An international study recently published in the journal, Diabetes, has revealed that dieting during pregnancy can alter the fetus’s DNA in the womb. This in turn can increase the child’s risk of developing obesity, diabetes and heart disease later in life. Specifically, the study indicated that the ingestion of low levels of carbohydrate changed bits of DNA. These alterations functioned as indicators in children who later become fatter.

Researchers, who hailed from Britain, New Zealand and Singapore, reached their conclusions by taking samples from the umbilical cord of nearly three hundred children and checking for “epigenetic markers.” These markers were found in children whose mothers went on diets while in the stages of early pregnancy that were low in carbohydrates, such as sugars and starch.

The embryo as it develops within the womb “feels” the environment that it will be born into from the actions of the mother and adjusts its DNA accordingly. Diets can create epigenetic change and result in an alteration of DNA. The end result can be a child tending to “lay down more fat.” These changes, which affect the function of the DNA, do not change the actual genetic sequence a child inherits from both parents, but they can be a prime indicator of future obesity.

This important study does offer much food for thought (no pun intended). Preparing babies for the world they are about to enter entails perhaps even more work than originally believed. Healthy, happy babies have to be our goal for all generations to come.

Scientists are on the edge of a scientific breakthrough that could combat and possibly eliminate forever the dreaded disease known as malaria. They are closer than ever to being able to alter the DNA of wild mosquitoes within a laboratory setting

According to a recent report published in Nature, by spreading the right gene developed in a laboratory from several mosquitoes and applying it to a few subsequent generations, researchers have reason to believe they can significantly decrease the incidence of malaria. This comes with the creation of a strain of malaria-resistant mosquitoes. Techniques include introducing these new genes that act as disruptors in the malaria parasite’s development.

The study is well respected and considered “a major step forward” by other researchers in the field. Malaria is estimated to claim the lives of one million people annually.

Although the research is very promising, one major problem remains. How will they get those genes to spread from the malaria-resistant generation of mosquitoes into the masses of wild insects all over the world? Scientists at Imperial College London and the University of Washington, in Seattle, believe a workable solution is within reach.

Biologically speaking, the gene creates an enzyme, which bisects the DNA. The repair machinery within the cell repairs the cut by utilizing the new gene as a template. The repair technique works in such a way as to insure that all the sperm produced by a male mosquito carries the new gene (homing endonuclease). The gene is thereby copied for future insect generations promising a future world without malaria, which is largely preventable and curable.

Thanks to scientists, a healthier world waits in the wings, free from another devastating disease.