OT: Babies 'learn' lifetime of obesity while in the womb
- From: GoddessXena <goddessxena@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 01 Aug 2005 02:05:12 GMT
Scotland on Sunday Sun 31 Jul 2005
Babies 'learn' lifetime of obesity while in the womb
RICHARD GRAY HEALTH CORRESPONDENT
MOTHERS who do not eat properly at crucial stages during pregnancy cause their children to become obese in later life, scientists have warned.
Researchers at the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen believe the dietary habits of pregnant women can "programme" their unborn babies so they have larger appetites in adulthood.
By being under or over-nourished, expectant mothers upset the levels of hormones in their body which are responsible for controlling hunger.
Normally the hormones adjust the body's appetite to avoid putting on too much fat.
But the scientists are now investigating imbalance in the hunger hormones of expectant mothers and their impact on the baby's ability to regulate their own appetite.
They warn that if the mother produces too much or too little of the hormones while the foetus's brain is developing, it can alter the baby's sensitivity to the hormones.
Dr Clare Adam, a senior researcher at the Rowett Institute, said children whose appetite regulation was faulty often became obese in later life.
"There is growing evidence to suggest that people can have a predisposition to obesity from development in prenatal pregnancy," she said.
"The long-term effects are very interesting as we believe what happens before birth can affect adult metabolic health.
"The foetus can't control its appetite as its nutrition comes through the placenta from the mother even though it has a full control pathway in place. This could be getting over-sensitised or desensitised by hormones coming from the mother."
Adam and her colleagues are now investigating the mechanisms that cause the appetite control system in babies' brains to malfunction in this way.
By using sheep as models for human babies they hope to unravel how the damage to the foetus occurs.
They also hope to discover when in pregnancy a baby's brain can be affected and what levels of maternal nutrition are appropriate.
"We hope eventually to be able to give dietary advice to women during pregnancy to help them have healthy children," said Adam.
"There are probably critical pre-natal windows for the programming of post-natal appetite and a growing portion of the science seems to be pointing towards this explanation for a predisposition to obesity. Our studies have shown us that the hormones normally feed back to the appetite control in the brain telling it how fat, thin and hungry the animal is.
"The system seems to break down when animals get obese as the brain doesn't get the important message.
"It could be the hormone is not being released from fat tissue, or it is not getting to the brain or the receptors in the brain that detect it are not working correctly.
"We are using sheep as they have a long pregnancy similar to humans and the appetite regulation mechanisms seem to develop at around the same time as in humans.
"By using dietary intervention at critical moments of time it is possible to look at the metabolic consequences of that in the offspring."
Obesity is now one of the greatest challenges facing public health experts in Scotland, which has one of the highest obesity levels in Europe.
About 21% of adults, more than 850,000 Scots, are classified as obese. Health experts predict the figure will increase to 33% of adults and 50% of children by 2020. The death toll from obesity is expected to top that from smoking in the next 10 to 15 years.
Previous studies have found that children whose parents are obese are more likely to become overweight themselves. Adam claims the idea of programming appetite in the womb could explain why this happens.
But other scientists believe the reasons whole families become clinically obese may be more complicated.
Dr Charlotte Wright, an expert in obesity at Glasgow University, said: "It is difficult to say that something that happens in the womb has made someone fat 30 years down the line. There are a lot of other factors involved, such as genetics, and by far the biggest factor that affects baby weight is smoking during pregnancy.
"Ultimately the main thing that makes adults fat is eating too much, so the idea of an early origin of obesity occurring in the womb can be fatalistic. People start to take the view it is not their fault and they can't do anything about it."
Parenting groups also fear that worrying about diet during pregnancy will place even more pressure on mothers while they are expecting children.
Margaret McKay, chief executive of Children 1st, which runs the Parentline Scotland advice line, said: "Having a baby can be an extremely stressful time for parents, particularly new parents.
"They will be worried about looking after their baby, from feeding the baby enough and properly, to achieving a sleeping routine, or understanding the baby's cries."
BIG ISSUES
NEW statistics on the alarming rise of childhood obesity are expected to be announced by the NHS in the next few months.
One million children under the age of 16 in the UK are obese and, if trends continue, at least a fifth of boys and a third of girls will be overweight by 2020.
The BMA has called for restrictions on unhealthy food in schools, including a ban on machines selling sweets and fizzy drinks, stricter guidelines on sugar and fat content in meals and an end to junk-food advertising aimed at children.
A recent study found that schoolchildren don't exercise enough, with fewer than one-third of 13-year-old girls and half of boys meeting guidelines for moderate physical activity.
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