A recent animal study has shown that having a high-fat diet during pregnancy may lead to your child being obese later in life.
This study was published in the journal Cell.
A team of researchers at Yale School of medicine found that diet can change the structure of the brain, in mice, according to BBC. This could prove why obese parents tend to have obese children because mommy used the excuse that she was “eating for two.”
Now, this isn’t saying that obesity doesn’t run in families, because it does. This study has shown that if your diet while pregnant isn’t healthy, your child may feel the effects.
The experiments that were performed on mice showed that mice with high fat diets tended to have pups that had an altered brain. More specifically an altered hypothalamus, which is known to regulate metabolism.
"We definitely believe these are fundamental biological processes also affecting humans and influencing how children may eventually become obese. It seems, at least, that this could have a major impact and we need to explore it further in both animal and human studies,” said researcher Tamas Horvath.
According to Headlines and Global News, eating high-fat diets can lead to osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases and even cancer in some cases. These new findings can possibly help prevent obesity in children and lead to a healthier society.
However, researchers would still like to further study this subject on humans because mice and human brains are quite different.
The best defense, as it has always been, is to have a healthy and well balanced diet, whether you are pregnant or not.