lilithomalley@aol.com

Aug. 6, 2003 -- There is one more excuse for being a couch potato; a new study
shows it may be your destiny. Undernourishment during pregnancy may lead to a
sedentary life for offspring.

Some New Zealand researchers suggest that the well known association between
obesity, metabolic syndrome, sedentary behavior, and overeating might be linked
to how nourished a woman is during pregnancy. The findings appear in the July
2003 issue of American Physiological Society.

Researchers separated pregnant rats into two nutritional groups. The first
group was undernourished throughout pregnancy. The second group had free access
to food. Researchers recorded maternal weights and food intake daily until
birth. After birth and weaning, male pups from the well fed and undernourished
groups were divided into two groups to be fed either a standard or high-calorie
diet.

Eating Habits During Pregnancy Have Long-Term Effects

Findings show the prenatal environment could lead to both abnormal eating and
exercise behaviors.

In this study, prenatal diet influenced whether the offspring would live more
sedentary lifestyles as grownups. Pups that were undernourished in the womb
were significantly more sedentary after weaning and as they grew compared with
those born from rats that ate a diet that had free access to food.

Researchers also found that the offspring born to the undernourished mother,
when placed on a high-calorie diet, seemed to worsen their sedentary behavior,
these pups also ate more. This behavior persisted as the pups aged. Males pups
tended to be bigger couch potatoes than the females.

The study suggests that the predisposition to obesity, inactivity, and eating
habits are linked and may be influenced by the mother's pregnancy. Researchers
say they hope their findings influence policy. That way, health-care funding
may be better spent on improving prenatal care rather than waiting until adults
start having metabolic and cardiovascular disorders years or decades later.

SOURCES: American Physiological Society, July 2003. News Release, American
Physiological Society.

© 2003 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.

eva whitley

<rest snipped>

My mother dieted with almost every pregnancy and she admitted to me when
I was an adult that I wasn't a wanted child.

I'm doomed.

And here I thought it was because I'm klutz. Or that there was a "jock
gene" and my brothers got it, and I didn't.
--
Eva Whitley

Eva joins the 90s! Come visit my site at http://www.evawhitley.net for the
finest in links and now new and improved with BLOG!

qstew63512469@qis.net

lilithomalley@aol.com

I was a firstborn and no doubt wanted by my Catholic parents, but my mother's
diet was horrible. Both parents smoked, and since it was the 50's, not much was
known about alcohol's effect on developing children, so I think they drank beer
too.
I also heard that Mom was sick a lot of the time so I bet her food intake was
lower too. I ****s, but we already had strikes against us before we left the
womb! Lil

nancy@unix1.netaxs.com (nancy

Interesting--I thought you were going to cite a different study (sorry,
don't have a url) which turned up a gene which affects whether mice(?)
like physical activity.
--
Nancy Lebovitz nancy@netaxs.com http://www.nancybuttons.com
Now, with bumper stickers

Using your turn signal is not "giving information to the enemy"

lilithomalley@aol.com

That was just a story I read in a health section of some online medical
journal. It struck me because I know my mother did not eat a healthy diet
....Lil