A Fatty Diet When Pregnant Alters Brain Development In Babies
Written by Jane Tucker | Saturday, 31 October 2009 | There are 0 comments
had a significant difference in brain chemistry 
More evidence that obesity can be inherited has been produced by a team of scientists who fed pregnant mice a high fat diet and monitored whether it affected the brain development of their offspring. They claim that their study shows that a high fat diet made them more likely to become obese and to suffer from addictive eating patterns when they turned into adult mice.
Professor Teresa Reyes from the University of Pennsylvania explained that the offspring of these over fed mice had a significant difference in brain chemistry and “dramatic differences” in the levels of dopamine and opioid related cells. She speculated that these differences were partially responsible for the overeating behaviour that was observed. Fascinatingly the researchers also saw the young mice were more likely to prefer sugar and had a stronger physical response to cocaine than when compared to those young mice that were born to mothers fed a normal healthy diet.
This research could be put to good use by women who are expecting children and encourage them to carry on eating healthily while pregnant. Professor Reyes said that in America as many as 35 percent of all births were to obese women and it was important that they understood the dangers of their condition and how it could affect both the behavior and the brain makeup of their children.
Ukmedix News has also reported on how obesity affects other aspects of childbirth such as the likelihood of miscarriage, low birth weight and premature birth. While it is expected that women put on a little bit of weight while pregnant, they should take care not to forget about healthy eating completely and to remember that what they consume is not only beneficial for their own health but also for the health of their children.
The research which was financed by the National Institutes of Health was presented to the public at Neuroscience 2009 which is the annual meeting for the Society for Neuroscience.
