CHRONIC DISEASES IN ADULTS HAVE FOETAL ORIGINS DUE TO PARENTS AND GRAND PARENTS LIFESTYLES

Chennai,

5th January 2024.

‘Chronic diseases in adults have foetal origins due to lifestyles of parents and even grand parents’ said Dr. Sylvia Escott Stump, teaching faculty, university of Wisconsin – Madison and Professor of Practice Northern Illinois University, USA while delivering a lecture at an international conference on nutrition at Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research here today. Parental lifestyles like malnutrition, alcohol, smoking, stress, exposure to xenobiotics and drugs can modify both maternal and paternal epigenome leading to epigenetic inheritance in their children. Malnutrition and protein insufficiency, high blood sugar, obesity, smoking, drinking and junk foods of the mother during pregnancy increase the risk in children of insulin resistance and leads to diabetes in later life. Perinatal protein malnutrition can also cause decline in ovarian follicular reserve, changes in ovulation rates and altered age at onset of puberty of a girl child. Similarly maternal under nutrition, glucocorticoids, placental insufficiency and sodium overload can also lead to hypertension in the children. Maternal obesity can promote cardiovascular diseases in the child later. Maternal under nutrition leads to foetal growth restrictions, neonatal deaths or stunting by two years of age. Stress of the mother during early pregnancy can result in delayed foetal maturation, disrupted emotional regulation, impaired cognitive performance during infancy and decreased brain volume in areas associated with learning and memory in six to eight year old children, she added.

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Issued by Mr. T.G.Nallamuthu, Consultant, and Media Relations, SRIHER 9444265578, 9940399346.