The unhealthy diet has deleterious consequences even after the fats were removed from the diet and has links to insulin production.

We know that foetal growth is influenced by the mother's nutritional status, explained Brazilian nutritionist Luciana Pisani. The nutritional conditions during pregnancy has a major role in the metabolic and hormonal interactions between the mother's body, placenta and foetus. To date only a few studies have looked at the effects on trans fatty acids during pregnancy and lactation on the metabolism of offspring in adulthood. We found that the fatty content of the babies' bodies increased when the mothers were fed the hydrogenated fat rich diet and this could be traced to the gene expression of adipokines.

In an investigation to examine whether feeding pregnant and lactating rats hydrogenised fats rich in trans fatty acids, increased the fat content in carcass, the researchers found that their metabolic rate dropped dramatically. Interestingly young rats that were fed a normal diet after they were born ate less and weighed less even though their mothers had been eating the trans fatty acids while pregnant. The gene expression of adipokines was also examined in relation to insulin production.

The offspring were weighed weekly and exposure to the trans-fatty acid enriched diet after weaning led to a 40% increase in body fat content for the young rats. Rats whose mothers were fed the trans fatty acids and continued to eat the fats into adulthood had the highest metabolic efficiency. The same rats increased their insulin production.

Pisani continued, Fats play a fundamental role in foetal development and changes in dietary fatty acids has important implications for foetal and postnatal development. Heavy ingestion of very hydrogenated fats rich in trans fatty acids increases risk of cardiovascular diseases and reduces insulin sensitivity and so leads to type 2 diabetes. We need to investigate this further as this has important implications for people's own diets, especially pregnant women.

biomedcentral/

Half of the new loci identified by Dr Frayling and colleagues contain genes whose functions are well documented. Some help regulate basic cell division, which may have implications for cancer research: unregulated cell division can lead to the growth of tumours. Other genes are implicated in cell-to-cell signalling, an important process in the early development of embryos in the womb. Yet others are so-called "master regulators", acting as switches to turn genes elsewhere in the genome on or off.

One locus in particular is also implicated in osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis involving the effects of wear and tear on the body's structures. This locus reinforces a similar link identified by a previous study, and may be involved in the growth of cartilage.

However, of the twenty loci identified by Dr Frayling and colleagues, half contain genes about which little or nothing is known. The researchers compare these findings to their work last year which identified the first common gene for obesity, the FTO gene. Even though the gene has been shown without a doubt to be influence body size, its role is still unclear.

"There may be more than a hundred genes which affect our height, many of which will work in surprising or unpredictable ways," says Dr Mike Weedon, lead author on the paper. "The challenge now for us is to understand how they influence growth in the body. This could open up new avenues for treating a range of diseases."

wellcome.ac/