High Fat Diet in Pregnancy Could Lead to Obese Children

Links have been suggested between high fat diets during pregnancy and obesity in the child during their life.
Studies on mice in the Yale School of Medicine have found that there are links between a pregnant mother eating a high fat diet and the pups becoming overweight in their lives, and increasing the risk of them developing type 2 diabetes.
This apparently could explain why the children of obese parents are statistically more likely to become obese themselves in their lives; genetics make them more prone to becoming overweight.
Professor Tamas Horvath of the study reportedly explained the link as “it could be a signal to the pup that it can grow bigger as the environment is plentiful in food”.
There is of course a difference between humans and mice, and so what goes for one doesn’t necessarily go for the other. With this in mind, he added that they “need to explore it further in both animal and human studies.”
There is no proof in whether the high fat diet of a human parent affects the child in gestation, and the environment definitely plays a huge factor in obesity. If a child is brought up in a high-fat consuming household, they are more likely to follow the habits they were brought up with.
Whether there is a direct link between a mother’s high fat diet and their child’s lifetime weight or not, a balanced and healthy diet is something you should be aiming for throughout life, for your health, and your child’s. Just as fatty diets could become habit for a child and lead to obesity, a healthy diet can also become a habit and help them to lead a healthy and obesity free life.

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