Recent research from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louise, US, suggests that pregnant women who eat a diet high in fat and sugar during pregnancy increase their child’s risk of having heart issues in the future.

For their study, the researchers used a mouse model. They found that most of the children of obese mouse mothers who ate an unhealthy diet had an increase in weight of the left ventricle, a part of the heart that pumps blood out of the heart.

Co-senior author Dr. Abhinav Diwan, an associate professor of medicine at Washington University, comments: “The cardiac abnormalities seem to dissipate somewhat over the generations, which is intriguing. There were also differences in male and female hearts that we can't explain yet. In many ways, this study presents more questions than it answers, and we plan to continue studying these mice to help answer them.”