Pregnant mother's diet and child's life expectancy - possible link?

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 29 Jan 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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There is a possibility that a pregnant mother's poor diet may affect how long her child lives (life expectancy).

In a recent study, researchers found that mice whose pregnant mothers were fed on a low-protein diet had shorter lives (by months) than the ones whose mothers were fed on a normal diet.

Months, in a mouse's life equates to many human years. If the child itself goes on to eat a high fat high sugar diet the effect is even worse. The study was carried out at Cambridge University (UK) and was published in Nature.

It is not clear how relevant the maternal diet of a mouse is to humans. The researchers did find, however, that even small changes in the mother's diet (mice) had a profound impact on the future health of their offspring.

In this study, the mice were fed a low-protein diet (during pregnancy). Some of these mice went on to receive a low-protein diet while suckling their pups (baby mice).

When the baby mice were 21 days old (and weaned off mother's milk) some went on to normal healthy diets while others went on high fat and sugar diets (cafeteria cuisine).

The mice that were fed normally (healthy diet) lived for 765 days. The high fat, high sugar fed mice lived for 715 days. Mice whose mothers (while pregnant) were on a low-protein diet (half the normal protein) but were suckled on nutritious milk only lived for 568 days.

The shortest lifespan went to mice whose pregnant mothers were on the low-protein (half the amount of protein) diets and then (the baby mice) went on the high fat high sugar diet lived for only 517 days.

Longer-lived

Oddly, normally-nourished foetuses who were given less nutritious milk after birth actually lived longer, even if fatty food was introduced at weaning.

Dr Susan Ozanne, who led the research, said: 'Our research demonstrates that, in mice at least, minor manipulations of maternal diet can have a significant impact on offspring lifespan.

'At the two extremes tested here, dietary changes increased the difference in lifespan by more than 50%.

'In humans, this could equate to the difference between reaching 50 and living to be 75 years old.'

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, which funded the research, said: 'Although the importance of a balanced diet is clear, further research is needed to understand the effects of nutrition on human development.

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