Mum's Diet Sets Baby's Weight

by Ellen Connolly - January 26th, 2008 - Queensland Courier Mail

AUSTRALIAN scientists have made the world-first discovery that a pregnant woman's diet determines whether her baby grows into a fat or skinny adult.

The research suggests women who are overweight before they fall pregnant, and during it, may be condemning their children to a life of overeating and obesity. It reveals that a mother's diet during pregnancy affects the baby's brain circuits, determining appetite and energy expenditure in their offspring.

This also explains why slim mothers with slim fathers can have one child who is slim and another who is fat, if she overeats during one pregnancy but not the other.

I am sure this is another thing that will now make many mothers stress out over how their child turns out. It is intersting to think about this with regard to the obesity problem in America. It is expected that in a nation where mothers overeat, their children will be fat . . . if this research is correct.

It is NOT the child's fault, but the mother's fault. Wow.