Mother's diet makes for 'weighty' children

Offsprings of both lean and obese primate mothers being fed a high-fat diet showed an increased risk of developing non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Offsprings of both lean and obese primate mothers being fed a high-fat diet showed an increased risk of developing non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

If such monkeys were reverted to a low-fat diet during a subsequent pregnancy, this second offspring exhibited fewer signs of NAFLD.

This finding contradicts the thinking that a mother's obesity during pregnancy is contributing to the rising incidence of obese children in the US, who are being diagnosed with type-2 diabetes and NAFLD.

However, a team at Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton and University of Colorado Aurora, led by Kevin Grove and Jacob Friedman, suspect that a developing foetus is highly susceptible to maternal consumption of excess fat, whether or not the mother is obese, according to an Oregon release.