Poor Nutrition to Twins and Mothers Can Develop Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes

Research published online in the FASEB Journal advices that twins, and babies of mothers who exactly diet around the time of getting pregnant and in early pregnancy, could have an increased risk of weight problems and type II diabetes in their lives. This research provides exciting ideas into how to conduct can result in epigenetic changes in offspring regarding obesity and disorder.

"This research may give you a new understanding of the reasons why twins can develop diabetes," said Anne White, Ph.D., study author from the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester in Manchester, UK. "Additionally it suggests that dieting across the time a baby is conceived may raise the chance of a typical child becoming obese later in life."

To create this discovery, White and colleagues performed research with sheep to enquire twin pregnancies as well as the effects of altering diet around the time of getting pregnant and early pregnancy. Particularly, scientists investigated the brain tissue of fetal sheep before birth and located that there were changes within the genes that control food intake and glucose levels that could lead to obesity and diabetes. This information is unique because the distinctions found in the genes aren't realized changes in the DNA sequence, but rather, epigenetic changes with modifications in the constitution of a typical DNA and its associated healthy proteins, histones, which impacts the ways in which genes can perform in future life.

"This research shows that women who are pregnant have to walk quite a fine line with regard to diet and nutrition," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of a typical FASEB Journal. "Additionally it shows that epigenetic would be the 'new genetics' both our DNA as well as the histones by which it is wrapped is sensitive to binge eating and dieting-we are what our mothers consumed."