WIREDGOV

A research study co-funded by us has found a link between diet during pregnancy, and the health of offspring in later life.

Environmental factors – things you can control, such as diet – can permanently influence the DNA of an unborn child. Therefore diet during pregnancy can have a lasting effect.

Now scientists, led by one of our senior researchers at the University of Cambridge, gave rats a low-protein diet during pregnancy and investigated the action of a particular gene called HNF-4a. This gene is important in producing insulin, which helps regulate sugar levels in the blood. An imbalance in blood sugar can lead to diabetes.

The researchers found that rats whose mothers were put on a lower protein diet during pregnancy were born smaller, and when they got older developed type 2 diabetes. The experts showed this was because the action of the gene was blocked in later life, reducing the rats’ ability to control their blood sugar levels.

Another group of rats fed a higher protein diet had offspring that didn’t develop type 2 diabetes. The action of the all-important gene was normal.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, our Associate Medical Director, said:

“We already know that a healthy pregnancy is important in shaping a child’s health, and their risk of heart disease as they grow up. The reasons why are not well understood, but this study in rats adds to the evidence that a mother’s diet may sometimes alter the control of certain genes in her unborn child.

“It’s no reason for expectant mothers to be unduly worried. This research doesn’t change our advice that pregnant women should try to eat a healthy, balanced diet.”

The research was published in the American journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.