What is the best way to program a fetus for a healthy life?
I just had to write about an article I read in the Wall Street journal while I was flying to Baltimore today. I would welcome comments about how this is a reflection of our disease-care system and how much we need to reform our health care system.
Obese pregnant women tend to have higher than normal glucose levels and this glucose gets passed onto the baby in utero and these babies tend to be born larger and so produce more insulin.
A study sponsored by the UK Government, aims to use medication to change the environment in the uterus of pregnant women in order to improve the child’s health later in life and reduce the risk of obesity in children born to obese mothers. This concept is called FETAL PROGRAMMING.
In the study pregnant women who are obese but non diabetic will be given a drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes called Metformin over the course of their pregnancy.
The hoped for outcome is that the babies are smaller at birth, have metabolisms that don’t come out churning insulin and they are not predisposed to obesity later in life.
This study really brings up many issues for me and I welcome your input!
