Junk food pregnancy diets 'may affect long-term health'

Mothers who eat a poor diet while pregnant could negatively affect their child's health in adulthood, according to new research.

Scientists at the Royal Veterinary College discovered that people could suffer from obesity, raised levels of cholesterol and blood sugar if their mother had a junk food diet when pregnant.

Dr Stephanie Bayol said: "It seems that a mother's diet whilst pregnant and breastfeeding is very important for the long term health of her child. We always say 'you are what you eat'. In fact, it may also be true that 'you are what your mother ate."

Previously the same team of researchers studied the babies of rats fed on a diet of processed junk food and found that the offspring had an increased risk of high cholesterol and type two diabetes.

"Humans share a number of fundamental biological systems with rats, so there is good reason to assume the effects we see in rats may be repeated in humans," said Professor Neil Stickland.

The follow-up study has been published in the Journal of Physiology.