We have all heard that a high-fat diet raises your risk for heart disease and metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes in adulthood. Now new research shows it also compromises your bone health, especially if you were born small or early, or if your mother had poor nutrition during pregnancy.
Researchers from the Liggins Institute and the University of Auckland analysed the bone structure of rats whose mothers were either fed normally or undernourished during pregnancy. Half of the rat offspring from each group of mothers were then fed a regular diet from weaning, the other half were fed a high-fat diet.
Compared to the other groups, the bones of the rats in the undernourished-mother-plus-high-fat-diet group had the lowest bone mineral content and fewer, more widely spaced bone plates – characteristics of reduced bone strength.
Past animal studies have shown that poor nutrition in pregnant mothers “programmes” the metabolism of their children in a way that raises their risk of later developing overweight and obesity. This study is the first to uncover a compounding effect of poor maternal nutrition and a high-fat diet in offspring on later bone health.