Well-fed mothers produce babies with healthy hearts

Prenatal care is vital to the future health of a baby. It’s important for expecting mothers to stop smoking and drinking alcohol and to increase their folic acid intake. But in addition to these steps, mothers must also maintain a healthy weight.

A new study from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio and the University of Wyoming found that moderately reducing a mother’s food intake can impact the rate at which a baby’s heart ages.

The study—published in The Journal of Physiology—found that restricted dietary intake can cause problems for the fetus that results in abnormal structure and function of developing organs, such as the heart. This makes it more likely that the offspring will suffer chronic illnesses later in life—including heart disease and stroke.

Researchers studied the baboon heart because it most closely mimics human development and aging. They used MRI scanning to study the hearts of male and female baboons whose mothers ate 30 percent less than the normally fed baboons. They found that the offspring of baboons, which ate less, showed signs of reduced heart function that comes with age. By five years of life—the equivalent of 20 human years—the structure and function of the heart were already impaired.

These changes could contribute to decreased quality of life, decreased ability to exercise and increased vulnerability diabetes and hypertension.

"Women's health during pregnancy is of fundamental importance to the lifetime health of their babies. Society must pay attention to improving women's nutrition before and during pregnancy to prevent these adverse outcomes in babies,” Peter Nathanielsz, PhD, director of the Wyoming Pregnancy and Life Course Health Center at the University of Wyoming said in a statement.