Junk food danger to unborn children

Mothers who eat junk food while pregnant or breastfeeding could cut 25 years off their child's life, according to new research.

Yet small improvements in their diet could undo all the damage.

The findings come from a study of mice but could have major implications for human health, researchers said.

Biochemist Dr Susan Ozanne, who led the study, added: 'There is a significant difference between living to be 50 years old and reaching 75.'

Her team found slight improvements in the diets of pregnant mice increased the life expectancy of their offspring by more than half.

When mice were fed normal levels of protein while expecting, their young lived for about two years.

If they moved to a low protein diet while suckling, their offspring lived for a further two months.

However, if they had low protein diets while pregnant, their offspring died about six months earlier.

If the mice which were born malnourished were given fatty foods, such as sweetened condensed milk, to bulk up they died 57 per cent younger than those with healthy-eating mothers.

Dr Ozanne said that was the equivalent of 25 years in human terms.

The 'catch-up' mice were also more prone to obesity and the health complications that came with it.

'This underlines the need for mothers to eat healthily both during and after pregnancy,' Dr Ozanne, from Cambridge University, told the journal Nature.