BABY'S SIZE AT BIRTH MAY PREDICT RISK FOR DISEASES LATER IN LIFE
A new research report
published in the November 2014 issue of The FASEB
Journal suggests that being overweight might be better in the long term than
being underweight. Before you reach for that box of Twinkies, however, it's
important to note that this discovery only applies to the weight of newborn
babies in relation to risk of future disease.
"These
findings support the hypothesis that common long-term variation in the activity
of genes established in the womb may underpin links between size at birth and
risk for adult disease," said Claire R. Quilter, Ph.D., study author from
the Mammalian Molecular Genetics Group, Department of Pathology at the
University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. "If confirmed these could
be important markers of optimal fetal growth and may be the first step along a
path to very early disease prevention in the womb."
Quilter and colleagues set out to determine whether or not there
was any truth to the prevailing hypothesis that conditions in the womb that
lead to a high birth weight or low birth weight could affect expression of
genes in the baby, which in turn, leads to effects that persist into adult
life. To do this, scientists looked at DNA derived from the cord blood of
newborn babies from mothers with raised glucose levels during late pregnancy
and in those babies born following relatively slow growth in the womb that
later caught up after birth. Researchers looked for differences in DNA
methylation patterns (chemical modifications of DNA known to effect changes in
gene activity). Results showed differences in these methylation changes which
were specific to boys and girls and to each of the two groups. However, changes
were also identified that were common to both groups of babies. Similar
overlapping signals were seen in two other groups of babies studied.
"In the age of epigenetics, prenatal care is moving beyond
infant survival and into optimizing the health of the baby for his or her
entire life," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The
FASEB Journal. "Understanding the epigenetic factors that play
a role in a baby's birthweight will eventually help doctors give the best care
and advice to their pregnant patients."
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