(CNN) Everybody knows that a high-fat, high-sugar diet is not a good idea. It can have a wave of negative consequences on your health, including greater risks of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
But a new study has found that eating foods rich in fat and sugar during pregnancy could affect not only your health but also your child’s, with potential links to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct problems, such as lying, fighting and stealing, due to changes to a child’s DNA.
“The assumption is that prenatal exposure affects a child as they develop,” said Edward Barker, a development psychologist at Kings College London, who led the study. “We looked at food exposure on DNA.”
The study found that poor prenatal nutrition influenced the expression of a particular gene, known as IGF2, involved in both the metabolism of food and brain development, both before and after birth.
In both groups, there was a link between changes in gene expression and mothers having a diet rich in fat and sugar. The group with early-onset conduct problems had more extensive changes in expression associated with greater ADHD symptoms when they were older, ages 7 through 13.
