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Diabetes Risk Raised By Poor Maternal Diet
Mon, 09 Jan 2012
Poor nutrition during pregnancy may put a newborn baby at greater risk of diabetes in later life by altering the way the body stores fat, according to new research published in the journal Cell Death and Differentiation.

Scientists in the UK carried out a study which indicated that individuals who experience a poor diet in the womb are less able to store fats correctly in later life, resulting in fats accumulating in the liver and muscle where they are more likely to lead to the onset of type 2 diabetes.

They found that this process is controlled by type of regulatory genetic molecule called miR-483-3, which works by suppressing a protein called GDF3.

Researcher Professor Anne Willis, director of the Medical Research Council Toxicology Unit at the University of Leicester, said: "One of the ways that our bodies cope with a rich modern western diet is by storing excess calories in fat cells."

"When these cells aren't able to absorb the excess then fats get deposited in other places, like the liver, where they are much more dangerous and can lead to Type 2 diabetes ."

Study leader Dr Susan Ozanne, from Cambridge University, said: "It has been known for a while that your mother's diet during pregnancy plays an important role in your adult health, but the mechanisms in the body that underlie this aren't well understood."

"We have shown in detail how one mechanism links poor maternal diet to diabetes and other diseases that develop as we age."
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