Children Pay for the Sins of Mother

Researchers studying certain African villages have found evidence that, if a mother's nutrition is impaired during gestation, it may affect her child's ability to fight disease for the rest of its life. This finding may have implications for many Americans, who may be starving themselves of vital nutrients by eating refined foods.

Some villages in Gambia experience both a harvest season—a time when food is ample—and a "hungry" season, when there is a severe shortage of food. Scientists studied children born during the two seasons and found that those born during the hungry season had a mortality rate four times that of children born during the harvest time. At age 25, the mortality rate was ten times as high—mostly the result of infections.  Drawing on their results, researchers believe that impaired fetal nutrition may permanently affect the immune system, increasing susceptibility to infections throughout an individual's entire lifetime. They further suggest that in developed countries, where infections are less prevalent, effects on the immune system from fetal malnourishment could manifest as an increased incidence of cancers and allergies. Based on information in: New Scientist, 8-2-97