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Prevention of obesity in children will be performed in utero
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The National Health Service of Great Britain (NHS) will conduct an experiment on intrauterine prophylaxis of obesity in children of obese women, reports the BBC.
According to the authors of the study, 15 percent of pregnant women in the country are obese. In this disease, a woman, nursing a child, supplies him with an excessive amount of nutrients (primarily carbohydrates), which is why he is born with excessive body weight. Such children in later life are more likely to develop diabetes, obesity and other metabolic disorders.
Developing experimental treatment, scientists proceeded from the fact that obesity reduces the sensitivity to the hormone insulin, which leads to an increase in blood sugar. To restore the sensitivity of tissues to insulin and to reduce the concentration of glucose in the blood of a woman during pregnancy, a hypoglycemic metformin drug was chosen which is used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
In the experiment, this medicine will be prescribed to 400 pregnant women suffering from obesity, to prevent the intrauterine "overfeeding" of the child.
The medical director of the Weight Concern Charity Organization, Ian Campbell, called the study curious, but stressed that, ideally, women should be concerned about lowering their own weight before pregnancy occurred.
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