It turns out that obesity doesn't just impact the health of a mother; it can also affect the health of her children. Scientists have discovered that obese mothers are more likely to have children with metabolic disorders such as diabetes compared with mothers with a healthy weight. Now, they've found the underlying molecular and cellular reasons for this effect.
Currently, more than one-third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese. This opens them to a range of health issues that can impact them throughout their lives. Needless to say, it's crucial to understand exactly what might cause the onset of this obesity.
That's why the researchers took a closer look at obese mothers. While they knew that mothers who are obese or have diabetes put their children at risk for metabolic problems, they hadn't identified the exact brain circuits for mediating this effect. In order to study this phenomenon a bit further, the scientists took a look at mouse models.
In the end, the researchers found that mouse mothers fed a high-fat diet during lactation had offspring with abnormal neuronal connections in the hypothalamus. They found that these young mice also had altered insulin signaling in this brain circuit. Because of this, the offspring remained overweight and had abnormalities in glucose metabolism throughout their adult lives.
"Our study suggests that expecting mothers can have major impact on the long-term metabolic health of their children by properly controlling nutrition during this critical developmental period of the offspring," said Tamas Horvath, one of the researchers, in a news release.
The findings reveal a bit more about how a mother's diet can impact her offspring. This could have implications for the future, and shows that it's important for expectant mothers to eat in a healthy manner.
"Give that gestational diabetes frequently manifests during the third trimester, our results point toward the necessity of more intensified screening of mothers for altered glucose metabolism, as well as tightly controlled antidiabetic therapy if any alterations are detected during this critical period," said Jens Bruning, one of the researchers, in a news release.
The findings are published in the journal Cell.
