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feb 10, 2011

What if mother -to -be fills up on high-fat or high-carbohydrate diet during her pregnancy? It’s likely her offspring will be predisposed to develop obesity and diabetes. 
But an animal study at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia showed that feeding rats antioxidants before and during pregnancy prevented obesity and glucose intolerance in their offspring. 
The research may have strong implications for reducing obesity rates in children whether results would be similar in humans as well.

Categoria: Athena Project - News Store

Inserito da: marco

"We already know that there are critical periods during human development that influence the later development of obesity - said senior author of the study Rebecca A. Simmons - This research suggests that if we can prevent inflammation and oxidative stress during pregnancy, we may lower the risk that a child will develop obesity." The study, published in the journal Diabetes, put under scrutiny the hypothesis that a high-fat diet during pregnancy increases oxidative stress and leads to obesity in the offspring of animals. At the same time, researchers tested whether supplementing diet with antioxidant would have any effect in preventing obesity in the offspring. Rats were fed three different diets (Western-type diet rich in fat and carbohydrate, Western diet supplemented with antioxidants and a control diet). It came out that rats fed Western diet rich in antioxidants had offspring with significantly lower oxidative stress, as well as no obesity and significantly better glucose tolerance and the effects persisted at two months of age.
"These results suggest that if we prevent obesity, inflammation and oxidative stress in pregnant animals, we can prevent obesity in the offspring," said Simmons who added that future research will be targeted to determine the mechanisms by which inflammation and oxidative stress cause more fat tissue to develop.