Put Down the Chocolate: Junk Food in Pregnancy is Really Bad

Pregnant and craving junk food? We have some bad news. A new study indicates that eating junk food during pregnancy could have a bigger impact on childhood obesity, liver disease and diabetes than whether a mother is overweight.

Researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine fed a high-fat diet of potato chips, peanut butter and chocolate to pregnant monkeys, who produced foetuses with fatty-liver disease, a potential precursor to diabetes. And their babies were obese by six months old, according to research . The weight of the mummy monkeys was irrelevant.

The study provides further evidence that the childhood obesity epidemic might start in the womb, said Jed Friedman, a University of Colorado pediatrics, biochemistry and molecular genetics professor and co-author of the study.

He theorises that a high-fat diet in the womb may also affect the “appetite centre” of the brain, meaning baby monkeys might have problems with appetite control after birth, he says.

The next phase of the study, researchers will study what happens when the baby monkeys which have been eating junk food are switched to a healthy diet.

So long chocolate, it was fun while it lasted.