Babies exposed to excess hormones in the womb are not only at increased risk of developing heart disease and diabetes in later life but can pass these risks to their children.
A University of Edinburgh team, reporting their findings in the American Journal of Physiology, has discovered that the genetic risks to the health of future generations can come from either parent.
Scientists believe that exposure of a baby to adverse conditions before birth can ‘programme’ altered growth and development, resulting in reduced birth weight and a tendency to develop disease in later life. One factor influencing this might include exposure of the baby to excess stress hormones (glucocorticoids) before birth. Glucocorticoids are present in both mother and baby, and are also widely used as a treatment in pregnancy in threatened or actual premature delivery, to improve the baby’s development and chances of survival.
Now, the medical scientists from the University have shown in laboratory tests that low birth weight and the increased risk of diabetes can be passed by a mother or father to their own children affected by ‘programming’.