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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- What you eat during pregnancy may determine if your child stays disease-free, recent research suggests.
Nutrition during pregnancy and early childhood may play a larger role in predisposition to diseases than simply DNA, researchers conclude in a recent study. Researchers reviewed numerous studies on the relationship between in utero and early-life conditions, and development of diseases later in life. They discovered patterns that link controllable factors like nutrition to a childs health status later in life. For example, one study found infants who were fed formula had a higher energy intake and appeared to have a greater risk of obesity later in life. Another study on rats linked nutritional stress in pregnant rats to hyperglycemia in adult offspring.
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In previous studies, scientists have proposed the association between fetal and infant growth and later development of diseases like diabetes are caused by the transmission of certain genes from the mother. However, the authors of this study say the maternal environment may be more important than inherited genetic risk. They emphasize the importance of epigenetics, or changes in gene behavior in response to environment, in understanding disease development.
Molecular epidemiology has, to date, failed to define strong genetic determinants of the risk of developing metabolic disease, study authors conclude. Perhaps epigenetics will provide some explanations of how subtle early-life influences can produce long-term functional and structural changes. Furthermore, the concept of developmental plasticity could contribute an adaptive model that includes the effects of environmental factors during early development.
Developmental plasticity is the ability of an organism to adapt to a particular environment.
SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine, 2008;359:61-73
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