What you eat affects not only you, but also your children. Abusing a high-fat diet by a parent increases the risk of conceiving children with a propensity for diabetes .
The study, published in the journal Nature , affirms that non-genetic factors can influence the development of type 2 diabetes and obesity. Until now, it was known that obese or diabetic parents have a high risk of transmitting these diseases to their children, but it is the first time that it has been scientifically demonstrated how a non-genetic factor -the parental diet- can trigger a diabetic process in the offspring .
Scientists at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney (Australia), fed male rats high-fat foods, which led to problems of obesity and glucose intolerance, which they transmitted to their female offspring after mating with rats normal. The scientists detected abnormalities in the pancreas beta cells in the offspring, which are responsible for synthesizing and secreting insulin, a hormone that controls blood glucose levels.
According to Margaret Morris, who led the research, the risk of developing diabetes may be similar for male children, although studies have so far been limited to females.
