Obesity in pregnancy can alter the brain wiring of babies and leave them prone to long-term disorders such as diabetes and uncontrolled weight gain, a study suggests.
Scientists made the discovery after investigating why children whose mothers are obese are at greater risk of metabolic problems as they age.
The research showed that newborn mice nourished by the milk of mothers on a high-fat diet developed abnormal nerve circuits in a region of the brain key to regulating metabolism.
Taking species differences into account, the findings imply that a human mother's nutrition in the last three months of pregnancy is critical to her child's future health.
"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," US researcher Professor Tamas Horvath, from Yale School of Medicine, said.