.

“This research doesn’t change our advice that pregnant women should try to eat a

healthy, balanced diet,” he added.

Read More

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