Mother's Diet Linked to Obesity: Scientists Investigate Underlying Mechanisms

Scientists have long known that what a mother eats prior to pregnancy, during pregnancy and during lactation can impact the weight of her child. Now, though, scientists have found exactly why this is, uncovering the underlying mechanisms.

In order to find out what mechanisms were behind a child's increased likelihood of weight gain and obesity, the researchers fed female rats either a high-fat diet or a standard diet from post-weaning to adulthood and in separate groups throughout pregnancy and lactation.

"Parental obesity and diet can affect the children's likelihood to overeat and develop obesity," said Asaf Marco, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Changes in epigenetic programming have been implicated as one of the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. We observed a clear correspondence between a specific epigenetic mechanism and weight gain, potentially allowing for early detection and prevention of obesity."

The researchers found that unmated female rats that were chronically fed a high-fat diet presented obesity associated with disruptions in an epigenetic mechanism that controls the production of Pomic. Yet due to the sharp weight loss during lactation, rats with a high-fat diet presented normal weight and a normalized epigenetic mechanism while lactating. Not only that, but the researchers found that epigenetic malprogramming due to maternal high-fat diets had a long-term effect on the offspring's vulnerability to developing obesity.

"Shining light on heritable, epigenetic factors that cause obesity should help us shed unwanted pounds in future generations," said Gerald Weissmann, Editor-in-Chief- of The Faseb Journal. "This research shows that being overweight and obese has a direct impact on the genes we use to signal when it's time to stop eating."

That said, the scientists will have to conduct further studies in order to better understand this mechanism. That said, this could pave the way for future treatments that could help prevent obesity.

The findings are published in The Faseb Journal.