There is another
reason why a healthy diet during pregnancy is critical to the future health of
your children.
Here's another reason
why a healthy diet during pregnancy is critical to the future health of your
children:
New research
published in the March 2013 issue of The FASEB
Journal, suggests that pregnant mothers who consume junk food actually
cause changes in the development of the opioid signaling pathway in the brains
of their unborn children.
This
change results in the babies being less sensitive to opioids, which are
released upon consumption of foods that are high in fat and sugar.
In turn, these
children, born with a higher "tolerance" to junk food need to eat
more of it to achieve a "feel good" response.
"The results of
this research will ultimately allow us to better inform pregnant women about
the lasting effect their diet has on the development of their child's lifelong
good preferences and risk of metabolic disease," said Beverly Muhlhausler,
Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the FOODplus Research Centre at
the School of Agriculture Food and Wine at The University of Adelaide in
Adelaide, Australia. "Hopefully, this will encourage mothers to make
healthier diet choices which will lead to healthier children."
RESEARCH
To make this
discovery, Muhlausler and colleagues studied the pups of two groups of rats,
one of which had been fed a normal rat food and the other which had been fed a
range of human "junk foods" during pregnancy and lactation. After
weaning, the pups were given daily injections of an opioid receptor blocker,
which blocks opioid signaling. Blocking opioid signaling lowers the intake of
fat and sugar by preventing the release of dopamine.
FINDINGS
Results showed that
the opioid receptor blocker was less effective at reducing fat and sugar intake
in the pups of the junk food fed mothers, suggesting that the opioid signaling
pathway in these offspring is less sensitive than for pups whose mothers are eating
a standard rat feed.
CONCLUSION
"This study
shows that addiction to junk food is true addiction." said Gerald
Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB
Journal. "Junk food engages the same body chemistry as opium, morphine
or heroin. Sad to say, junk food during pregnancy turns the kids into junk food
junkies."
Source: Sciencedaily.com
