A mother's nutrition during pregnancy may alter her offspring's DNA and increase their chances of becoming obese years down the line, new research has found.
Scientists at the University of Southampton led an international study which looked at a process called 'epigenetic change' in nearly 300 children at birth, before measuring their degree of obesity at six or nine years of age.
They found that a child's degree of epigenetic change at birth strongly predicted how much fat they carried later on in childhood.
Lead researcher Keith Godfrey, professor of epidemiology and human development at the University of Southampton, said: 'We have shown for the first time that susceptibility to obesity cannot simply be attributed to the combination of our genes and our lifestyle, but can be triggered by influences on a baby's development in the womb, including what the mother ate.'
The professor added that measurements of these epigenetic changes could prove useful for monitoring children's health.
According to the National Child Measurement Programme for England, 9.8 per cent of four to five-year-old children were obese during the 2009-10 school year, along with 18.7 per cent of ten to 11-year-olds.