Maternal nutrition and biological clock
From the importance of maternal feeding for infants to the risk of diseases that can be triggered later, this is what the study carried out by INRA and subsequently published in the journal Plos ONE wanted to demonstrate.
The biological clock
Indeed, it seems that maternal nutrition hasa key rolebefore the birth of the infant and after birth for the health of the child.
According to the study carried out by INRA(1), a disruption of the biological clock could lead tometabolic and psychological disorders but also to diseasesthat could occur during the child’s life.
It is recalled that children and more specifically infants are more sensitive to changes in schedules and that if their rhythm of life will be acquired later, it is essential at first to offer them a circadian rhythm(2) corresponding to their needs in order to synchronize their metabolism with the environment.
INRA has also shown that during pregnancy, the fetus appropriatesa rhythm of life linked to maternal nutrition. And this appropriation also persists after childbirth, hence the importance of respecting a healthy rhythm.
Circadian rhythm and diet
If INRA has demonstrated the importance of maternal feeding for the infant before birth but also after birth, it is indeed a question of the rhythm of taking mealsbut also of nutrients ingested by the mother during pregnancyand after delivery.
These data would show a clear link on the fetus and then the infant at the level of DNA, blood composition, body temperature and motor activity.
But these consequences can also be followed by metabolic and psychological disorders but also diseases.
Bad rhythm and/or diet? Disorders and diseases
According to the study carried out by INRA, a disruption of the biological clock, carried out before the birth of the infant or after, could lead to certain metabolic or psychological disorders but also to diseases of greater or lesser importance such as cancer.
And to be able to advance these conclusions, INRA based itself on the transmission of molecular signals from the mother to the fetus, by collecting the mother’s milk on the one hand and collecting the infant’s gastric residues on the other.
In addition, the composition of breast milk varies during the day, it has been demonstrated by INRA through an experiment carried out on rodents, that a female with obesity, could leadto alterationsin the circadian clock but also to a deregulation of liver metabolism. According to this experiment, the animal that was born suffered from diseases related to diabetes.
And, these results concerning the biological clock have indeed highlighted the importance of a balanced diet before conception, during pregnancy and after childbirth, and a contrario the harmful effects of overweight or obesity during pregnancyand the follow-up of effective dietary adviceto fight against overweight birth.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.