Birth weight is strongly affected by the mother’s own diet as a child [View all]

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Source: Guardian

A woman’s diet in early life has more impact on her baby’s birth weight than the food she eats as an adult, researchers say.

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The findings emerged from a 30-year study that followed more than 3,000 pregnant women in the Philippines whose children have now begun to have babies of their own.

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The study suggested that a mother’s diet as an adult had no effect on her baby’s birth weight. Far more important were the mother’s health and nutrition as a baby and toddler, and even the grandmother’s diet when she was pregnant with the baby’s mother.

The work raises the prospect that a person’s health at birth is governed by a long history of health and nutrition going back more than a generation.

“Our findings add to growing evidence that the key to optimising the health of future generations is to promote good nutrition and health of the infants and young children who will be the next generation of mothers,” Kuzawa said.

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Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/17/birth-weight-is-strongly-affected-by-the-mothers-own-diet-as-a-child/