A new study shows a significant influence on an unborn child's diet later in life if pregnant mothers tend to consume junk food, reports Science Daily.
The new Australian research shows pregnant mothers who consume junk food pass on the habit to their unborn children. Junk food consumption causes a change in the brain signaling pathways of their unborn children, making them less sensitive to opioids which are released on consuming high amounts of fat and sugar. This triggers the babies' tolerance to a greater level forcing them to consume more fat and sugar content foods to get a satisfactory feeling, the study said.
"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 FOOD plus Research Centre at the School of Agriculture Food and Wine at the University of Adelaide. "Hopefully, this will encourage mothers to make healthier diet choices which will lead to healthier children."
Researchers conducted an experiment on the pups of two groups of rats, one group was given normal rat food and the other was given human junk food during pregnancy and lactation. After weaning, both groups were injected with opioid receptor blocker, which stops the opioid signaling.
The results showed that the opioid receptor blocker was found to be less sensitive in reducing the consumption of fat and sugar in the pups of mothers that fed on junk food.
"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."
The findings are published in an online journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
