AN expectant mother’s diet can create an obesity time bomb for her unborn child by altering the baby’s DNA in the womb, increasing its risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes in later life, a groundbreaking study has revealed.
The process ‒ called epigenetic change ‒ can lead to her child tending to lay down more fat. Importantly, the study shows that this effect acts independently of how fat or thin the mother is and of child’s weight at birth. The study found there was an element in a woman’s diet, particularly during the first third of a pregnancy that was of crucial importance.
The rate of epigenetic change was possibly linked to a low carbohydrate diet in the first three months of pregnancy, but it is too early to draw a definitive conclusion and further studies were needed. One theory was that an embryo fed a diet containing few carbohydrates ‒ which provide the body with energy ‒ assumed it would be born into a carbohydrate-poor environment and altered its metabolism to store more fat, which could be used as fuel when food was scarce.
This study provides the most compelling evidence yet that just focusing on interventions in adult life will not reverse the epidemic of chronic diseases, not only in developed societies but in low socio-economic populations too.
And it is not just women who should be mindful, as it is likely obese fathers change the DNA in the sperm, ultimately influencing how the baby develops its control of blood sugar and fat deposition after that baby grows up.
There is good evidence in animals, and there is some supportive evidence in humans that fathers who are obese have impact on the gene switches of their babies as well. We should not imagine that father has no role in determining the outcome of the baby’s health.
See my full article here
Does the article state how many carbs is low carb? Gotta love inconclusive studies. Not surprised to see this featured by the ADA, the high carb food pyramid promoters.
“Humans originally ate food as it came in nature ‒ legumes, pulses, things like lentils and chick peas, and fruits. Root vegetables and potatoes are a lovely source of carbohydrate as well. It is therefore important mothers are educated about the effects of diets.”
Humans did not “orginially” eat the high carb foods mentioned. In fact, our ancestors ate low carb diets until relatively recently. Our species wouldn’t have survived if eating low carb was harmful. Potatoes are needed for health, yea right.
You can’t compare things we eat today with what our ancestors ate!
Not only has the human body changed over time, but also the amount of exercise, and the ingredients in food.
The didn’t have marmalade, coke, spaghetti, pizza, cheese, canned foods, deep-frozen foods, sauce, and what not.
Personally, I think it’s not the carbohydrates but rather a lot of other things that are on our food, and of what we eat way too much.
Wasn’t there a video somewhere about “low carb” actually being “high fat”?
I think this is highly speculative. Suggesting that low carb causes obesity because one gene is associated with a lower carb intake and that gene is associated with infant fat levels is a real stretch. Heck, maybe fat babies are healthy babies?