Mothers who eat healthy fats from oily fish may help their children form healthy guts and maintain healthy weights throughout their lives.
This is according to a new study from the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre APC Microbiome Ireland at Teagasc and University College Cork.
The new research, published in Microbiome, shows that, in laboratory mice, babies gained less weight on a high fat diet if they were born to a mother who had more healthy fats called omega-3s in her body.
The mice also gained less weight if they breastfed from a mother with more omega-3 fats.
Interestingly, this only occurred in male babies; the mother’s fats had no effect on weight in female babies.
Previously there have been concerns over pregnant women eating too much fish due to the potential dangers of mercury.
However, this is only a concern for certain types of fish, particularly predatory fish.
Current recommendations suggest that everyone, including pregnant women, eat 2 portions of oily fish per week.
