Obesity May Rise With Generations
Obesity may increase with each generation because overweight mothers give birth to offspring who have a tendency to become heavier, researchers have claimed.
A team of scientists believe that the genetic mechanisms that control the weight of a baby may be changed if the mother is obese before and during pregnancy.
This change could lead in turn to the baby becoming heavier than normal.
Scientists in Houston, America, made the claim after studying the eating habits of several generations of mice.
Dr Robert Waterland from Baylor College of Medicine, led the study.
He explained: “There is an obesity epidemic in the United States and it’s increasingly recognised as a worldwide phenomenon.
“Why is everyone getting heavier and heavier?
“One hypothesis is that maternal obesity before and during pregnancy affects the establishment of body weight regulatory mechanisms in her baby.
“Maternal obesity could promote obesity in the next generation.”
The team split the mice, all of which had a genetic tendency to overeat, into two groups.
One group was provided with a normal diet while the other was provided with nutrient-supplemented diet.
The nutrients in the supplemented diet encouraged the process of DNA methylation - a chemical reaction that silences genes with the hope that it would render the over-eating gene inactive.
The mice on the normal diet gained weight with each generation while the mice on the altered diet stayed roughly the same size.
Dr Waterland explained: “We wanted to know if, even among genetically identical mice, maternal obesity would promote obesity in her offspring, and if the methyl-supplemented diet would affect this process.
“Indeed those on the regular diet got fatter and fatter with each generation. Those in the supplemented group however, did not.”
Dr Waterland said the research had led the team to believe that the process of DNA methylation plays an important role in the development of the region of the brain that regulates appetite - the hypothalamus.
Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1567852/obesity_may_rise_with_generations/
Tags: Obesity, Pregnancy, Weight loss, Women
May 13th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
This is a great post, I stumbled across your article while looking for lyrics. Thanks for sharing, I’ll be sure to return regularly.