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Diabetes And Heart Disease Is Passed On For Generations

Posted: Tuesday, June 22, 2004

ffect appears to be lost in the third generation.

According to a study conducted by the University of Edinburgh, babies exposed to excess hormones in the womb, are not only at an increased risk of developing heart disease and diabetes later in life, but can also pass these risks to their children also.

Researchers have reported in the American Journal of Physiology, that genetic risks to the health of future generations can come from either parent.

Scientists from the university have now shown in laboratory tests that low birth weight and the increased risk of diabetes can be passed by a mother or father to their own children.

Researcher Dr Mandy Drake explains, the baby is normally protected from the high levels of steroid hormones in the mother by the placenta. However, studies have shown that low birth weight babies have been exposed to higher levels of the mother's own steroid hormones crossing the placenta during pregnancy.

"We believe that exposing the developing baby to excess steroid hormones can alter the expression of key genes which affect fetal growth and later risk of disease which can be passed on to the next generation," Drake was quoted as saying.

"We are now investigating the mechanisms behind this to try and explain the short and long-term complications associated with low birth weight in humans, which may also have a significant impact upon the health of subsequent generations," she added.

The better news is that the effect appears to be lost in the third generation. This may explain why some diseases appear to run in families for a couple of generations and then slowly die out.