Obese mums produce fat kids

Research carried out at the Royal Veterinary College in London using rats has shown that pregnant mothers who were fed an unhealthy diet had offspring who tended to be obese themselves.

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Louise Ogden spoke to Professor Neil Stickland about his research into the fat rats and what it could tell us about humans unhealthy eating habits.

Transcript of the audio

Louise Ogden: Hello, you’re listening to the Elements podcast with Louise Ogden.
Should we be worrying that a moment on the lips won’t only be on our hips? Or that a mother’s choice of snacks when she’s pregnant could have longer lasting effects then she first realises.
We all love junk food, even if we’re ashamed to admit it. Every now and again, we crave a packet of crisps or one of our favourite chocolate bars as a little bit of a treat. But for pregnant women at least, perhaps they should think twice before having that second can of sugary drink. It seems that what mums to be eat when expecting will effect what their children will want to eat as they get older.

Neil Stickland: And if you feed pregnant rats lots of junk food then the offspring have a preference for junk food themselves.

LO: This week, I’ve been talking to Professor Neil Stickland from the Royal Veterinary College in London. His fascinating research into the links between a mother’s diet and childhood obesity has led him to some rather startling outcomes. It would appear that pregnant rats are passing down their unhealthy habits to their unborn offspring. And it’s all to do with something known as foetal programming.

NS: Foetal programming is all about the in utereo environment and how that effects long term growth into adulthood.

LO: So, does that mean that what happens in the rats, is what is going to happen in humans as well? Is it the same sort of effects if a mother is eating too much junk food during pregnancy in humans, is that going to affect the child as well?

NS: That’s difficult. But the concept of foetal programming is now shown in a whole range of animals, right the way through fish, chickens, agricultural animals, rats, and the epidemiological studies that are done on humans, shows that it is probably true in humans as well. So the principle of the in utereo environment affecting the offspring is established across a whole range of species. So you can’t say, because it’s happening in rats, it’s happening in humans, but I would say I’d be very surprised if it didn’t relate to humans, because the human wouldn’t be the one to break all biological principles.

LO: So, foetal programming is the effect a pregnant mother has on her unborn child because of her actions during pregnancy. It appears a mother’s eating habits, during those nine months, are transferred to the infant, leaving them craving similar types of food as they grow older. But how does foetal programming work? Why does a child crave the food its mother ate during pregnancy?

NS: Most of appetite is governed by the hypothalamus in the brain – this is an area on the base of the brain – and there are two sorts of control. One of them is how much food you eat, just appetite per se, just you feel hungry so you eat more. And that’s fairly well documented as to how that is controlled, but it doesn’t explain the choice of food, the craving for junk food. It seems that what your mother eats has an influence on what the child wants to eat, which is interesting. So, the mothers who had junk food, their offspring preferred junk food to the normal rat chow, so that they ate much more of it then the control offspring. And that’s all to do with reward centres in the brain.

LO: So, the young rats were born with an addiction to junk food, where they needed to eat high fat foods and then eat them more often, in order to satisfy the cravings they felt. And just like in any addiction, it can be very hard to break this cycle.

NS: What we found in our offspring is, as they got older, the junk food fed offspring – their addiction got worse. So as they grew they needed more and more junk food to satisfy their reward centres. And it’s a bit like any addiction, I suppose, the threshold rises. The more you have, the more you need to get that buzz, so the more junk food they needed to give them the buzz, so it just got worse. So it’s difficult, so what you’re saying is the mothers who eat junk food are setting their offspring up at a disadvantage, because they will want junk food and it will get worse during their lifetime.

LO: So, what can be done? Is it possible to combat foetal programming and change the hand that your mother dealt you? For Professor Stickland this is the million dollar question, and he hopes to answer it with his new research. But one thing that can be said for certain is that a healthy diet with regular exercise is still the best way to shed those unwelcome pounds. You’ve been listening to the Elements podcast with Louise Ogden.