New Study Shows Diabetes May Be Transmitted From Parents to Children

A new study shows that inheritance may be the cause for the rise in diabetes in the U.S.

Scientists are studying additional forms of inheritance, besides DNA, like metabolic programming, which can occur in the womb or shortly after birth, and causes permanent changes in metabolism.

Researchers in the study looked at mice with diets high in saturated fat and studied the results in the mice and their offspring. They found that a high-fat diet brought on type 2 diabetes in the adult mice.

If a pregnant female mouse stayed on a high-fat diet, their offspring had a greater chance of developing diabetes, even when given a moderate-fat diet.

Researchers say that these studies have only been tested on mice, so there’s no further reason as of yet to warn mothers to eat differently during pregnancy. Even mated with healthy mice, the next generation offspring could develop diabetes as well.

This study was published in the September issue of the Journal of Lipid Research.

Source: Journal of Lipid Research