A new study at the University of Southhampton has confirmed that Mom’s diet during pregnancy has lifelong effects on her baby. Whether Mom is skinny or fat during pregnancy seems to have little effect on whether her baby is prone to obesity later on. Rather, it is what she eats during those critical months and the nutrition of the food she selects that makes all the difference.
Epigenetic changes or alteration of the fetus’ DNA function (without changes to the actual DNA) can occur with a nutrition poor pregnancy diet leading the child to store more fat in later life. Surprisingly, these changes were found to be independent of the child’s birthweight.
The functional DNA change doesn’t end there. These epigenetic changes also strongly influence how the child responds to diet and lifestyle changes years later.
The study examined babies at birth for these epigenetic changes and found these changes strongly predictive of the child’s obesity status 6 or even 9 years later.
The most sobering statement made by the researchers:Â “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.”
It seems that Traditional Societies indeed had it right! To ensure a healthy population, primary effort must be expended on the pre-pregnancy and pregnancy diet of the parents-to-be! Trying to fix problems after the baby is born has limited effect.
It is absolutely essential that information regarding the protective effects of Traditional Pregnancy Diets become more widely available and accessible for any headway in the reversal of the obesity epidemic to be made. Putting kids on skim milk and adding an extra day or two of PE at school sure isn’t having much effect.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com
Source: New Link Between Mother’s Pregnancy Diet and Offspring’s Chances of Obesity Found
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Wow! It takes 2 generations to fix bad nutrition problems? Boy am I SO GLAD both sides of Grandparents ONLY ate homemade TRADITIONAL European foods! I don’t know what my mother ate when pregnant, but we were raised an a fairly traditional “meat and potatoes” diet, with fish EVERY Friday (half Catholic, half Eastern Orthodox). We did eat a LOT of Italian food in my house though (we’re New Yorkers), but even my NY-raised German / Polish Grandparents NEVER ate pasta unless it was in a restaurant – always homemade meat and potatoes and REAL homemade pickles from their garden. My grandmother even canned her own peaches.
I became a Vegetarian at age 12 (humane reasons) – first I gave up red meat (I always HATED steak and beef, but in the beginning I cheated with bacon ;)), then a year later I gave up poultry (my mother was making chicken almost EVERY DAY for me :)), and finally, I gave up my FAVORITE food – lobster and shrimp (all seafood) at age 14. I never gave up dairy and eggs though – I could NEVER become a Vegan. Thankfully both my mother and my Grandmother actually supported me by altering traditional European recipes and replaced the meat with things like carrots, chick peas and sprouts. I NEVER ate Tofu or soy – my aunt is a hippie Vegetarian and when I was a kid she FORCED me to try Tofu and it was the MOST VILE thing I’d ever tasted – that experience scarred me for life! Thankfully it turns out that was a VERY GOOD life lesson!
I too began to worry about my health / weight and fertility issues and started reading W.A.P. for that very reason. I actually thought I was underweight, but since this past February I changed my diet from mostly pasta and potatoes to eating a MINIMUM half-stick (4 TBS) butter and 4 eggs a day – I have not gained or lost a single pound! Honestly, I think I am at my naturally “proper” weight, even if it is well below what the Government claims I should weigh – I am in total proportion (physically) at least. I plan to add coconut and palm oil to my diet, and eventually fermented Cod Liver Oil (NOT looking forward to that ;)), but I don’t plan to actually add any meat – I’ve been a Vegetarian for 23 years! That being said, I am no longer going to avoid soups made with meat stocks, and I’m considering trying to make my own from just organic bones, if I can find a butcher somewhere (actually, when I was a kid there was a butcher around the corner and that’s where my mom bought her meat, but he’s LONG GONE).
Oh yeah, I’ve NEVER had a “sweet tooth” – I hate sugared “drinks” and ALL “Diet” or “Low Fat” foods – those just always tasted VILE to me! I think (not sure) that this MAY be because I was not given “junk food” as a kid – “snacks” were carrot and celery sticks in salt water or salted turnips. Neither one of my parents puts sugar in their coffee, and neither do I (yuck). I never even ate my Halloween or Easter candy either – I’d eat a few pieces and put it away and years later I would find a “secret stash” of candy that even I wasn’t crazy enough to taste! The only “sweet” I LOVE is ICE CREAM – I am an ice cream ADDICT! I probably eat my weight in ice cream every year! That being said, I am a SALT ADDICT! I LOVE SALT. And, I believe the War on Salt is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!! In fact, I eat more salt than probably anyone on the planet, and a cardiologist told me to eat EVEN MORE (and drink lots more water even though I drink well over 80 ounces a day) to keep my blood-pressure and hydration levels up.
OK, maybe I’m weird, but one thing I know for sure is that if I followed the Government’s “Dietary Guidelines” I’d drop dead!
I agree that nutrition and health during the pregnancy time is crucial for a baby’s health, but I disagree with what seems to be an “all is lost” diagnosis for those who miss that window. Our bodies are designed to heal, given the proper tools. The best way is to eat right from the beginning, but this post is rather discouraging to those of us who were raised on junk food and had absolutely no choice in the matter. I fully intend to do things properly from now on, but I will never accept that degenerative disease is my lot in life.
I’ve spent the last few YEARS preparing my body for pregnancy with nourishing foods. I’m SO happy that I’m armed with this information before we start a family. We are hoping to conceive within the next few months – so excited! 🙂
I read your first post on healing your gluten intolerance- I’m interested to hear the rest of the story!
ok i am soo very interested in learning how to eat properly before and while pregnant..we are currently trying to conceive and am 36 years old, i have never been pregnant before and am finally actively trying, i have been worried that perhaps my diet has kept me from conceiving, can you point me to a link on the proper diet i should have? thx
Hi afira, here it is…
http://westonaprice.org/childrens-health/311-diet-for-pregnant-and-nursing-mothers
It was right in Sarah’s post above.
Hi Sarah, my mom went on Weight Watchers during her pregnancy with me and was actually 10lbs less before I was born than she was when she first got preganat with me. I’m the first born and the only one of the 4 children that she did this for during pregnancy. From what I understand our bodies store toxins in our fat and when we loose weight those toxins are released. So I guess I absorbed a large amount of toxins in utero. I was born 7lbs & some ounces on time and naturally (by accident). Apparantely noone was at the hospital to give her drugs and the cleaning lady wound up holding her hand during labor. I’ve often wondered if and how this has affected my health. Can I ask what your take is on this regarding health later in life?
I forgot to mention, of course her doctor was on board and told her that it was good. She did say that a nurse disagreed though.
Kathy, I have not come across anything about losing weight while pregnant and how this might affect the baby toxin-wise. The most important thing would be how your mother ate and if she was on Weight Watchers, this would have been lowfat so this would have likely affected things for the worse more than losing the weight I think. The natural birth with no drugs is highly beneficial – what a great thing for you!
Thanks Sarah!
I was just wondering as my health is the poorest of the 4 siblings. I seemed to be healthy as a child (well except for the need for the powerful glasses & allergies which both started in 7th grade) but started getting digestive problems at the age of 16 and by the time I was 30 my health problems seriously affected my life.
Kathy, take heart .. most digestive problems are healed by diet and lifestyle changes. I have many blogs about how to do this as do other fantastic Real Food bloggers across the blogosphere.
I also have to say that way too many babies are born premature in this country, and I am certain that it is largely because of nutritional deficiences in the mother and her diet, leading to an immuno-compromised system that cannot support the baby. I see SO MANY signatures on forums of women that have multiple premature babies- did the woman’s doctor EVER counsel her on diet or even consider that it might help her to avoid preterm births in future pregnancies? Probably not. It makes me soooooo sad for the babies that have to fight for their lives because we are not counseled properly on nutrition.
Thanks for the post; I’ve shared it on the diaperswappers pregnancy forum 🙂 I am just happy that I learned about traditional diets and real food in time to have a positive impact on my daughter’s health (15 months old) and that of any future children. Fortunately for me I was raised on whole foods, although not so much traditional food. I have always hated fast food and processed foods, but before becoming pregnant had fallen victim to the conventional “low fat” diet wisdom. Once pregnant I craved eggs and cheese, and I haven’t looked back! My chronic acne is gone and I’ve finally lost the 15 pounds I was trying to lose for 5 years. It’s really great, but I’m most happy for my children that I know what I do now about the importance of diet.
My mom drank whole milk for years (especially during her childbearing years) and none of us have significant weight problems. Well, there is one brother who struggles more with his weight than the rest, but he pretty much lives on processed foods since his wife doesn’t cook (yes, this depresses me). My mom also uses butter in her cooking. Oh, and she also ate sushi when pregnant (it’s what she craved). It baffles her that doctors try to tell women that they shouldn’t have it.