Eating too much fast food affects breast milk and baby’s health

You already know that making fast-food meals a routine is extremely harmful to your health. Despite all the damage we already know, a diet high in sugar and fat, such as hamburgers, fries and soft drinks, can negatively affect fertility (the chances of conceiving a child) and also a new mother’s breast milk and the health of the baby even before the child is conceived. This is the conclusion of a recent work from the University of Cambridge (England).

“Nutrition is a key factor for women who want to get pregnant healthy and we know from studies that those who eat less fruit and more fast food take longer to get pregnant, with less propensity to conceive within a year. Now, this study has shown that even consuming a fast-food diet in a relatively short period of time affects women’s health by reducing their ability to produce breast milk with good nutritional content after giving birth. This can affect the wellbeing of the newborn, as well as increase the risk of both mother and child developing potentially life-threatening conditions such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes later in life,” explains Human Reproduction expert Dr. Fernando Prado.

The researchers highlighted in the study that even mothers with healthy weight may be suffering from hidden problems such as fatty liver (seen in overweight or obese people) from eating a diet high in processed foods, which tend to be high in fat and sugar. This can lead to advanced scarring (cirrhosis) and liver failure.

“Women on diets that tend to be high in sugar and fat may not realize the impact this has on their health, especially if there is no change in their body weight. They may have greater adiposity – higher levels of fat mass – which we know is a predictor of many health problems. In some cases, this may not overtly affect your ability to get pregnant, but it can have consequences for your baby’s growth before birth, and your baby’s health and well-being after birth.”

The study was done with mice. “Obesity has been recreated in mice before, but most studies focus on the effects of chronic, high-fat, high-sugar diets. In this new study, a group of mice were fed a diet of high-fat processed chow with condensed milk over shorter periods, for just three weeks before pregnancy, during the three-week pregnancy, and after birth. This diet was designed to mimic the nutritional content of a fast food burger, fries and sugary soda. The objective was to determine the impacts on fertility, fetal growth and neonatal outcomes in short-term use of foods with poor nutritional characteristics.

It is now recognized that a ‘Western style’ diet high in fat and sugar is contributing to a pandemic of high body mass index (BMI) and obesity not only in developed countries but also in urbanizing developing countries. As a result, just over half of women (52.7%) in many populations around the world are overweight or obese when they conceive, leading to problems in both achieving and maintaining a healthy pregnancy. “Researchers found that even a short-term high-fat, high-sugar diet impacted the survival of mice pups in the early period after birth, with a greater loss during the time the mother was feeding her offspring. Milk proteins are extremely important for newborn development, but the quality was found to be poor in mothers of mice that ate the high-fat, high-sugar diet,” says Dr. Fernando.

According to the doctor, the study is particularly interesting, because when an overweight woman is pregnant, doctors are generally more concerned about the risk of diabetes and abnormal growth of the baby. “But in moms-to-be who appear healthy regardless of food intake, subtle but potentially dangerous changes in pregnancy can go unnoticed. Pre-conception guidance is fundamental, as well as care with food during pregnancy and breastfeeding”, concludes the doctor.