11 Fetal Programming

You know that smoking and drinking during pregnancy is bad for the baby, but think that a sweet treat can’t be that bad? After all the mother is eating for two… Well, think again! The latest findings made by Stephanie Bayol and Neil Stickland at the RVC’s Department of Basic Science show that a junk food diet does not only impair the development of the fetus in the womb, but may teach the offspring a preference for these sweet and fatty treats. So inheritance is not just about the genes, it is also about the environment. And the prenatal environment seems to be of particular importance when inheriting feeding habits, at least in the rat.