There were two posts at ScienceDaily today that discussed the consequences of mothers' choices during pregnancy on the future health of their children. The first stated that the children of mothers that smoked cigarettes during pregnancy were more likely to smoke in the future, and would find it harder to quit if they tried. The second discussed the link between obese pregnant mothers and children who developed asthma. Presumably, obesity causes a pro-inflammatory response, which may predispose the fetus to cytokines that cause respiratory inflammation that leads to the development of asthma in later life. These posts have me thinking about just how much a mother's life affects a fetus during pregnancy at the epigentic and developmental levels. In my preliminary search, I've found a couple other interesting stories. One article discussed how maternal feeding affects the biological clock of the fetus. Another report talked about how maternal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) changes fetal gene expression.
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