MOTHERS who consume high-calorie diets while pregnant could be exposing their unborn child to obesity later in life.
University of South Australia adult health researcher Beverly Muhlhausler is investigating inter-generational obesity and how diets high in glucose can stimulate the development of fat cells in a fetus.
Ms Muhlhausler said mothers who ate in excess of their nutritional requirements while pregnant were likely to have high levels ofglucose.
"People who have high glucose, that glucose is transferred to the baby across the placenta," Ms Muhlhausler said.
"The higher the glucose, the higher the impact and the more the chances are that the child will go on to be obese later in life."
While the number of fat cells found in humans is determined before birth, Ms Muhlhausler said genes that determine how much fat is made in the body in response to certain stimuli -- such as high-glucose foods -- were influenced by the mother's nutritional intake.
"If you have high levels of glucose, you can switch on those genes," she said. "Even if after birth you're exposed to a high level of nutrition, fat cells are predisposed to expand or store more fat."
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