A mother’s diet before becoming pregnant can alter the way her baby’s genes function, potentially leading to ‘permanent, lifelong effects’ on its health. [s]The Independent[/s] reports that in the first study to show how eating habits at the time of conception can affect human genes, a team from the [b]London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine[/b], analysed blood samples from more than 160 babies born in rural Gambia. Half of the babies were born in the rainy season, and the other half in the dry. Marked seasonal differences in the country mean that diets vary significantly at different times of the year. Scientists said the findings of their study ‘opens up the possibility that a mother’s diet before pregnancy could permanently affect many aspects of her children’s lifelong health.’
[link url=http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/mothers-diets-before-pregnancy-could-have-lifelong-effects-on-babies-health-says-study-9303210.html]Full report in The Independent[/link]
[link url=http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140429/ncomms4746/full/ncomms4746.html]Nature Communications abstract[/link]