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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110704123236.htm
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ScienceDaily (July 15, 2011) — During intrauterine life and lactation, undernutrition brings about modifications involving DNA, leading to metabolic pathologies at the adult age. Researchers from CNRS, INRA and Inserm have demonstrated for the first time, through an animal-based study, such repercussions at the level of the leptin gene, the hormone that regulates satiety and metabolism. Published in The FASEB Journal, this work could, in the longer term, have an impact on the prevention of metabolic diseases, medically assisted procreation and care for premature infants.
Over the last ten years or so, studies carried out on humans have shown that the intrauterine environment and, in particular, maternal nutrition play an important role in the onset of complex diseases such as obesity, diabetes or hypertension at the adult age. Molecular mechanisms of fetal programming, which scientists are attempting to decipher, are behind such observations.